Chapter Twelve
"What do you think goes on in her head when she's not communicating with us?" Vala asked, breaking the silence in his office, "Do you think they're intelligent thoughts?"
Daniel looked up from his research on the planet names he'd gotten from Morgan Le Fey and glanced at the wide awake baby in her arms. Alora didn't fuss or anything, just laid contently in her mother's arms. "I honestly don't know."
Vala focused on him. "I know we've already had this discussion, but I can't get it out of my mind," she said, "Now that we have more information on her, do you think she has an adult mind stuck inside a baby?"
He gave her a soft look. "I still don't know, but Dr. Lam made a good argument on that and I'm leaning more towards that," he told her, "What Morgan gave to us wasn't all that helpful in that department, but we do know she'll be a normal baby soon."
Vala looked back down at Alora and smiled at the girl. "I don't think she is either," she confided, "As an adult, she'd essentially be an Ori, and I don't think me being her mother would've done any good. I don't think I could convince her otherwise and she certainly wouldn't help us."
He frowned at her in confusion. "So, what're you suggesting?"
"That she's more of a child inside," she answered, "not a baby but not an adult, just an intelligent child who simply wants her mother…and you."
Daniel rolled his eyes. She still wasn't over the fact that Alora preferred him over her at times and it drove her crazy. "Makes sense," he conceded, "but we'll never really know."
There was a pause and he went back to work.
"How long do you think we have left?" she asked quietly, "Until the knowledge fades, I mean. She'll be six weeks tomorrow and Morgan Le Fey said we had a month or two before it was gone, so does that mean we have two weeks until it's gone permanently?"
His expression became sympathetic. "I really wish I could answer that for you," he told her gently, "but nothing about this situation is for certain. I don't think even Morgan Le Fey knew for sure. We're just gonna have to wait and see."
Vala shifted Alora so was resting against her shoulder. "I know I should want to use the knowledge to our advantage so we can defeat the Ori…but all I want is for her to be a normal child for her sake, to have a normal childhood. Am I wrong for wanting that more than the answers to defeat the Ori?"
"You're her mother," he stated simply, "it's your job to care for her, to do what's best, to want what's best. It's your job to protect her and because of the knowledge she holds, she's not safe, not from the Ori, and not from the other powers of this galaxy. Of course you want that, it's perfectly reasonable and acceptable – any devoted mother would want the same."
She shot him an appreciative smile. "I just want this to be over," she confessed in a whisper and he got the feeling she just didn't mean the war.
Daniel dropped the pencil from his hand, took a few steps over to her and encased her in a hug, being careful of the baby on her shoulder. "We're getting there," he told her, "it won't be much longer now."
He was lying and they both knew it but neither acknowledged it. They both needed that sense of hope, having that finish line in sight, so they said nothing and believed the optimistic words.
Vala sighed and gave him one last squeeze before stepping back from him and over to his research. "Speaking of which," she began, ending the tender moment, "where are we on these 'gate addresses?"
"We?" he repeated sarcastically.
"Yes, 'we,'" she reiterated, "Without me, you would've never asked the bloody question, so 'we.'"
He scoffed in disbelief, but he shouldn't have been surprised. "We haven't found much on them," he replied, standing beside her and grabbed his abandoned pencil, "and it doesn't look like the SGC has ever sent a team to any of the planets so not much there either."
"I'm assuming the SGC will send SG-1 to check them out?"
"Probably," he responded, "but General Landry wanted me to try and see if I could find something more substantial now that we have the names of the planet in Ancient."
"Have you found anything?"
Daniel sighed and pushed away a book. "No," he admitted, "and I feel like I'm missing something."
Vala put a hand on his forearm. "You'll figure it out," she assured him, "you always do."
He tilted his head to her. "Maybe not this time."
"Give it time, darling," she told him, "we've only been back for a day, less than a day. Don't give up, and who knows, maybe you'll find something to help on one of the planets."
His eyes shifted to her. "When did you start getting good at pep talks?"
She shrugged. "I get a lot of practice with you," she quipped.
He raised his brows. "Yeah, you need to stop spending time with Jack."
"Like that's going to happen," she retorted and began making her way out of the room, "I'm going to go put her down for a nap and take one myself. Have fun, darling."
He scoffed lightly, shaking his head in slight amusement. She was starting to get comfortable, actually comfortable and not just pretending and trying to fit in…and it made him happy.
o0o
"Welcome back!" Vala greeted chipperly as SG-1 stepped through the 'gate, "Find any weapons capable of destroying ascended beings this time around?" she quipped.
They had just come back from the last address Morgan Le Fey had given them, the last coming up empty the other day, and they had been hoping for something to turn up on this one, but judging on their faces, Vala assumed they had come up empty again.
"Unfortunately, no," Sam responded as she and the rest walked down the ramp.
Vala's shoulders slumped.
"This gonna be a thing, Princess?" Mitchell inquired, "You greetin' us every time we come back?"
"Would you rather I not?" she retorted, turning Alora to face outwards so she could see Daniel.
"That's not what I meant," the Colonel responded, "I was just curious. Besides, this little lady brightens up a crappy day," he said, crouching down to give the baby a smile.
"Glad we can prove to be of some use," Vala remarked.
"You provide more than that," Sam interjected, coming up to get a dose of baby cuteness, "She gets cuter every day."
"Yeah," the mother agreed, "but she's growing too fast."
"She's not even seven weeks," Daniel argued and stealthily pushed the others away so he could have the baby to himself.
"Vala Mal Doran is correct," Teal'c disagreed, "Alora Mal Doran has indeed grown much during her time here."
"Next thing you know, she'll be sneaking out to meet boys or something," Mitchell added, earning a glare from Daniel.
