FAMILY - PART I
Or - It's Like A Zoo In Here!
Vala shot upright in bed with eyes wide and one hand clutching at the front of her pajama top. The sound of her heart pounded loudly in her ears as her breath caught and hitched in her throat. Wiping a hot hand across her sticky, sweaty brow she shivered as a long roll of thunder echoed ominously in the distance.
"Hey." A sleepy arm snaked around her waist then tugged at the back of her pajamas. "I'm here. S'alright."
Turning, Vala immediately snuggled down into Daniel's embrace, wriggling as tightly as she could into his side. "Yes. Yes you are here, aren't you darling?" She blinked up at him, gray eyes huge. "I still forget sometimes, when I first wake up. I forget that you're with me."
Daniel lifted his head and kissed the tip of her nose. "Nightmare, huh?"
"Mmm hmm." Vala settled her head against her husband's chest. "Always, when there's thunder."
As if to prove a point a bright flash of electricity filled the bedroom before plunging the couple back into darkness.
"One thousand, two thousand, three thousand…" Vala screwed her eyes tightly shut as the sound of a long, menacing and much nearer growl of thunder rolled around their home.
Daniel tightened his arms around his wife, before lifting one hand to tenderly stroke the damp hair away from her forehead.
Opening her eyes, Vala shoved herself up onto her elbows and deposited a huge kiss on her husband's mouth. She felt him grin against her lips and chuckled softly, in spite of the storm horrors outside. "All this electricity in the atmosphere," she said, conversationally. "It does strange things to a girl!"
"Don't pretend that you need an excuse," Daniel flipped her onto her back before propping himself above her. "I like your pajamas, by the way."
"They're new." Wriggling to get comfortable, Vala tucked her hands behind her head and grinned sexily up at Daniel. "The lady in Victoria's Secret said they were sure to please the menfolk. I told her that I didn't have any menfolk but I did have a man folk, and she said that this outfit was just the thing to put the spark back into a flagging relationship. So I told her that I most certainly didn't have a flagging relationship – I mean, last week with the ice cream, you know…." She broke off and yelped as a sharp stab of lightening blazed through the bedroom again.
"Please tell me that you didn't give the sales assistant in Victoria's Secret a complete rundown of our sex life," Daniel sighed, but most of what he said was lost under a huge thunderbolt crack that made the house shudder.
Vala wrapped her arms around Daniel and squeezed tightly as idiotic tears bit and stung at the back of her eyes.
"I've got you." Once again Daniel folded her close against himself as he flopped somewhat ungracefully back on to his side. "You're safe. You're okay."
"Mmm." Vala repeated, eyes still shut tightly.
"Qetesh?" Daniel whispered, gently.
There was a pause, then his wife nodded. "She loved thunderstorms. She used to – to hunt when the weather was like this." Vala scrubbed at her scratchy eyes.
Daniel passed her a tissue from the bedside table. "Just as well that she's dead then, right?" He reminded her, gently. "The only thing worth hunting around here are your pajamas."
In spite of her current distress, Vala found herself grinning as she peeped down at her new bedroom attire - strappy, leopard print top edged with pink lace and a pair of tiny matching shorts.
"How any sales assistant can describe what you're wearing as pajamas is beyond me," Daniel remarked, dryly. "It can barely even be regarded as sensible underwear!"
"Oh dear." Vala pushed up onto one elbow. She was still rather pale, and her hands shook slightly but Daniel's cheerful distractions were helping her to cope with the storm. "Well, if my nightwear is so repellent to you darling…." she trailed a teasing finger cross his chest "…perhaps you ought to think about removing it?"
"Don't even tempt me." Daniel was interrupted by another massive cacophony of noise rolling through the district, preceded by a flash of lightening. Almost immediately it was followed by another crash, then another. The storm was directly overhead.
