Author's Note: Forgive the overabundance of cheese and fluff...

Chapter Nine

This sucked, having to say goodbye to yet another one of her closest friends. Vala knew she should be happy for her friend, it was after all, Sam's first major command. Yes, the Colonel had led SG-1 for a year, but she was now head of the entire Atlantis expedition! It was a tremendous honor for Sam and a step forward in her career. Vala, in a way, was happy for Sam; she only wished this success of her friend's didn't have to take her an entire galaxy away.

As the Stargate dialed behind her, Sam hugged each one of her friends, Vala being last. As she embraced her alien friend, Sam said softly, "Take care of Daniel for me."

Vala hugged her tighter. "I will, I promise."

"I can take care of him too!" Kenan claimed, breaking through the tense moment, and earned a smile and/or chuckle from the adults.

Sam crouched down to his eye level. "I would like that very much. He'll need as much help as possible," she joked.

"I am right here," Daniel butted in sarcastically and was ignored by everyone.

"I promise to help a lot," Kenan vowed solemnly.

Sam laughed lightly and smoothed a hand over his hair. "Thank you, sweetie." The kawoosh sprang forth, prompting Sam to look behind her at it.

"Mama said that if it was okay with you, I can call you Aunt Sam. Is it okay with you?" Kenan inquired shyly.

Sam gave him a blinding smile. "I would love that," she told him.

The little guy launched himself at her and nearly made her lose her balance, but she caught herself in time. "Bye Aunt Sam. I'll miss you."

Sam gave him one last squeeze before releasing him and stood up. "I'll miss you too, Kenan," she said and then looked at all her friends. "I'll miss you all."

With one last bye, she quickly grabbed a small briefcase and disappeared through the event horizon. Just like that, she was gone.

"Hey," Daniel greeted Vala a few weeks later as he walked in Sam's old lab. "I've been looking for you – this where you been hiding out?"

Vala spared him a smile but didn't take her focus off the device in front of her. "I wouldn't call it hiding," she retorted. "Why were you looking for me? Need help with a translation?"

"No," he replied and came to stand next to her. "What're you doing?"

"Landry asked me to take a look at this device SG-6 brought back. On the outside it appears to be Goa'uld, but on the inside, it's completely different."

"Interesting."

"Very," she set down the tools she was using. "What's up? Where's my son?" she asked as she looked around for him.

"He's spending the day with 'Uncle Cam,' as Kenan called him," Daniel responded with a soft smile.

Vala snorted softly. "He wants to call all of our friends Aunt or Uncle and I worry he's trying to replace Junia and Gaius."

"I don't think so," Daniel contested gently, "I think he just sees how important they are to you, the way Junia and Gaius were. He sees how they're your family, our family."

"Perhaps you're right," she consented, "So, you didn't answer my question; why were you looking for me?"

"Oh, right," he shook his head, refocusing on his original mission. "We're needed on the Odyssey. Something about an Asgard device for you to look at and some Asgard writing for me to translate. They wanna beam us up."

"Kenan – "

" –will be fine and safe with Cam," Daniel interrupted and finished for her.

"How long?"

"Shouldn't be too long. I don't think they want us to stay long. Just take look and some pictures or whatever. I guess we'll know once we get there."

Vala sighed and stood up. "Alright, let's get this over with. Do I need to bring anything?"

"No, I don't think so. They should have everything we might need."

As she walked past him, he caught her hand and pulled her back in front of him. When he didn't say anything, just studied her, Vala tilted her head and gave him a confused glance. "Everything alright, darling?"

"Yeah," he replied quietly, "You just look beautiful today."

She smirked. "I always look beautiful," she responded sassily.

"True, but you're especially beautiful today."

"You're acting strange. Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm sure, just realizing how lucky I am."

Vala still had a puzzled expression on her face but decided to let it go and used the hand he held to pull him to the control room. Once there, Walter alerted the Odyssey that they were ready to be beamed up

Once onboard the Odyssey, the first thing Vala noticed that there was no one on the Bridge. "Hello?" she called out and turned to Daniel, baffled. "Daniel, where is everyone? Where's Colonel Davidson?"