"Like hell she will," the archeologist stated and turned to Alora, "You're not gonna do that to your mother, are you, sweetheart?" he cooed.
The team had become fond of the little girl, not to mention her mother – kind of hard not to when you spent thirty-six days traveling on a spaceship to and from another galaxy together. In the beginning, they had mainly helped because Daniel insisted, but it didn't take long before they could no longer resist the little girl.
"Yeah, good luck with that," Mitchell retorted and patted Daniel's shoulder, "I'm gonna hit the showers."
"Same," Sam chimed in and walked with Mitchell and Teal'c out of the room.
Daniel ignored them and continued to coo at the baby as she held his finger. He surrendered his weapons to the Armory Sergeant when Alora made it clear she wanted him to hold her, but as he made a move to take her from Vala, the woman pulled back. He frowned. "You gonna give her to me? She wants me to hold her."
"First off, what've I said about giving into her every whim? She's going to be spoiled rotten by the time she can walk and talk," she told him sternly, "I'm trying to raise a decent human being and it's hard when you all spoil her so."
He chuckled and when she gave him a questioning look, he shook his head in amusement. "I'm sorry, it's just not how I pictured you as a mother," he replied, "I never saw you as the tough parent."
"Well, now you know I am," she remarked, "Anyway, you're not holding her covered in dirt, dust, and grime from rummaging in an old library."
He raised his brows. "What makes you think it was an old library?" he said challengingly.
"What else would it have been?"
That made him pause. "Touché," he relented.
"You can hold her when you're clean and have been cleared by medical," she offered.
His face twisted in displeasure. "Fine," he agreed but planted a kiss on Alora's head, "I'll see you in a bit, sweetheart."
Vala shook her head as she watched him head to the infirmary. "You've really got him wrapped around your finger, don't you, love?" she muttered to Alora, "I have to admit, I'm a little jealous."
Alora didn't respond.
o0o
"Clean and cleared," Daniel declared as he walked into his office where the Mal Doran women sat, and held out his hands, "Gimme."
Vala shook her head incredulously. "She has way too much power over you."
"I don't care," he responded, and took the baby from her arms, "she's addicting."
"Hmm," she hummed thoughtfully, "She loses some appeal when she keeps you up at night."
Daniel lifted Alora so she was eye level with him. "You keeping mommy up all night?" he asked in mock seriousness before he turned back to Vala. "I thought she was sleeping pretty well."
"She may have the ability to communicate her needs and understands when it's bedtime," she began, "but she's still an infant who gets hungry and needs a diaper change every few hours. I imagine she gets bored as well."
"But she's normally consistent when she wakes up, right?" he questioned as he gently swayed the baby, something that had become involuntary on his part, "There's a routine there?"
Vala ran a hand over the baby's head, smiling softly at her. "It's been getting less consistent every night," she admitted quietly, "I think it's already beginning."
Daniel ceased his movements. "You think she's losing the knowledge?"
She smiled ruefully but didn't take her eyes off of Alora. "She's…different," she mumbled, "like she's drifting away from me or something. I don't know if I can accurately describe it."
"Does she still show you things?"
She nodded. "Yeah, but they're basic compared to what she did in the beginning. It's pretty much just you she shows now."
He grinned. "Yeah?" he said with a hint of smugness.
She smacked his arm lightly. "Don't go getting a big head," she warned him, "You know, I expected this, she's closing in on two months after all, but I don't know why I feel…oddly disappointed. I wanted this, I wanted her to be an ordinary child so she could be safe and live a relatively normal life, so I don't know what's wrong with me."
There was a short pause. "You got used to it," he said quietly, "You got used to communicating with her like that, you created a bond with her that's probably deeper than your typical mother/daughter bond because of her abilities, and now you know that it's going to be different when she really does lose it. It's okay to be disappointed that you won't have that for a few years."
Vala hummed. "You sound like one of your head doctors," she deflected, not wanting to tackle those exact thoughts. She regretted mentioning anything in the first place.
She could tell that Daniel sensed that she didn't want to have this conversation and left it alone, something she was grateful for. "Well, I guess we'll have to pester her for answers before it's really gone," he said teasingly and lifted Alora to eye level again, "Wanna tell me all the secrets of the universe?" he asked.
She smiled as she watched the two of them interact. Never in a million years did she expect him to bond with her daughter so deeply, never thought he would want to and had assumed he would see her as a nuisance, but she was never glad to be so wrong.
It was going to be hard once she left Earth with Alora and not just for the Mal Doran women but for Daniel as well. But it was for the best, she knew that, and one day, Daniel would as well.
o0o
It wasn't long after he discovered that the three planets' coordinates formed a equilateral triangle as well as a tetrahedron, a perfect pyramid, after the Camelot planet was added, when Vala came barging into his office with Alora, and emphatically stated that she 'figured it out!' It was past midnight and he frowned at her.
"Figured what out?" he asked, getting up from his desk to relieve her of the baby.
She quickly explained about the three planets and what Morgan Le Fey had been trying to tell them, and that the address for the planet they needed to find was made up of symbols from the three planets, Castiana, Sahal, and Vagon Brei.
He stared at her incredulously. "You came up with this?" he asked skeptically, "Or was it Alora?"
She shrugged innocently. "I was asleep," she replied, "we'll never really know."
"Uh-huh," he responded, still unconvinced, "Let's go find Sam. She can probably run a program that can spit out addresses for us to search."
"Excellent!" Vala chirped.
Daniel kissed Alora's head. "Thanks, sweetheart," he told her lovingly, "good job."
He completely ignored the glare Vala shot him and set out to find Sam.