AnimeKiwi369: I promised you all a one-shot with Kalin and here it is! Quite frankly, I think this is one of my more adorable fanfictions. And this is a part of my "Twenty Year Ago" saga, just to let you all know.

And I would like to thank my good friend, ObsessiveCompulsiveValkyrie, for beta-ing this for me. Her stories are amazing, and you should read them if you get the time.

So let's get onto the story. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's or its characters. I just own the storyline, my single OC in the story, and a few mentioned OCs. Please enjoy. Oh, and I apologize is Kalin is OOC.

Dark Signer to Daddy

Kalin stared into the tiny blue eyes that were staring back at him. One year and seven months old. Wispy ice-blue hair resided on the tiny head and simple blue eyes stared at him with intrigue. The former Dark Signer was sitting cross-legged on the floor in his and his wife's living room, just looking at the eyes that were staring at him. The tiny person across from him was also sitting as cross-legged as he could. The golden-eyed man was still grasping how fascinated the little baby, his and Misty's son, could be with just staring at him.

He was still grasping how fascinated he could be with staring back at his son, Lane Jacob Kessler.

Personally, the former leader of the Enforcers was very glad to be a parent. It was just kind of strange, since he was still getting the hang of it. He was a little nervous of how he would do in four months, when he and his wife would be parents of two. The model was five months into her pregnancy with their second child, which they found out was a daughter a couple of days ago. He was the only one of his friends that was going on a second child though. At least his friends weren't teasing him about that.

Each of his friends were also parents to a single child. At least for the moment. Crow and his wife, Dove, had a daughter, Raven, but they were definitely planning on having more children in the future. The ginger was a good father and liked to spend time with and dote on his baby girl. Jack and Carly had a son, Jonathon, although he wasn't sure if he was going to have more children. Oddly enough, the blonde Signer was proud to be a father. And Yusei and Akiza had a daughter, Cyli-Elizabeth, though they called her Copper. The cobalt-eyed man was like the ginger and loved spending time with his daughter.

His son and the other children spent a lot of time together. And when the families got together and the babies were all together, he had noticed his son was already smitten with the dark-haired man and burgundy-haired woman's daughter. Their daughter had also seemed to like little Lane.

Kalin continued to watch as his infant son stared at him. The baby was nineteen months old, but hadn't started to talk. Other than small one-syllable words and baby words. He laughed and crawled around and was overall fairly energetic, like any other baby. He started walking around a year old, however, he still liked to crawl or be carried. But he was also a quiet infant, whose curious eyes didn't stop staring until he understood what it was. He also was a bit of a grabby child as of late.

It was sometimes strange to think he was a father. Less than ten years ago, he had wanted nothing more than to destroy Yusei and the other Signers in his lust for revenge. Then he had wanted to die and just give up so badly when he had been in Crash Town. Well, before his friend came to rescue him and show him life was worth living. And it had barely been a little more than five years ago since his bout with throat cancer. During the whole ordeal, he didn't think he'd live to see himself as a father.

But, by some miracle, he had survived through it, and was rid of the horrid disease. Because of it, he was even happier to be able to be a parent.

Granted, it hadn't been easy, especially in the first several months or during teething. It had been even more difficult when his son had been four months old and Misty had had to go out of town for two weeks for a modeling shoot overseas. Kalin hadn't gotten much sleep in those two weeks because his son cried so much. He had been so frustrated that he had broken down into tears, although that was attributed to his lack of sleep. At that point, he hadn't been sure if he was cut out for fatherhood.

However, when he'd gotten that upset, his son's cries had diminished into whimpers at seeing him like that and just stared at him, like he was doing now. When he'd seen his son like that, just staring at him, everything had become clear. Getting discouraged and feeling helpless, that was when he knew he was a parent. That he was ready to be a parent. With that realization, he had also recognized that he didn't want his son to see him upset. It wasn't going to help.

An upset child seeing their parent, the one they turned to when they were scared, frustrated, it made them scared. That nothing would be all right. He was a source of security to his son. When the baby saw him so frustrated and down, his son just didn't know what to do. That was when everything made sense to the former Dark Signer.

That night had been the first time he'd played the harmonica to Lane. It had calmed both him and the baby down enough for there to be an understanding between the two.

