The crying started a couple hours later. Daniel had eventually gotten sick of Cam and Vala's argument and volunteered to take the first shift with the monitor. He had brought it to his office, intending to start translating from the video footage he'd gotten of some ruins on a trip from earlier that week, and Vala had joined him, as usual.
When a sudden wail emanated from the baby monitor they both jumped, Daniel hitting his knee painfully on his desk. He looked at Vala, feeling slightly panicked, but she just shrugged, her eyes wide. Without a word, they both jumped up and Daniel ran down the hall to the little boy's room and threw it open, thinking the little guy was sick or hurt. He flipped on the light, his eyes focused on the bed. The toddler was sitting up, the sheets tangled around his legs, and crying forlornly, the word "Mama" interspersed between cries. The sudden light startled him for a moment and his wails faltered as his hands came up to shield his eyes, but he soon began screaming with renewed earnest. Daniel stood in the doorway, completely unsure of what he should do, wanting to help the little boy but not sure what was wrong.
"Daniel," Vala said from behind him. "Do something!" She gave him a not so gentle prod in the small of his back.
He glanced back at her. "What does he want?"
She gave him a familiar look of unconcealed impatience. "Well, I certainly don't know."
Daniel squared his shoulders and turned back to the screaming toddler. He approached the bed in the same manner in which he would approach a bomb, stepping carefully and cautiously, his hands held out in front of him, palms outward. As he neared the bed, the little boy screamed louder and leaned forward to bury his face in the covers. Any bit of confidence Daniel may have possessed quickly fled and he threw a desperate glance back at Vala, pleading for someone else to take control of the situation. Of course, he knew it was unlikely anyone would be willing to take care of a screaming toddler this late, and besides, it was his shift.
Vala made a little waving motion with her hands, encouraging him to continue. Wincing, Daniel put his hands under the little boy's arms and lifted him off the bed. The toddler screamed even louder and started flailing around so that Daniel almost dropped him. He brought the little boy close to his chest and tried to calm him by holding him tightly, but the little boy didn't think much of the idea and struggled harder.
"He doesn't want me to hold him!" Daniel said, still trying to keep a hold of the boy.
Vala bit her lip and came into the room. "Let me try," she said hesitantly.
Daniel was surprised, but handed the toddler to her. She started bouncing him up and down in her arms and swaying a little, rubbing his back through the oversized black t-shirt he'd been dressed in. The screams started to quiet, and the little boy began to relax against her, mostly out of exhaustion. Vala met Daniel's eyes over the little boy's head and shrugged, still rocking him.
Daniel couldn't help but feel a little pang of jealousy at the apparent ease in which Vala was able to comfort the little boy, but suddenly, the toddler turned his head to look at Daniel and to his surprise, leaned out of Vala's arms and held out his hands toward him. Almost without thinking about it, Daniel took him and began rubbing his back the way Vala had, even bouncing him, surprised at how natural it felt, even though he felt a little dumb doing it. The toddler quieted and dropped his head down to Daniel's shoulder, now only sniffing and giving little hiccuping sobs every now and then.
"There you go, buddy," Daniel whispered, trying to crane his neck so he could see the little boy's face. The toddler just snuggled into his neck and yawned, Daniel feeling his whole little body shudder. Daniel let out a slow breath, suddenly realizing that every muscle in his body had been tensed. He forced himself to relax, exchanging a relieved glance with Vala.
He was just about to try laying the little boy back down on the bed when he raised his head off Daniel's shoulder, a funny look on his face. "What's the matt-" Daniel started to say just as the little boy threw up all over him. Everyone froze for a moment, Daniel looking at his shirt in horror, and Vala staring at him with her mouth open. Then the little boy started to cry again, understandably upset by the event. His wails sprung Daniel into action and he thrust the boy away from him towards Vala, his patience coming to a rapid halt.
"Daniel-"
"Take him!" Daniel said, definitely desperate now.
With a grimace, Vala took the screaming toddler, holding him at arms length in case he threw up again. Daniel left the room without another word, presumably to get into a fresh shirt, but by the look on his face, Vala had to wonder if he was considering something drastic, like jumping in front of a fast-moving bus or something.
She supposed she ought to take the little guy to the infirmary, but she was starting to feel like she was carrying a bomb around. Who knew when he would go off again? Regardless, her arms were getting tired so she brought him closer so she could settle him on her hip, checking him over carefully for signs of vomit. "Well," she said to herself. "Looks like you got it all on Daniel. I suppose that's good in a way."
Sighing, she carried the little boy out of the room and down the hall. As they approached the infirmary, Lieutenant North ran out into the hallway, clearly under the impression that someone was being murdered. When she saw Vala holding the screaming little boy, she rushed to them and started looking the toddler over for injuries.
"Is he hurt?" the nurse asked, seeing no visible signs of trauma.
