2019: Blessings in Triplicate
By:
ChristianGateFan
CATEGORY: Romance
WARNINGS: None
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://christiangatefankat.110mb.com/
CHAPTER 1
Janet Sha're Jackson tilted her head to the side a bit, her mind racing to translate the symbols on the piece of paper her father held in front of her. That was…oh no, wait, now she remembered.
"That one says…'and thou shall not follow the ways of the Ori'." She grinned at him. "Funny, dad."
Daniel laughed and set down the paper he'd written the Ancient symbols on. "Thanks; you did a good job. Now say it in Ancient." The girl concentrated for a moment, and then recited the sentence in the language of the 'gate builders.
"That's right, isn't it?"
Daniel had been working with her for almost a year, since she had expressed interest in what he did, and she spoke quite good Goa'uld and Ancient now, though they were still working more on the Goa'uld. All of the hard consonants and the confusing syntax could be cumbersome for someone her age, even if she was brilliant.
"So, why don't you go work on that Spanish homework now?"
His daughter pulled a pout on him. "But, daddy, Spanish is boring. It's not as fun as learning alien stuff."
"I know," Daniel sighed. "But now you're required to take at least two years of foreign language before you get out of high school or you can't graduate. Look at it this way: since you're so smart you got to start it a couple of years early this semester, you'll have it over with before you even get to high school."
"Then I don't have to take it anymore?"
"Nope, and then you can learn more of the fun stuff with me," Daniel smiled.
"You promise?" she asked, wrapping her arms around him again and looking up at him.
He hugged her back. "I promise; I'll teach you any language out there you want to know."
"Thank you!" Janet squealed, letting go. Then she paused in front of him and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Can we do Ancient Egyptian next? I've been reading a lot of books about there, and I know its not alien but it still sounds cool."
"Sure. Now will you go do your Spanish homework?"
"Yes sir," she sighed. Then she brightened again. "And thanks!" Daniel smiled; nothing could keep that girl down for long.
Then Janet rushed out the door into the upstairs hallway of the new four-bedroom house they'd finally gotten last month, toward her own room. It was February now, and everything seemed to be going wonderfully. Daniel's only concern was that Vala had been feeling a bit under the weather for a few weeks now, but of course she insisted she was fine. If it didn't get better soon, though, he would have to insist that she let Carolyn look her over.
And speaking of Vala here she came, little Charlie on her hip. "Daniel?"
"Hmm?" Daniel strode over to where she stood in the open doorway. Vala smiled at him and handed over the baby.
"I'm really sorry, but I forgot that I have to meet Cassie and Carolyn at the mall in half an hour or so. Is that all right? You can watch both the kids, can't you?"
"Yeah, no problem; what's up?" he asked curiously.
"Nothing, really; just going to the mall," Vala answered, flashing another smile at him. But did something about it seem a little…no, never mind. Daniel decided just to smile back, but instead ended up wincing and reaching up to untangle Charlie's curious fingers from his gray-peppered brown hair.
"Whoa, ow, careful there buddy….yeah, Vala, that's fine."
"Thank you," she said gratefully, leaning in to kiss him quickly. Nothing else was really possible when one of them had a baby in their arms.
"How long will you be gone?"
"I'm not sure…just a few hours. I'll be home in time for supper," she assured him. "But then again it might not take long at all."
"Okay; you have your cell phone with you, right?"
It was a rather paranoid question, but ever since the rather bad accident that
he'd had back in December he wasn't taking any chances. This was
Vala fished the small device out of the pocket of her blue jeans and waved it in front of him. "Yes, I have it."
“Good,” Daniel nodded.
“All right then; I’ll see you later,” Vala smiled. She came closer again, pecked Charlie on the cheek with her lips and then briefly kissed her husband again. Then she turned and left. Daniel heard her stop by Janet’s room to inform their daughter of where she was going, and then go down the stairs and out the door.
Daniel looked at Charlie. “Well, guess its just me, you, and your sister now, huh?” The six-month-old only giggled. “Right…guess I’m not getting any work done watching you. But that’s okay; I’ve got all day. What do you want to do?”
Charlie bounced a bit.
“How about a movie?
Charlie bounced more and waved his arms around some.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Daniel grinned, striding from his office and out into the hall. He walked over to Janet’s room, where the girl was sprawled on her stomach on her bed, her head buried in her Spanish book.
“Hey, Janet?” She looked up. “You want to come downstairs and watch a movie while your mom’s gone? I’ve got to watch Charlie so I can’t work, so…”
Daniel didn’t have to say anymore; Janet shut her textbook and hopped neatly off the bed and too the floor in one fluid move. “Sure!” she replied happily. “Can I carry Charlie?”
Daniel raised an eyebrow. “If you’re careful.”
Janet stopped in front of him and crossed her arms. “You know I’ll be careful, dad. Please?”
“I don’t know…you want Janet to carry you, Charlie?” Daniel asked teasingly
“Daaad.”
“Okay, okay, sorry,” he laughed, and held Charlie down a bit so Janet could take him. The girl carefully took him and held him as she’d been taught, and Charlie, just as happy with his sister as with one of his parents, giggled again and started to pull at her hair and clothes.
“Be good, Charlie; don’t stretch my shirt,” Janet scolded smilingly.
Daniel grinned. “You’re the one that asked to hold him.”
“I know,” she laughed. “I don’t mind.” Then she went for the stairs. “Come on, Charlie, let's go watch a movie. Dad, can we have popcorn?”
“If we have some,” he answered, starting down after her. “You want hot chocolate with that?”
“Yes sir!”
“Okay. Go on in the living room and you and Charlie decide what you want to watch; I’ll get it.”
Janet nodded and heading into the living room at the bottom of the stairs, while Daniel turned to go into the kitchen. He stood in the middle of it for a minute or so, trying to remember just where Vala kept the popcorn and hot chocolate in the first place. Moving after spending almost ten years in the same house—the one he and Vala had bought just after they’d married—could really throw a person off.
Finally, Daniel resorted to randomly searching the cabinets, until he found what he was looking for: an empty box of popcorn, and an all but barren can of hot chocolate powder. Sighing, he threw the useless containers away and shuffled into the living room.
“Dad, we want to watch this one!” Janet said the moment she saw him, holding up an old Finding Nemo DVD. She was crouched in from of the shelf where the movies were kept, and Charlie was sitting on the floor beside her looking at the pictures on the DVD covers.
“That’s fine, honey, but I’ve got bad news: we’re out of both hot chocolate and popcorn,” Daniel sighed.
“We are?” Janet asked. “Awww…”
Daniel nodded, seeing how disappointed she was, and thought for a minute. “But you know what? It’s Saturday, and the roads haven’t been too bad this week, so…lets just go get some.”
Janet jumped up. “Yes! Thank you dad!” she grinned, running across the room to throw her arms around him. Daniel stumbled back a step and almost tripped on the hems of his blue-jeans.
"You're welcome," he chuckled. "But we'll have to take Uncle Jack's truck."
One of the
"That's fine; I like Uncle Jack's truck." Janet replied, letting go of him and setting down the DVD in her hands.
Daniel took the few more steps over to the video shelf and scooped Charlie up into his arms. The baby held onto a couple of the DVD cases and he had to pry them from his hands. "Not right now, buddy; we'll watch movies when we get back. Right now we're going to get your coat and your shoes on."
* * * *
Vala resettled her purse on her
shoulders and glanced around for her friends as she strode into the food court
at the mall in
"Hey," Carolyn greeted her smilingly.
"Am I late?" she asked, sliding into one of the empty seats at the table once she got there.
"Nope, we were just early," Cassie informed her, a wide smile on her face.
Vala looked at her. "You too?"
The younger woman blushed a bit. "Well…yeah. Wait, you mean you…?"
"Yep," Vala nodded, and then sighed and propped her elbows on the table in front of her and her chin in her hands. "I don't believe this."
Carolyn smiled triumphantly. "I was right."
"All three of us?" Cassie asked.
"Apparently," Vala commented.
Cassie almost confused. "But…how is that possible? The chances of it are…well, not that great."
"But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen," Carolyn pointed out.
"And it did," Vala added. "But it's not too surprising actually, considering that we were all snowed in for several days at the same time, not to mention that Cassie had just gotten married and Daniel and I had just settled a few little proble--"
"Okay!" Both Cassie and Carolyn said it at the same time, both holding up one or both hands to stop her explanation.
Carolyn continued. "Thank you, Vala, but we get it. We're all married; we don't need diagrams."
Vala only shrugged at that, but Cassie was turning a very interesting shade of dark pink. "All right then, what are we going to do about this?"
Cassie sat forward. "Right…I mean, why did you want us to meet here? We see each other every weekday at the SGC."
"True, but at the SGC it would be much easier for someone we know to overhear us, and it wouldn't be any fun if anyone found out before we decided to tell them," Carolyn answered matter-of-factly.
"Oh…good point…" Cassie said, but she fidgeted nervously. "But…I'm a little worried about what Skaara will think. Isn't this a little soon?"
Vala shook her head. "Not
necessarily. Then, of course, there's the fact that Skaara's
not from earth. The culture he's from is very different than modern
Cassie blinked at her for a moment, trying to sort out what she'd just said. "So you're saying he won't think its unusual."
"Exactly."
"Ah." Then she smiled sheepishly. "I can't wait to tell him."
"Speaking of which, I have an idea about that," Carolyn said, smiling mischievously.
Vala raised an eyebrow. "What kind of idea?"
"Well, of course if we decide we want to tell our husbands ourselves, as I'm sure you will, Cassie, since this is the first for you…"
Cassie nodded an affirmative.
"Right, that's perfectly fine, but I think we should tell everybody else at once. Valentine's Day is next week; we could have a party and announce it there. What do you think?"
Vala grinned. "I think you're a genius. But this is our first time. I say Daniel and Cameron should wait until then to hear it too. I want to see the looks on their faces."
Carolyn grinned in return. "Exactly what I was thinking. Is that all right with you, Cassie? You go ahead and tell Skaara yourself, but don't tell him about me and Vala. Everyone else will find out about all three of us at the party."
Cassie nodded vigorously. "Yeah, yeah that's good. But I think we should have the party somewhere beside Dad and Sam's house. We've used their place enough recently, what with Christmas and New Years and all."
"We can have it at our house," Vala offered. "We have a bigger one now."
"Do you have enough unpacked though?" Carolyn asked. "We don't want to get in the way."
Vala shook her head. "No, it's fine. We've got a lot unpacked, actually, and most of what isn't is in the garage or upstairs."
Carolyn nodded in agreement. "Great! Then we have a plan. Now, who's hungry?"
CHAPTER 2
“Janet, wait right here. Let me get your brother out of the truck first,” Daniel instructed as his daughter climbed out down to the grocery store’s parking lot. He came around the front of the vehicle to the other side where she and the door he needed to open to get Charlie out were, and saw Janet lean back against the truck to wait for him.
Daniel smiled at her and opened the back door to extract Charlie from his seat. The baby started to grin again the moment he saw him, and happily let his father un-strap him and pick him up. Janet shut the vehicle door for him.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Janet answered, and then her attention was attracted by something else. “Hey look, there’s Travis!”