Kalin smiled, thinking of the memory. Ever since that night, he'd felt a strong bond with his son. Lane kept looking at him, titling his small head ever so slightly to the left, curious as to what the golden-eyed man was thinking. The ice-blue-haired man chuckled softly as he reached out a hand and ruffled the baby's soft hair.

The infant made a baby sound and stood cautiously, slowly walking over to him, into his lap. He climbed his father's torso slightly and grabbed the harmonica around his neck, making a gurgling sound as he played with the instrument.

"Careful, Lane," he told the baby, wrapping an arm around the tiny body. The baby let go of the small instrument, but put his small hands near his mouth and made another baby sound. The father touched the harmonica with his free hand, "Would you like me to play something?"

The baby stared at him with wide eyes, as if understanding. He smiled again and carefully set the baby in his lap, "I need to hold this with both hands, though."

Kalin took the harmonica in his hands, bringing it to his lips. He played the instrument softly so as not to hurt his son's ears. His eyes closed as he played, concentrating on the music. He could feel his son sit still in his lap. He didn't even have to open an eye to tell Lane was mesmerized by the sound the harmonica made. He played for a few minutes until the song came to an end. He looked at his son, who was still in awe, and ruffled the light-colored hair again. The baby clapped his small hands together and laughed.

The former Dark Signer took his son's small hand, still amazed how tiny his son was compared to him. And to think he'd been even tinier. He remembered when both he and Misty had done imprints of each of their hands on top of one another after their son had been born. The planned on doing that with their daughter as well and any other children they had. His infant grabbed his thumb, but let go after a second. He touched the harmonica again.

The golden-eyed man shook his head amused, "You can be so strange sometimes, Lane."

"Da…" the blue-eyed infant said slowly and a bit clumsily, "…ddy."

The former Dark Signer looked at his son, unsure of what he had said. He picked up the baby, so he could be eyelevel with the small person, "What did you just say, Lane?"

The baby grinned his goofy baby grin and carefully pointed a small finger at him, "Da…ddy… dad…dy. Daddy."

Kalin smiled at hearing his son's first real words. He set Lane down again, ruffling his hair again, "That's right. I'm your father. You're daddy."

"Daddy," the baby said again, clapping his hands again. The baby looked at the small silver instrument, pointing at it, "Om…om..mick…a."

"Not quite," he correctly gently. "Har…mon…ica…" he told him, sounding each syllable out. The baby shaped his mouth to form the words, but couldn't quite get it; he pouted, unhappy. The ice-blue-haired man smiled slightly at his son and placed his hand over the infant's knee, "You'll get it. Let's just take things slowly, Lane."

"Daddy," the baby repeated, smiling again at knowing how to pronounce the word.

Kalin wasn't sure what more he could do to encourage his son. He just smiled and picked up his child, lightly hugging him. He held Lane in his arms and let his fatherly side show by kissing the baby's forehead lightly. It was still weird to the think how much his life changed in just a few short years. He had been a Dark Signer and now he was a father. He liked what his son was calling him.

"Daddy". It sounded right to be called that.

The fair-haired baby squirmed and let out a yawn, resting his head on his father's shoulder. The golden-eyed man let out a soft chuckle as his son's eyes closed. The baby cooed as he started falling asleep, making small mumbling sounds. Lane let out a small snore, making the ice-blue-haired duelist smile again. He held his son tightly in his grip and stood up.

"Let's put you down for a while, Lane," he said quietly, rubbing the nineteen-month-old's back as he carried him to his room.

He set his son down in his crib and pulled a couple blankets around him. The baby moved a little, but soon settled down into a comfortable sleeping position. The infant's father rubbed his head again, placing another brief kiss on his forehead. He quietly padded out of the room and back into the living room.

Kalin liked how much he'd changed for the better in the past few years. And sometimes still couldn't get over how he'd gone from Dark Signer to daddy. He smiled to himself. It just felt right to say that.

Daddy. He liked the sound that. He really liked the sound of that.

AnimeKiwi369: Like I said, I think this is one of my more adorable fanfictions. And I hope you all enjoyed seeing a softer side of Kalin, and I hope he wasn't too OOC. Either way, I'm still proud of this story. I'll also try to publish "Second War", soon! I won't dillydally any longer. I really appreciate reviews and that you all took the time to read this! Please be kind and please review! :)