Shelby walks out of the bedroom. "Girls!" she calls. Neither of them actually went to their rooms. They're standing, terrified, just a bit down the hallway. "I'm sorry about before. I shouldn't have told you to go pack."
"I don't want Teal'c to leave," Becky whines.
"I am not going anywhere," Teal'c informs them.
"Well, except to go get Rya'c tomorrow," Shelby adds.
Tammy is looking her big sister up and down, obviously confused.
"Honey?" Shelby asks her sister.
"I don't understand, you had a fight," the girl says in shock.
"Yes, that happens sometimes, adults have fights. I shouldn't have included you guys in it," Shelby says.
"But you had a fight, and Teal'c didn't hurt you, and no-one is leaving," the girl says in a voice which is clearly puzzled.
Teal'c's heart breaks within him. He can't stand the thought of this girl being so puzzled by something which is so natural, so obvious to him.
"Well, Tammy, that is the way things should turn out when adults fight. And I want you to know Teal'c isn't going to hurt me, and he isn't going to leave us."
"And you're not going to leave?" Becky asks nervously.
"No, I'm not going to leave either. Because we're family, and families stick together, forever, no matter what," Shelby says, looking at her husband with eyes full of apology.
"And that is the same reason why I will retrieve your brother tomorrow," Teal'c says.
"And he's an alien, too?" Becky asks, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet.
"Keep in mind that from his point of view you're the alien," Shelby points out.
"That's a wild thought!" Becky says with a grin. Then she wanders off, singing, "I am an alien. You are an alien. Let's all be aliens together!" in a sing song voice.
Shelby can tell that her other sister is going to need just a bit more reassurance, so she walks over, and pulls her into a big hug.
"I can really trust it? It's not going to fall apart?" the girl whispers, almost below the level that Shelby can hear.
"Yeah, you can," Shelby whispers back, just as quietly.
-0-0-0-
"Where is your mom?" Daniel asks as he comes in to see Cassie cooking dinner. Ever since the teenager got her license last year, she's been picking up her siblings from school, or daycare when it's not Will's preschool day, and watching until five her mother got home from work.
But Daniel had to work until eight tonight, and Janet still isn't home.
"I don't know," the teenager says without much care.
"What do you mean, you don't know! Didn't she come home?"
"Relax! She was home, and then she left a little bit ago."
"Did she say where she was going?"
"I don't know," the teenager says with another shrug.
Daniel grabs the phone, and tries the family cell phone*. He told Janet to take it with her if she ever went somewhere late at night. The phone rings on the counter.
"Da…" Daniel begins to swear, but sees six children's eyes focused on him, "… nabit," he finishes. Daniel is debating just going and looking for his wife, when he sees that Olivia has solved all of her story problem math homework problems wrong, and that supper is just about done, and after that Will will need to be put to sleep. So he shoves the worry down in his stomach, and goes to work.
-0-0-0-
Daniel doesn't hear Janet come home. He's up to his elbows in suds at the time. It's only when he enters the hallway with his son in his arms that he sees her.
"Hey, where were you?" he asks.
"Shopping," she says with a huge grin on her face as she slips past him, and goes Will's room.
"Ok, well, next time, tell your husband, because Cassie isn't great with the passing on messages."
"Well, that makes sense, she isn't so great with the listening," Janet says with a laugh.
Will starts to squirm in his arms, and Daniel sets the boy down to get him into his pajamas. "What'd you get our boy?" he asks looking toward the bags his wife brought home.
"Well, it could be for our girl, too," Janet says.
"Olivia?" Daniel asks. Why is his wife buying something for their eleven year old at a baby store?
Janet pulls out a tiny onesie.
Daniel talks to Will, "Is mommy being silly? You can't fit into that!" Then his eyes widen, and he looks up at his wife. She nods. He stands up to give her a hug.
"Daddy, jamblers!" Will demands.
"We'll be happy more later," Daniel says to his wife before turning back to his son.
The Next Day
Shelby stands at the window, watching as their car pulls into the driveway. Rya'c gets out, and makes some comment which, judging by his facial expression, isn't an entirely upbeat one.
Shelby takes a deep breath and opens the door.
