Author's Note: TitusVorenus...that approach probably would've been a lot easier to write...I honestly should run my ideas and outlines through you from now on. And yes, she is a bit of a matchmaker - she saw what the rest of us did when they were in Harrid and Sallis. Maybe I should've had added that somewhere...oh well.

Enjoy Titus and everyone else.

o0o

Chapter Four

"Are you really not going to tell me what she showed you?" Vala asked, slightly offended.

Daniel shrugged innocently. "It's between her and me."

"Daniel, she's a baby!" Vala scooted closer and touched the baby, "Show mommy what you showed Uncle Daniel," she said sweetly to her daughter but got nothing.

"Uncle Daniel?" he questioned, a smile playing on his lips.

Vala shrugged this time. "I'm her only family," she told him, "there's no one else, and I'd really like her to have someone other than me, even if it's just for a little while. But if it makes you uncomfortable, you ca – "

"I don't mind," he cut her off, "Until Sha're and SG-1, I never had anyone either. I know how lonely it can be so I don't mind, I'll be her uncle if you want me to."

"Thank you, Daniel," she smiled smally and focused back on Alora, "You hear that, darling? You got yourself an uncle."

Daniel suddenly frowned. "Wait, what did you mean you wanted her to have someone other than you even if it was only for a little while?" he asked, remembering her odd words.

She was spared from answering when his radio clicked and a voice came through it. "Repeat. This is Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter calling any survivors of the Earth ship Korolev. Please come in."

Daniel snapped his fingers, gesturing for Vala to hand him the radio. She handed him the radio and went to take the baby, but Daniel pulled back. "I got her," he assured her and brought the radio to his mouth. "Sam, it's me, Daniel."

There was a brief pause. "Daniel, I knew you made it!" Sam responded, a smile in her voice.

"It's good to hear you too," he responded, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Back atcha," Sam told him, "We're in orbit, trying to blow up one of the Ori motherships."

Daniel glanced at Vala. They hadn't even realized they had come out of hyperspace. "Yeah, we're on one of them. My guess it's the head ship, leader, whatever."

"We?" Sam questioned.

Daniel looked at Vala as he replied. "I'm with Vala," Alora let out a cry of dissatisfaction while his finger was still on the button and added with a smile, "and the baby."

"She had the baby?" Sam asked, "Daniel, is it…?" she trailed off in an unasked question.

"The baby's fine and cute as hell," he responded, trying to figure out how to tell Sam, without tipping off Vala, that Alora didn't seem to pose a threat to them…yet, "Despite her unusual birth, she seems perfectly healthy, but the ship has been searching for Vala since I came aboard. They seem to want Alora pretty badly."

"Alora?"

"Vala's daughter," he expanded, "Anyway, like I was saying, they're hell bent on finding Vala and Alora and it's only a matter of time before they find us. It's a miracle that they haven't yet. Can you help us out with that?"

There was another pause. "Daniel, we're aboard a Jaffa mothership," she reluctantly told him, "The Odyssey headed back to Earth for repairs. We don't have the Asgard beaming technology."

Daniel bowed his head, sighing, and lifted the radio again. "That leaves the rings," he stated, wondering how the hell they were going to be able to sneak to the rings without being detected. Sure, he could, no problem, but there was no way to disguise Vala and Alora – and that wasn't even taking into account that Alora could very well cry and draw attention to them.

"One second, Daniel," Sam told him, obviously distracted.

He lowered the radio and looked at Vala. "Ideas?"

Vala shook her head. "Even if we could disguise myself enough to fool everyone, I don't know how we would hide Alora."

Daniel thought for a second. "You said this is the shield generator room, right?" at her nod, he continued, "What if we created a distraction?"

"With what?"

"Hand me my vest," he ordered, pointing to where it lay. Once he had it, he searched through it one handed and produced some C-4. "Where would be the best place to put this in here? What would cause the most damage?"

Vala took it from him and turned it around in her hands. "How much of this do you have?"

"That and one more in the vest," he dug it out and handed it to her.

"How big of an explosion do you want?" she asked, accepting the C-4.

"Personally? I'd like to blow up the whole ship."

"I can do that," she interjected before adding, "I think."

"But we'd still be on it," he pointed out.

"These have a timer so I can set one of them to go off before the other, giving us time to bolt to the rings as well as a distraction," she suggested, "and have the other go off five minutes or so after the first."

"Would that give us enough time?" he asked.

"It will have to," she told him.

He nodded shortly. "Do it."

Vala didn't waste any time and quickly scurried around the large room.

"You do know what you're doing. right?" he asked, suddenly wary, "You said you studied the plans for the ship, right?"

"I know enough," she called out from somewhere, "Even if it doesn't completely destroy the ship, it'll at least put it out of commission for a while."

"It is a big ship," he voiced his main concern. "Will the C-4 be enough?"

"I'm setting them as strategically as I can," she assured him, "the second will cause secondary explosions that can spread more throughout the ship."

"A domino effect," he stated.