As they came out of in-between the rows of parked vehicles, Daniel looked up at the sound of a car door closing to see the teenage boy they knew just arriving as well.
“Hey, Travis!” Janet called, and then before Daniel could do anything she took off across the parking lot toward him.
“Janet!” he yelled in frustration. It didn’t matter though. It wasn’t far, and she was already there, throwing her arms around Travis’s waist. They’d known the boy for a year or two, since he’d begun working at this particular grocery store, but in the past couple of months—since Christmas—he had become more of a family friend. Daniel sighed and crossed over to them.
“Whoa! Hi, Janet,” Travis was saying. He was smiling just a bit in amusement, which was definitely an improvement over the last time Daniel had seen him.
“Hey,” Daniel said as he reached them. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” Travis shrugged as Janet let go of him. “How are you guys?”
“We’re fine,” Daniel assured him. “What about you? How are you holding up?”
The teen shrugged. “Okay, I guess. I mean, it’s only been a week…I don’t know.”
Travis’s grandmother—his last surviving family—had passed away the previous week, and he had taken a few days off. Daniel hadn’t known he would be back today, though.
“Coming back to work already?”
“I don’t really have a choice. I have to live, and all.”
Daniel nodded slowly. “I know. Are you sure you’re all right, though?”
“I’ll be fine, Doctor Jackson, thanks,” Travis said, obviously trying to be convincing.
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Daniel?”
That hint of a smile came back. “Never enough, sir. Old habits die hard.”
Daniel shrugged—well, he certainly didn’t have a problem with Travis having a habit of being respectful; it was hard to find many who were anymore.
Janet hugged Travis’s arm. “You’ll be okay Travis; we’ll help you.”
Travis blinked and glanced down at her again—and broke into the first real smile Daniel had seen on him in a while. “Thanks, Janet.”
* * * *
By the time Daniel, Janet, and Charlie had finished their shopping, Travis was at his register, so they purposely chose his line. The teen glanced over their products and raised a quizzical eyebrow.
“Movie night?” he asked.
Daniel nodded, handing Charlie over to Janet so he could pay for the items. “Yeah, more like movie day, though. Vala’s at the mall, so I’ve got some time with these two, so…”
“Cool; have fun,” Travis said as he started to ring up the food items.
“Don’t worry, we will,” Janet grinned.
“Yeah, speaking of which, we might as well watch more tonight…Hey, Travis, when is your shift over?” Daniel asked.
He glanced up. “Uhm, seven today.”
"Great, that's perfect. You want to come over when you're done? Believe me, we'll still have plenty of this stuff left to eat," Daniel said, motioning to the packages of hot chocolate, pop corn, and added ice-cream Janet had talked him into.
Travis looked at him for a moment. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure; I wouldn't ask you if I wasn't sure. Come on, it’s Saturday, everybody needs to stop long enough for at least one movie," Daniel encouraged.
"Yeah, that's a great idea! Come on, Travis, please?" Janet begged.
Travis seemed to think for a moment or so, until he finally nodded. "Okay, sure. Thanks," he said, smiling again now.
Daniel smiled back as he paid for the groceries. "No problem--so see you about seven-fifteen then?"
"Right," Travis nodded, handing over their bag.
"Okay, great."
Janet flashed Travis another smile. "See you later."
"Bye. And thanks again!"
Travis waved, Daniel took Charlie back from Janet and let
her carry the bag, and the
* * * *
When Vala got home that afternoon, she found her entire crew in the living room, stretched out on the couch, munching popcorn that had probably long since gone cold, and watching the last few minutes of Finding Nemo. Several pieces of said popcorn were scattered on the floor in front of the couch, along with half of the throw pillows that had been on it. The movie credits started to roll as she stepped into the living room after dumping her purse, keys, shoes, and coat in the entryway.
Her hand went to her hips, even though from the door to the living room she was behind the couch, and the others couldn't see her. "Daniel, I ask you to watch the kids and you help them wreck the living room?"
Daniel yelped and popped up off the couch, displacing Janet in the process. "Oh! Hey Vala, sorry, didn't hear you come in."
"Hi, mom," Janet smiled from where she sat. Charlie, who was sitting on the floor playing with his toys--which were also everywhere--looked up too.
Vala surveyed the mess. "Hi…"
"Don't worry, we'll clean it up," Daniel promised. "Oh, and Travis is coming over this evening to watch another movie. You'll watch with us too, right?"
She shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
"Good," Daniel smiled.
Vala smiled back and headed into the kitchen with the plastic bags she was still carrying. Daniel caught up with her, took them from her and set them in there for her before coming back to catch her in the doorway and kiss her.
"Daniel, the mistletoe isn't there anymore, you know," she informed him, after pulling back quickly in surprise.
He shrugged. "We had it up there for the entire month of December; old habits die hard," he grinned. "That a problem?"
Vala grinned now. "Nope." Daniel kissed her again, and this time she was ready. It wasn't until a resounding "Eww!" echoed from the living room that they broke off. Vala raised an eyebrow at their daughter. "You think it's gross now, dear, but wait a few years." Daniel was chuckling softly.
Janet made a playfully disgusted face, and bolted back to the other side of the couch where they couldn't see her.
Daniel let go of her, and Vala continued into the kitchen.
"What took you so long?" he asked.
Vala shrugged. "We had a lot to do," she answered, pulling one of the shopping bags up onto the counter. Daniel peeked into it.
"Why does this look like pink and red party supplies?"
"Because it is pink and red party supplies."
Daniel looked confused. "As in Valentine's Day? Since when have we had a Valentine's Day party?"
Vala began to pull groceries from the other bags and put them in the cabinets. Daniel helped. "Since we decided we wanted to have one this year."
"Okay….but where is it? We've used Jack's house enough."
"We girls thought so too, so we decided to have it here."
Daniel stopped. "Whoa--here? We just moved in."
Vala looked at him, one hand on one hip. "Sure, three weeks ago. It looks decent enough downstairs, Daniel, and this house is certainly bigger than our last one. We have enough room." And we're going to need it, she thought smugly. Of course, Daniel didn't know that yet.
Daniel sighed. "Vala, you know I don't like it when you plan things like that without talking to me first."
Vala crossed over to his and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Sorry, but it was kind of a last-minute decision, since Valentine's Day is just next week. Come on, Daniel, it's not that big of a deal, is it?"
He settled his arms around her in return and eyed her. "No, I guess not, but I wish I'd had more warning."
“All right, we won’t do it again, I promise. Say it’s all right, please,” Vala implored, giving him out of her best pout faces.
Daniel laughed. “All right, all right, fine,” he relented.
“Thank you,” she grinned.
He kissed her forehead and let go of her. “You’re welcome. Now, if you’ll excuse me, now that you’re home I need to get some work done before tonight.” He turned to go, but then spun back again, smiling mischievously. “Oh, and speaking of tonight, the only reason you got off the hook easy is because I didn’t ask you before inviting Travis over tonight.”
“Oh?” Vala asked, raising an eyebrow. “What’s he coming over for?”
Daniel shrugged. “Movies and junk food. I hope you didn’t buy any, ‘cause the kids and I got plenty at the grocery store earlier.”
“That’s where you saw Travis.”
“Right.”
“How is he doing?”
“Better,” Daniel answered slowly. “But I thought he could use some more cheering up.”
Vala nodded. “Okay…what time is he coming?”
Daniel leaned briefly against the kitchen door-frame. “Uhm, he said he got off at seven, so he should be here about a quarter after or so.”
“All right,” Vala said, and then bent to finish putting away the items in the bags.
“You want some help with that?” Daniel asked, stepping forward again.
“No, you’ve helped plenty. I’ve just got a couple more things to put away. Go on back to your office,” Vala replied flashing a smile at him.
Daniel smiled back, and then was gone; leaving Vala to smuggle into their room and stash in the back of the closet the other things she had gotten at the mall—things Daniel wouldn’t be allowed to know existed until after the party. Granted, they still had plenty of baby paraphernalia, since Charlie was only six months old, but she, Cassie, and Carolyn had all been so excited that they had decided to shop together for just a few things. None of them would need any of it for a while, but it had just been so much fun. Even the two of them that had been pregnant before had never been pregnant at the same time as any close friend, and they were already enjoying themselves immensely.
Vala smiled to herself as she slipped back into the kitchen, plastic bag stashed and effectively hidden. This alleged Valentines Day party was definitely going to be one of the more interesting parties SG-1 and family had ever had.
* * * *
Daniel was startled out of an archaeological stupor by the sound of the doorbell ringing. From upstairs, he heard Janet shout "I'll get it!" and run into the entryway. By the time Daniel got downstairs, Travis was inside, the front door was closed again, and Janet was hugging their visitor.
"Hey," Daniel said, smiling in greeting as he came in.
Janet let go of Travis and the teen looked up, straightened, and smiled back. "Hey, Doctor Jackson. Thanks again for the invite."
"No problem," Daniel answered, happy to help. The boy certainly looked better than he had when they had first seen him earlier that day.
Vala came into the entryway then, Charlie on her hip. "Daniel, don't make him stand in here; he came to watch movies with us," she teased.
"We were about to go into the living room," Daniel countered, rolling his eyes and motioning that they should do just that. Janet went immediately, going in ahead of them and heading for the video shelf.
"What are we gonna watch?" the girl asked.
Vala glanced at Daniel, who shrugged, then looked back at their daughter. Well, Travis is the guest, so why don't you and him pick something out?"
Janet looked questioningly from her mother to their guest. "That okay?"
"Sure" Travis nodded.
"Then get over here and help me pick, silly," the girl grinned. Travis smiled sheepishly and went over to the shelf where she was. "What do you want to watch?" Janet asked.
"It depends; what've you got?"
Daniel smiled and sat down on the couch, where Vala was already sitting. Charlie crawled out of his mother's arms and over into his father's lap, making a few inarticulate sounds that hadn't quite become words yet. He was smart though; he was getting there.
After a few moments, Janet and Travis had decided on Star Wars Episode Two, which had always been a favorite of Janet's, and apparently of Travis's too. As the movie played on though, it became apparent that the too youngsters liked it for very different reasons. Travis seemed to most enjoy the battle scenes--especially the one in the arena--while Daniel knew that Janet liked it for the love story. Whatever.
By the time that movie was over, Vala
had long since gone to put Charlie to bed and come back, there were empty
popcorn bowls on the floor, and it was just past
"Can we watch another one, dad?" Janet asked, popping up to gather the empty bowls.
"It's kind of late, Janet…" Vala began.
Daniel shrugged. "But it's Saturday night," he said, then glanced over at Travis, who was in the plush chair nearest the couch. "I don't know, do you have any reason to get home early?"
Travis shook his head. "I don't."
At this, Daniel looked back at Vala, as did Janet as she came back in from running to put the popcorn bowls in the kitchen sink.
"Please, mom?" she asked.
Vala looked thoughtful for a moment, then sighed. "All right, one more."
"Yay!" Janet exclaimed. "Can we go back and watch Episode One?"
