Author's Note: The whole Jack/Daniel scene was inspired by a reviewer, it was more of her idea, so giving credit where it's due. Thanks for the inspiration!

Enjoy!

o0o

Chapter Eight

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jack demanded loudly as he swung the archeologist through his lab's doorway, "Better yet, what the hell was that?"

Daniel returned the glare Jack was giving him. "How the hell am I just suppose to stand by and listen to people slandering her?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "You're being a bit dramatic," he told him calmly, "and they weren't slandering, they were gossiping, which is normal around here."

Daniel gave him an incredulous look. "You call that gossip?" he questioned, "Jack, they were talking about Vala and speculating who could be Alora's father, they were even taking bets on who it was! They were practically insinuating that she's a -"

"Don't say it!" Jack interjected, pointing a finger at him, "I heard what they said and it wasn't as bad as you think. You're overreacting."

Daniel had been getting a bite to eat and a fresh cup of coffee before settling into his office to research the three planets that seemed to point them to a potential weapon against the Ori. He had been minding his own business when he heard the comments the Airmen were making, and it made his blood boil. They had no clue what she had been through and was going through. He had been five seconds away from setting them straight, one way or another...which may or may not have included punching them, but sadly, Jack had seen his reaction from the second he entered the Mess and had all but dragged him out.

"But Jack!"

"No Daniel!" Jack snapped, "We knew this would happen and people would question it, especially since she admitted she was pregnant when she body snatched you."

"Not everyone was privileged to that information," Daniel contradicted.

"Word still got around!" Jack said, "We're just lucky that Carter was able to get her hands on the footage and corrupt that part."

"It's not right, Jack."

"I know it isn't," the General responded, "but we all agreed that this was the best course of action. This will keep Alora safe from everyone."

"I don't remember letting people think Vala was a whore being a part of the deal," Daniel remarked snidely.

"No one's calling her that," Jack denied, "but people are naturally curious. It'll die down once people hear that Alora's father was Vala's husband, Tomin. We agreed to that, remember?"

Well, he hadn't agreed per say, but he didn't disagree either, knowing it was the best option they had. It needed to be believable and Vala was married to the guy. The story was that when she had married a sweet native in the Ori galaxy in order to survive, Alora was the result of their marriage. Tomin had tragically died on board the Ori ship that had been destroyed.

"Just because I agreed to it doesn't mean I have to like it," Daniel retorted.

Jack suddenly grinned. "Be careful there, Danny boy," he warned teasingly, "or else we might suspect you hold a certain fondness for the space pirate."

Daniel scowled. "We're friends," he bit out, "and I don't like having people talk badly about my friends."

"You sure that's all it is?" Jack continued, "I'm just sayin' if you don't be more careful, you'll be in deeper than you were planning on."

"I'm sure," Daniel said, getting exasperated with the man, "Now, you gonna do something about the way those Airmen were talking?"

Jack kept on grinning, knowing something his friend didn't know yet. "Yeah, I'll have a talk with them and Hank."

"Thank you," Daniel responded and took a seat at his desk, ending their conversation.

o0o

Daniel was getting nowhere with his research.

The planets Castiana, Sahal, and Vagonbrei seemed impossible to find any information on, much less a 'gate address, but all of Merlin's research seemed to point to these planets and a possible weapon to defeating the Ori. If only they could find it, hell, he'd even settle for one of those planets' addresses, but it didn't to be happening anytime soon, and staring bleary eyed at the research in front of him wasn't going to help. Might as well go to be – it was late anyway…err, early he realized as he looked at his watch.

Yeah, bedtime.

He closed up his office and made his way to his quarters. The halls were practically dead at this time, they always were, which is why he found it odd to hear noise the second the elevator doors opened onto his quarter's floor. He frowned. What was that? Sam and Mitchell had gone home for the night and he highly doubted it was coming from Teal'c's quarters, so where the hell was it coming from?

As he got closer to his own quarters, his fuzzy, tired mind slowly started to clear, especially once he was in front of the room that had once housed Vala Mal Doran – and that's when he remembered the previous day's events. Vala, Ori ship, Alora, back on Earth. He paused outside her door and frowned at it.

Why was Alora crying? In their short acquaintance, she had hardly ever cried and when she did, it was because she wanted something, but given her ability to communicate her needs to her mother and others, that shouldn't be a problem, which brought him back to his original question – why was the infant crying? More importantly, why wasn't she calming down? Where was Vala and why couldn't she calm Alora down?

