He winced as he opened his eyes. What hadn't been a terribly comfortable position the night before, was painfully miserable now with the edge of the container digging into his lower back. Yet he didn't move, not even to stretch his legs. Vala was still sleeping, leaning on him, her head in the crook of his arm and he didn't want to wake her. She had been pale and ill looking the previous day and Cam guessed that it was probably caused by stress and lack of sleep.

She was pregnant. That thought still blew his mind away. No wonder she had been a little freaked out, and acting weird lately. Here she was in another universe in a pregnant woman. Who knew who the father was, or whether or not he would show up. As Vala stirred, Cam pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, deciding to cross that bridge when they got to it.

"What time is it?" Vala sleepily mumbled.

"Dunno." Cam looked down to try and see her face, but there was a lock of hair in the way. He gently pushed it back, and when their eyes met, he smiled warmly.

"Cam, you can't be comfortable!" Vala had noticed how Cam was sitting, leaning awkwardly against the empty container.

"I slept didn't I? Let's go see if anyone else is up."

Vala stood up, Cam right behind her, and the two wandered towards the control room. Not finding anyone inside, Vala announced she wanted to wash up and change, they made their way to her quarters, Cam telling her to stop by his room when she was done. He let her go into her room, wanting to kiss her, hold her, tell her that everything was going to be ok, but unsure as to exactly where they were on that right at that moment. He settled for smiling at her, and turned towards his room.

Once inside he rifled through his clothes, and found nothing clean. The several pairs of jeans he had all had some sort of stain on them from food, or dirt. There were no were no washing machines on Moya so that meant all clothes had to be scrubbed the old fashioned way, by hand. He had done the bare minimum, socks and such, but had not felt any desire to start scrubbing jeans, that and they took so long to dry. Sighing, Cam found his track pants that he hadn't designated as sleeping pants, and pulled them out for inspection. He groaned as he saw the large tear from just above the knee down to the bottom of one leg. He had caught it earlier in the week, and the rip had gradually gotten bigger, until now the pant leg resembled a pair of bell bottom pants.

He tossed the pants aside and a new thought popped into his head. John's pants. They weren't being used by anyone, and they were his size. They were more than likely clean too. Cam quickly ran to Johns quarters, and grabbed the pants that had been placed on what resembled a table of some sorts. He hurried back not wanting Vala or anyone else to see him running down the hallways with no shirt or socks. Back in his room he dumped the load on the bed and sorted through them.

Every pair were black leather pants. Cam eyed them suspiciously, unsure as to whether or not he really wanted to wear them. He reasoned that he would only be wearing them for a few hours tops while he repaired the one pair, and washed the others. Tossing the pants aside and grabbing the towel, he wandered into the bathroom, and began the morning ritual of shaving and washing. The brushing of the teeth still gave Cam a queasy stomach, placing this small creature inside his mouth to clean his teeth. The only slight consolation besides having clean death, was it did taste slightly minty.

Cam threw on the last remaining clean t-shirt and considered the pants as they lay in a heap on the bed. He heard a loud knock on the door, followed by Vala's voice. All hesitation regrading the pants disappeared, and he hurriedly pulled them on, while yelling through the door that he'd be right with Vala. Tucking the shirt in he ran into the bathroom as she opened the door.

"You ready yet? I even waited an extra few minutes for you!"

"Uh, yup. I'm good." Vala peered curiously at him as she could only see his head and one shoulder as he peeked around the wall to the bathroom.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Hungry?" Cam still hadn't emerged from the bathroom so Vala took several steps into the room, sitting on the bed.

"Starving, so hurry the frell up."

"Uh, go ahead, I'll meet you there."

Vala shrugged and left, wondering what could be taking him so long. She met up with Samantha and Daniel and walked with them to the common area where they ate all their meals.

Cam emerged from the bathroom, tugging on the leather that clung to his legs. He felt out of place and swore that he would never run out of clean pants again. Exiting his room he ran into Jack who stopped short, and immediately noticed the pants. Cam shook his head, indicating he didn't wish to discuss the situation, and the two men headed down the hallway in silence.