"I don't see why not," Daniel answered. "What do you think, Travis?"
"Sounds good to me," the teen agreed.
"Okay, I'll get it," Janet said happily. She plucked the movie off the shelf, exchanged it with the one they had watched that was still in the player, put the first one up, pressed play on the new movie, and then settled herself back on the couch between her parents. All of this she did in about fifteen seconds.
Daniel chuckled and wrapped his arms around his daughter as the movie began to play.
CHAPTER 3
Bands played, the people of Naboo cheered--Human and Gungan alike--and peace was declared. Then, of course, there was that entirely obvious look passed between Queen Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, but soon after that the credits rolled, the singing cutting to the end title theme of Star Wars. Daniel glanced down at Janet, who had fallen asleep against him, and then up to see Travis grinning over at them in amusement. Something about the expression made his brain start to form a parallel between what he'd just seen in a brief moment on the movie and the present--but he immediately stopped it from continuing--ridiculous.
Vala stood and quietly put the DVD away and turned off the electronics; light from the kitchen came them enough brightness to still see. Travis stood as well, and helped her bring the empty ice cream bowls to the kitchen.
Daniel secured Janet in his arms and got up as well, groaning a bit. She had already grown over three inches just since this time last year, and with that came more weight--not to mention that at the moment it was all dead weight, since she was asleep. And Daniel wasn't as young as he used to be.
Vala came back into a living room a moment later as Daniel made for the stairs with Janet in his arms, and immediately came over to him, frowning.
"Daniel, what are you doing? You'll hurt yourself doing that; just wake her up long enough to get her upstairs," she said softly.
"There's no reason to do that. She's not that heavy, Vala," Daniel protested quietly, shifting her weight. He was lying, of course--but he had his pride to maintain. "What?" he asked, smirking a bit. "You wouldn't have even said anything last year."
She crossed her arms. "Yes, but that was before her growth spurt, and last year you weren't developing a bad knee, either."
Daniel winced. "You have to continue to remind me that I'm turning into Jack O'Neill…" he muttered. He was already just a couple of years shy of the age Jack had been when he'd left SG-1. He sighed. "Look, I've already got her; I'm fine."
Vala stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "All right. You get her to bed then. I'll be in the kitchen. Travis offered to help do the dishes we messed up with junk food tonight."
Daniel smiled. "That's nice. He's good kid." She nodded in agreement, then headed back toward the kitchen, and Daniel started up the stairs. But halfway up the steps, something happened.
Daniel gasped as sudden pain clamped like a vise around his chest and the rest of his torso. Grunting, he lowered to his knees on the stairs and set Janet down on the step in front of him before he dropped her. Another wave of pain came, and he leaned heavily against wall, eyes clenching shut.
What's happening? He thought in panic. I can't be having a heart attack! Pain swept over the entire middle section of his body, and he knew that wasn't it. It was something…else. He heard something in front of him, movement, and then a hand on his shoulder. A small, worried voice penetrated his pain-clouded brain.
"Dad? Daddy??"
"-'m here," he grunted out.
"Daddy, what's wrong?" Janet asked, voice rising. "Daddy?"
Daniel opened his mouth to give some kind of answer, something to keep that painful worried tone out of his daughter's voice, but another swift rush of agony doubled him over. He felt Janet's arm catch him and hold him up partially, enough to keep him from toppling down the stairs.
"MOM!" she screamed. "Mom, Travis, HELP!"
Over the roaring in his ears Daniel could just make out pounding footsteps come toward the stairs and then up them behind him.
"Daniel!"
"Doctor Jackson!"
The two worried voices came at once, and then someone was helping him sit back up more, back against the wall again. Then Vala's gentle hands were holding him up, one of them stroking his forehead, pushing back the hair there and calling his name.
"-niel. Daniel, what is it, what's wrong?
"I don't kn-ow," he gasped. Then the world faded out.
* * * *
Vala and Janet caught Daniel when he slumped again. Vala pushed him back up, but his eyes were closed and his face slack.
"Daniel, come on," she gulped, shaking him a bit.
"Mom, what's going on??" Janet questioned, fear in her small blue eyes. Vala looked at her but didn't have time to answer before Daniel woke again and gasped. He sagged against the wall, moaning once.
Travis's eyes were wide. "Doctor Jackson?"
Daniel turned his head to look at them, but his expression was taut with pain.
"What hurts?" Vala pressed worriedly. He didn't answer, just sucked in a sharp breath and wrapped his arms around his chest.
"That's not good…" Travis commented with concern. Abruptly he stood on the stairs and started down. "I'll call 911--"
"Mom…"
"No wait," Vala stopped him. The teen stopped and looked at her a bit strangely, but for reasons of national security she couldn't explain why she didn't want him to do that. "We...we don't have time for that. Just help me get him to the car and I'll bring him to the emergency room." Of course, it wouldn't be the emergency room, but the SGC--or straight to Carolyn. "Can you stay here with the kids?"
Travis nodded a little hesitantly, but only because whatever was happening was probably scaring the heck out of the kid.
"But mom--"
Vala turned quickly back to her daughter. "But 'buts', Janet. You're staying here." She turned back to Travis, who was already back up the steps helping her lift a groaning Daniel off the stairs. "Thank you."
"No problem," the teen gulped.
With one of his arms over each of their shoulders, Vala and Travis got Daniel into the back seat of her car and laid him down. Janet brought Vala's purse out to her as she climbed into the driver's seat.
"Charlie is asleep upstairs, so he shouldn't be a problem, just look in on him every now and then; Janet can show you where he is, and I'm sure between the two of you you can figure out what to do if he starts crying, but he should be all right," Vala supplied in rush, fumbling to get the key into the hole and be heard over Daniel's moans and shaking breaths.
Janet stood by Travis just outside the open car door listening to this, eyes brimming with tears by now. "Mom, Daddy's going to be right, won't he?"
Vala nodded quickly, reached out and pulled her daughter to her. "He'll be fine. Don't worry about us, all right?" Janet hugged back tightly and then let go, casting a worried glance at her father in the backseat before letting her mother kiss her cheek and getting out of the way so she could shut the car door.
Vala pulled out, and once the house was out of sight she spoke.
"Daniel, are you all right back there?" she asked, looking at him in the rearview mirror.
"Stupid question," he hissed. He was already half doubled over again, breath coming hard and sometimes rapidly, interspersed with grunts and moans.
"Do you have any idea what this is?" she queried.
"Yeah…but couldn't say so...back there," Daniel gasped.
"What?" Vala said, voice rising.
"Something to do with…something off-world."
"That's it? That's the theory?" she asked in disbelief. "You've got to have more than that--some kind of idea about a specific planet or thing that would do this, whatever this is."
"In case you haven't noticed I'm not in a position to think right now, Vala!" he almost shouted in return, quickly in a rush just to get the words out before the next moan became a partial shout of pain.
Vala's hands tightened on the steering wheel. She swallowed hard, tears stinging her eyes. "Just hold on," she told him, pulling her cell phone from her purse. She dialing the Mitchell's number, and after several rings a very groggy Cameron Mitchell answered.
"'Ello?" he asked sleepily.
"Cameron, this is Vala. I need to talk to Carolyn--now."
"Okay…just a second…" he trailed off and moved away from the phone. There was an annoyed feminine groan in background, and the rustling of bedsheets, and a moment later Carolyn's voice came over the line.
"Is there
something about the name '
Vala huffed. "Look, Carolyn, I'm sorry, but we've got an emergency here."
"All right, I'm sorry, what is it?" she asked, suddenly all business.
"Daniel."
"Why am I not
surprised?"
"That's not funny. He's in pain, Carol, and a lot of it, and we don't know why."
"What kind?
Where?"
Vala pulled the phone away from her face and glanced back at her husband. "Daniel, what hurts? How bad is it?"
He groaned. "Everything from my shoulders to my waist--and bad." Vala repeated that into the phone to their doctor and friend, who sighed.
"Any other
symptoms?"
"No, not that I know of."
"All right, our house it between yours and the SGC, right? Stop by here first and let me look at him. Right now I can't tell any more than you can. That doesn't sound like anything normal."
"Tell me about it," Vala gulped. "That's why I had to get him out of the house. We had a guest over who doesn't know about the stargate." She hear Carolyn start to say something else, but then realized she was about to miss the turn to the Mitchell's house, and swerved.
"What was
that?"
"Nothing, just headed your way. We'll be there in about five minutes."
"All right, I'm
hanging up then. I'll be ready," Carolyn told her. "Will you need help getting Daniel in
the house?"
"Probably."
"Okay,
“Daniel, how are you doing back there?”
“-‘m alive,” he grunted. Vala glanced at him in the mirror again and saw that he was completely curled in on himself now.
“We’re going to Cameron and Carolyn’s house first, all right? We’re almost there.” She saw him nod, then turned her full attention back to the road. Not soon enough, the Mitchell’s house came into view. The downstairs lights were already on. Vala pulled into the driveway, shut off the engine and jumped out. By the time she got around to the other back door of the vehicle, Cameron was already out the front door of the house and headed her way to help. He was still in t-shirt and pajama pants, and his hair was sticking up in every way possible, but his eyes were wide and alert.
Cameron helped Vala pull Daniel out of the car, and support as they made their way back to the house to Daniel’s gasps and moans.
“Daniel, what have you gotten yourself into this time?” the colonel mussed.
“
“Sorry…” the other man gulped, looking at him with genuine concern.
Carolyn met Vala and Cameron at the door and opened it for them, then closed it behind them once they had Daniel in, and led them to the living room where she instructed them to put him on the couch. Vala worked with Cameron to gently lower her husband to the sofa, then crouched beside it and took his hand. Daniel hair and face were damp with sweat by now, and when his eyes did open they looked bleary and glazed with pain.
“Daniel, can you hear me?” Vala asked. She gulped as she rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand. He nodded weakly.
Cameron, who had gotten out of the way, leaned on the back
of the couch looking down at Daniel worriedly and sharing glances with his
wife, who went around to the front next to Vala and
leaned over Daniel. She checked his pulse and looked him over while
“I can’t find anything obviously wrong with him right now, but then again we’re not at the SGC. We’ll have to take him there,” she said, looking rather concerned. She looked at Vala. “You were right to assume whatever’s going on isn’t usual to earth.
Vala squeezed Daniel’s hand, and he squeezed back. His eyes were closed again, and his chest was still heaving in pain, but he was hearing them. Carolyn crouched down beside Vala for a moment and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Daniel, listen to me. We’re going to bring you to the SGC, but before we go, I can give you a sedative. Since we don’t know exactly what this is, that could be a little dangerous. Though I haven’t seen anything to indicate it would be, it’s still slightly risky, but if you want it, I’ll give it to you.” The doctor glanced up at Vala for a moment, and she nodded, telling her it was all right with her if Daniel wanted it. Vala knew Carolyn knew what she was doing; she trusted her. She wouldn’t have even suggested it if there had been too much danger.
Vala squeezed Daniel’s hand again to communicate her thought process to him as well, and he tightened his grip as well and held on. She saw him nod, but he didn’t open his eyes. The pain was getting worse.
