Hope you enjoy Jack's journey to becoming who he needs to be in the Vannas people. Please review for me please.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Dueling Day

Daniel sat in the arena stands with Zale and Zada on his lap, each on one thigh. Sam and Jacob were sitting next to him and he could see Jack at the center of the fighting area, waiting with Teal'c at his side. Taj was sitting on the ground next to where they were at in the stands and Daniel wanted to hear the cat's thoughts like Jack did, so he would hear from someone who had seen Jack fight more recently that he was going to be okay.

But he would just have to have faith in his husband.

"He'll do just fine Daniel," Sam said as if she was reading his mind. Its possible since they had known each other for such a time, Sam had always been like a sister to him and who to know him better than family.

"I hope so because if he gets his ass kicked, I am going to tell the healers to let him heal the old fashioned way."

Sam chuckled and shook her head, "Never thought we would say something like that, huh?" she asked.

Daniel shrugged, "I have always lived in a world of wonder, now we just happen to live in one with magic."

Sam bumped his shoulder, "Jack seems to have found it easier since we moved out of the castle."

"Yeah he always did like having his own space."

"Really? He doesn't seem to ever want to have any space between the two of you."

Daniel rolled his eyes even as she snickered in response to her own joke. They noticed the movement in front of them when Zarkina walked out to the center with a warrior and Sir William. "Good day to all of you, on this day Jack O'Neill, born human of earth has decided to take on challenges. His second will be Teal'c of the Jaffa and earth in case Jack cannot continue. Let the first challenge begin."

And so it began, the warrior stepped forward and announced his intent as well as the promise not to use magic against the human. The challenger threw the first punch but Jack dodged and rammed into the stomach of the other man, carrying him backwards and Jack over balanced the challenger and punched him across the face. Blood poured from the man's nose as he fell to the ground and just like that the first challenger admitted defeat. Then the next man stepped forward and it began again. Each man tired Jack out more and more, the punches started to connect and Jack had to use a lot of tactics Daniel knew he didn't like to use, ones that were tied to his days as an assassin.

There were injuries on both sides but Jack never backed down, and he didn't lose. He was blood by the time the Queen called an end to the day. Daniel didn't hear a single man's name, he catalogued ever hit to his lover and knew that Jack was hurting even as he stood so straight at the Queen's side. Daniel couldn't help but be proud and when Zarkina stated, "Jack O'Neill has won against all comers in the art of magic-less hand-to-hand combat against eighteen warriors. Do you now see the genius of this man?"

The crowd screamed their agreement, which startled Zada so Daniel patted her belly gently as he sent soothing loving thoughts to her.

"We do not know how to fight the beasts without barriers and powers, we do not know how to fight humans when they figure out ways around our abilities, O'Neill can teach us the way to fight without the powers we carry. It will be another skill in the come fight. Who will fight beside and protect Jack O'Neill as if he was one of our own?"

The singular battle whoop was there and gone before the babies could be hurt or startled but they whimpered anyway. Daniel knew it was time to get them all home, this was all too much for the twins and Daniel could see even from here Jack's desperate need to fall down and stop moving.

As the crowd dispersed, Daniel sent Taj to Jack with a little head nod and the cat listened as usual, just because Daniel couldn't hear the cat's thoughts didn't mean that he wasn't also a part of the tiger's family. If Jack wasn't there, Taj answered to Daniel and he never listened to anyone else except maybe the queen but then Daniel and Jack were sure that those two had a past that no one knew about.

Taj moved to let Jack lean against him but Jack stood straight even though he was clearly leaning into the Tiger, it just wasn't clear to those who didn't know him. Daniel and Sam climbed off the stands and they all started walking out of the arena and once Jack felt it was safe, Teal'c helped to push Jack onto Taj's soft back and Jack sighed in relief. Daniel turned to speak to Zarkina who had been walking close by but found Adrian instead.

"Akina is sending one of the healers as soon as she gets back, she asked me to walk with you. I think she just wants me to not be alone."

Daniel nodded, "Can you take Zale for me?" he asked and Adrian nodded though he did look unsure about the decision.

Zale wasn't to pleased about it but he could still see Daniel so he allowed the transfer without much of a fuss. Zada on the other hand was getting wriggly because she could in her magical mind sense her father's pain and didn't like it. Daniel didn't like it either, that his daughter could some how feel the pain he was in, the abilities the twins were gaining seemed to cause them more harm than good at the moment.

"Believe it or not, her Magis will teach her to regulate the emotions and sensations she feels from others," Adrian said without any information on the subject whatsoever.

Daniel frowned at him, "Why would you say that?"

"Akina has told me of your struggles with the fact that they have Awakened Magis. I have watched my sister struggle against the power of her Magis and she made it through without much in the way of damage. The powers the twins have will be tempered by the Magis within who know the powers better than we do. Just trust that the Magis within can help her if only she is open to it."

Daniel nodded, "Ok, so you're not reading my mind?"

"No just your face and your emotions, I guess from what those offer me."

"Still annoying," Daniel muttered.

Adrian grinned, "Yes I would have to agree."

They made it home with a few more minutes of walking and Jack was dropped gently to the couch with a blanket underneath him as a healer, who seemed to rush through the door as soon as they did, tried to get past Taj who was in protection mode.

"It's okay Taj, they are here to help Jack."

With one last growl, Taj moved aside and allowed the Healer room to work. Daniel moved to the kitchen cooling-unit and pulled out two jars of mashed up food and grabbed some pea-like vegetable. They were round and a dark green color but the taste was different, more like the sweet taste of carrots but the babies like them and they were soft enough that they could be chewed and swallowed without teeth, which the babies didn't have yet. He sat down at the baby chairs to feed each one and Sam joined him to do the same with Jacob who also seemed unwilling to wait any longer for some food.

