Ch2

"So, just how far along are you?" Vala asked Carolyn. She had an idea of what to do but needed more specific information.

"I'm about 1 month along." Carolyn informed her. "Why?"

"Well, its just that I was on a few websites earlier today for Niagara Falls Canada, just wanting to see what was available there. There is this one store there, on Clifton Hill, called The Fun Factory, where they make wax impressions of your hand for you to take home. Seeing as how it is only 1:00pm I was wondering if we had the time to go and check it out." Vala explained.

"Vala, Cam and I are hanging out tonight." Carolyn explained.

"Yes I know. But what time are you meeting up?" Vala asked.

"He is coming over to my place for 8:00pm. Why?" Carolyn informed her, suddenly intrigued with where this is going.

"Well perhaps we could get permission to beam over to the base in Niagara Falls, NY, then drive over to check this place out and see if there is something there that will help us." Vala explained. "Have you had an ultrasound done yet?"

Carolyn and Sam both turned to Vala, not surprised she knows about this procedure, yet surprised she would ask this question.

"Not yet." Carolyn informed her. "Why?"

"Well you could get one done, and give a picture of it to Cameron in a picture frame, with a caption that reads 'I can't wait to meet you daddy.' or something like that." Vala informs them.

Carolyn suddenly is smiling with a smile that just lit up her face. Both Sam and Vala could tell by the look on her face that this idea is perfect. The wheels in Sam's head started turning.

"Vala, do you remember the number for the Fun Factory?" Sam asked. "I just don't want to go there if they can't help us with this."

"Not off the top of my head but I am sure I can get Walter to get me the number." Vala quickly pulls out her cell phone, and calls the mountain. After a quick conversation with Walter she hangs up. "Okay I have the number. Lets hope they can help us."

A quick call to the Fun Factory proves fruitful. They can help. The next step would be convincing the General that this is a good idea without giving away too much. Sam decided to call Jack to see if he could help them.

"General O'Neill's office, this is Colonel Davis, how may I help you?" Davis answered.

"Hey Paul, it's Sam. How are you?" Sam asks.

"I'm good how are you?" Davis replies.

"Not too bad. Is the General around?" Sam asks.

"He is in a meeting with the President and the Joint Chiefs right now." He informs her. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Actually, maybe you can. Carolyn, Vala, and I want to go to Niagara Falls, Canada for a few hours and need Jack's authorization to have the Odyssey beam us to the base in Niagara Falls NY and back." Sam explains. "Do you think you could help me with that?"

"Actually I can." Davis informs her. "The General left instructions that you are allowed to beam over here tonight. I don't see any reason why we can't add a couple extra beams in for you."

"Thanks, Paul. I'll call you when we are at my house and you can beam us from there." Sam advises. "Just make sure we have a secured area to beam into and a car made available. We should arrive at my house within the next 30 minutes."

"Sure thing. I'll work on those while waiting for your call." Davis confirms before ending the call.

"Alright. That is taken care of." Sam informs them, although needlessly as they had been listening to her end of the conversation.

"Now from the information they gave us, you can do an impression of your had holding a picture holder." Vala gets right back into their plan. "They also gave us a list of all the colors available. I think you should do the peach color, with a green picture holder. The decision on which picture holder to use you can decide when we get there."

"Why peach and not another color?" Carolyn asked, curious as to the color choice.

"They told us it is close to a skin tone." Vala reminded her. "So I figure you use that. We can look at the different colors when we get there and decide then if you want to change the color."

"Makes sense." Sam chimed in. "You won't know the sex of the baby for a while yet, so going with a gender specific color is kind of out of the question. Besides they also said if the hand is taken properly it can last a long time. Just think about how scarred your child will be if you have a boy and you made a pink hand."

"True." Carolyn agrees, the sighs. "I just hope that this doesn't break our relationship."

They drive in silence as they all realize none of them know for sure what Cameron's reaction will be. They can all hope what his reaction will be. Just as they were pulling into the drive at Sam's Vala pulls out her cell phone and sends a text.

"What are you doing?" Sam asks her.

"I'm letting Daniel know that we are going to Niagara Falls for some shopping." Vala lets them know. "I am also asking him to put out feelers with Mitchell to see what his take is on this and to call me when he has the information."

"Vala!" Sam and Carolyn scream at her at the same time.

"What? We were talking about it the other day." Vala explains. "Daniel was going to pose the questions to him during our trip to Orilla anyway. Questions like 'What would you do if Carolyn ended up pregnant?' and 'Do you want to have children with her' and questions along those lines. I just told him to ask those questions now. It's not like I told him you are pregnant."

"Yes but Daniel is smart. He will be able to put two and two together to get four." Sam rebuts, upset that Vala would do this.

"Oh please." Vala scoffs. "Daniel would never think that. I was of the opinion that these questions should have been asked already. We all know that the two of you will go the distance. If these thoughts are already in his head when he sees the hand, then it won't go as badly tonight."

"I hope you're right and this doesn't backfire." Sam informs her. Carolyn just nods her head in agreement, wondering if what Vala did was a good thing or a bad thing. One thing she does know for sure is that they will definitely find out tonight.

Sam lets them into her house and they make their way down to the basement where a room has been set up for this exact purpose. As they all get into position, Sam makes the call to Col. Davis.

"General O'Neill's office, this is Colonel Davis, how may I help you?" Davis answered.

"Hey Paul, its Sam. We are in position and ready to beam over." Sam informs him.