Vala joined Samantha and Sarah, who had been there already, with a full plate of food. In the past few days she had noticed less sickness and hoped that it wouldn't return. She wondered if it had been amplified by the stress she had felt those first few days she had known about the pregnancy, and now that she had told Cam what was going on, the stress and the sickness had dissipated. She eagerly started eating the unusual breakfast, listening to Samantha and Sarah discuss their histories.

Samantha snorted causing Vala to glance at her in concern. Sarah giggled quietly and jerked her head in the direction of the table holding the food. Vala turned and got a pleasant view. Cam walking away from her in black leather pants. She heard Samantha cough as Sarah continued to laugh but couldn't bring herself to look away. She did so only when Cam turned to look directly at her, and swiftly focused her attention back onto her plate.

Jack grinned at Cam, who looked very self consciously down at his pants, and sauntered over to a vacant seat and sat down, across from the three women. Cam was forced to walk around Jack to take a seat. In all truth, he could've taken an empty seat at the end of the table and sit by his lonesome, but he didn't want to make a big fuss. It'd all be over in a few arns when he had done some laundry. Telling himself to suck it up he took a seat, watching out of the corner of his eye as Vala studied him as he passed. That look alone was worth all the harassment he would get from anyone else.

As Cam finished eating, D'Argo entered and started discussing with them where they were headed next. Cam only listened with one ear, his thoughts elsewhere. Mainly on the woman sitting across from him, trying not to appear obvious as she stole the occasional glance of him.

Feeling that enough time had passed and now he was procrastinating, Cam stood and exited the room hurrying along to his room hoping not to run into anyone else who would give him strange looks about his clothing.

Vala watched as Cam stood abruptly and left the room, wondering what was on his mind. He had not participated in the conversation other than a 'hello' or the occasional murmur of agreement. She stayed for a few minutes until the conversation had hit a dead moment, and excused herself, running down the hallways hoping to find Cam. She stopped short as she rounded a corner and saw him about to enter his room. Instead of calling out to him, she waited until he had entered, and followed.

After knocking on the door, she opened it from the outside, hoping he wouldn't mind.

"Hey."

"Hey." Cam was piling clothing onto the bed.

"You left kind of suddenly."

"Yeah. Had to do laundry."

"I noticed." Vala smiled and her eyes drifted to his pants, lingering for a moment before returning to look him in the eyes.

"Yup."

"That's all? Just laundry?"

"Yup."

"Cam..." Vala frowned, not sure how to ask or word her question. He stopped what he was doing, a look of concern in his eyes.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I think."

"C'mere. Sit down. Should I get Zhaan?" Cam wondered if it was something about the pregnancy that was bothering her, if she was sick again.

"No, it's not that. It's, hard to explain."

"Ok, just say what's on your mind." Cam shoved the clothes back onto the floor and sat down next to Vala.

"Last night you said that we're in this together."

"And I meant it. Every word."

"I know, but in what way?" Cam was confused by Vala's question.

"In every way."

"Ok, not quite what I meant to say." Vala took a deep breath and blurted out her next question. "Since we've been here, we've been closer." Vala winced at her wording as Cam frowned at her.

"Closer?" He wanted to know where this was going, hoping she was thinking the same as him.

"Ok, back at the SGC we were friends, team mates. Here we're still that, but there's something more. I don't know if it's something that's because we're here, basically alone, or if it's something that was going to happen no matter where we were." Vala stared down at her hands which were anxiously pulling on her clothes in nervousness.

"You mean the..." Cam gestured to her stomach in a mention of the pregnancy.

"Not just that. I mean what's happened between us. You know the kiss." Vala whispered the last word and Cam didn't catch it, so she pointed at his face, then back to her own.

"Oh, ok. Gotcha."

"I know the past week has been a little, uh, weird, and we never had a chance to really talk about that moment, but I want to now. I need to know if that was only because we were here, not home." Vala looked at him, feeling tears well up in her eyes. She wanted to know the answer, but some part of her was telling her she shouldn't have asked, just let things flow.