Vala felt the beginnings of true panic – curling up into a ball her hands clutched tightly at Daniel's pajama top as she pushed her face against his chest. Too many memories swirling and writhing their way to the surface – of life as a Gou'ald, and the evil and particular ways in which they would find their pleasure…
…Qetesh loved the storms, they made her feel more alive than ever. She would find the highest point – Ha'tak, mountain, building – and stand watching the lightening come nearer and nearer. The sound of it striking the ground, or the vegetation, made her heart zing with a wildness she could never fully comprehend. She would wait while the rain cascaded down her body, soaking her from head to toe, turning her long, black tresses into a shining, streaming band of ebony. Tilting her face upward she would wait, feeling the raindrops against her face, pooling in her eyes, running off of her chin, and nose and ears. She would laugh when the wind came and whipped her clothes so fiercely that it threatened to rip them bodily from her and leave her naked. Qetesh didn't care. She revelled in the beauty of her own face and body.
And the thunder – the sound of that deep, purveying rumble, nature's own baritone – it made her want to scream with pure, wild, unabashed freedom. It made her insides throb and surge with a power that even she, the most beautiful Gou'ald of them all, could not control.
Qetesh loved all of it. She revelled in it. She adored the length and breadth of it – the wild, uncontrollable rhythm of the thunder, the stark, evil beauty of the lightening and the furious patterns of the wind and rain.
She would come down from the highest place after a while, running barefoot with her hair whipping out behind and her dress pressed damp against the smooth curves and planes of her body. Then she would hunt with her Jaffa behind her, dashing wildly through the streets or across open plains – she would find the sick, the infirm, the young and the old. Laughing, eyes alive, glowing like flame on steel, she would pick them off, hurting them, wounding them – killing them just for the fun of it. If they were young and beautiful then sometimes she would take them with her, to play with later.
Later, as the winds dropped and the storm moved on she would drift back from wherever she had come - be it Ha'tak or palace - moving slowly, smoothly, like a cat. Exhilarated and panting, she would return and sleep, uncaring, sated by the madness of the storm…
…Vala was interrupted from her hideous memories by two things – the sensation of Daniel's calm hands running gently up and down her back, and the sound of a small, quavering voice.
"Mamma?" A petite silhouette was visible in the bedroom doorway. "Mamma, I'm scared-ed!"
"Hey beautiful," Daniel pushed up onto his elbows. "Come here."
The diminutive shadow ran across the room and scrambled onto the bed, revealing itself to be a miniature version of Vala complete with pink cheeks, troubled gray eyes and a wild mane of tangled black hair.
"Ariel, darling." Vala sat up and pulled her tiny clone into a close embrace, stroking back the dark curls as she did so. "It's alright baby, Mamma and Daddy are here, see?"
The little girl pouted and leaned against her mother but held one hand out towards Daniel.
He took the small fist and lifted it to his lips, kissing each finger lightly, one after the other.
"Is it the Gou'ald, Daddy?" Ariel asked worriedly. "Is bad peoples coming here in pywermids?"
"No sweetheart," Daniel chuckled, sitting up fully. His daughter wriggled away from Vala and into his lap. "No more Gou'ald out there. Just thunder."
"I' isn't liking that thunder," Ariel hid her face as a huge crash walloped against the side of the house again.
"Mamma?" Another plaintive voice sounded from the foot of the bed. "Huggles, Mamma?"
Smiling, Vala leaned across and hauled her small son up beside her. She rearranged the teddy bear onesie that he wore, where it had become screwed up and wrinkled. "Poor Nathan," she crooned, cuddling the tiny boy close. "Mamma has you safe, we're all safe darling."
The teddy bear peeped out from under his furry hood with a pair of bright blue eyes, at the same time slipping a small thumb back into his tiny, rosebud mouth.
Vala tugged back the hood and stroked the sweaty shock of spiky black hair which was revealed beneath.
"Nathan – we is safe with Mamma and Daddy." Ariel blinked widely and wagged a small finger at her brother.
"You're right." Daniel wriggled back carefully so that his back rested against the headboard, tugging his daughter along with him.
Vala followed them up the bed, the small thumb-sucking teddy bear crawling along beside her before hurriedly reclaiming her lap.
A spear of lightening pierced the bedroom again, revealing the little family within.
Forgetting to cower this time however as the thunder rolled overhead, Vala frowned. "Ariel darling, what are you wearing?"
Her daughter glanced down at what was clearly a full-grown lady-sized petticoat that she had managed to wrap her small body inside. It had a silver gray print, like a wolf's fur.