"Great. I just finished setting everything up on this end about 10 minutes ago." Davis advises her. "There will be a Government car with diplomatic plates on it waiting for you so that you won't have too many issues with customs when you cross. I will inform the Odyssey that you are ready to beam now."

"Thanks Paul." Sam replies. As soon as they hang up the white light indicative of an Asgard beam envelops the three friends, and they soon find themselves standing on the bridge of the Odyssey.

"Col. Carter, Vala, Dr Lam." Major Marks greets them. He stands up and steps away from his console handing a radio to Sam. "Just radio me with this radio when you are ready to return. It's not on the normal frequency's so no one at Cheyenne will know that you have requested a beam up from Niagara Falls."

"Thank you Major." Sam replies as she accepts the radio.

"You're welcome Ma'am. We are just waiting for confirmation from the ground that everything is ready for you to beam down." Marks informs her. After approximately 1 minute, Marks receives confirmation that everything is ready for them to beam down. "Everything is set. Enjoy your afternoon ladies."

"Thank you Major, we will." Carolyn thanks him for the three of them.

They soon find them selves in a secure hanger where their car is located, along with an unexpected visitor. Waiting for them by the car is Col. Davis, who has started walking over to them with an envelope tucked securely under his arm.

"Col. Davis, we weren't expecting to see you here." Carter greets him in surprise. They are all glad to see him as he has been one the more loyal supporters of the Stargate program in Washington from the beginning.

"I am just here for a few minutes Sam then I am back to Washington." Davis informs them. "I am just here delivering some papers to Vala, courtesy of the President." Davis hands the envelope to Vala. "On behalf of the President I am here to officially hand you your full Citizenship papers. There has been a background created for you in detail that has also been included that you need to learn and memorize completely."

To say Vala was stunned would be a huge understatement. Sam was just as shocked as Vala but had schooled her expression not to show it. Carolyn had a soft smile on her face.

"We will set you up with a house close to Col. Carters, as well as arrange for you to receive formal Drivers Education." Davis continues. Tears are beginning to form in Vala's eyes. "Once you have completed this course, Home World Security will assist you in purchasing a vehicle." Davis stopped when he saw the expression on Vala's face.

"So no more living in the mountain?" Vala questions. "No more relying on a Senior member of the program to escort me off the base?"

These questions break the hearts of all three standing with her. Davis realizes at this moment what they have done to her the entire time she has been here. Never once did he hear a serious complaint about her situation, because she knew that it was required in order gain their complete trust.

"Until you have your full Drivers License and your own vehicle, the President would like that you are still accompanied by someone when you leave the base. Just to make sure that you arrive home safe and get back to the base safely." Davis informs her. "That way there would be less paperwork involved if you were to be pulled over by the police. However this does not mean that you will have to give up your quarters on base either. As your current quarters are located in the same section as the rest of your team, you won't need to move to that location."

Vala stood there and stared at the papers not really believing this was happening. She grabs Davis into a hug. Davis was momentarily stunned by this but quickly recovers and returns the hug. After they pull away, he can still see the tears in her eyes, as well as the joy of knowing that she has been totally accepted by the people of earth.

"Several requests for this have come into the President over the past three months from various SGC personnel." Davis informs her. "After what has happened in the past couple months, the President has decided that this is a request that his is more than happy to grant."

"Thank you." Vala states full of emotion. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can't begin to describe to you how much this means to me."

"Oh I have an idea." Davis states. "I'll pass along to the President your thanks when I get back to Washington. And with that I must leave to return to my duties. You ladies have a good day." With that Davis pulls out a radio, similar to the one Marks handed Carter, and is beamed back to the Odyssey.

When Davis reaches the Odyssey, he greets Marks.

"Did you get it?" Davis asks.

"Every second of it." Marks confirms for him. He hands him a disc with the video on it.

"Thanks, I'll get this to the President and the Joint Chiefs so that they can see her reaction, and not just hear me inaccurately describe it." Davis takes the disc and is prepared to beam back to the General's office.

"Sir, make sure to pass along our thanks when you meet with them." Marks requests of Davis. "We all have a soft spot for Vala since she came here."

"Will do Major." Davis confirms for him right before he is beamed back to the Pentagon.

Back on the ground, Vala is still staring in wonder at the papers she was given. She is gently steered towards the car by Carolyn while Sam makes her way to the drivers door. Sam noticed that Carolyn wasn't too shocked by this.

"You don't seem to surprised by this." Carter comments to Carolyn.

"That's because I'm not." Carolyn confirms for her. "It was going to happen tomorrow afternoon in the gate room. A formal swearing in as a citizen will probably still happen, they probably just needed to give her her papers incase we were questioned at customs."

Vala and Sam round on her. "You knew this was going to happen?" Vala asked her.

"Dad told me last night." Carolyn told her. "He also told me that he had to claim you as his long lost daughter in order for the IOA to shut up about it. You can't lock a General's daughter up in a mountain for the rest of her life now can you?"

"No you can't." Sam agreed with a chuckle.

"So, legally we are sisters?" Vala wanted to know. "My legal name on these documents still says Vala Mal Doran."

"Dad thought you would prefer to keep your last name." Carolyn explained. "Both he and my mother are listed as your parents. Mom saw how important this was too him, and since she still loves him she offered to do this."

"Wow." Vala is still amazed by all of this. 'I have a family who actually care about me. This will take some getting used to.' Vala thought.

A/N: The Fun Factory is an actual store located on Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls Canada, and they do make Wax Hand impressions as souvenirs.