Chapter 14
Vala was grateful for the opportunity to do something useful and to get of base. True, it wasn't what she used to do and she did miss working at the SGC, but it was a start and this way, she wouldn't just be sitting around on base doing nothing. Besides, she did love Grace and Ian. Those few weeks she had them all to herself had truly created a bond between her and them and she did miss spending time with them. Though it was temporary, Vala relished it and the time being off base.
If she was being honest with herself, she was a little surprised that she didn't get bored or tired during the days she watched them. It was different when they were in the original reality. She had no choice, they had no choice, and they all needed each other. Plus, it was good practice for her and by the time her baby came, she hoped to be a pro at this. She certainly had some experience being a single mom before coming here.
Watching the kids also helped her emotionally. After her break down with Teal'c, it seemed to have thrown her into mourning process and being away from the base, from a certain person, helped it along. She tried her best not to break down in front of the children and, thankfully, she hadn't - she saved that for when she was alone. She did get quiet and dejected every now and then, even shed a few tears, while with the kids, but Grace never asked, she just hugged Vala and continued as if nothing happened. Vala wondered if Sam had said something to her or if Grace just knew somehow.
Another perk of being a temporary nanny and getting off base was that it was much easier to avoid Daniel. She still wasn't ready to talk to him. True she was no longer angry at him but still wasn't ready. His words had hurt and while she did know he regretted them, seeing him still hurt; not because she had feelings for him but because he reminded her of everything she had just lost. Her grief had completely taken over for the last week and seeing him made it all the worse. Daniel respected her wishes and he stayed away and didn't try to approach her or seek her out. It was obvious to him, to his team, hell to the entire base that she was avoiding him. But Vala appreciated him honoring her wishes. Vala would come to him when she was ready and they both accepted that.
It had been exactly a week since their fight and it was of the rare days that Vala had the day off from nannying. Janet had the day off, on a Thursday no less, and had wanted to spend time with the O'Neill children, thus giving Vala the day off. This left her with nothing to do. She didn't particularly feel like moping around all day. SG-1 left a while ago for their mission and Sam was just called to look at a piece of technology that SG-9 had found off-world, leaving her completely alone with no one to bother.
Vala sat in the commissary, finishing up her orange Jell-O, when there was an unscheduled off-world activation. With nothing better to do, she quickly jumped up and headed for the control room. Besides, she had been a member of SG-1 before she had gotten pregnant, though no one here actually knew that, and it was what members of SG-1 did. The flagship team was always present, when available of course, when an unscheduled off-world activation happened. When she arrived, General Hammond was talking to Jack on the MALP. It appeared that they had found a piece of technology that appeared Ancient and he was requesting for Sam to join them so she could take a look. General Hammond was explained where the Major was while Vala looked over at Walter's screen with the imagines one of the boys had sent. It looked familiar to her, so she went closer and leaned over his shoulder. Definitely familiar.
"You're on P4K-826," she blurted out, interrupting Hammond and O'Neill's conversation, but didn't look away from the images.
"Is that Vala?" Jack's voice asked from the other side of the 'gate.
Hammond ignored him and focused on her. "You know this planet?"
Vala finally looked away from the computer screen. "Yes, it was one of the planets we explored in my reality," she responded. "We were scrambling to find something to defend ourselves against the Ori and much of our research led us to believe the answer was in an Ancient created device. All our resources were devoted to finding it and we only went to planets that had signs of the Ancients. This was one of them."
"Are you familiar with this device?" he questioned further. "Do you know what it is or does?"
Vala scrunched her face while trying to remember the exact details. "I'm vaguely familiar with it," she answered, "It is Ancient and to my recollection, it was some research project. I do believe there is some data from the research that Sam would find interesting and possibly helpful to one or two of her projects.'
"Did you bring it back to base for further study?"
She shook her head. "No, we didn't. Once we discovered it held no defensive purposes, we left it."