"He threw up," Vala said, frowning and wrinkling her nose at the memory. She tried to hand the little boy off to the nurse, getting more nervous by the second that he would puke again, this time all over her, but the nurse just waved her inside the infirmary and told her to put the boy on one of the beds. Fortunately, it was a quiet night and no other patients were in the infirmary, because it didn't look like the kid was going to stop screaming anytime soon. When Vala tried to put him down on a bed, he clung to her shirt and screamed louder. Vala was even able to pick out the words "no down, no down!" amidst the screams. She looked at the nurse helplessly as the little boy continued to scream and hang on to her.
"Okay, go ahead and just hold him while I examine him," the nurse said. Vala nodded and the nurse turned to the little boy. Vala sat uneasily on one of the beds with the toddler, still trying to hold him away from her in case he was planning on throwing up again, but the little boy seemed to be calming down.
"So, what happened exactly?" the nurse asked, getting the thermometer.
"Um, well . . . we heard him crying and we went in and I had just gotten him calmed down and he just puked all of a sudden," Vala said, absently rubbing the little boy's back. His cries were simmering down to whimpers and he snuggled into her.
"Where's Dr Jackson?" the nurse asked, holding the little boy's head still as she put the thermometer in his ear. The toddler was too exhausted to resist, but he started sobbing again and tried to bury his face in Vala's shirt.
"He was . . . in the line of fire," Vala said, not quite stopping a small smile from coming to her face at the thought that Daniel would probably rather be in the line of fire that involved bullets or energy blasts.
"Ah," the nurse said, also failing to look unamused. "Well, it looks like he doesn't have a fever. Do you know what he's eaten recently?"
Vala shook her head. "They just brought him through the gate a few hours ago and I have no idea what he's eaten since then."
The little boy suddenly pulled away from Vala and looked at her. "No!" he said emphatically, though the effect was lessened as his thumb was still in his mouth.
"No what?" Vala said, surprised.
The little boy traced a large circle in the air with his finger. "No bwue."
Vala had no idea what he was talking about. "Um . . ."
"No bwue, no bwue!" the little boy said, taking his thumb out of his mouth to gesture with both hands, a slightly panicked look on his face.
Vala was afraid he would start crying again so she quickly agreed with him. "Okay, no bwue."
This seemed to satisfy the little boy and he put his thumb back in his mouth and cuddled up to Vala again.
"Any idea what he's talking about?" the nurse asked, looking at the little boy with a puzzled expression.
Vala started to shrug but then something clicked in her head and she smiled. "I think he meant the Stargate. He didn't want to go through it again." She felt a sudden, profound sense of accomplishment. Daniel wasn't the only one with translating skills.
Lieutenant North chuckled softly. "Poor little guy. Well, I don't think he's sick. My guess is he just cried so hard he made himself throw up. My niece used to do that all the time." The nurse stroked his head gently.
Vala looked at her sharply. "All the time?"
The nurse made an apologetic face and shrugged. "Well, she was kind of brat and I think sometimes she did it on purpose, but . . ."
Vala looked between the nurse and the little boy in her arms rapidly. "All the time? On purpose?" She started to swear but remembered there was a child sucking his thumb on her lap. Speaking of which, her lap was starting to feel awfully warm . . . she shrieked and jumped up, shoving the toddler into the nurse's arm. "He peed on me!"
The little boy started crying again, though at least it hadn't escalated to the piercing screams of earlier. The nurse looked at Vala and could just make out a small wet spot on her pants. "When was the last time someone changed his diaper?"
Vala was kind of dancing around, trying to think of a way to clean herself up without actually touching the spot. "Change his what?"
The nurse stared at her. "You do know you have to change little kid's diapers right?" Vala's behavior was making the little boy more upset and the nurse was trying to keep him calm.
"He peed on me!" Vala cried desperately.
The nurse sighed in frustration. "Just a little bit. His diaper leaked because no one's bothered to change him! Where are his diapers?" she asked, rocking the little boy and rubbing his back.
"I have no idea!" Vala said, equally frustrated.
"Let's go look in his room," the nurse said, walking out of the infirmary trying to find a way to hold the little boy so that he wouldn't leak on her too. Vala grabbed a pair of scrub pants from the infirmary and followed, pinching the cloth of her pants above the spot and trying to hold the wet part off her skin. They made it to the guest room, and the nurse's eyes swept the room, finally landing on the large package of diapers the "away team" had brought in earlier in the day.
The nurse plopped the crying toddler on the bed and changed the diaper with rapid proficiency, despite the little boy's attempts to roll over and escape, and picked him back up, trying to calm him back down. The little boy wouldn't have it though. He struggled against the nurse and held his hands out for Vala. By this time, Vala had changed into the pants from the infirmary and took the boy back a little reluctantly. The toddler was exhausted and immediately dropped his head down to Vala's shoulder and put his thumb in his mouth, his eyes already closing. Vala looked up at Lieutenant North, surprised with the way the boy had reacted to her, and the nurse just shrugged.
"Like I said, I don't think he's actually sick, but keep an eye on him and bring him back if he throws up again," the nurse said. Vala closed her eyes, pleading with whoever might be listening that the kid wouldn't puke again. She opened her eyes to find that the nurse was giving her a rather severe look. "Make sure Dr. Jackson knows he has to change the poor kid's diaper once in a while will you?" Vala nodded in agreement and gave the nurse her best "good girl" smile. The nurse looked troubled. "In fact, you might want to find someone to take care of him who actually knows what they're doing."