"Uh, not too sure how to answer that." Vala turned away from him feeling defeated. Cam let out a sigh before continuing. "Would that have happened on Earth? I can't answer that. 2 months ago when we left, probably not." Vala jumped off the bed needing to make a quick exit.

"Wait, wait. Please." Cam followed her to the door and she turned to face him, not looking into his eyes.

"You've given me an answer. That's all I wanted to know." She dropped her head, and her voice was deep but had little emotion, a sure sign to Cam that she was upset.

"Not quite. Had we stayed on Earth, who knows what could've happened. But we're not there, we're here and since we've been here, yes, things have changed between us. Having to rely solely on each other for this long, not expecting any help, and at this point, not really expecting to find a way home. It'd change anyone. Instead of driving each other crazy, it's brought us together, and I want that."

"Do you?" In response Cam placed his fingers under her chin, raising her face to look directly at him. To prove his point he kissed her tenderly, not removing his fingers from her chin, allowing her to move towards him, or away if that was her choice.

Vala found her heart working overtime. She had gone from disappointment to delight in a matter of moments. Cam's final words hadn't sunk in before she was kissing him. She could feel his touch on her chin and for a fleeting moment wondered why he wasn't pulling her closer. Wanting to show him that she wanted this too she placed her hands on either side of his face and moved closer to him. In return he put both hands on her waist, moving one hand up and down her back.

When the kiss ended Cam pulled her into a hug, enveloping her in his arms as she rested her head against his chest.

"Are you sure?" Vala still wasn't convinced that this was something he wanted despite what he had said. Somewhere deep inside her she worried that this was just a moment of convenience.

"Positive." Cam placed several kisses on her forehead, not moving his arms.

"Now what?"

"Laundry." Vala laughed at Cam's comment.

"Well, seeing as you're doing that, how 'bout adding mine to the pile."

"Sure, I'll carry them down for you." Cam let Vala go and began picking up the clothes off the floor again. Vala rolled her eyes at him and left to go grab her laundry.

Vala was thrilled with what had happened in the past few hours. The momentary heart wrenching moment with Cam earlier was more than a minor memory by now as the two had spent longer than necessary doing their laundry. Somehow they had ended up wearing most of the water required to wash their clothes, but had a great deal of fun in the process. After cleaning up their mess with the assistance of two DRD's they had parted ways as Cam wanted to go talk to D'Argo about the conversation he had missed earlier.

After changing into some drier clothes Vala went in search of Cam and ran into Samantha instead.

"Hey, where'd you go?"

"Uh, laundry."

"For the past what, 3 hours?"

"I was with Cam."

"Oh." Samantha grinned at Vala. "So I take it things are good with you two?"

"We got things sorted out." Vala couldn't hide the slight blush in her cheeks.

"Good to hear. So, you got anything planned for the day?"

"Not yet. Cam's talking to D'Argo."

"Ok, you wanna find something to do? I'm need some sort of fun." Samantha had spent most of her waking hours on Moya studying the systems and technology available.

"I've got the perfect thing."

After discussing the following day's plans with D'Argo, Cam went in search of Vala. He couldn't find her in any of the rooms he had thought she would be in, and after running into Daniel he headed off to one of the rooms near the transport pod bay. Daniel had commented on strange grunting noises, followed by clicking noises and assumed it was D'Argo doing something he didn't want to know about. Cam knew it wasn't D'Argo and wondered what Vala was up to now.

He paused in the doorway, taking in the sight before him. Vala had changed into some of Aeryn's more body hugging clothes, and was now coaching Samantha in the fine art of staff weapon fighting. Cam himself had continued to spar with Teal'c, thoroughly enjoying himself and getting the chance to vent some of his frustrations and anger when he felt the urge to do so. At some point Vala had taken up the sport, surprising herself and others at how fast she picked up the graceful movements. He had yet to spar with her, and now was content to stand back and watch her show her stuff.