Carolyn saw his answer, nodded and disappeared down the hallway.
“Where’s she going?” Vala asked.
“The back room,” Cameron answered, looking after her. “She keeps a locked cabinet of stuff back there for emergencies and stuff, like in case she gets called out somewhere and doesn’t have time to get to the SGC for supplies.” He turned back to her and winced a bit. “Or for something like this.”
A couple of minutes later Carolyn returned with a syringe and came back to the front of the couch. She knelt beside Vala again, and warned Daniel that she had the drug, and asked him again to make sure it was all right with him. This time he pried opened his eyes to nod, and when Vala saw the amount of pain in his eyes, she couldn’t have been more relieved that in a moment he wouldn’t have to feel it anymore.
Carolyn carefully injected the sedative, and as she slipped the needle back out of his skin, Daniel's eyes were already shut again. Vala held onto his hand as his breathing slowly eased and the tension in his body and face lessened. She felt him give one more small squeeze before his grip went slack, and the up and down of his chest lapsed into the slow, steady rhythm of sleep.
CHAPTER 4
Once Mrs. Jackson left, Janet had retreated to her room to
get ready for bed. Travis had gone back to the
Janet's room was closest to the top of the stairs, and the door was partly open and the light off, so he quietly peeked through the opening, expecting to find the girl asleep in bed. She wasn't there.
"Janet?" he asked, pushing the door open and turning on the light. She was nowhere in the room. Travis turned the light off and backed out, then turned and looked around helplessly. "Janet?" he said louder. She wasn't in the bathroom; the door was wide open, and he hadn't heard her come back downstairs. With nowhere else to look, he pushed open the door to the master bedroom.
There she was. Janet was sitting on the edge of her parent's bed, silently watching her baby brother sleeping in his crib by the wall. What brightness there was to see by came from a small nightlight in the power socket beside the baby bed, and the bit of moonlight that came in through the curtains. She looked up at him as he stepped into the room, and he opened his mouth to ask her what she was doing, but she held a finger to her lips. Travis closed his mouth again, and Janet got up and came toward the door. He back out of the room to let her out, and she closed the door once they were both in the hallway.
"Whatcha doing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Janet shrugged, sighed, and sank down to sit against the wall beside the bedroom door. "I couldn't sleep; watching Charlie makes me feel better sometimes," she said quietly. "I'm worried about dad."
Travis knelt down near her. "I know how you feel; I'm worried about your dad too--but I'm sure the doctors will know what's wrong and help him."
She nodded, but said nothing else. She pulled her legs up against her chest and wrapped her arms around them. There was silence for a moment or so, before she picked up her head.
"Travis, what grade are you in?" she asked nonchalantly. He could tell it was the kind of question where the answer didn't really matter, but that one asking just needed someone to talk to. That certainly made sense now.
"I'm a senior," he answered.
"That's twelfth grade, right?"
Travis nodded. "Right. What about you? What grade are you in?" he was pretty sure either she or Doctor Jackson had told him at one point, but he couldn't remember.
"Fifth grade," she said.
"Really?" he blinked.
Janet nodded. "When I was in first grade, they moved me up to second."
"That's awesome. Do you know what you wanna be when you grow up?"
She nodded and smiled. "I want to be an archaeologist
like dad--or maybe just an Egyptologist. I only like
Travis chuckled. "That ought to make your dad happy."
"Yep," she grinned. "He's been teaching me a couple other languages besides the Spanish I'm taking at school."
"Which ones?"
Her smiled faltered just a bit at that, but a second later she had it back in place and shrugged. "Just a couple of really old ones. I don't think anybody even uses them anymore. They're fun though."
"That's cool."
"What about you?" she asked. "What are you gonna do when you get done with school?"
"I'm going into the air force academy."
Janet brightened again at that. "Oh great! That means you don't have to go away for college, right? You'll still work at the store and visit us and stuff?"
He smiled. "That's right. I don't have to move anywhere." He pushed his hair out of his face. "I'll have to cut my hair though."
She looked at him for a moment, tilting her head. "Well, it'll be different, but I think you'd look okay with shorter hair."
"Well, thanks."
* * * *
Daniel felt consciousness returning and, remembering the pain, fought to stay in the darkness at first. Then he felt a hand in his, and realized that the pain was gone. Slowly, he pulled his open, and saw the all-too-familiar image of Vala sitting beside his infirmary bed, waiting for him with concern still written on her face.
"Hi," she smiled in relief.
"Hey," Daniel replied. His head hurt, and his voice cracked around his dry mouth and throat, and Vala reached for a cup of water that sat nearby and handed it to him. He took it and drank gratefully, not handing it back to her until he'd slowly gotten half the cup down. Vala set it down beside her and then leaned forward in her chair, hands still entwined around one of his. He squeezed gently.
"What happened?"
Vala winced. "That's kind of hard to explain. I'm not really sure myself, but you're all right now."
"You almost weren't, though."
Daniel looked up to see a tired and frustrated-looking Carolyn Mitchell approaching them. "What do you mean?"
She reached the side of the bed and stopped, crossing her arms. "SG-1 was on P74-342 yesterday. Did you eat anything there?"
He tried to think, but didn't come up with much. Stargate Command had been in growing relations with the people of P74-342 for several weeks. They looked mostly human, but their skeletal structure was slightly different, smaller. They were very friendly, though.
"Uhm…I think. Maybe a little. Wouldn't want to be rude…"
Carolyn huffed. "Did you not get the memo to be careful? We thought they were only slightly different, but it turns out that even though in appearance there's not much different, on further investigation of those that would submit to medical scans for our curiosity, we discovered that their physiology is actually very different from ours. What they can stomach and what we can is extremely different."
Daniel stared at her. "Carolyn, I hardly think that was indigestion."
"No, it wasn't. What you had was dangerous reaction to whatever it was you ate. Whatever was in it almost killed you."
He sat up straighter in the bed. "What?" he questioned in disbelief.
The doctor sighed. "I did some bloodwork on you, and there was trace of something in it that I've never seen before. I can't even begin to describe its composition, it's so different. The only reason it didn't kill you when it reached your bloodstream, as far as I can tell, is because something in the sedative I gave you counteracted it. I didn't do that on purpose either. It was a lucky coincidence. If it hadn't been stopped, it wouldn't have shut down your heart."
"So what does that mean?" Vala asked.
Carolyn's lips pursed into a thin line for a moment. "It means that Daniel is so lucky to be alive, it's not even funny."
Feeling a little faint and quite sure he was pale, Daniel slumped back against the pillows behind him. Vala was squeezing his hand so hard he thought his fingers might break, but he was squeezing back just as firmly. He swallowed hard.
Carolyn sighed. "But that's over now. It didn't leave any damage, and besides being a little more tired that usual for a couple of days, you should be fine. You can go home whenever you feel up to it."
"Thanks," Daniel replied quietly. The doctor nodded, then retreated to her office. It was still the weekend, so she would probably go home herself soon.
"How are you feeling?" Vala asked, standing from the chair to sit beside him on the bed.
Daniel sighed. "All right. I'll be fine." Then he grimaced and held a hand to his head. "Killer headache, though."
"Any fever?" she questioned, holding the back of her hand to his forehead. Daniel batted it away.
"Hey, I'm your husband, not your kid," he complained. She pouted.
Daniel sighed again and pulled her to him. "Sorry," he apologized, embracing her. Vala hugged back firmly and smiled. "It's all right," she assured him. "I'm just glad you're okay. She pulled back after a moment, and he kissed her. Then she grinned.
"Speaking of kids, they're waiting outside."
"Well go get them," he insisted. Vala pecked him on the cheek and left, but came back a moment later with Janet walking beside her and Charlie in her arms. Janet broke into a run and jumped onto the edge of the bed to hug him.
"Dad, are you okay?" she asked as Daniel hugged her in return.
"I'm fine. How about you?"
"I'm okay," she answered, sitting back on her heels, then glanced back as Vala reached the bed again and handed little Charlie over his father.
"Hey little buddy," Daniel grinned, hugging his son too before setting the boy on his lap. Charlie grinned back.
* * * *
Half an hour later, Daniel was dressed in his own clothes again, and Vala, Janet, and Charlie were waiting for him so they could head home. He thanked Carolyn again, then pushed through the door out into the corridor where his family waited. Vala had Charlie, and Janet was bouncing on her toes, ready to go.
"Okay, we can go," Daniel smiled at them. Janet was about to say something in response, when Samantha O'Neill walked past.
"Hey, Aunt Sam," she waved.
Sam stopped. "Hey Janet…what are you guys doing here today?"
Daniel spoke first, before Vala could explain. "Just a little medical problem. It's all right now."
Sam looked at him appraisingly for a moment. Daniel knew she knew him, and didn't believe the 'no big deal' story for one moment, but she refrained from commenting about it--probably because she saw that he really did look fine.
Vala glanced at him, obviously a little annoyed, but let it go. "So why are you in on the weekend?" she asked.
Sam shrugged. "I just had a little bit of work to finish up--and General Landry wanted to see me about something."
"Getting some business done before he retires next month?" Daniel asked.
"Something like that," Sam agreed tightly.
"When is he going to get around to finding someone to replace him?" Vala mussed aloud. "It's getting a little close. Granted, we're going to miss him, but it would be nice to know who's taking over all the same."
Sam shrugged a bit. "I have a feeling it won't be long."
Daniel looked at her, wondering if there was another layer to that statement, but couldn't tell for sure. "Are you okay, Sam?"
"I'm fine," she nodded.
Vala spoke up. "Oh, there's a Valentines Day party at our house next week. We'll start about five, probably. You and Jack can come, right?"
Sam though only for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, we should be able to."
"Great," Vala grinned.
"Okay, I've got to go now, but I'll catch you tomorrow, okay?" Sam said.
Daniel nodded. "Okay. Later."
Sam smiled and nodded, then continued down the corridor,
leaving the
"Let's go home."
* * * *
Valentine's Day couldn't have come too soon for Vala. The week was spent at work, SG-1 went on one uneventful recon mission, and she did a lot of extra cleaning downstairs at the house. Daniel spent the time at home after work either playing with Charlie and Janet or continuing to work on the translation of the few symbol-covered clay pieces they'd found on P63-oh-who-cared.
Finally, the day came. Everyone was able to make it to the party, and the beginning went normally, with the adults eating and talking, and the children alternately eating and running around and up and down the stairs playing. Skaara was the happiest of anyone there, and Vala and Carolyn were the only two besides Cassie herself who knew why. The three women had planned their announcement for near the end of the party, and after three or four hours it was winding down. The men were finishing up what seemed to be a sports discussion, the kids were upstairs in Janet's room, and Cassie, Carolyn, and Vala got together off to one side of the room.
"Now?" Vala questioned.
"Might as well," Carolyn grinned.
But it was at that moment that Sam stood from her seat beside Jack, and cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. It worked, and seconds later they were all looking at her. She sighed and sat back down as the other women came back to the group and sat by their husbands as well.
"What is it, Sam?" Daniel asked.
Vala saw Jack silently urge his wife on, and she took a deep breath.
