By: madd4the24
CATEGORY: Angst, Drama
WARNINGS: Future fic
AUTHOR’S NOTES: I make no attempt to connect this fic to ninth season canon. (No Spoilers)
Daniel is the big 4-0 by the time he gets another chance at a family. He’s far from the happy little boy he was so early in life, and he isn’t nearly close enough to being as calm a soul as when he married Sha’re. Instead he’s all too grumpy, pessimistic easily irritated, and those are only his personality traits. He knows he’s taking after Jack because he feels his knees going bad. So many years through the gate has left him with an achy back, an affliction of being prone to horrible migraines and a serious loss in strength. He’s forty and he’s far from at his best.
He hopes those have nothing to do with why he’s…dare he say it, committed to Vala. She’s calmed over the years, he notes respectfully, but she’s still far too hyper, sneaky, deceptive and he’s never quite been able to break her habit of lying. She’s got a temper too, he has learned, and boy can she give a tongue lashing. She’s got dreams and expectations, and likewise she expects him to follow through on his part. She gives as good as she takes, but he prods sourly that he doesn’t ever play dirty like she does.
They’re married and it’s been three years since the day. He tells himself how long every morning is as he lays in bed next to her, amazed and astonished. In a deep-rooted tradition she shifts next to him, pressing her face into his shoulder and tugs his arm over her further. He leans down and kisses her to wake her up, and whispers to her how long they’ve been together, just to see the giddy and joyous smile on her face. Three years isn’t a lot to most people, but to them it’s everything.
Daniel is caught daydreaming occasionally, wondering deeply how he’s gotten so lucky as to have yet another shot at a family. He barely remembers his mother and father, he has only remnants—fractured memories and vague feelings of love. It’s been decades and decades since their deaths and he knows it’s only logical that he’s grown to forget them almost completely. He’s got his pictures and his dreams, but his first family is almost completely gone.
He thinks it may have been substantially harder to lose his second family. Sha’re was his first love—the only woman he’d ever shared himself wholly with. She took him into her life, embraced him as strongly as she knew he needed, and carried his heart for him. She was entrusted with his soul, and when she was lost, it almost was as well. Little by little he has lost what connected him to her, her family members, her people, her planet.
He has never expected a third chance. He’s not a firm believer in a higher power—a single God that is, especially after what he’s seen with the Goa’uld and the Ancients. But there is a part of him that feels he’s failed everyone who has loved him, and he’s never expected yet another chance to make it right. He’s also not the type of man to look a gift horse in the mouth. If Vala wants to be his second, second chance, then he’s going to dedicate himself to her.
They’re at war with the Ori, and he thinks if ever there was a time for a family to bind him to Earth, this is it. The Stargate has been made public, invasions have been launched, Earth has nearly been lost, hope has dissipated, but Vala has been by his side.
He knows she’s enough for him. It has taken them what seems like an eternity to find each other, but now Daniel can’t ask for more. She wears his ring, fights for what he fights for and loves him. She is enough alone, so he can phantom how she can give him more. He thinks she’s the most selfless person he’s ever met when she tells them they’re going to have a child.
There is panic at first, in which he worries about her health, their future, and their baby. However, soon he realizes what an utter blessing it is. He realizes he can fight twice as hard now, he can give more then he’s ever given before. He’s got a reason, he’s got a family.
He stands next to her, embracing her tightly. They’re on base so there is only so much contact they can have, even if they’re in a private suite. She’s seven months pregnant and as beautiful as ever. He’s about to depart through the Stargate for what could very well be a suicide mission. He doesn’t want to leave and she doesn’t want him to go, but it’s their one chance to destroy the Ori once and for all. Daniel knows it would be easy to stay behind and hold his wife’s hand, but he knows he’s fighting for his baby’s future and if he doesn’t try, then he isn’t worthy of such a gift.
“Be safe, my Daniel,” she tells him, head tucked under his chin. Her arms are slid around his neck in a loose grip, but he knows she can hold on forever if necessary.
“I will,” he promises and kisses the top of her head. “Take care of yourself, take care of the both of you.”
Her grip tightens. “Always.”
They’re rocking gently on their feet, almost in a slow dance. There are precious minutes before he has to leave.
He can feel her protruding stomach pressed against his and it ripples. He laughs and snakes a hand down to rub across the skin. “I love you,” he speaks to the baby, feeling the gentle yet strong kicks. “Stay strong, little one.” He closes his eyes and holds back the moisture, completely and utterly afraid he won’t return to the family that waits for him.
“You have to go,” Vala reminds him softly, her tone hinting at anger.
She tries, he knows, to keep her opinions on the mission to herself. She doesn’t approve of the mission at all. She thinks it’s risky, almost foolish and she’s concerned he won’t come back. She knows he has to go, and wishes she could go to watch his back, because she just knows the mission isn’t going to go well. She’s heard Landry and O’Neill talking. She knows that they think it’s a suicide mission. She’s all too aware that Earth is poised to lose SG-1.
“I know,” he whispers tilting her head up to capture her lips. She’s sweet with just a hint of danger, just the way he likes her.
She grabs him by his black vest and tugs him rather viciously. “You come back, Daniel,” She hisses, taking both his hands and pressing them to her stomach. “You come back to us, or so help me. Don’t make me come and find you myself.” She’s choked up, words catching in her throat as she begins to cry. “Come back to me.”
He can’t promise and she pretends to understand.