"The Odyssey's crew has been beamed off."

"Why? I don't understand."

"I thought it'd be fitting," Daniel said cryptically, "I mean, we met on a bridge almost identical to this one. I really miss Prometheus for that reason and wish I could've done this on her, where it all began."

"Daniel, what are you talking about?" she asked hesitantly, wondering if he was going in the direction she thought he was.

"Then there's the whole fifty years on the Odyssey thing," he continued as if she hadn't spoken, "I can't imagine not spending those years with you. I don't think I could live with you in those conditions and not eventually crack. But those years didn't technically happen for us. When we got back and were sprouting off all those words of wisdom and you said 'life is too short,' something inside me just snapped, I guess, and I began to look at you differently. You were right, life is too short, and I've wasted enough of it being stupid and fearful. I've almost lost you on several occasions and I don't plan any more time go by without you by my side."

He backed her up until she was sitting down in the commander's chair. "Daniel?"

He hovered above her and bent down to kiss her gently before kneeling before her. "I'm a linguist, Vala. A wordsmith. I know at least two dozen languages, I've brokered peace treaties with and within several different worlds, and I've negotiated trades with multiple worlds, but when it comes to you, words always fail me, unless its to lecture or berate you. But I can say this with confidence, I love you, Vala Mal Doran, and I can't live life without you. I need you in it. You have become everything to me, so much more than I could've ever anticipated."

Vala sniffed and blinked away the moisture from her eyes. When Daniel signaled for someone to come here, Vala looked towards the entrance and frowned slightly when Kenan came running to Daniel, carrying a small box. She noticed Cam, Teal'c, and Jack stealthily watching from outside the doorway.

"Kenan?" she asked as her son came up to Daniel and focused back on Daniel. "You beamed my son up to the ship without my permission?" she asked in a stern but playful voice.

Daniel smiled, took the box from Kenan, and wrapped an arm around his waist. "I'm hoping your answer will make me his father soon, so I took a chance."

"You haven't asked me a question yet," she told him slyly and arched a brow.

Daniel rolled his eyes but couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. "Vala Mal Doran, will you make the happiest man in the universe and marry me?" he asked and opened the box.

"Say yes, mama!" Kenan excitedly whispered.

Vala let out a watery laugh and leaned forward in her chair. Putting her arms around Daniel's neck, she whispered against his lips, "Of course I will, my Daniel."

Daniel pressed his lips to hers at her reply. He stood up, taking her with him, and did a small twirl with her in his arms. As he set her down, he touched his forehead to hers. "I love you," he whispered fervently.

"I love you, too," she whispered back.

"So, you're getting married? Daniel's gonna be my dad?" Kenan's voice cut in.

Daniel released Vala and lifted the boy into his arms. "That's right, buddy," he answered and walked back to Vala, who encased the two of them into a hug.

"Can we come in yet?" Jack asked from the hallway.

Daniel groaned. "Yes, Jack," he exasperatedly mocked.

The three men came out from their hiding place. Congratulations were exchanged, along with handshakes and hugs.

"So you all knew about this?" Vala questioned and received confirmation from them all. "Daniel, how did you arrange to get everyone off the ship?"

"That took several days of convincing and planning, but was mostly possibly mainly due to yours truly," Daniel pointed to Jack, who mocked bowed.

"Yes, well, they gave us a time limit, one we're about to exceed so time to go home," Jack went to the controls to start beaming the people back and contacted the SGC. "Stargate Command, this is O'Neill. Sending our people back."

The soon to be Jackson trio stood hand in hand, each adult taking one of Kenan's hand. As they both felt the tingles of the beam, Daniel and Vala looked at each, both sharing a smile before all three were beamed back to Earth.

Author's Note: I know, super cheesy but I couldn't help it. I'm a hopeless romantic...

One more chapter and it's done! As always, let me know your thought!