Vala admires the ring on her hand all the way home. When Daniel turns off the car he says, "Honey, would you mind taking that off?"
"I asked if you if it was too big and gaudy in the store, and you said no. It's not very nice to change your mind now!" she protests.
"I'm not changing my mind," he says locking eyes with her so that she knows he's talking about more than just the ring, "I just don't want to startle them too much. We just got married, and I don't want that ring to be the one to tell my kids. I want to do it right. We'll wait until the nanny leaves, and the older two get home from school. We'll invite Cass and her family over for dinner. We'll have a nice meal, and over dessert, we'll announce the baby and our marriage."
"It's not as if I want to keep it a secret. Well, at least not now that I know that the discovery of the secret doesn't meant that I have to find a new place to live."
"Ok then, pocket that thing," he says, and Vala obediently slips the ring into her pocket.
-0-
"So, Vala and I have an announcement," Daniel says standing up as his family finish off their ice cream. Vala had grabbed some pickles out of the fridge to go with it, but his look made her put them back. All the children and grandkids under ten are looking at him with rapt attention. Olivia has a huge grin on her face. Cassie and Rya'c almost look bored.
"You're telling us that she's pregnant right? Anyone with a brain cell could see through that alien virus thing. I'm just not sure why you hid it so long," Cassie says.
Daniel blinks at her not sure what to say.
"What?" Drew asks pulling on Olivia's shirt in confusion.
Vala bends down to the boy's level, knowing that Olivia is so not ready to answer a question this close to the birds and the bees from a little kid. "Pregnant means that that there is a baby growing inside of me. In a few months, it is going to be big enough to come out and live with us."
"I'm a baby," Drew says.
"Well of course you are!" she says pulling him onto her lap, "And you're going to go right on being our baby until you become offended by that word. You think a family can only have one baby at a time? Luke and Lexi are both babies at once weren't they? You're just going to be the bigger baby soon."
Drew nodded his head accepting this answer.
"We're having a new brother?" Will asks.
"Actually," Vala says meeting her husband's eyes, and asking permission, "You're having a new sister."
"I want a brother instead," Will says crossing his arms.
"Well, buddy, it doesn't exactly work that way. Besides, sisters are great, you like Olivia and Cass don't you?"
Will isn't exactly resigned to his fate, but the open rebellion has been quelled at the least.
Cassie stands up, and goes to put her dishes in the dishwasher in the kitchen. Daniel follows her, "Honey?" he asks.
"You told me, a matter of months ago, that you were not going to have any children with that woman."
"I really didn't intend to Cass, it just happened."
"It just happened? Haven't you ever heard of birth control? Maybe mom should have given you the same sex talk you were so pissed at her giving to me."
"That was uncalled for," he says. He looks into her eyes expecting to find anger, but he only finds fear. He has no idea what she might be afraid of, so he just holds out his hands, and lets her fall into them.
"I don't want to get pregnant," she sobs.
He's surprised by this, but comforts her, "Ok, well, just because it happened to Vala doesn't mean it will to you. We…weren't exactly using everything to manufacture's recommendations so maybe that comment wasn't quite as uncalled for as I said it was."
"It could still happen."
"Yeah it could, Cass, but would that be so terrible? Ok, I admit, you've got your hands full with the kids you have. Still, you are married to a great man. It's not like it would be the end of the world if you got pregnant."
"How could you say that?" she asks pulling away from him. At his confused look she takes pity on him, and explains herself, "If I had a kid, it would die."
"What?" Daniel asks in shock.
"That whole thing with Nirri. I got fixed, but my DNA didn't."
"Oh," Daniel says blinking.
"So ever since my sixteenth birthday I thought I would never be able to have kids. Then I ended up with my three little girls, and I thought I was so lucky. I don't know, this whole thing is just making me worry about how horrible it would be if I ever got pregnant."
He looks at the woman before him, and sees for a minute the little girl she was when he first met her, "You once told me that some people were worth loving, even if you ended up getting your heart broken over them."
"Right, but I'm not sure that justifies bringing a little kid in the world with an expiration date."
"Maybe not. I'm not telling you to be careless. I'm just saying that maybe you don't have to be afraid of having a kid either."
She smiles.
"I used to be afraid of marrying, Vala. I thought I was cursed or something. Thought that everyone I ever loved was going to die."
"Used to?" Cassie asks not having missed the past tense at the beginning of the speech.
He smiles, "We were going to tell everyone together, but I kind of wanted to tell you alone. You're the one whose reaction I'm most worried about."
"You and Vala are getting married?" she asks with a raised brow.
"We already did, this afternoon," he says flinching, hoping that doesn't make it worst.