Samantha listened as Vala explained her stance and how to properly balance her weight keeping herself centered at all times. Both gripped what looked like metal poles and Vala's was much too long for her. Each moved slowly, Vala demonstrating the move while Samantha tried to copy it. Cam was sure that both were taking a little more care as neither would want to get hit by the metal poles.

Vala turned and noticed Cam leaning against the doorway, and stopped what she was doing.

"If you want to learn how to do this properly, he's the one to teach you." Vala pointed at Cam while accepting the pole from Samantha.

"Uh, not yet. Think I want to learn how to do the basics first."

"Well, anytime. Let me know."

"Sure. Thanks." Samantha made a quick exit, tired after the unique exercise. She had never fought like that before, and after trying it definitely wanted to learn more. Who knew when you would need a skill like that out here.

"So, the student becomes a teacher?" Cam lazily pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning on after Samantha left, moving towards Vala.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far. I just thought she'd like to learn some fighting, and as we can't go off to a shooting range on Moya, this was the next best thing." Vala turned around the two poles in her hands when Cam stopped her, taking one of the poles from her.

"Want to practice a little more?"

"Cam, I've seen you practice. You give Teal'c a run for his money."

"Not like that. Just trading blows. Keep me in practice too. Besides, in your condition I don't think we could have a real bout." Cam looked pointedly at Vala's midsection.

"I'm pregnant, Cam, not stupid. I know how far I can push it." Cam was taken aback by Vala's swift change of mood.

"I didn't mean that. I know you're not going to do anything to endanger the pregnancy." Cam hastened to make amends.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's like I can't even control it anymore."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Glad it's me you're verbally sparing with and not D'Argo. Apparently he gets something called hyper rage."

"Really? I'll keep that in mind." Vala gripped her pole and stood in the position she had been showing Samantha before. "So, you wanna take it slow?"

"Slow's good." Cam knew she was talking about the sparing but wondered if she had a double meaning.

"Ok."

Dinner was not a group affair that evening. D'Argo had a disagreement with Jack over something that neither Cam nor Vala knew about. Daniel had been there but wasn't at dinner to tell them what had happened. Sarah had left when they entered, while Chiana and Samantha were finishing up. Cam and Vala spent the evening together only being disturbed once by Daniel who was looking for something he had misplaced earlier. At that point they decided to call it a night as Vala was yawning every few minutes.

At her room Vala began to say her goodnights, unsure of what Cam wanted. Instead he grasped her hand gently and tugged her in the direction of his room. Vala followed him into his room, and only then did she think of something to sleep in.

"Cam, I'll be right back."

"Where you going?" Cam hoped that Vala wasn't having second thoughts.

"I can't sleep in these."

"Uh, here. They're dry." Cam tossed Vala a pair of his sweat pants and a t-shirt that he had washed earlier. "You can use the bathroom, just want to clean up a bit first."

Cam began to put the now clean and dry clothes away as Vala slid around the corner to the bathroom. As she pulled on the t-shirt she sighed. Despite washing the shirt in some disgusting smelling soap, the shirt stll smelled of him. She cautiously exited the bathroom to find Cam finishing up, and the bed cleared of clothes. He passed her as she exited to change, and she crawled into the bed, exhausted. The day had by no means been strenuous but the emotion turmoil of the past few days and the short sleep the night before added up quickly. She didn't hear Cam as he put his dirty clothes away or turned off the lights.

Cam stopped as he saw Vala, his heart skipping a beat. She was already asleep and he didn't blame her. He was tired too not having a good nights sleep the night before. He put the shirt and pants over in a spot he planned on having as his dirty laundry area, turned off the lights, and crawled under the sheets. Vala didn't move as he rolled over to get closer to her. He watched her sleep for several minutes, replaying their conversations that day in his mind.

He was glad that she had brought up the kiss. He had wanted too but wasn't sure how to. Now they had everything out in the open, and thanks to that, here she was beside him. Gently so as not to wake her, he kissed her goodnight, moved so her head could rest on his arm, and fell asleep holding her close.

AN: I left it here as to write up the next part would've taken another day or so. In the next chap, the return of Crais...