They walk to the gate room together, pressed closely. He’s hugging her so dearly it’s almost impossible for them to keep a steady pace, but they manage. Teal’c, Mitchell and Carter are already waiting, suited up. Landry, O’Neill and another team stand off just to the side.
Vala scowls as Jack and Daniel embrace, because she knows all too well what type of hug that is. She knows because she has to embrace Cameron, Sam and Teal’c exactly the same. Then she steps back, afraid to touch Daniel for fear of never being able to let him go. She wraps her arms around herself in a mini hug and stands next to Jack O’Neill.
“I mean it,” she calls to Daniel as he advances up the ramp, looking over his shoulder at her.
He stops, as does SG-1. He tugs his P-90 to his side and despite having a full room he promises, “With my last breath.” Until the end, he promises. He’s coming back to her, even if it takes every bit of strength he’s got.
She smiled wide. “Then go kick some Ori ass.”
Behind him Daniel can hear Cameron say, “That’s for sure.” He nods and waves awkwardly before stepping through the event horizon.
When the gate shuts down Jack says, “Come on, let’s go get something from the mess.” He’s hesitant to touch her, despite wanting to offer comfort, as she looks as if she’s ready to take a bite out of the closest target. They’ve never quite taken to each other, clashing personalities and all, but he wants to be here for her, because Daniel means a lot to the both of them.
She retorts, “I’m not hungry.”
“You look pale,” Doctor Lam observes. “I think it might be best if you lie down for a while.”
She consents to take a nap, feeling nauseated and slightly dizzy. On her way out she holds her stomach and addresses both Generals. She tells them calmly and softly, “If he doesn’t come back to us, I’ll hold the both of you personally responsible.” She might be pregnant, but she’s got a knife hidden in her boot and she’s willing to bed she can still reach it rather quickly.
It isn’t unexpected when nothing is heard for weeks. SG-1 is undercover, waiting for the opportune moment to strike, to destroy the power of the Ori. Vala knows it can happen any day. Tomorrow there is a chance they’ll be rid of the Ori forever, or they’ll be completely enslaved. She lies in bed at night, cold without Daniel by her side. She rubs her stomach, attempting to sooth her agitated child who seems to sense the danger. She prays for Daniel to return as he left.
She’s in premature labor when SG-1 is reported killed in combat. The mission is successful, the Ori have been rid from the galaxy and there is reason to rejoice. There is no fear of enslavement to their way or death from refusal. While billions celebrate Vala is four weeks early, bleeding heavily and in serious danger.
SG-1 is in fact not dead. They return home six weeks after the fall of the Ori, a little worse for wear. They’ve been trapped on a planet without a Stargate, unable to communicate through the heavy atmosphere. It’s a miracle they’ve been returned.
Jack is waiting for Daniel when the Odyssey transports SG-1 down. Daniel asks, “Where’s Vala?” Jack takes him by the arm and leads him down to the infirmary.
She has her back to him, turned sideways on her hospital bed. He’s mildly concerned seeing her in infirmary scrubs. He hasn’t seen a calendar since he departed from the SGC, but a quick estimate tells him Vala would have had their baby by his return. He thinks maybe she’s just recovering from giving birth.
“Vala?” He calls faintly, seeing her shoulders tense.
Her voice is harsh and unforgiving. “I swear,” she nearly seethes, “If this is some sort of joke—”
Daniel looks to Jack with concern and the General answers, “SG-1 is alive. They’re home.”
When Vala turns Daniel knows he’s a father. The baby is small and pink in her arms, swaddled in a bright yellow blanket. He hears innocent giggles and sees waving arms. He’s a father for the first time in his life and he feels his legs become mush.
He finds his strength and crosses the room in record breaking time. He frames her face with his worn and calloused hands and kisses her passionately. He seeks to draw her very essence into him. And when he pulls back he’s gasping for oxygen, so completely enthralled with her beauty he forgets the precious treasure in her arms until the baby squeals loudly.
Daniel touches the edges of the blanket tentatively, like the baby is one of his artifacts, liable to fracture and break at any moment.
“She was early,” Vala tells him, leaving out that they both nearly died and she’s yet to be released from Lam’s care. “But she fought.”
“She?” So he’s got a daughter. A daughter to dote upon, to love and cherish. She’ll give him gray hairs. They’ll play house together, and they’ll go dress shopping, just to make sure she doesn’t get anything he doesn’t approve of—he knows how teenagers dress. And when she meets someone she wants to spend the rest of her life with, he’ll be there to see her off to her new life. He’s got a daughter and she’s his princess.
Vala raises an eyebrow and hoists the beautiful baby into Daniel’s arms. She dares him to resist the charming face staring up at him. “Her name is Abigail.” Daniel moves to respond and she snaps, “I carried her for eight months. I had labor pains. I spent four weeks believing I was going to raise her alone.” He shuts his mouth and rocks baby Abigail.
“I like it.”
Vala nods and relaxes back on her pillow, content to watch her husband fuss over their wonderful daughter.
She’s thirty-nine and she’s getting her first chance at a family. She’s not the little girl who grew up in a community seeped with ignorance, nor is she the broken woman who after being separated from her Goa’uld, nearly takes her own life. She’s got a sharp tongue, is liable to snap at will, and is prone to using people for her own benefit. Her body aches, partially from surgery, but mostly from pushing herself too hard, too often. She’s no image of youth. She’s thirty-nine and she knows Daniel could have any other woman, in several galaxies.
They’re both lucky to have each other, but not nearly as lucky as their daughter. She’ll grow up surrounded by love, in a free world. She’ll complete them just as well as they complete each other. They are a family.
** The End **
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