"Well…" Sam started slowly. "I need your opinions on something."
"Sure," Cameron agreed.
"We will be glad to be of assistance," Teal'c nodded.
She sighed. "Okay, you all know General Landry is retiring next month, right?" There were nods all around, then she continued. "Well…he wants me to take his place."
CHAPTER 5
Cameron seemed the first to recover. "What?"
Sam angled a raised eyebrow at him. "Don't go question
his decision,
"No, no, I know that; that's not what I meant. I just wasn't expecting that particular announcement at this particular time."
Jack was grinning; he'd already known about this. They'd already had several long talks on the subject. Even though Sam wasn't quite sure about this yet, he was proud of her and enthusiastic, so that helped.
"You would fill that position well, Samantha," Teal'c offered, nodding in smiling agreement.
"That's great, Sam," Daniel grinned. "We'll miss you on the team and all, but Teal'c's right. There's no one better for the job."
"Wow," was all Vala had to say, but she was nodding.
Carolyn, Cassie, and Skaara made similar positive comments, but Sam shifted in her seat a bit uncomfortably. "I haven't said I'm going to take it yet."
Jack's arm went around her shoulders. "I don't know what her problem is; I keep telling her to go for it."
"It's not that simple, Jack."
"It only took five minutes of team discussion to convince him to do it," Daniel smirked.
"I know…but this is different."
"Why?" Cameron asked.
Sam shrugged. "What about field work? Being with you guys?"
"I had to give a lot of that up, too," Jack pointed out. "But that didn't mean I never went on the field again."
Vala spoke up. "You'll be in charge, Sam. You can do whatever you want."
"Except neglect my duties."
Daniel looked thoughtful. "True, but there will be low points, where you could come with us maybe. And of course there will be instances where you're needed offworld. It wouldn't be the end of your field work."
"But what about my research?"
"Sam, you're you. You'll make time for your research, regardless of whether it exsists or not," Cassie chuckled.
"She has a point. You always have time for science, Sam. Besides, like I said, there'll always be those slow days where you'll be able to spend time in your lab--and you have a lab at home too, don't you?"
"It's still in the basement," she grinned.
"See what I mean? It'll be fine, and you'd do great. To put it in your own words--we could end up with someone a lot worse," Daniel grinned back, eyes twinkling.
Sam laughed. "Good point." It really was--and the reminder of the last discusiion like this SG-1 had had a long time ago helped.
Jack pulled her closer. "So what do you say, Sam?"
"All right," she sighed. "You guys are right. And it's not like I have to do it now--General Landry doesn't retire until next month."
"Almost four weeks to get used to the idea," Vala smiled.
Sam nodded. "And besides, Cassie can pull the slack in our department," she added, smiling over at her adopted daughter. "I swear she's even more intelligent than I am and just won't tell us."
Cassandra blushed as her husband grinned. "Well…"
Jack poked her with his free hand. "Oh come on, Cassie, don't you dare go and sell yourself short. You've gotta be awesome--you were part of SG-1 once."
Skaara's grin gave way to confusion then. "You were part of O'Neill's team?"
Cassie nodded. "For a little over a year--but it wasn't still dad's team then."
"Yeah, that would be me," Cameron said, raising a hand for a second.
"Ah, I see…but when exactly was that?"
When no one else seemed able to give an actual explanation, Sam launched into the simplest one she could think of. "I joined the Atlantis expedition in 2007, so SG-1 went back down to four people then and that was fine, but then Daniel came over in '08, making it three, and they needed somebody else."
"And I'd just gradated from college recently, so the timing worked out just right and all," Cassie finished.
Skaara nodded. "Yes, but then why is it as it is now?"
"I came back in '09, and Sam decided to come back to SG-1 too," Daniel said.
Vala grinned and nudged her husband with her elbow. "Of course, he came back because he realized what an idiot he'd been leaving me behind here on earth, and came back and married me."
Daniel winced. "Well, that's not the direct reason why Sam and I came back, but that was the result."
Sam shivered. "The initial reason why we came back is a whole different story," she gulped. The memory wasn't one of the most pleasant. Before the disaster on Atlantis, she hadn't even been considering going back to earth--but when Daniel went back as a result, loyalty and concern for one of her best friends had driven her to go with him.
"Yeah, let's not go into that part," Daniel said understandably, a similar shiver that she could see going up his spine.
Cameron snorted and changed the subject for them. "We offered to let Cassie stay--I mean really, there wouldn't have been anything wrong with a six-man team--but a spot opened up on the team she's on now, and she decided to switch."
Cassie shrugged. "And I don't regret it. The SG-13 guys are great. They're more like distant relatives though--you guys are my family." She smiled wistfully. "You have been since I lost my birth parents. I can never thank you enough for that."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Oh hush girl. You've been one of us for a long time--stop thanking us."
* * * *
Vala saw Cassie smirk at Jack's comment, then look up to exchange glances with her and Carolyn before standing.
"Well, as much as I hate to interrupt this melancholy moment, we have an announcement to make," she said matter-of-factly.
Skaara grinned up at her before the expression was once again washed over with confusion. "'We'?"
Vala stood as well, and Carolyn followed her lead.
"Yes, 'we'," the doctor answered.
Skaara stared at them for a moment, before realization dawned. "All three of you?" he asked incredulously.
"You got that right, big boy," Vala replied, winking at him briefly.
"Wait…what?" Jack questioned. "I don't like inside jokes. What's going on here?"
"Jack, hush. We're about to find out," Sam shushed him, looking just as bewildered as everyone else--beside Skaara, who just looked downright shocked.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "What is it you wish to announce?"
Vala glanced at her two standing friends. "All at once?"
"Sure," Carolyn agreed.
"Let's go for it," Cassie nodded as they moved slightly away from the couch, loveseat, and cushioned chairs so they could see everyone at once, and everyone could see them. The others just blinked at them with no clue. Vala smothered a grin and crossed her arms, then glanced at the other women before turning back to face their six-strong audience.
"What???" Jack questioned again.
"We're pregnant," they said at once.
Dumbfounded silence greeted them.
Jack let out another "What?" but this time it considerably more surprised.
"Excuse me?" Daniel echoed.
"You're kidding," Cameron added.
Vala shook her head. "Not in the slightest."
"All three of us," Carolyn nodded.
"B-But how is that possible?"
"That's what I wondered, too," Cassie giggled.
Sam finally recovered. "The snowstorm," she muttered--but the others heard her. At that Cameron, Skaara, and Daniel exchanged glances with each other, and promptly all three went red.
Jack grinned suddenly and clamped his wife into a bear hug. "You hear that Sam? We're gonna be grandparents!" Sam gasped at the sudden impact, but then just laughed.
Cassie went back toward her husband, who stood and wrapped his arms around her. Teal'c was grinning like an idiot. Daniel and Cameron stood slowly, but still didn't seem to have taken it all in. Their wives went over to them.
"This isn't a joke?" Cameron question.
"Nope," Carolyn answered, wrapping her arm around his neck. Cameron grinned finally and bent to catch his wife's lips in a kiss.
Vala pulled her own husband a few feet away, smiling to herself in amusement when he just sort of stumbled obediently in the direction she pulled him.
"So….you're not kidding?" Daniel blinked finally, eyes still wide. Vala mirrored Carolyn's action with her arms.
"No, Daniel--not kidding," she assured him gently.
Finally he smiled widely as his arms went around her waist. "I thought we were done," he commented.
"Apparently not," Vala replied, mouth quirking.
Daniel laughed softly and kissed her.
Teal'c happily retreated upstairs to watch the children and
make certain none of them came downstairs; the ground floor of the
CHAPTER 6
Daniel felt Vala snuggle closer to him and glanced at her, flashing a smile as she snaked her around his and leaned against his shoulder. He squeezed her arm gently, while reaching out with his free arm to stoke the fire that was going in the center of SG-1's campsite on P8X-252 with the stick that was in his hand. Once he'd done that, he dropped it beside the log he and his wife were sitting on and pulled her closer. The night was cool, and even though the fire was warm, after the announcement of a few days before he had another excuse. Besides, there was no on else in sight. The others were out doing the last rounds of the surrounding area while he and Vala watched the campsite.
When they returned, all but one of them would settle in to get some sleep for the night, but for now they had the place to themselves. Vala grinned and wrapped her arms around him too.
"What are we going to do with a third? We won't be even anymore; either the guys or the girls will be outnumbered," Daniel joked.
"Unless it turns out to be one of each," she smirked.
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you know something I don't know?"
"No, just thinking aloud."
"Good, because I don't even want to go there."
She smiled innocently at him. "What, you wouldn't want four children?"
"Why don't we see how we do with three first?"
Vala shrugged but didn't continue the banter. That was fine with Daniel. He was perfectly happy just to sit here with her, wondering what life would be like with yet another child.
Daniel was pulled out of his thoughts, however, when the nearby bushes rustled. Vala sat up straighter, as did he.
"What was that?"
"I don't know…" he answered, thumbing his radio. "Sam, Cameron, Teal'c, any of you back near here yet?"
There were various 'no's to answer him.
"Why? What's wrong?" Sam asked over the radio.
"Thought we heard one of you…or something," Daniel answered warily.
"Want us to head
back that way?"
"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea."
"We will be there shortly," Teal'c answered. Then the others signed off the radio as well, leaving Daniel and Vala alone again. Vala was looking around, squinting.
"Do you think we're in any danger?" she asked.
Daniel's eyebrows went up. "I sure hope not."
Unfortunately, that was the very moment that something else decided to refute that hope. The campsite exploded into sudden noise, as primitive-looking masked natives burst from the foliage. They hadn't even seen evidence that there were people on this planet until now.
Both Daniel and vala jumped to their feet in surprise, but before either could say anything or take even a step, bows had been drawn back and released , and both abruptly had an arrow driven into one of their legs and collapsed again.
"AH!" Daniel went down, grimacing at the offending object protruding from his right thigh.
"OW! Hey!" Vala cried, clutching her left calf.
Biting back a moan of pain, Daniel looked up again at the circle of men closing in on them. "Hey, wait…we come in peace. We're explorers. We don't mean you any harm; can't we just talk to each other? Aggression isn't necessary."
There was no response. Either they didn't understand him, or they didn't care want he had to say, because his words didn't phase them. Either alternative was disconcerting. Vala stared at them wide-eyed, grabbing one of his hands. While a few kept them surrounded--not that either of them could have gotten up easily anyway, with leg wounds, the others began to ransack the camp, taking anything and everything that looked interesting or useful to them, or so it seemed.
"Are you all right?" he asked Vala quietly.
She was wincing in pain, but nodded. "It's nothing major; I'm fine. What about you? That looks deeper than mine."
Daniel couldn't deny that, and it hurt like heck too, but he was more worried about what these people might do once they were done taking and destroying what they wanted. Granted, if they had wanted them dead outright they probably would have done it already, but they still might have further plans that weren't pleasant.
e shrugged.
"I'll be okay."
Quickly, Daniel made a decision not to let the natives take them. If they were taken captive, it would be extremely hard for the others to find them, especially since they didn't even know there were people here to have taken them captive. Anything could happen, and he wasn't going to risk it.