The smile fell from Vala's face. "Daniel is perfectly capable of caring for him!" she said a little too loudly, not really noticing that Lieutenant North was assuming the little boy was only going to be Daniel's responsibility.
The nurse looked doubtful. "It's my job to help take care of everyone on this base. I'm just trying to make sure he's going to be all right!"
Vala hugged the little boy closer. "Well you can't have him!" she said a little childishly. "He's Daniel's!" She didn't notice that she had just called the child Daniel's, even though that was highly unlikely. It was easy to forget when the kid looked so much like him.
The nurse let out a sigh and shook her head. "Fine. I just hope Dr. Jackson figures out how to take care of him." The nurse stalked from the room, leaving the door open. She hesitated for a minute, and Vala saw her nod sharply at someone and then continue down the hall. As she moved off, Vala caught sight of Daniel. She hadn't seen him before because he was sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall, his glasses pushed up on top of his head and his fists covering his eyes.
Vala bit her lip, not sure what to do. She was afraid to put the little boy back in bed because she felt certain he'd wake up and cry again, but she wanted to go talk to Daniel too. Finally, she sighed and carried the little boy out into the hall with her, sitting on the floor next to Daniel.
They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the little boy sucking his thumb. Then Vala spoke. "Did you hear any of that?" she asked.
"Enough," Daniel said without looking up.
Vala frowned. She wanted to hug him and tell him what the nurse said wasn't true. Of course Daniel could take care of one little boy. The problem was, she had said sleeping little boy in her arms, so she settled with scooting closer to him so that their shoulders touched. "She's wrong Daniel," she said.
To her surprise, he didn't move away from her or shrug her off. He just sighed deeply and leaned his head back against the cement wall. "You're wrong too, you know. He's not mine."
Vala looked up at his face. His eyes were closed, but the muscles around his eyes were still tense, betraying his frustration and worry. She resisted the temptation to smooth the lines with her finger, but lightly touched his arm. "Stranger things have happened, Daniel."
He opened his eyes and looked at her without moving his head. "You don't actually think he could be my kid do you?"
She shrugged. "It's possible isn't it?"
He slid his glasses back onto his face. "No, it's not, Vala," he said angrily.
She snatched her hand from his face, surprised by the venom in his voice. "Daniel-"
He moved away from her suddenly and stood up. "Not tonight, Vala, please? Just . . . give me the kid and go to bed."
His words stung, and she stood to face him, pushing off the wall. "Daniel, I was just saying-" The little boy in her arms shifted and whimpered a little.
"You're going to wake him up again!" Daniel said, a note of panic surfacing in his voice.
"No I'm not, Daniel." She looked down at the sleeping boy nestled against her and felt a sudden surge of affection bubble up through her chest, even though the tiny boy had thrown up all over Daniel and peed on her. She looked back up at Daniel, expecting him to still be angry, but she was surprised to see he was wearing his thinking frown again and staring at the little boy.
"Daniel?" she asked cautiously.
He just shook his head and held out his arms for the little boy. She carefully transferred him to Daniel's arms and followed him back into the guest room. She stopped just inside the door and watched as Daniel sat on the edge of the bed and slowly laid the little boy down. The toddler whimpered and for a moment, it looked like he was going to wake up, but Daniel pulled the covers up around him snugly and the little boy sighed and turned on his stomach, snuggling down into the pillow and popping his thumb back in his mouth.
Vala waited for Daniel to stand up and leave the room, but he stayed seated on the bed, one hand absently resting on the little boy's back. Vala came a few steps forward and looked at the sleeping boy too, feeling that sudden surge of affection again for a child she didn't even know, who had peed on her. The feeling confused her, and as she glanced at Daniel's face, she could tell he was experiencing similar confusion.
"Hey," came a sudden voice from the doorway.
Daniel and Vala both looked over their shoulders and put a finger to their mouths.
Cam backed up a step and held up his hands in surrender, a slightly amused smile on his face. "Okay, okay. Geez."
Snapped out of their silent contemplations, Daniel and Vala came out of the room, Daniel closing the door carefully behind him. "Is it time to switch already?" Daniel asked, glancing at his watch with a frown. It was almost midnight.
"Yup. Couldn't find you in the lab so . . ." Cam shrugged. "Everything okay?"
Daniel and Vala exchanged a quick glance. "Well, besides the part where Daniel got puked on and I got peed on, everything's fine," Vala said brightly.
Cam raised his eyebrows. "Are you serious? He threw up?"
Daniel frowned. "Yeah, and he has really good aim."
Cam stifled a laugh, clapping a hand over his mouth. "I'm glad you took the first shift, Jackson."
Daniel's frown deepened. "I'm going to bed." He brushed past them and headed down the hall to his quarters.
"What's with him today?" Cam asked, turning to Vala.
She shrugged. "I guess it has something to do with being puked on in the middle of the night. Come on, the baby monitor is in his office."