"Would you be willing to join SG-1? Just to make sure it can be removed and brought back safely and properly?" Hammond asked. "I understand if you're not comfortable going off-world in your condition, but it appears Major Carter will be gone for a while and you have some experience with this particular piece of technology. The choice is yours."
It took Vala all of five seconds to agree. She missed going off-world. As much as she loved Earth, exploring other planets was something she had always loved about being on SG-1, even if they did get into a fair bit of trouble. Vala went to go get geared up, though it was a peaceful planet, she would be with SG-1 and was reason enough to be prepared and have weapons at the ready.
"Danny boy's not going to like this, sir," Jack warned Hammond after he told Jack that he was sending Vala after explaing her expertise in this regard.
"The choice isn't up to Dr. Jackson," was the General's reply.
"This'll be fun," Jack remarked, "O'Neill out."
The Stargate closed with a snap behind Vala as she walked down the steps towards the waiting Jack and took in the surrounding area for any signs of trouble – nothing but trees and plant life, just the way she remembered it. "Hello Jack," she greeted as she stepped in line with him, heading in the direction of the device.
"Vala," he returned.
"I assume Daniel is at the ruins with Teal'c watching him," Jack gave her a surprised look and she laughed at it. "So predictable. I also assume he doesn't know me coming here?"
"You'd assume right," he confirmed. "Damn, you really do know us that well. It's a little unnerving," he finished lightly.
She laughed again. "You'll get used to it," she retorted. Vala would have loved for them to know her as they once did, and maybe one day they would. Until then, she'd be the weird alien who knew almost everything about them.
They walked the rest of the way in silence. It was a short walk and soon met up with Teal'c and a woman, who Vala recognized as Nasha. They had met in her reality and if memory served, the woman had quite the crush on Daniel. It had been adorable and amusing to watch. "Hey Muscles," she said to Teal'c and nodded to Nasha.
"Vala Jackson, it is good to see you," he gave her his signature bow. Vala had asked him to call her Mal Doran once or twice since their re-acquaintance but it didn't seem to stick so she had decided a few days ago to let it go. "Do you require any assistance?"
Vala crouched down to get to work. "Probably. Janet wasn't thrilled with my decision to come and made me swear I would do any heavy lifting…or any lifting at all. And some other stuff."
"Napoleonic power monger," Jack muttered, earning a grin from Vala.
"Dr. Fraiser is only concerned for the health of Vala Jackson's offspring," Teal'c defended the doctor to Jack, who just rolled his eyes.
"You are with child?" Nasha, the native, asked, astonished. Vala gave her a smile and a nod but carried on with her task.
"Alright," Jack said abruptly said, "I'm gonna go check on Daniel. Radio when you're ready to move this thing back to Earth."
Vala and Teal'c paid him little to no mind but Nasha followed him. "Would you mind if I accompanied you?" she asked.
Jack shrugged. "Sure."
Daniel was crouched down, fully absorbed in the ruins before him and had been since he arrived. He had no idea how much time had passed, too busy documenting, recording, and translating the walls of the destroyed temple, at least he believed it to once be a temple. He was completely oblivious to the world that he failed to notice the sound of voices heading his way until Jack yelled out to catch his attention.
"Jack?" he questioned and looked up, confused. Hadn't he just left to go get Sam for the device?
"Hello, Dr. Jackson," Nasha's voice came from behind Jack and Daniel sighed.
It wasn't like he didn't like the woman. It was just that she was so curious, something he usually didn't mind, but she wouldn't stop with the questions and he just wanted to get some work done. It didn't help that he had been distracted all day, hell, all week. He had done as Vala had asked and left her alone. He had hoped to catch more glimpses of her but that hadn't worked out since she had been off base most of the week and when she wasn't, she was usually in her quarters. The team and Janet assured him she was doing fine, though he sensed there was something they weren't telling him.
"Hey Nasha," Daniel acknowledged her, tuning his focus back to the wall.
