Vala squealed with laughter as she leaned into Daniel's arm. He chuckled at her reaction to the movie.
"Daniel?" she said, looking up at him.
"Yeah?"
"Why didn't you show me this before?"
He laughed. "How was I to know how much you'd love Finding Nemo so much?"
She shrugged and turned her attention back to the film. Maybe it was the hormones caused by being eight and a half months pregnant, but she couldn't contain her enjoyment – even if she did have to pause it every half hour to go pee.
***
She was still giggling the next day when she arrived at work. Daniel had never seen her this amused by anything besides innuendo and bad jokes at inappropriate times. Pregnancy must have done something to her – she wasn't the same Vala he'd met a few years before. He'd loved her then, but he loved her even more now that she was going to be the mother of his child.
Vala broke away from Daniel's arm and hopped into Sam's office. Sam looked up from the machine she was inspecting and nearly fell over when Vala pulled her into a tight hug – well, as tight as she could, considering her protruding belly.
Sam opened her mouth to speak, but Vala beat her to the punch.
"I will call you squishy and you will be mine! And you will be my squishy!" Vala exclaimed, a childish grin across her face.
Sam snorted at her friend's amusement. "Finding Nemo?" she asked.
Vala nodded her head vigorously. "Mhm!"
Sam shook her head. She was about to reply, but Vala was gone by the time she looked up again.
Daniel, who had seen the whole thing with Sam from the doorway, jogged for a moment to catch up with his wife, who had bounded out of the office with much more energy than he'd seen in her in the last few months. He shoved his hands in his pockets and took his place beside her.
Teal'c nodded as he passed them and Vala whipped around. She ran over to him and jumped on his back. Strong as he was, he still toppled slightly under the extra weight of her body. He steadied himself and turned to look at her.
"Vala Mal Doran," he said, nodding to greet her and flashing a slight smile.
"Squishy!" she exclaimed.
"I thought Sam was Squishy," Daniel commented as he walked up to them. Teal'c looked from one to the other, not understanding the reference. Seeing his friend's confusion, he added, "It's from a movie, don't worry about it."
"No, everyone is squishy, Daniel!" Vala replied, grinning her usual wide grin.
He gave her a suspicious look, but decided to let it go, rather than arguing over the confusion of calling everyone she met 'Squishy'.
Vala had already turned her attention away, looking for her next victim. The hallway was empty, so she turned and skipped away, waving briefly as she did so. She knew she was acting like a child, but she decided that was okay. She was going to have to be used to childish behaviour and so was Daniel. She was just giving him some extra practice.
She found General Landry and Colonel Mitchell talking about some upcoming mission – another one she would miss – in the general's office. She didn't bother to knock and pranced in, despite the serious looks which crossed both of their faces.
"Vala?" Cam asked warily.
"Squishy! I've been looking for you!" she proclaimed. " Bad Squishy," she quoted. "You weren't in any of your usual places."
Cam cleared his throat. "Squishy?" he repeated.
The general stifled a chuckle and Vala turned to face him. She pulled him into a hug and suddenly his expression went from amusement to shock. He was taken off-guard. He shouldn't be, he told himself. He should know to expect the unexpected from Vala.
"Don't worry, General, you're squishy too!" she squealed, releasing him from the hug.
This time it was Cam's turn to stifle a laugh.
"Squishy, squishy, squishy!" she sang to herself.
Cam and the general exchanged a look. Both of them thought she might have gone a little, in Vala's words, wonko.
She hopped out of the room singing, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming."
Daniel entered only moments after Vala left. "Have you seen Vala?" he asked, poking his head into the office.
"Uh, yeah," Cam replied. "She went thataway." He pointed to the left.
"Thanks," Daniel replied, about to close the door.
"Wait," Cam stopped him. Daniel stuck his head back in. "What's up with her?" he asked. "She was calling us 'Squishy'."
Daniel looked at the floor, then back up at his friend. "Oh, yeah, that. Well, I let her watch Finding Nemo for the first time last night and it would appear she really liked it."
Cam and General Landry exchanged looks. "Obviously," he replied.
Daniel looked at them to make sure they didn't need anything more. "I have to go find her," he said as he ducked out.
He didn't know she could move this fast anymore, especially not when she was constantly complaining about being sore and tired all of the time. He looked down the fork in the hallway, trying to figure out which way to turn. Where would she have gone?
***
When he finally located her, she was in the mess hall, confused why her new nickname had offended the woman she with whom she was talking. He slapped his hand against his forehead and approached the two. Neither acknowledged him and instead continued with their bickering.
Suddenly Vala was hunched over, one hand on her back, the other on her stomach. The woman rolled her eyes, but Daniel wasn't going to dismiss his wife that easily.
"Are you alright?" he asked her. "Is it the baby?"
"She's early," Vala replied through clenched teeth.
Daniel went bug-eyed when he realized she meant that she was in labor. He put her arm around his neck and tried to support her. "We need to get you up to the infirmary!"
The woman she'd offended cleared her throat. "Look," Daniel explained, "she didn't mean anything by it. She just really liked Finding Nemo."
He didn't bother to stick around to see the woman's response. He was already helping his wife up to see Doctor Lam.
***
"How's she doing?" Daniel asked Doctor Lam. Despite Vala's constant reassurance that she'd be fine and she'd lived through it before, he still needed some comforting. He didn't trust her to admit if she wasn't fine.
"Well, I've given her the epidural, so that should kick in soon," Carolyn explained. "The labor is progressing rather quickly and everything is normal. She's fine." She resisted the urge to tell him to stop worrying, knowing the act would be futile, anyway.
"Squishy!" Vala exclaimed from the other side of the room. "I'm the one in labor! Pay attention to me!"
"Is she going to keep doing that?" Doctor Lam asked Daniel, clearly becoming annoyed with her new name.
Daniel shook his head. "I hope not…"
***
Daniel looked down at his newborn daughter in his wife's arms. She was tiny and pink, and when she opened her eyes for the first time, he could have sworn she already had the same mischevious sparkle as her mother.
Vala stared at the little girl. She stroked a finger against her daughter's cheek. "I will call you –"
"No!" Daniel interrupted.. "We are not going to call her Squishy."
Vala chucked. "Oh, Daniel, darling, I was going to say Hannah. But now that you mention it –"
"No," he replied again. "Hannah is fine."