The camp wasn't that large, and soon the natives were done with their search. Most of them gathered the spoils and started off, leaving Daniel hopeful that he and vala would be left alone now. Vala seemed to think the same thing, and squeezed his hand. But before he could squeeze back, her hand was ripped away from his when two of the men jerked her to her feet, another pulling out a coil of rope.
"Ow!" she gasped, favoring her injured leg.
Daniel's eyes went wider, but let them pull him up too, sucking in a quick breath from the pain. How did they expect them to walk like this? He decided it didn't matter, because he wasn't going to let these people take them. His wife and child's life hung in the balance. If these native couldn't even understand English, they obviously didn't want them for anything information related. He couldn't bring himself to believe that whatever it was ended in anything but death, and he wouldn't allow that. There were only a few men left in the clearing with them, stayed behind to bring the captives along. He could take them.
He waited until the native seemed confident that they weren't going to get any resistance, and then made his move. Shouting, Daniel surged forward, breaking the grip the men on either side of him had on him and snatching his zat from it's holster. When the two natives holding onto Vala let go of her to go for him, he shot them both once. Then his injured leg started to give out again, but he spun, planning to go down shooting. If they could render them all unconscious, then the others would be here soon, and they could get back to earth before the native awoke. He'd seen Vala going for her zat at well.
Before Daniel could get of another shot, a rough hand grabbed his arm, holding him up, and blinding pain seared across his back. Then the hand was gone, and he dropped face-first to the ground, gasping in agony.
"Daniel!" Vala shouted. It was only then that he realized one of the natives had retaliated by slashing across his backside with one of their long knives, and left a long, deep gash from his left shoulder almost to his right hip. This his mind analyzed in sudden objectivity, signaling that he was probably going to into shock.
But he didn't have time to worry about that. Glancing up through blurring vision, he saw Vala hopping backwards on her uninjured leg, swinging the zat around and trying to keep the other natives at bay. It was almost working, but all of them were advancing on her now, and she couldn't shoot all of them quickly enough. And then he saw the two more men coming back toward the clearing, coming up quietly behind her.
"Vala look out!"
Daniel had meant for it to be a yelled warning, but it came out barely a gasp, and seconds later it was too late. The two natives behind Vala overtook her. One of them grabbed her, while the other knocked the zat out of her hands and pulled out a knife. Daniel tried to scream, but nothing came out, and in the same fluid movement he had done the first two things, the same man rammed the dagger-like weapon into Vala's midsection. Her eyes went wide, and she gasped went he pulled it out just as quickly. She didn't cry out until they pushed her down and she hit the ground.
Then the natives were gone, and both of them were left where they lay, gasping in pain. Vala curled on her side, one hand clamped over the her wound and cried. Daniel, determined not to leave her alone, used his uninjured legs and his arms as much as he could and pulled himself to her side.
"I'm…here," he told her, finally having enough air to speak again, at least some.
Vala rolled on her back and looked up at him as he looked down at her from his position on his stomach, levered up on his elbows.
"Daniel…" she gasped, tears in her eyes. "Daniel, the baby…"
Trying not to show the searing pain from his back on his face, or the tugging agony in his heart, Daniel shushed her and weakly pulled the open flap of her jacket over the wound and helped her press on it. If this one small wound was trying to bleed so much, he didn't even want to think about how much blood he was losing from his back. Her eyes closed and she grimaced in pain, whimpering, a few tears escaping and slipping down her cheeks.
"Shh…just…hold on. Friends…will be back soon," he said shortly. But his eyes were brimming with tears as well. Silently he joined their free hands and squeezed tightly as, his energy flagging, his head lowered to her shoulder and rested there. Daniel wanted to lie to himself…but there couldn't be much hope that the growing life inside her could survive such an attack.
This can't be happening…this isn't happening…was his only other thought before darkness took over.
* * * *
Cameron urged Sam and teal'c to move faster when they heard the shouting, but he could see that they didn't need to be told. As quickly as possible, the three advanced to the campsite, but the scene that greeted when they burst through the trees was anything but encouraging.
"Oh no…" Sam groaned. Teal'c frowned deeply. Cameron just stared in shock for a moment.
The camp was in ruins, almost everything gone, and both Daniel and Vala were on the ground, both bleeding badly, and both unconscious…or worse. Sam knelt immediately next to Daniel, who was closest, to check his pulse, and Cameron checked Vala, almost dreading what he would find. The colonel sighed in relief when he found a pulse. It was weak, but it was there, and it was steady. Sam confirmed she had the same results, but he could tell that her face was white even in the moonlight.
"We must return them to the SGC immediately," Teal'c observed, urgently but unnecessarily. They weren't getting any help in transport from either party that needed help, but since there were only three of them using two stretchers wouldn't work. But Vala's wound was in the front, so Teal'c was able to carry her cradled in his arms, while Sam helped Cameron carry Daniel on an emergency stretcher.
There was no time to question what had happened, especially
since the only two who would know for sure weren't conscious. Once they had the
patients situated, Sam,
CHAPTER 7
When Daniel woke again, the first thing he noticed was that he was still on his stomach. Afraid they were still on the planet, and wanting to check to make sure Vala was still all right, he tried to move, to lever himself up on his elbows again, but the moment he shifted, pain shot through the wound on his back, and he groaned quietly and went still again.
“Ah ah, don’t try to move. It’s all right; you’re safe.”
The familiar voice came from above him, and he turned his face up to see Carolyn Mitchell looking down at him. That was when he realized that what he was laying on was a lot softer than the ground, and his head wasn’t propped on Vala’s shoulder, but a single pillow. Groggily he blinked at the doctor for a moment before his vision cleared.
“Vala?” he asked weakly. It was the first thought that came to his mind, and the first thing that came out of his mouth.
“She’s going to be fine,” Carolyn answered, moving out of his direct line of sight so he could see his wife in the next bed. She wasn’t awake yet, but seemed to be resting comfortably.
Daniel let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and tried shifting again. That didn’t turn out so well, and he grimaced.
“Be careful,” Carolyn frowned. “You’ve got so many stitches back there it’s not even funny. I’ll have to put you to sleep again just to be able to get them all out safely when the time comes.”
“Thanks for the warning,” he mumbled. His mind was coming back into focus, and he took stock. The doctor was right; there sure seemed to be a lot of stitches, and more than one good layer of bandages, too, under the blue scrub shirt. Then, of course, there were more bandaged wrapped around his thigh, which was still throbbing. Then as his thoughts snapped back into focus, he looked up at Carolyn again.
“What about the baby?” he asked suddenly, hating the strain that was all too apparent in his voice.
Carolyn’s lips pursed for a moment. “We don’t know yet,” she admitted.
“Why?”
“I didn’t want to run any tests with her still in critical condition. I’ll have to wait until she’s done more recovering until that can be done.”
“Critical? I thought you said she was going to be fine,” Daniel said in alarm.
“She will be, Daniel, but right now things are still a little shaky. She’s stable, but there’s always the risk of infection--for both of you. Don't look at me like that. Neither of you are getting out of staying right here for several days."
Daniel sighed. "Fine…thanks, Carolyn." He didn't have the energy to protest, so he simply returned his attention to Vala. Carolyn followed his gaze.
"Do you want me to move the beds closer together?" she asked.
He looked at her again then. "That would be nice…but can you do that by yourself when we're still in them?"
She smiled then. "No need." She crossed to the doors and pushed out open, leaning out to speak to whoever was just outside. It didn't take many guesses to figure out who that was. "Daniel's awake, guys. You can come in, but speak softly; Vala's still sleeping." Then she pulled herself back in, and a few seconds later Sam, Jack, Teal'c, and Cameron followed her in.
Jack was shaking his head. "You went and got yourself hurt again? And attacked by natives no less. Really, Daniel, what are we gonna do with you?"
He would have shrugged, but he had a feeling that wouldn't work so well. "Be quiet, Jack." The retired general just smirked.
Sam scowled, smacking her husband on the arm. "Jack, be nice." Then she turned to Daniel. "How are you feeling?"
"Better than I did on 252," he said truthfully. Not much better though--but they didn't need to know that.
"Good; just don't do that again,"
"Sorry…"
Carolyn cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, and then asked for their assistance to get Daniel and Vala's beds pushed next to each other without messing up the other equipment. With five of them, it barely took any time at all, and soon Daniel was lying next to his wife, with one hand wrapped securely around one of hers.
"Thanks guys," he said quietly.
Jack patted his uninjured shoulder and smiled. "No problem, buddy. Now get some rest and feel better ASAP, ok?"
Daniel smiled back slightly and nodded; he didn't have to be told. His eyes were already drifting shut again.
* * * *
A few hours later, Vala was awake and waiting for Daniel to be, watching him as he slept because she had nothing better to do. Finally, his eyelids flickered and opened. "Hey, gorgeous. Welcome back," she smiled. She knew her voice still sounded weak, but there was nothing she could do about that.
Daniel turned his face to look at her and smiled back. "Hey…are you okay?"
She shrugged a bit. "For having had knife shoved in my stomach, sure."
He raised an eyebrow. "Don't even joke. You could have died--we both could have died."
"I know that, Daniel…" she answered, wincing.
Her hand was still in his, as she' found it when she woke a little while ago, and he squeezed it. "Have you talked to Carolyn yet?"
"Yes…" Her smiled faded.
"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, voice pitch rising.
Vala shook her head. "I don't know…I don't even know if there is anything to be upset about. That's what I hate." She had no idea whether the baby was all right or not. The not knowing was tearing her apart.
Daniel swallowed. He could only use one of his arm well at the moment, and that was the one in-between them, so he took that hand out of hers and cupped her cheek with it.
"Listen…whatever happens, it'll be all right," he said softly. "We'll get through it, even if it's bad. Ok?"
Vala looked at him for a moment, feeling love anew for the man she'd married--no, the man she'd chosen to spend the rest of her life with. She married more than once before she'd fallen in love with Daniel, and none of them had made her feel like he did. She'd never cared for anyone so much. She'd never met anyone who cared as much as Daniel could. He'd tried to understand her, to help her be a better person…and he'd succeeded. He'd done more for her than anyone ever had in her life.
She gulped and nodded. "I know…"
Daniel nodded back and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'd kiss you, but I can't move any farther than this," he joked quietly.
"That's all right; I can't either," she replied.
"Rain check?"
"You bet."
* * * *
"I'm worried about Janet and Charlie," Vala voiced suddenly.
Daniel looked at her. "Why are you worried? They're staying with Jack and Sam. They're fine."
"I know, but they haven't seen either of us in days."
It had been almost a week now since the incident. Neither of them had had any serious complications and seemed to be healing nicely, but they still didn't need to move around a whole lot--especially Daniel--and didn't need any temptation. That was why both had reluctantly agreed with Carolyn when she gently suggested that they wait until they were more recovered to see the children. Thankfully though, she was pleased with their progress.
"Carolyn said they could bring them in tomorrow," he reminded her.
"I can't wait that long," she huffed, crossing her arms.