"Ok," Cassie says with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Just ok? That's all you have to say about it?" he asks in shock.
"It's not like it's really a surprise. You guys have been living like you were married for a while. Long before that whole not-a-wedding thing a while back. I don't know why I would have a problem with you making it official. I guess I even prefer it. Do you know how hard it is to introduce her? I mean, she's more than 'dad's girlfriend' but there just isn't a word for it. Now it's easy, she's my step mom."
"Yeah, she is," Daniel says with a grin on his face.
"Why don't you get in there, and break this news to the rest of them? Go on," Cassie says nudging him with her elbow.
"You ok?" he asks.
Cassie nods her head.
He re-enters the living room to find Vala wiping ice cream off Keisha's while balancing Drew on her knee. Step-mother was right.
She mouths over the children's head, "she ok?"
Daniel nods his head and grins. "We have one more announcement," he says. He pauses when he sees Vala reaching into her pants pocket, and fishing for the ring. As she slips it on he says, "Vala and I got married today."
Rya'c reaches one giant hand over to pat Daniel on the back. One of the little girl's claps, and that starts general applause in the room. Olivia gets up, and runs out of the room without saying a word. Vala looks crushed, and Daniel gets up to follow his daughter.
"I've got this one," Vala says placing Drew on the floor before following the girl upstairs.
She knocks softly on Oliva's door, but hears no answer. She opens it up, and for a second she can't see anyone in the room. Well, apparently Olivia expected to be followed because she is under the bed.
Vala lays down on the floor with her head next to the girl's and they sit in silence for a long minute. Finally, Vala says, "You were happy at the not-a-marriage right? Did I do something wrong since then?"
"Did I?" the girl asks in a voice that is more like a sob than anything else.
"No of course not!" Vala says putting herself at an odd, and slightly painful angle in order to deliver a hug onto the girl.
"Really? Because when it was just me, and my brothers a "not-a-wedding" was good enough. Then suddenly there is another baby involved, and the marriage had to be real. Is it just because it's yours?"
"Honey, I think of you are mine too. That's part of what this wedding is about. I want to be able to claim you guys better. Honestly, your father and I didn't think this was that big of a deal. We were more or less married already. I'm really sorry that we upset you."
"You didn't even invite me to your wedding."
"We didn't invite anyone. We were married in city hall. We already did the huge wedding with all of our friends and family, this was just a formality. We would have waited until you were with us if we knew it was important to you. I'm sorry."
Olivia sniffled, "I guess it was stupid. I just always thought that if you got married you'd include us."
Vala turns to her remember her own orphan dreams from childhood, and that the girl beside her is, really, an orphan. "It's not stupid. I think every little kid who has parents that aren't married to each other dreams about their parent's wedding. I didn't really think of it that way or I would have been sure to include you. Actually, I guess, my flaw was that I didn't think you'd think of me as your parent."
"I'm sorry," Olivia says.
"Don't be! I'm unbelievably honored to be your mum!"
"You know Daniel proposed to Cassie before he did to my mom?" Olivia says.
"No, I didn't realize he liked his girls' that young," Vala teases.
Olivia rolls her eyes, "No, like he took her on a walk, and he got her a necklace, and he asked her if it would be ok with her if he married her mother. I don't know, I guess I always thought it would be like that if you ever decided to marry Dad."
"You wanted me to ask you before I married him," Vala repeats.
"Not exactly, I don't know, I guess I just wanted to feel like you were choosing me, and not just him."
Vala smiles at her, "Olivia Jackson, would you do me he honor of adopting you?"
She shakes her head, "I don't want you to do something just because you feel like you have to. Just because I asked you to."
"That's not why I'm doing this. I'm doing this because you are the most wonderful kid I have ever had the privilege of knowing. I'm doing this, because in a couple of months, I am going to have a daughter, and I want everyone to know that I already have one."
"Adria?" Olivia teases.
"Ok, two," Vala says with a grin, "Olivia, I so would not offer to do this if I didn't want to. I could get out of this conversation easy with an 'I love you' and the buying of a necklace on my way home from work. I'm choosing not to do that. I am choosing to make sure that you never doubt again that when I choose to be a member of this family I choose you as well as your father."
Olivia's eyes brim over with tears, and she slides out from behind the bed enough so that she can wrap her arms around Vala. The two share a long silent hug before Olivia backs up a bit and says, "Vala?"
"You still want me to pick you up a necklace on my way home from work, don't you?" Vala asks.
"Yes, please, I'm partial to amethyst myself," Olivia says.
"I am so rubbing off on you," Vala says.
"Well, I have to take after my Mum."
The Australian word, completely accidental, slips in. Olivia is claiming her as much as she is claiming the girl.