"Gonna check the perimeter," Jack stated, walking off and missed Daniel's slight and distracted wave.
The silence didn't last a full minute. "Colonel O'Neill was telling me people on your planet only share the same last name if they're related by blood or by marriage and that wives often take the last name of their husbands."
Daniel spared her a confused look. Okay… "Well, in most aspects, it's true."
Nasha nodded thoughtfully. "Then I must apologize for my behavior," she declared, earning another confused look from the archeologist. "I was unaware that you are already bonded to someone or that you had a child on the way."
"What?" he asked quietly to himself. What the hell?
"If I had known, I would have never made any advances towards you. Please forgive me."
"I'm sorry, I'm just a little confused," he confessed, "why do you think I'm married," he asked, leaving out the whole baby part. Had Jack said something? Because Teal'c wasn't the gossip type or give out any personal information.
"The Jaffa, he called her 'Vala Jackson' and she confessed she was with child. When I asked Colonel O'Neill what it meant when two people shared the last names, he explained it all to me and I realized my mistake in turning my attentions towards you."
"She told you?" his eyebrows shot up and he tried to keep the panic to a minimum. "Vala is here, on this planet?"
"Yes," she replied simply, "she's with your Jaffa friend."
"What the fuck?" he muttered and scrambled for his radio. "Jack," he barked into the unit, "please tell me Vala is not on this planet!"
There was a click and a moment of static on the radio. "Okay, I won't."
What the actual hell!
Daniel jumped up from his crouched position on the floor of the presumed temple and quickly packed up his stuff. Luckily, he hadn't been here long enough to completely empty his pack. He realized he was being ridiculous. Vala had every right to be here and was safe with Teal'c, he hoped. The real question was, why was she here? Why did Hammond let her go through the 'gate? The SGC didn't allow any of their pregnant employees through the 'gate.
All packed, he radioed Jack again. "Why the hell is she here?" he demanded. "She's pregnant, Jack!"
"I know, Daniel," Jack tried to pacify.
Daniel stormed out of the temple, determined to find her, and completely ignored and ditched Nasha. "Damnit, Jack!" he snapped, "We're SG-1, we attract trouble! Even on simple, peaceful planets! Get her back to Earth, where she will be safe."
Jack appeared in front of him. Daniel didn't stop or slow down his place. "Relax, Daniel. She's fine. She's helping out with the device since Carter's out with a different team," he explained to the agitated man. "She's also been here before, in her reality. She has experience with the device."
"Jack, I don't care. I want her off the planet!"
"You do realize I can hear you?" Vala's voice broke in over the radio and Daniel realized he had been hitting the button on the radio. "We're all on the same radio frequency. Daniel, thank you for the concern but I'm fine. I can take care of myself."
"Vala, I have no doubt that you can take care of yourself," his mind flashed back to a week ago when she effortlessly pinned him to the ground in mere seconds, "but you're with SG-1, do you have any idea what that means?" This is not how he pictured their first conversation to go after their fight.
"I do, actually," she replied, "I've had firsthand experience. We have the worst luck."
Experience. Had she been on SG-1 in her reality? He was almost to where the device had been. "Vala, please," he pleaded, "head back to the 'gate." He couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to her or the baby and he fear that with his luck and SG-1's luck, something would happen to them.
There was a pause. "Muscles and I were just about to head back with the device," she told him, "Don't think I'm heading back because of you. It's mere coincidence that we finished just now."
Daniel couldn't stop the small smile that spread on his face at her words. "Jack and I are headed your way. See you in few." He caught a look on Jack's face. "What?"
Jack just grinned. "Nothing. I didn't say anything."
They caught up with Teal'c and Vala shortly after ending the conversation on the radios, and Daniel immediately went to Vala's side. He was pleased to see that Teal'c carried the device, which was packed up in one of their standard storage containers. It wasn't a large device and didn't seem like it would be heavy, and he was sure Vala probably could have carried it without a problem, but the was all the same, glad that Vala wasn't carrying it. She was, however, carrying a standard SGC pack, probably filled with tools and equipment.
