Disclaimer: I don't own Love Actually.

Dad.

It wasn't a new word (obviously). He had obviously said the word millions of times in his life.

Sam was little when he had married his late wife. Daniel was the only father Sam had ever known, Joanna being a single mother after her boyfriend had walked out, of course. He and Sam loved each other very much, you could tell that by just looking at them. They had only grown closer since Sam had confessed his crush on his classmate.

But did he ever expect Sam to call him anything other than "Daniel" the rest of his life? No, he did not. He did not expect to be called "Dad", nonetheless. (Maybe Dan or Danny?).

So when Sam was running throughout the airport to stop Joanna and tell her how he felt, that's what he thought about. Sam had called him his father.

But maybe he was just imagining it? Possibly, I mean, he was more than a stepdad to Sam, so maybe it was his imagination playing tricks on him, telling him what he really wanted to hear. He felt like Sam was his own, not a little boy that had become his son when he had married Joanna years ago.

So, he wanted to try it again. See if he was hearing things. He got into the car with Sam, a huge smile on his stepson's face.

"She's coming back in a year, you know," Sam blurted out halfway back to their house in the car.

"Oh, is she really?" Daniel said.

"Yeah. Can we be there at the airport?"

"Sure."

"You know, Dad, I think you should tell Carol."

Dad. He'd said it again, and it took all Daniel's will not to smile at the word.

"Is that right?" Daniel inquired.

"Yep," Sam nodded. "I mean, she's nice, you like her, her son Tommy is really cool."

"I'll think about it."

There was silence the rest of the way back to the house, which was about ten or so minutes. Sam headed straight up to bed, since it was past his bedtime.

"You all settled?" Daniel said, coming into Sam's room just before he turned out the light.

"Yeah," Sam replied. Daniel turned the light off, but before he was able to close the door, Sam said, "Dad?"

Daniel turned back around and turned the light back on.

"Yeah, buddy?"

Sam hesitated for a moment, debating with himself if he should say these next few words.

"I love you," Sam finally said.

Daniel smiled.

"Love you too, son," Daniel said, turning out the light and heading to bed himself. He smiled to himself as he got under the covers and turned off his own bedside lamp.

Dad.

He could get used to that.

Yay! So I love family moments (if you couldn't already tell from some other one shots). I just felt like Sam and Daniel's story was amazing, and how he Sam called Daniel "Dad".

Until next time!

P.S. Any Maze Runner fans catch that "Tommy" thing? I didn't know the kids name, and since I'm kind of obsessed with the first Maze Runner book and movie, I just had to put it in there!