Daniel wanted to see them just as badly as she did, but he could resist the urge to chuckle softly. She leveled glare at him and he stopped. "Sorry."
"How can you been laughing at a time like this?" Vala complained.
"It's a defense mechanism," he answered, deadpan. If he'd tried for any kind of tone, his voice might have faltered. Today they would know for sure. They were just waiting for Carolyn to come back with the results.
She sighed and reached for his hand again, something they'd been doing a lot the past few days. "I know. I'm sorry…but I'm about to go insane," she gulped quietly.
Daniel was going to offer some type of reassurance again, when Carolyn Mitchell walked up. But nothing in her face betrayed anything.
"Carolyn?" Vala asked immediately, when the doctor stopped beside her bed, folder in hand. Daniel looked up at her too, which was easier for him now that he could roll onto his side than it had been when he had to stay on his stomach. Vala was already squeezing his hand again. It almost felt like she was going to squeeze it off, but he didn't say anything.
"Well? Do you know yet?" Daniel added.
She took a deep breath and nodded. Daniel's hand was about to break. Then Carolyn broke out into a grin.
"The baby is fine."
Vala let out a pent-up breath, and with it came a small sob. "Oh thank goodness." Daniel's eyes closed involuntarily as relief washed over him. Thank you. He felt Vala stop squeezing his hand to death, and twine their arms together. He held on in return.
When he could speak again, he stammered out a slightly confused reply. "How...is that possible though? After that…"
"The wound just missed the womb, and wasn't as deep as I thought it was when I first saw it. The damage wasn't as nearly bad as it could have been. Still, it was a miracle…" She shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure how, but it's all right."
Vala sighed. "That's all we need to know, Carolyn. Thank you so much."
Carolyn nodded and retreated to leave them alone, smiling to herself. When she was gone, Vala, who was able to move more now than Daniel could, rolled over toward him carefully and he kissed her. Then she huddled in against his chest, and he wrapped his one good arm around her and held her close. But he wasn't quite prepared when she started to cry softly.
"Hey…it's all right," he said into her ear softly, stroking her hair.
"I…I know," she cried. "I just…I'm sorry…"
The stress had caught up with her, and he couldn't blame her for it. After a week of not knowing, and nothing to do but worry…now that he knew that worry was unfounded, he was exhausted, as if he had been tense the entire time and was just now releasing his muscles. He supposed that was an accurate analogy.
Sighing, Daniel held onto Vala gently as he comforted herself. After a few moments, once he'd forced his mind to relax as well, he felt a few tears of relief escape his own eyes.
* * * *
The next day, Vala was sitting up propped up against a stack of pillows behind her, and Daniel was on his side turned toward the infirmary doors, trying to get himself up on elbow, when one of the doors opened and Janet came in, trailed by Sam, and then Jack carrying Charlie. Janet came their way immediately.
"Mom, dad, are you okay?" she asked worriedly. "They wouldn't even let me and Charlie in here until now."
"I know, sweetie. I'm sorry, but we had to be careful and couldn't move a lot, so you had to wait," Daniel explained.
"But you'll be all right, won't you?"
"We'll be fine," Vala smiled, as Daniel gave his daughter's hand a squeeze. He couldn't try to hug her from that side, as that arm still wasn't moving so well because of the injury to the shoulder.
Janet smiled back. "Good." But she didn't ask about the baby, because she didn't know yet. Daniel and Vala exchanged glances, silently communicating that they would have to fix that soon.
Charlie bounced in Jack's arms when he saw his parents, cooing happily, but still not getting any words out. That was all right. He had several months before he needed to do that. Jack grinned.
"Well somebody's happy to see you."
Vala pouted. "I wish I could hold him, but Carolyn threatened to keep us in here an extra week if either of us tried."
Sam laughed, and whispered something to her husband, whose eyebrows went up as he smiled in agreement.
"That's okay, how about this?" he asked, and came over and set the six-month-old down on the bed in-between them. Charlie whipped his head back and forth, not sure which parent to go for first, so Daniel enveloped him in a one-armed hug. The boy giggled as he fell backwards against his dad's chest, then snuggled there for a moment before breaking free and crawling over to his mother.
Daniel turned back to Janet, who was grinning in amusement. "What?"
"He's so funny," she laughed. Daniel glanced back at Vala again, and after a moment she just smiled and shrugged. He turned to his daughter again. This time it was her who posed the 'what?'.
Daniel grinned. "What would you think about having two of him?"
"Two Charlies?" Janet asked, confused. Behind her, Sam was smothering her own grin, and Jack just crossed his arms and smirked.
"Not exactly…but another baby."
She shrugged. "I don't know. That'd be fun, I guess. Why?"
Vala looked up from playing with Charlie. "If that happened, would you want another brother, or a sister?"
Now poor Janet was a bit exasperated. "I don't know, mom. Why?"
"Just curious."
"Are you gonna answer?" Daniel asked.
"Well…a sister, I guess…"
Vala smiled and laid a hand over her stomach. "Well, I'll see what I can do."
Janet blinked, her expression changing from slightly to curious. Daniel was pretty sure she was starting to get the idea. "Wait…do you mean…?"
"You're going to have a new brother or sister in seven months or so," Daniel announced gleefully.
Her eyes widened. "Really? Another one?"
"Yes, dear, another one," Vala laughed.
Janet started jumping up-and-down and whooping for joy.
CHAPTER 8
Hank Landry threw his jacket over his arm and turned toward his friends and family, who were gathered around the elevator doors on the control room level of Stargate Command, the newly minted General Samantha O’Neill at their head. The promotion/induction ceremony had been earlier that morning, and now she was out of her dress uniform and in plain green fatigues as usual--with the added star of a brigadier general on the collar. She was now the official commander of the SGC, though she hadn't gotten a chance to issue many orders yet.
SG-1, now a foursome again, as well as Carolyn, Cassie, Skaara, and Walter were also there. It had been a month now since SG-1’s last mission as a five person team, the incident on 252, and today they were finally going out again. They were already geared up and ready to go. But it would be the new commander of the SGC sending them off. Hank was clocking out for the last time.
“We’ll miss you, sir,” Sam said.
“You will be missed, General Landry,” Teal’c echoed.
“Good luck with retirement, dad,” Cameron grinned.
Hank smirked. “Thanks. And Sam, stop calling me sir.”
She smiled. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll still be around. It’s not like I’m moving; my family is here. You’ll all see me enough; I just won’t be your boss anymore,” he smiled back.
“We’ll still miss you,” Carolyn complained.
“It won’t be the same around here without you,” Daniel added. He had his arm around Vala, and both looked a lot better than they had four weeks ago. They were lucky recovery had gone so well.
“Oh, I know—but General O’Neill here will do just fine,” Hank answered, giving Sam an encouraging look.
She rolled her eyes. “Please, General O’Neill is my husband.”
“Not anymore,” Vala pointed out.
“Whatever.”
Hank said goodbye to the rest of them, getting hugs from most.
“Goodbye, sir,” Walter said.
“Hank, Walter.”
The ‘gate technician blinked. “Uhm…yes sir—Hank.” But he didn’t seem comfortable with that, and Landry had to grin, and clapped him on the back.
“We’ll work on that.”
With that, Hank moved toward the elevator, and the doors opened. “See you all later.”
There was another chorus of ‘goodbyes’, and then he stepped into the elevators. The doors closed a moment later, and General Landry was gone.
* * * *
Sam took a deep breath as she turned away from the elevator, and saw that everyone was just standing there.
“Well, what are you waiting for? SG-1, to the ‘gate room. Now. Everybody else, back to your stations, or offices, or infirmaries…”
“Yes sir,” Carolyn smiled and mocked saluted, before turning to go back to the infirmary. “Good luck.”
Daniel grinned. “Don’t let it go to your head, Sam.”
“I’ll try,” she smirked. “But believe me, I’m gonna miss going out with you guys.”
Vala smiled. “We’ll miss you too, but you’ve got to admit you’re perfect for the job.”
“If you say so.”
“You must not doubt it, Samantha O’Neill, or you will not do as well as you can,” Teal’c advised.
“Thanks, Teal’c.”
Cameron raised an eyebrow then. “Now who’s standing around? Come on, general, get a move on.” Sam threw him a look, but broke from the group to go into the control room. Walter was already there, and Cassie and Skaara followed her in. They were both part of SG-teams and didn’t have anything else to do at the moment.
Sam watched SG-1 file into the control room, then ordered Walter to begin dialing. Down in the 'gate room, Cameron and Teal'c were commenting on something about the planet they were about to venture to, and Daniel and Vala were questioning each other--again--about whether they were okay or not, even though Carolyn had finally cleared them both for field duty. Those two just didn't know when to quit.
When the stargate burst open, none of them even noticed. She supposed after almost twenty-five years, that got kind of old. Sighing, she leaned forward and clicked the microphone.
"SG-1, you have a go," she called for the first time. The words felt almost strange coming out of her mouth, but it also came with a new kind of thrill.
Unfortunately, no-one in the 'gate room heard her.
She cleared her throat and tried again. "SG-1…you can go now." But they were still talking. She had no reason to believe they would ignore her, so apparently they just hadn't noticed. "Hello? Earth to SG-1."
Walter was smothering a chuckle, and her former teammates still weren't responding.
"SG-1!!"
That got their attention, and all turn to face her with a start. "Oh…sorry Sam!" Cameron apologized. "Let's go guys."
"Bye, Sam!" Vala waved, and then jumped up onto the ramp with the other three. They walked to the event horizon, but all four stopped in a row just short of it, turned, and saluted her. It took a moment, but then she noticed that beside, Walter Harriman had stood and was saluting as well.
Blinking in surprise, Sam returned the salute, they all lowered their arms with grins, and SG-1 stepped through the 'gate. The wormhole shut down, and she smiled to herself as Walter sat down.
"They planned that," she observed to no-one in particular. "All of it. From the minute they came into the 'gate room."
"Yes ma'am," he agreed, attention on his console. She looked at him.
"You were in on it?"
Walter smiled again at that, and looked at her this time. "Yes ma'am."
Sam smirked and shook her head as he turned back to his computer again, and gazed out at the stargate. "Thanks guys," she said to herself quietly. "And good luck out there without me."
* * * *
Six Months Later
Daniel came back into the living room from seeing the last of the guests out, and caught Vala trying to get paper plates off the floor that had been left there by a couple of the younger children. Charlie's first birthday party had just ended. There were streamers on the walls and windows, and the trash left by junk food. It hadn't been huge, but not tiny, either, and though there was more than a little cleaning up to do, it wasn't anything he and Janet couldn't do.
"Oh no you don't," he scolded. He swooped in a scooped up off the floor what she was trying to get low enough to get, and pulled her back up gently by the arm and he straightened. Doing it that quickly resulted in a slight twinge from that one knee that wasn't as healthy as it used to be, but Daniel ignored it.
"Vala, you're eight months pregnant and you've already been on your feet too much during the party; go sit down for cryin' out loud. Janet and I will clean up when she comes back down from putting Charlie to bed."
Vala quirked an amused smile at him and took the plates from his hands. "Thank you, dear, but I'm pregnant, not helpless."