Apprehension spread through him. Vala would never allow Alora to cry so loud for so long and he was worried something was wrong with her or both of them. Instead of knocking, Daniel fished out his master keycard and let himself in. "Vala?" he called out hesitantly as he opened the door and was relieved to see her conscious.

Vala held Alora and was pacing the room, trying to calm the infant down. Her attention snapped to him. "I'm sorry, did she wake you?" she asked, fatigued heavily lacing her words.

Daniel frowned again as he took in her appearance. She looked…frazzled, and insanely tired. He quickly shut the door and moved to them. "What's wrong?" he asked once he was at their side, "Is she okay?"

"I don't know," she moaned tiredly, and tried to bounce the baby more, "She won't stop crying and she's not showing me anything."

"Have you tried to feed her?" he inquired, "Or changed her diaper?"

"Brilliant, why did I think of that hours ago!" she bit out.

"Hey, I'm trying to help here," he reminded her.

She deflated. "I'm sorry. I know that, but I'm just so tired," she told him wearily, "Of course I've tried, I fed her minutes ago, but that didn't seem to solve the problem. Do you think something's wrong? Do you think she's hurting?"

"She shouldn't be," he replied, and he cupped Alora's head, caressing it, but it did nothing to lessen her cries. "But I could hear her once I stepped off the elevator. We have to calm her down."

"If you think you could do a better job than me, by all means," she snapped grumpily and shifted the baby into Daniel's hold, "be my guest," she finished and walked away.

Having no choice but to accept the baby, Daniel quickly shifted her in his arms for a better hold and bounced her gently like Vala had been doing. "Hey, sweetheart, what's wrong?" he asked her softly, "You're okay."

It was like a switch being flicked and she was suddenly calm, snuggling into Daniel's side.

"Okay, that's not fair!" Vala whined from her position on the bed, "I did the exact same thing, so why did it work with you? What did I do wrong?"

Daniel turned and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you did nothing wrong."

"I obviously did! That or she…she likes you better," she wasn't proud of it, but tears of frustration crept to her eyes and she blinked furiously to get rid of them – she blamed the exhaustion. "Why does she like you better? I'm her mother. I carried her, birthed her, and done nothing but love her, so why doesn't she love me?" she acknowledged she was being ridiculous but again sleep deprived and frustrated beyond belief, not to mention a little angry that it took him seconds to calm down her baby.

He too, saw where this was coming from and didn't take it personally. Vala was obviously not thinking clearly and needed sleep, but he had a feeling if he outright told her that it wouldn't end well. So he calmly approached her on the bed. "She loves you," he assured her and took a seat beside her, "You know she does – she's shown it to you."

Vala glanced at the infant, contently laying in Daniel's arms as if she hadn't been screaming her head off for the last few hours. "Then why did she instantly calm down with you?" she challenged.

"I don't know," he admitted honestly, "Maybe she needed to show me something?"

"Then why did she show me you so I could've gotten you?" she snapped, whining once more.

"I don't know," he said again, "but I do know you need to sleep, so why don't you do that while I mind Alora for a bit?"

She instantly shook her head. "Daniel, I can't ask you to do that," she said, "You've already done so much."

"You didn't ask. I volunteered."

"What if she needs feeding or something?"

"Then I'll come get you."

"But what if – "

"Vala, what's this really about?" he interrupted. She bit her lip and looked away and he frowned. "Vala?"

She glanced at him. "What if something happens and I can't protect her?" she questioned, her voice small, "What if I wake up and she's grown like she was supposed to and – "

"You can't think like that," he interrupted again, "and nothing like that will happen. We've already ruled that out. You can't stay awake forever worrying about her."

"Isn't that what most parents do?"

"Not by choice," he replied wryly, "Go to sleep. You're no good to her like this and maybe that's why she was crying – trying to get someone's attention so that they'd force you to sleep."

"But – "

"Go to sleep Vala," he commanded softly, "and if it'll make you feel better, we'll stay in here. I won't take her anywhere."

"Really?"

"Yeah, of course. Whatever makes you feel more comfortable."

"Thank you, Daniel," she said earnestly, "You sure though?"

"Yes," he said, somewhat impatiently, "Sleep," he commanded again and moved off the bed so she could get in.

Vala eyed him warily but pulled the blankets back anyway. "You promise to wake me up if she needs anything?" she asked as she slowly got under the covers.

"I promise."

"And you'll wake me if something happens."

"I promise," he repeated and pulled one of the blankets over her, "Now sleep – you need it."

She pulled the blankets tight to her, wrapping them around her before she turned her back to him. "Thank you, darling," she mumbled sleepily.