Ariel grinned and bit her lip, showing a disturbing resemblance to her mother. "I borr-wowed it, Mamma." She tugged at one of the slender straps. "I liked it, so I borr-wowed it."
Daniel raised his eyebrows. "Like mother, like daughter!"
Vala screwed her eyes up and gave him a flinty look before turning back to Ariel. "Well, that's fine, darling. I'm sure whatever that stain is on the front will wash out just fine."
"It's nail varnerish, Mamma," Ariel brushed at it ineffectually. "And this one – um – I fink it's ketchup."
"Wonderful." Vala stroked her daughter's dusky head. "I was bored of plain old silver fox anyway."
"What is it with the animal print?" Daniel slid one finger along Vala's leopard print pajama top again, making her shiver.
"It's sexy," Vala informed him, gently shifting their small, sleeping son so that he lay in the bed between them.
Thunder rolled again, but quieter now. The storm was moving away.
"What is sexy?" Ariel inquired interestedly. "Is it for making babies?"
"Yep." Daniel kissed his daughter's sweet round cheek. "And that, Uncle Cam's little princess, is all you need to know for now!"
"Can we get some nother baby?" Ariel continued, hopefully. "Only Nathan is a big boy now and me and Mamma want some nother baby. Please, Daddy."
"Oh really?" Eyes wide in surprise, Daniel looked at his wife. "Is that right?"
Vala bit her lip, looking adorable. "Well, I wouldn't mind." She winked naughtily at her husband, at the same time tucking Nathan tenderly under the duvet. "I mean, if you don't mind." Twirling a long strand of hair around her finger, she raised her eyebrows hopefully.
Daniel couldn't help it and grinned right back at her, before leaning in closer and kissing her briefly but deeply. "Okay," he whispered. "Although I'm not sure it'll happen tonight. Too many spectators!"
"I love you Daniel, really I do." Vala cupped his face in one hand and stroked her thumb gently across his cheek. "Thank you for being my rock." Her eyes darkened briefly.
"I love you right back." Daniel caught her hand in his own and turned it over, kissing her wrist tenderly.
"Nuff of all that kissy!" Ariel popped up in between them, one small hand against each parent. "Call Untle Jack and say we can have a baby please, Daddy. Call Untle Jack."
"What the heck has Jack got to do with this?" Daniel frowned.
"Language, darling." Vala settled back against her pillows, careful of the tiny, sleeping teddy bear who's thumb was still firmly in his mouth.
"I has got a bet on wiv Untle Jack." Ariel nodded earnestly. "We has betted wiv Untle Walter that you and Mamma will get another baby before Aunty Cawwolyn has a new baby."
"Aunty Carolyn's only just had her first baby." Vala held out her arms as Ariel began to clamber over her brother to settle next to her mother on the bed. "Plenty of time. You and Uncle Jack will easily win the bet. Daniel," she poked her husband with a firm finger. "We need to ring Walter in the morning. Fifty should do it, don't you think?"
"Are you serious?" Daniel's eyes popped.
Rolling her eyes down impatiently, Vala huffed. "Pfft! I forget sometimes how uptight you Tau'ri are about the mentioning of sex."
"That's not what I meant!" Daniel flicked her chin. "Put on a hundred bucks! We're a dead cert to beat Mitchell and Carolyn!"
Vala chuckled loudly. She nodded her head towards Ariel, who was yawning widely as she drifted off to sleep. "You're right though, it's not going to happen tonight!"
"Just as well, if you ask me." Daniel smiled before leaning across his children to embrace as much of his wife as he could grab hold of.
"Oh?" Vala lifted her eyebrows again, feeling sleep beginning to tug at the edges of her own consciousness. She was safe – safe with her own family, her children, her husband. Protected and loved, unconditionally. She blinked suddenly and cleared her throat. "Why, darling? Why is it just as well?"
"Look at you three!" Grinning, Daniel nodded towards his wife's leopard print pajamas, then the tiny teddy bear before pointing at the mangled silver fox petticoat. "It's like a zoo in here tonight!"
THE END.
Part two coming soon!