"Hi," he said once he got to her side. "You okay?" he eyed the pack she carried. "Here, let me carry your pack," he offered.
Vala slid her eyes to him and suppressed a smile at his adorable, but nervous, behavior. For a moment there, Daniel reminded her of him. The thought sent a sting of pain to her heart; it didn't hurt as much as it used to. It was bittersweet, making her feel wistful, nostalgic. It had barely been two months since his death: slowly, but surely, she was moving past the loss. She would never get over him, she would always love him, but she wouldn't stay in the past, she refused to mourn him forever, like Daniel seemed determined to do with Sha're.
"Vala, you okay?" Daniel broke through her thoughts.
She focused on him. "Yes, Daniel, I'm fine," she assured him, "and no, you don't need to take my pack. It's not heavy." His hand was already reaching to take it from her. "Really, Daniel, I'm fine. It's fine," she tried to assure him, but he had already taken it from her.
"I want to," he insisted and shook his head when she was about to protest again. "Please, just let me." He understood that this simple act wouldn't erase the wrong he did, but he had to start somewhere. She gave him a small smile in return.
Daniel noticed that Teal'c and Jack hung back more than usual, giving him and Vala a little more privacy. Daniel appreciated the gesture. They were silent for a little but before he decided to break it. "How have you been?" he quietly asked, "I mean really?"
She spared him a quick glance before doing a brief scan of the surrounding area. "The baby and I are both healthy, if that's what you wanted to hear."
"Well, I am glad to hear that," he admitted, "but I also want to know how you're really doing."
Vala bit her lip and looked to her other side at the landscape. "It's been hard," she admitted, "but I'm doing okay, better than I was."
He stayed silent to take in her words and decided not to comment. "Why did you come?" he asked instead. "You said it yourself, SG-1 has the worst luck and we always run into trouble. Why would you risk coming here?"
Vala sighed, mentally preparing herself for another argument. "Daniel," she warned, "Jack already told you why I'm here. Besides, I'm a grown woman and I can and will make my own decisions. I don't need you to protect me. I can take care of myself."
"I know that," he told her gently, "and I'm not trying to. I'm just worried, you know, You being with SG-1 and all."
"Look," she pointed in front of her, "there's the 'gate. In a few minutes, we'll be back home. Nothing to worry about."
They got to the DHD a couple minutes later and Vala began to dial. "Can we get lunch or something when we get back? To talk?" he asked.
Vala paused mid-dial and looked at him. "I'm still not ready, Daniel," she told him.
He hung his head momentarily before looking at her. "But we just were," he paused for a second, "we were just talking. Civilly. You willingly talked to me," he pointed out.
She started the dial sequence over again as she spoke, "Talking civilly to each other on a mission and talking about what happened are two different things, Daniel."
The kawoosh sprang forth and settled. "Vala, just talk to me!" he begged, aggravated.
"I said no, Daniel! I'm not ready," she threw back at him and typed in the IDC on the GDO she was given.
Before he could form a rebuttal, Jack broke in, "What's the hold up?" he asked, coming to stand next to the couple along with Teal'c. When he received no reply, he continued, "Everyone ready to head out?"
Everyone gave a non-verbal nod. Once they stepped through to the other side, Vala quickly handed off her firearms and equipment to the Armory Sergeant and took off to the infirmary for the post mission checkup without saying a word, while the rest of them took their time. Teal'c handed off the device to Siler's awaiting hands. Free from most of his gear, Daniel made a move to follow and catch up with Vala, but Jack stopped him.
"Let her go, Daniel," he advised, "Let her be until she's ready."
Daniel wanted to argue with his friend but saw something in Jack's expression that made him yield. Jack obviously knew something he didn't; his whole team did. He nodded his agreement and walked with his friends to the infirmary instead.
Hopefully Vala would be ready to talk to him soon. The waiting was killing him.