Within minutes, she was asleep.

o0o

Vala was out cold.

Daniel had plopped himself on her couch, talking quietly with Alora, trying to get her to sleep with no such luck. The child was determined to stay awake, cooing away – at least she wasn't screaming. He had to admit, sitting on the couch, watching an infant who wouldn't sleep was boring. He had expected the child to fall asleep at some point, leaving him to carefully put her into her crib, and make his exit, but Alora didn't seem the least bit tired. He briefly wondered if the Ori knowledge was responsible for it.

So he broke his promise to Vala.

He left the room to go back to his office until Alora decided to sleep. This way, he was at least productive. He was also hoping he could bore her into sleep by talking about his research, it always seemed to work with most of his friends, but no dice. He found he didn't mind. His friends never allowed him to talk about his research for long, but with Alora, he could and did, and she didn't once show him something that would indicate for him to shut up, so he didn't, and shared what his current mission was – finding the Sangraal.

"Unfortunately, because of the power drain caused by Bill, I wasn't able to learn too much about this supposed weapon, but at least we know it's out there," he told her, thinking aloud, "and there's something about those three planets that I can't find a lot on, much less a 'gate address – it's driving me insane, and I don't know where to look to find the answers."

An image of a glowing red jewel appeared in his mind, causing Daniel to blink a few times before he glanced at the baby. "What was that, Alora?" he asked her gently, "What're you trying to tell me?"

A conversation he had with Vala in the Ori galaxy came back to him. They had been in Harrid and Sallis' body and the Prior had just brought them back from the Celestis and they were waiting for dark before they went to go find the other Ancient terminal.

"What's so important about Atlantis anyways?" Vala had asked curiously after he griped about missing the Daedalus again.

Daniel's head swerved to her. "You're kidding, right?" he asked incredulously, "It's the City of the Ancients! Do you know what's there?"

"Treasure beyond belief?" she joked, "Yes, Daniel, I can imagine what's there – technology beyond anything we could ever expect, but why do you want to go? You claim to be a historian."

"Exactly!" he exclaimed, "Do you know what kind of answers we could find there about not just the Ancients but ourselves as well? Do you know what kind of knowledge is there? It's an archeologist's dream – it's almost paradise for me."

"You want to go to Atlantis for answers?" she asked skeptically, "What are you hoping to find answers for?"

"Everything," he said simply.

The scene ended and he frowned at Alora. How could she possibly know about that conversation? When he thought of the collective knowledge of the Ori, he assumed they would implant relevant information crucial to converting the galaxy, not what the Ori had observed between him and Vala during their time there, but he guessed they could have wanted to give her as much information on her mother as they knew. Either way, it didn't matter, what did matter was what that meant and what Alora wanted him to do.

"I don't understand," he confessed softly to her, "Are you trying to tell me you want us to go to Atlantis?"

SG-1 and Vala flashed in his mind, and he took that as a yes.

"Why do we need to go to Atlantis?"

Part of his and Vala's conversation was repeated in his mind.

"You want to go to Atlantis for answers?" Vala asked skeptically, "What are you hoping to find answers for?"

"Everything," he said simply.

"Answers," he mumbled to himself, "We'll find answers for everything there?"

Instead of answering him, she showed him Vala, and he got the impression that she wanted her mom. He noted that Alora now seemed sleepy – her eyes were droopy and she appeared to be fighting sleep.

"Okay, let's go see your mom," he told her softly and shut down his lab for the second time that morning.

They hadn't been gone long and Vala was still fast asleep when he returned. He crept over to Alora's playpen and tried to lower her into it – tried being the operative word. Halfway down, she began to fuss and showed him the scene from earlier when he had sat next to Vala on the bed while he held her, and Daniel's sleepy brain couldn't understand what she wanted.

"Do you want mama?" he asked quietly, "Are you hungry?" but he didn't get a reply. It felt strange, asking a newborn questions and knowing that she could answer them in one way or another, but he guessed that was his life for the most part.

Alora showed him the same thing again and he frowned but went over to the bed and sat down, trying to reenact the scene she was showing him. He waited for further instructions, but she didn't show him anything, and promptly fell asleep. He sighed and shifted so he his back was against the pillows. He knew if he tried to put her down in the playpen now, she would wake up and they would begin this all over again. No, he would wait until she was in a deeper sleep before trying again. He shifted her so she was laying on his chest, hoping it would be easier to lay her down when the time came.

He just didn't expect to join the two of them in sleep.