"I've heard that one before."
"Well it's true," she said, crossing over into the kitchen and dropping the paper plates in the trash can.
"I know, but…" he trailed off, not sure how exactly to voice his concerns, but he was sure she knew what he meant. Once Vala had initially recovered from the stomach wound she'd sustained on 252, she had been fine at first, but later in the pregnancy it had begun to cause more problems--nothing serious, but complications nonetheless. Just recently it had gotten worse, and Doctor Brightman--who had been brought back to the SGC to fill in for Carolyn while she was on maternity leave--had threatened to sentence her to complete bed rest until the baby came if she didn't start taking it easier.
Vala turned to face him, and put both hands on his chest briefly. "Daniel, I'm fine," she assured him gently. "We're both fine," she said, hands moving to her ample belly then.
Daniel sighed and took her shoulders between his hands. "I know…but please just go sit down? Make me feel better?"
She looked at him for a moment, decided he really was just concered, and finally nodded. "All right."
He smiled and leaned in to kiss her. "Good," he said as he pulled back again. He followed her back into the living room, but in front of the couch she stopped short and bent forward with a squeak of alarm.
Daniel caught her arm. "Vala?"
She straightened again after a moment. "Hmm? Oh…nothing I'm fine…ow…"
He frowned. "Are you sure? That doesn't sound fine."
"It's just, uh…ow! Okay, that was worse than before."
"Vala! What!"
Her arms were rubbing over her belly. "Well, all day, every now and then I've…well, you wouldn't believe me if I told you, because that can't be it."
"What can't be it?" Daniel questioned nervously. "What's wrong? What's been happening all day?"
Vala sighed and crossed her arms. "Well…contractions. Regularly. But it's a month early. I can't be going into labor."
"But you shouldn't be having contractions like that unless you are going into labor, either," Daniel observed, running a hand through his hair. "Look…do you want to go in to the SGC? It shouldn't be anything but a false alarm, if anything, but with everything else that's been going on, it can't hurt to let Brightman look at you."
She started to shake her head. 'No, it's all right. I'm fi-yow!" Abruptly she cried out and dropped to sit on the edge of the couch, eyes going a bit wide.
Daniel sank down beside her slowly, worried. "Vala…" Her hand found his and gripped it tightly for a moment as she grimaced.
"On second thought, maybe going is a good idea."
He gulped. "All right, I'll be right back." Hurriedly, he jumped to his feet and sprinted up the stairs and quickly as he could. He peeked into his and Vala's room, afraid Charlie would be asleep already, but when the door started to open, he saw the boy stand up in his crib against Janet's protests, and wave a stuffed animal at him.
"Da-da!"
Daniel grinned briefly. As of yet, Charlie usually only used one word at a time, and his vocabulary consisted only of Da-da, Mama, 'Net (what he could pronounce of Janet's name), no, and mine, but it was slowly growing.
Janet sighed. "I've been trying to get him to go to sleep, but he won't listen to me," she complained.
"That's okay; we're going to have to go now, anyway," Daniel replied, going over to the baby bed and picking up Charlie, who held onto his stuffed bear.
"Go where?"
"To the SGC. Something's going on with mom."
"Going on? Nothing bad, right?"
Daniel swallowed. "I'm not sure, but she should be fine, now come on."
Janet sighed, then noticed that Charlie still had his bear, and tried to put it back in the bed. But the boy hung onto it.
"Mine!"
"We've gotta go Charlie," she said, tugging on it harder.
Charlie pulled harder too, and frowned, though for some reason it seemed more contemplative than angry. Finally he let loose with another yell. "No 'Net mine!"
Daniel stepped in. "Janet, it's okay, he can bring the---wait, was that a complete sentence?" he looked at Charlie curiously, and Janet was staring too.
"Well, sort of," she answered.
"Close enough," Daniel grinned. "But hurry up, please. You get your mom's bag, and I'll get Charlie's diaper bag."
"Okay," Janet agreed, zipping off to the other side of the room. She pulled a small suitcase-like thing from the closet and came back to her dad, who already had picked up what he had said he would.
"Let's go. Oh wait, where are your shoes?"
"My slip-ons are by the door."
"Where are Charlie's?"
Janet glanced around, spotted the small things on top of the baby's chest of drawers, and grabbed them. "I'll put them on him in the car for you, dad, let's go."
Daniel nodded and headed out the door. "Good girl."
Once down the stairs, he noticed two things--one, that Vala was standing, probably wondering what had taken him so long, and two, that she was in more pain now.
"Vala?" he asked in concern. He went to her and she took hold of his arm. She had already slipped her own shoes back on, and he had never taken his off. They were ready to go now.
Vala grimaced. "Yep, definitely labor. But that doesn't make any sense…"
With Charlie in one arm, and diaper bag and Vala hanging from the other, Daniel ushered Janet out the front door and into the car.
"Babies are born prematurely all the time, Vala. If it does happen now, I'm sure he'll be fine." It was a boy. That much they'd known for a while now, and had already moved Daniel's study to the spare room downstairs and started outfitting the room it had previously occupied upstairs into a boy's room for Charlie to move into once the new baby came. Then, then 'that' child got older, the two boys would probably share for a while until they were too old to…
All of this, they had planned out, but they still hadn't decided what to name him. That was going to be a problem if the baby came in the next day or so.
"I know, but that doesn't mean I'm not worried."
Daniel swallowed as Janet took Charlie from them and strapped the boy into his seat in the back, then sat down in the seat beside him and buckled in before starting to get his shoes on his feet. "Me too," he said quietly. "But worrying won't help anything." Vala sighed and nodded, and he helped her into the passenger's seat.
Daniel drove quickly to Jack and Sam's house, which was nearby and not too far out of the way. It wasn't too late; they should still be awake. Once he'd pulled into the driveway, he went back to pull Charlie from his car seat, then hurried to the door with Janet and pressed the button for the doorbell. A moment later, an exhausted-looking Jack O'Neill in pajamas opened the door.
The retired general squinted. "Daniel? What are you doing here? We just left your house an hour ago."
"I know, I'm sorry, but something's come up with vala, and I have to take her to the SGC now. I know this is really short notice and again, I'm really sorry, but can we leave the kids here?"
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Why have Sam and I become the common drop spot recently all of a sudden?"
"Because both Cassie and Carolyn are eight months pregnant. So is Vala, and I think she's going into labor." That was the quickest explanation he could think of.
Now both of Jack's eyebrows went up. "What?"
Sam came up behind him then and looked out. "Daniel? What's wrong?"
"They think Vala's going into labor and he needs to leave the kids here."
"But it's too early," she frowned.
Daniel sighed. 'I know, that's what we thought, but it's happening. We don't know why. But really, we've got to get going…"
Sam nodded. "Right, right sure. Come on Janet…" Janet hugged Daniel quickly, then hesitantly went into the house and took her Aunt Sam's hand.
"You'll all when you know everything's okay, right dad?" she asked anxiously.
"Of course I will, sweetie," Daniel answered, smiling for her as he handed Charlie over to Jack.
"Yeah, make sure you do that," Jack nodded. "Now get going."
"No kidding."
* * * *
"So what's going on?" Daniel asked.
Doctor Brightman crossed her arms and glanced across the room to where Vala lay on an infirmary bed. "Oh, it's labor all right. There's no doubt about that."
"Then what do we do? Can't you, like, stop it or something? Isn't it too early?"
"Technically, yes, but I don't think she has much of a choice."
"Why not?"
Brightman looked at him. "Again, technically, yes, I could stop it, and she could wait--though at this point I would only suggest waiting another two weeks or so, not the full month--but I think it would be safer to go ahead and deliver the baby now."
Daniel scrubbed a hand over his face. "And why is that?"
"It would put both her and the baby in danger to wait,
when her body's trying to do it now. A lot of it has to do with that knife
wound, and some with her age. She's almost fifty.
"Vala is anything but normal," Daniel smiled tiredly.
"So I've noticed," Brightman nodded. "But do you see my point? If she delivers now, both of them should be fine. I can't guarantee that good a change if she waits."
He nodded. "Yeah, I understand…sort of."
"Are you going to explain this to her or would you like me to?"
"No, it's okay, I'll do it," he sighed. "She should understand too…just a minute." Nervousness fluttering in his stomach again, Daniel went back to Vala, who looked up at him the moment he was close.
"Well?"
He sat down on the edge of the bed. "She thinks you should do it now," he informed her gently.
She huffed. "Really? Why?"
"Uh…more than one reason, but the bottom line is that she's pretty sure it would be dangerous to stop it and wait."
Vala was about to answer, but closed her eyes and grimaced in pain for a moment. "More dangerous…then doing it now?"
Daniel took her hand and squeezed. "Yeah."
She gasped and slumped back against the pillows. "Fine. I don't know her nearly as well as Carolyn, but I trust she knows what she's doing." Vala looked at him and flashed a tired smile. "Tell her we're going for it."
* * * *
Early the next morning, Daniel sat on the edge of Vala's bed next to her, grinning down at their new son who lay wrapped up in a blanket in her arms. He was small, but he was healthy--but he didn't have a name yet.
Vala sighed. "Well, before I found out it was a boy, I'd planned on asking you if it was all right to name it an earth name similar to Adria...It would have decided on you opinion, but now that idea is out the window."
Daniel looked at her. "That's what you were thinking? You really would have been okay with doing that?"
She nodded. "I couldn't think about it a lot…it still hurt too much, until last year or so…now I just want to remember her how I can."
"That's good--healthy. But I'm not so sure that plan is over just because he's not a girl," Daniel pointed out. They were speaking quietly, as the baby was asleep. As small as he was, being asleep just made him look that much cuter.
"What do you mean?"
"I might have a few ideas…"
* * * *
Janet bounced on her toes as Uncle Jack and Aunt Sam talked to Doctor Brightman. She and Charlie had stayed with them last night and spent all day at their house, and now they could finally see her mom and dad. She knew she had a new brother or sister, too, but she didn't know which one yet. She was waiting for Doctor Brightman to let them in.
Finally the doctor stopped talking, and pushed open one of the double doors into the infirmary. Janet hurried through first, and ran into Daniel, who was near the door on the other side waiting for them, and hugged her tightly. Jack and Sam came in behind her with Charlie.
"Hey, dad. Is mom okay?"
"She's fine," he smiled. "Come on." He took her hand and led her over to a bed, where Vala sat holding her new brother or sister. But the baby was all wrapped up, so she couldn't tell. Janet grinned and hopped up to sit on the edge of the bed anyway, while Daniel took Charlie from Sam.
"So is it a boy or a girl, mom?" Janet asked eagerly.
Vala smiled. "You've got a new baby brother."
Daniel shrugged. "I know you told us you wanted a sister, but…."
Janet smiled. "That's okay. Brothers are cool too."
"So…what'd ya name him?" Jack questioned, hands stuffed in his pockets.
"
** The End **
Feedback
to: startrekgirl13@hotmail.com
Stories by Rating and Category
Copyright©2004-2014
Midnightstorms.net
All Rights
Reserved.