Daniel looked up from the twins when Adrian walked in and sat down close to them and watched the babies eat. "I figured you would have left by now."

"I like it here, hardly any power in you people and its kind of peaceful."

Jack could be heard cursing in the other room to which Daniel gave an incredulous look to the young prince. Any house with Jack O'Neill in it was not a quiet and peaceful place but then that's one of those things that Daniel loved about him, so full of life.

"I did not mean noise peaceful, my head is peaceful."

Daniel nodded though he didn't understand what the other guy was going on about. He just continued to feed one baby at a time while the other one smashed the peas into his mouth. Zale seemed to like the more hands-on approach where as their little princess enjoyed being waited on for a while longer. When the food was gone and the mess was cleaned up, Daniel burped one while Adrian took it upon himself to burp Zale who seemed unsure about this but didn't let that worry him for too long, as it was before he could see Daniel so he was safe.

When they were done, the three adults each lifted a child from their chairs and walked back into the living room where the healer was pulling away from Jack and the older man was sitting up stiffly and smiling as he accepted Zale from Adrian who moved to flop inelegantly into one of the comfy chairs. Daniel moved to sit next to Jack, leaning in to kiss Jack gently on the lips.

"I did it love, I beat them all."

"Of course you did, the USAF trained you to kill and the Queen just wanted you to simply maim. Clearly they will stop underestimating you now."

"We can hope," Jack responded and kissed Daniel again before he leaned down to kiss Zale on his soft head before Daniel held Zada up to receive the same. Jack gladly gave her a kiss which resulted in a gummy grin and a little princess giggle. Jack chuckled in return which set Zale off giggling and soon the room was full of grinning adults and giggling babies.

"Well with Jack having thoroughly torn through many of the people who thought they could harm him, that should give you some peace for a while," Adrian said.

"Of course she's going to put me to work, training up this lazybones she calls warriors."

Daniel nodded, "That was the deal, prove that you can handle yourself without magic and then they would now what a gift you would be to the fight. Well your alive and they are putting you back to work."

Jack picked up Zada again and kissed her belly, snuffling her with his nose, which started to giggle once more. Daniel smiled, he loved hearing that sound and as long as it was a part of their very interesting lives for a long time then Daniel figured he could deal with the rest.

Daniel watched Adrian closely, so did Taj for that matter but the young prince really seemed to find some sort of serenity in their presence. Zarkina never came to bring her wayward brother home so Daniel figured that she knew he was there and safe with them. Or that they were safe with Adrian, either way Daniel was pleased to have the younger man among them as long as he posed no danger to the twins or anyone in the house.

His eyes never changed again to that light blue color, and he joked and told stories of the Queen and William from their growing up years, some were made for blackmail which Jack was sure to capitalize on at some point, Daniel wondered what kind of revenge might be planned for Adrian's future when she found out all the dirt he poured out over lunch and later, dinner.

That evening, Daniel finally told Adrian that they were going up to sleep but he was more than welcome on their couch if he didn't want to go home. He nodded and smiled, "Thank you Daniel, that is sweet and unneccasary. I should return to the castle and speak to my sister about some things, I will certainly be back tomorrow at some point, I have completely fallen in love with your twins and I have a feeling I am going to be here a lot."

"Well then you will be much like your sister in that respect," Jack said with a laugh from the stairs as Adrian headed for the door. "She spends far too much time with our children and my husband."

Adrian grinned, "You do have a handsome and very sweet husband."

Jack glared at him but was still smiling a little, "Oh don't you start that now, I just got over the ridiculous jealousy I had to deal with the Queen."

Adrian left laughing and Daniel shook his head, "Jack I hate to be the one to tell you but I think we just adopted a teenage boy."

Jack groaned, "Oh god, I hope not. They are trouble."

They shared another laugh, each grabbed a tired baby and took them upstairs to get them ready for bed. The small spare bedroom close to their bedroom was large enough to two cribs, a changing table and matching rocking chairs that someone made for Daniel and Jack as a wedding present, belated but loved anyway. They each sat down, and rocked their babies to sleep as Daniel sang a lullaby quietly under his breath even as Jack watched him in wonder. It was not the first time Daniel had done this but it seemed the reaction was the same each time. Quiet wonder.

When they each stood and deposited babies in their cribs, they closed the door behind them and walked down the hall to their bedroom. Jack closed the door behind them and pulled Daniel close to share a warm and loving kiss with Daniel. "You never cease to amaze me, did you know?"

"Oh? Well you never stop being amazing," Daniel replied into Jack's lips.

Jack grinned then moved over to the bedside where a small shell was sitting, Daniel watched him pick it up and listen intently to what Daniel could only assume were the sounds of their children sleeping. It was part of the system the Queen put into place so they could hear if their children needed them now that they were not in the same bedroom anymore. Daniel took his night pants into their bathroom and washed up and changed, tossing his day clothes into the hamper then he traded with Jack, who kissed him on the way past. Daniel slipped into bed and waited for Jack to join him. When the older man did, Daniel got to enjoy the visual of the man he called his walk around the other side of the bed and climb in next to him. Daniel automatically moved into his arms, tucking his head against Jack's shoulder and felt Jack's lips against his head.

"Jack I didn't get to tell you earlier how proud I am of you. You did what you had to today and you stood tall next to Zarkina, in fact I would have had to guess between you which was the royal if I hadn't already known. You are a good man and a great soldier and you even did everything in your power not to do more than knock them out which I know is hard for you."

Jack kissed Daniel's head one more time, "I could only do it knowing you were there, I knew you were watching and I had to do well for you."

"You did great for us Jack."

"I love you my beautiful Danny."

"And I love you Colonel Jack."