That Depends; Or, A Glimpse
By: Ilna
CATEGORY: Established Relationship
SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 10
WARNINGS: None
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Couldn’t decide on the title so I went with the old 18th Century novel method of using “or”.
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://ilnakay.livejournal.com/
Vala woke with an uncomfortable crimp in her neck. Sitting up on her elbows she rolled her head back and forth in an attempt to alleviate the pain. “I hate sleeping on my back,” she muttered. The sound of a door opening drew her attention as Daniel emerged from the bathroom drinking a glass of water.
“Hey,” he said, upon seeing her awake. He offered her the glass before pulling back the covers and rejoining her in bed. Vala took a sip and handed it back to him, lying back down. He drained the glass and set it on the nightstand before rolling back to her side. “Did you get much sleep?”
“Mm,” she moaned. “Your son was very active last night.”
“My ‘son’, is it? Yesterday you were saying ‘daughter.’”
Vala shrugged in response, rubbing her stomach, swollen with child. “We’ll know soon enough.”
Daniel couldn’t help but smile. He pressed a kiss to her temple, his hand covering hers on her stomach. “You should have woken me.”
She sighed. “No sense in both of us suffering.”
“Now that doesn’t sound like the Vala Mal Doran I know and love,” he said, eyeing her teasingly.
“Well, Daniel, haven’t you heard that motherhood changes a woman?”
“I have heard that,” he said with a smile. He leaned over her. “It’s definitely changed you.” He bent to kiss her, losing himself in the familiar heat of her mouth.
Long moments went by, but they weren’t so lost to the world that they didn’t hear the sound of the door opening and bare feet padding across the floor to the bed. A soft grunt had Daniel and Vala finally breaking their kiss to look over at their small daughter struggling to pull her way onto their bed. Daniel reached a hand across Vala, but the girl batted it away.
“I can do it,” she said petulantly.
Vala and Daniel shared an amused look. Daniel pointed at Vala mouthing, “She gets that from you.” Finally succeeding, the little girl crawled over to snuggle against Vala.
“Mm, good morning, darling,” Vala said, brushing the girl’s dark hair back and kissing her forehead.
“You look tired, Mama.”
“That’s because I am tired.”
“Why?”
“Because Baby was kicking me all night.”
“Why don’t I ever get to feel Baby kicking?” she asked, putting her hand on Vala’s stomach alongside her parents’.
“Because Baby only kicks when Mama is trying to sleep.”
“That’s not very nice.”
Vala chuckled as Daniel looked on, also amused. “No, it’s not. But Baby doesn’t know any better.”
“Was I a nice baby in your tummy, Mama?”
“You were the best, darling,” Vala replied fondly, running her hand over her daughter’s hair.
“Until it came time to be born,” Daniel commented.
“Why?”
“Well, you decided you wanted to be born early,” he started to explain.
“Uncle Jack thought Mama was going to have you right there in his truck, and no one thought Daddy would get back to Earth in time,” Vala continued.
“But he did,” the little girl stated, matter-of-factly.
“I did. Just in time to see my beautiful Ava born,” Daniel said, touching his daughter’s cheek. “And to get an earful about nearly missing it,” he added, smiling at Vala and kissing her briefly.
“I don’t recall giving you an earful,” she said, knitting her eyebrows in confusion.
“Oh, not from you. From Jack.”
“Ah.”
“Come on, Ave,” Daniel said, sitting up and holding out his hand. “Let’s go make Mama breakfast.”
“Woo hoo!” Ava cheered. Ignoring her father’s hand, she jumped from the bed and ran out the door.
“She doesn’t get that love of cooking from me,” Vala said. She looked at Daniel who was putting on a t-shirt. “Breakfast?”
He raised his eyebrows mischievously. “Chocolate pancakes?”
Vala smiled. “My hero.”
“I aim to please.” He leaned over and kissed her again.
“Now, scoot, before Ava tries to start by herself. Again.”
“Yes, ma’am.” With a final smile he walked out the door. Vala sighed contentedly, her hand returning to her stomach and rubbing circles.
“That’s our family, little darling,” she said quietly. “Our family.”
* * * *
Vala woke up with a start. Sitting up and looking around the darkness of the empty room, she put a hand to her stomach in confusion. Realization set in and she sighed. “Just a dream,” she murmured. The sound of a door opening drew her attention as Daniel emerged from the bathroom drinking a glass of water.
“Hey,” he said, upon seeing her awake. Vala closed her eyes, sighing again. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, a trace of concern in his voice as he sat beside her, offering the glass. She accepted it but paused before drinking.
“Just a dream,” she repeated quietly over the rim of the glass. He nodded, rubbing her back as she drank.
“Good dream, or bad dream?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether we ever get off this ship.” She looked into his eyes before they both turned to gaze out the window of the Odyssey at open space.
** The End **
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