"I don't know what that is, but sure," she jogged back over to him and Alora. She grabbed his SGC vest and weapons for herself since he had the protection of the Ori battle uniform. "Give her to me. We need to go."

Daniel gently transferred Alora to her mother and put on the breastplate he'd taken off earlier and strapped on the Ori's version of a zat. "I'll take the lead. You worry about keeping her safe," he told her as they made their way to the door.

Alora in one arm, Vala used her free hand to grip the zat gun, opened and ready to shoot. "We need to go. We don't have much time."

Before Daniel could open the door, it opened by itself, revealing an Ori soldier, who quickly pointed his staff weapon at Daniel. Daniel raised his arm, prepared to shoot the man, but Vala suddenly jumped between them.

"Tomin, no!" she shouted at the man and turned her head to speak to Daniel, "Daniel, lower your weapon."

"Vala?" Daniel questioned skeptically, eyeing the man, but slowly lowered his arm.

"Vala, who is this?" the man, Tomin, demanded but then caught sight of the baby in her arms. Tomin's weapon wavered. "You had the child."

"I did," she admitted smally, hugging Alora closer to her.

"The Prior has been frantic with worry for you," Tomin told her scoldingly, "You must come with me."

"Yeah, she's not going anywhere," Daniel butted in, preparing to aim his weapon at him again.

"You are not her husband and have no say," Tomin snapped, "I don't know who you are, but my wife will be coming with me."

"I can decide for myself," Vala declared, glancing between the two before settling on Tomin, "I'm not coming with you."

"What?" Tomin asked, confused.

"We need to leave this ship now," she told him urgently, "Come with me," she pleaded, surprising Daniel.

Tomin raised his weapon once more. "No, you will be coming with me," Tomin demanded, "I cannot allow you to leave. The Prior's instructions were clear."

"Tomin, please," Vala pleaded again. The first of the C-4 would go off any second and they had to get out of there.

"You three will come with me, make no mistake about it!"

Daniel heard the sound and felt the tingles of the Asgard beams so threw his arms around Vala, pulling her to him just as he was beamed up. They rematerialized on the bridge of the Odyssey and Vala quickly escaped Daniel's grip to run to the window. Daniel followed. "What're you looking for?" he asked her quietly.

"Sir," Marks spoke up, "my sensors are picking up an explosion within the Ori ship that landed on the planet."

"That," Vala replied quietly and closed her eyes, "The ship landed on Chulak?" she asked the others.

"Yeah, why?" Sam asked.

When Vala opened her eyes, she noticed that they had jumped to hyperspace. "How close was it to the city?" she asked, slowly turning to face the others.

"It appeared to be just above it, ma'am," Marks supplied, "I'm picking up more secondary explosions, sir."

"Vala?" Daniel asked lowly.

"I didn't know the ship had landed," she said defensively, "I thought we were in space."

"Vala, what're you trying to tell us?" Sam asked, slowly approaching the woman.

Vala sighed, squeezing her eyes shut briefly. "Daniel gave me some explosives to strategically place within the shield generator room. The secondary explosion was supposed to take out a significant portion of the ship, if not all," she reluctantly confessed.

"Meaning if it did take out the ship, then…" Sam trailed off, understanding what Vala was trying to say.

"Meaning I just destroyed a significant portion of Chulak's city as well, not to mention Jaffa lives," she looked at Teal'c, "I am so sorry, Teal'c, I truly had no idea we had landed and if I had, I would've never done it."

Teal'c's jaw clenched, and he left the room without a word.

Vala slumped and felt a pressure behind her eyes. "I swear I didn't know," she told them again, "I was just trying to save Daniel and I."

"I gave you the C-4," he jumped in, "It was my idea. I had her do it," he admitted, taking his fair share of the blame.

"Based on what we know of the Ori, they would not have been spared," a man Vala had never met spoke up. He was a Jaffa that bore the mark of Apophis, "If an Ori ship was destroyed, killing their warriors on board, the Jaffa on Chulak did not die in vain and many may be saved through your actions."

"Just the same, we truly are sorry Bra'tac," Daniel said sincerely.

Bra'tac nodded. "I will see to Teal'c," he promised and left the bridge.

The bridge descended into silence for a few moments.

Emerson cleared his throat. "We'll be home in a few hours," he informed them.

"Thank you," Vala smiled at him before looking at Daniel, "Is there somewhere private I could go? Alora will be hungry soon."

He nodded and put a hand on her back, "Yeah, but let's get you checked out by medical first, just in case."

"Daniel, I'm fine," she assured him.

"Daniel's right," Sam jumped in, coming to the alien's side and taking a peek at the baby, "You just had a baby. A doctor really should check you both out. Besides, looks like she could use a bath and something more comfortable to be wrapped in instead of Daniel's BDU jacket."

"Plus, you can shower afterwards," Daniel added, "I hear it can be refreshing after labor."