Rya'c stares at her stomach. "Is she with child?" he asks in the tone that American teenagers usually reserve for something a bit more crude.
"Yes, my wife is bearing my twins," Teal'c replies.
"You didn't tell him I was pregnant before?" Shelby asks.
"We were kind of fighting a battle," Rya'c sneers.
"Speak respectfully to your stepmother," Teal'c says.
"Speak respectfully to your stepmother," Rya'c mocks.
"Rya'c!" Teal'c says fiercely.
The kid hangs his head, and walks into the house.
"We are in for a fun week," Shelby says. Teal'c doesn't say anything, he just gives her shoulder a squeeze.
"Hi, I'm your new sister," Becky says cheerfully.
"No, you're not, you're my dad's second wife's little sister. That makes us nothing," he says.
"But we're going to live in the same house now, and my Teal'c is your Daddy, so that makes you my brother," the girl says with confidence.
"No, that makes us roommates."
"Well, speaking of rooms, I'll show you to yours," Shelby says.
"I have a room?" Ray'c asks.
"When we first procured this house, Shelby insisted on preparing a room for any visits you might make."
Rya'c's face has that hungry look on it that Sheby's seen in the mirror. The look of someone who doesn't expect love, and gets just a little scrap of it. But the look disappears as quickly as it appears. The kid is much too proud to admit he is touched.
"It's downstairs."
"In the dungeon?" Rya'c says sarcastically.
"If you're in the dungeon, so am I," Tammy says, coming up the stairs at the sound of the commotion.
"Ah, the other midget roommate," Rya'c says.
"I'm not a midget," Tammy objects.
"Right, well, I'm all gate-lagged, and need to kel-no-reem, so where is this room?" Rya'c says.
"Right, the bed was a stupid move, because you don't sleep," Shelby says, flinching.
"What?" the two girls ask, turning toward the teenager.
"Jaffa don't sleep. You guys don't even know that? Seriously, you're stupid," he mutters.
"Hey, you do not call them that!" Shelby scolds.
"Ok, then I'll just call you that," Rya'c says.
Teal'c raises his hand to give his son a quick smack on the back of his head. Shelby stops the hand in midair. "We do not hit in this family."
"Let me get this straight. I can't be punished, and the boss is this girl? This is going to be a fun experience," Rya'c says.
"If you think my range of punishment only exists in the physical realm you are mistaken, and Shelby is not a girl, but a women."
"Really, because she was six when I was born. Not exactly a mother-figure."
"But you will treat her as you treated your mother, doing anything else would dishonor the way that your mother raised you. Did your mother raise you to treat women as if they were nothing?"
Rya'c eyes well up. "I am sorry, father."
Teal'c looks at Shelby, pointing.
"Ah… I'm sorry…" He pauses, obviously not sure what to call her when he's not being sarcastic and crass.
"It's ok if you want to call me Shelby, my sisters do," Shelby prompts.
"Thanks," Rya'c says, with those hungry eyes from before.
"When we moved into his house, I acquired mats and candles for your kel-no-reem. They are in the closet of your room," Teal'c says.
"So you guys never sleep?" Becky asks, amazed.
"No, they only need to meditate for a few hours a night," Shelby says.
"I want to be a Jaffa," Becky proclaims.
"You want them to put an evil parasitic alien in your stomach?" Rya'c asks her.
"We didn't exactly share that part with the girls," Shelby says with a flinch.
"I didn't understand all those words, but they sounded bad. They're bad, right? You've got something bad in your stomachs?" Becky asks.
"Dude, you're an alien with another alien inside?" Tammy says, looking terrified.
"I'll show you," Rya'c says.
"Oh, there will be no symbiote displays," Shelby says.
"Or?" Rya'c challenges.
"Or you will be required to scrub the floors," Teal'c says with a brow-raise.
"Seriously?" Rya'c says.
Teal'c nods.
"Fine!" Rya'c says, storming down the stairs.
"You are a REALLY good parent," Shelby whispers to Teal'c.
"I'll get you the book I read," he whispers back.
"I just wish I didn't have to sleep so I could get all of this figured out faster," she says.
*Remember people, this story is based in our recent past when it was more common for a family rather than a person to own a cell phone.
Snotty teenagers are fun to write, although NOT fun to deal with.