Vala scoffed. "You're just trying to politely tell me that I smell," she teased but had to admit that having one of those Tau'ri showers sounds divine. "But by all means, lead the way."

o0o

The Odyssey didn't have the best medical equipment Earth had to offer, much less any pre or postnatal care, but the doctor made do with what he had when examining both Vala and Alora. As Daniel and Vala suspected, she seemed to be completely healed from the delivery, the only evidence being Alora herself and the fact that Vala was still able to breastfeed. The doctor was only able to perform a basic exam on the infant, not having any of the equipment to run the test everyone seemed to wanna run on the girl, but based on his initial exam, she seemed to be healthy and…well, human – aside from her ability to heal her mother and communicate to them through flashes and images, but they'd deal with that later.

After their exams, Vala had fed Alora before handing her off to Daniel so she could shower. Daniel had to assure her several times that he would be fine with the newborn, and he eventually snapped and demanded she go shower. Luckily, she hadn't argued with him that time, just nodded, and placed a kiss on Alora's forehead before grabbing the BDUs Sam had procured for her and headed for the showers.

Daniel stayed in a small, private room in the ship's infirmary so Vala wouldn't have to track him down when she was done. He took a seat on the bed and ran a finger against the sleeping baby's cheek. "Looks like it's just you and me," he murmured.

His mind suddenly filled with the memory of the first time he held her at the moment she was born, then it jumped and he heard himself when he promised Vala he'd keep her and the baby safe, that the Prior wouldn't have the chance to hurt or corrupt Alora, and the last scene that flooded his mind before ending altogether was him holding her again, calling her sweetheart.

Daniel blinked as they ended and gazed down at Alora, trying to figure out what she was trying to tell him, but he got the feeling she was showing him that she liked him and trusted him. "I like you too," he whispered to her, even though she was asleep, "and I'll always do my best to keep you safe. Your mother will too. You're safe as long as you're with us."

He heard footsteps and looked up to see his friends come in.

"Where's Vala?" Sam asked, coming to his side to take a look at the baby.

"Uh, she went to take a shower," Daniel responded and looked over at his Jaffa friend, "Teal'c, I really am sorry about Chulak. Vala isn't to blame – it was my idea to use the C-4."

"Do not concern yourself, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c told him, "You could not have known."

"At least it's one less Ori mothership we have to deal with," Mitchell added, looking on the bright side.

"Yeah, there's that," Daniel agreed. There was a pause and Daniel felt as if they wanted to say something but were reluctant to do so. "What?" he asked warily.

The pause continued for another moment until Sam broke it. "The doctor told us about Vala."

Daniel's face scrunched in confusion. "What about her?"

"How she shows no signs of giving birth," Mitchell interjected, "other than the baby, that is."

"What're you getting at?" Daniel asked, slightly impatient.

Sam hesitated. "We're worried that the baby may somehow be responsible," she told him cautiously.

"There's no maybe about it. Alora did heal her," he said nonchalantly.

Sam gaped at him for a few seconds. "And that doesn't worry you?" she asked, bewildered, "Especially considering how it was conceived?"

"It's a she and her name is Alora," Daniel said firmly, "I'll admit, at first I was worried, but as long as she's a baby, she's no threat."

"How do you figure?" Mitchell inquired.

"Think about it!" he exclaimed, "Alora was fathered by the Ori. She's kind of half human-half Ori, which is like being Ancient. We know the Ancients had certain abilities while in human form – even Jack got healing powers and that was just from the Repository. It stands to reason that Alora would have special abilities – it's in her DNA."

Sam nodded, conceding his point. "Okay, I'll give you that, but what did you mean when you said as long as she's a baby, she isn't a threat?"

Daniel sighed, glancing down at Alora. "A baby doesn't exactly do the Ori army a lot of good, right?"

"Right," Mitchell and Sam in unison.

"So why a baby?" Daniel challenged, looking at all three, "It doesn't make sense…unless the Ori had something bigger in mind."

"Like what?" Mitchell asked.

"Daniel, are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" Sam inquired.

"What?" Mitchell questioned again.

"I think they planned to somehow rapidly age Alora or something," Daniel said, "or at least finish the process once she was born."

"You're serious?" Sam asked skeptically.

"Yes," he stated, "Look, I don't know if it holds any merit, but it makes sense if you think about it. There's also the fact that the entire Ori ship was frantically searching for something or someone since the moment I boarded. When I found Vala hiding in the shield generator room, in labor, I knew it was her and the baby."

"So, if they can't finish the process, what happens to i–Alora?" Sam asked, wondering out loud.

"She stays a baby," Daniel said simply, "growing at a normal rate and has the chance at a normal life. The knowledge should eventually fade when she doesn't rapidly grow."

"Knowledge?" Mitchell stood straighter, "What knowledge?"

"Oh…I didn't mention that?" Daniel asked innocently and sighed when they all shook their heads, "I think Alora may have been born with the collective knowledge of the Ori."

o0o

Author's Note: I could never figure out a better way to write Alora's...visions. Hopefully they don't suck too much.

Let me know your thoughts!