Epilogue

It felt weird walking through the corridors now.

It was all different, everything felt different and off since Atlantis had arrived on Earth. Instead of seeing nothing but ocean when you looked out a window or a door, you saw San Francisco. Being back on Earth with Atlantis just didn't feel right. There weren't any lingering threats of annihilation at almost every moment but instead relative peace. They were random people he didn't even know walking through the halls of his city, yes, his city. Atlantis had become home for most of the expedition, and he didn't like having people he didn't know touching and exploring it.

But Atlantis was home, the expedition was home, and he would have to get used to it.

"Still moping?" Ronon Dex asked as he walked up to the Colonel, amusement in his voice.

"I wouldn't call it moping," Sheppard argued lightly.

"You're moping," Ronon stood firm on his deduction.

"I have to agree with Ronan," Teyla sided as she joined the two, "You are not as happy as I thought you would be now that you are home."

"I'm plenty happy," John told them, "it's just weird being home…and having a whole bunch of strangers roaming around Atlantis, not knowing what they're doing."

"Rodney has been very vigilant in his overseeing the scientists," Teyla said calmly.

"You mean dictating," Ronon corrected.

Teyla rolled her eyes but smiled. "Your people know what they are doing," she assured John.

John still looked reluctant but relented a little. "I guess you're right," he admitted, "I mean, the SGC would only send their best and most qualified, right?"

"Right," Teyla agreed.

At a childish squeal, the trio's attention was shifted towards it.

"And apparently a baby as well," John added, and eyed his teammates, "Who the hell brings a baby to Atlantis and leaves it unattended?" he questioned, upset.

Teyla headed for the child skipping around the empty corridors of the city, causing the child to stop. "She is not a baby," she contradicted, "A toddler would be a better description," she told him and knelt down once she caught up with the child. "Hello there, are you lost?"

The little girl, roughly two years of age, tilted her head but didn't answer.

John came beside Teyla and mimicked her position. "Hey there, sweetie," he greeted softly, "Where's your mama?"

The girl fastened her brown eyes on him. "Mama wif da boys," she replied sweetly.

He didn't know what that meant but assumed her mom was working with fellow scientists and she had wandered off. "How about we go find mommy, okay?"

The little girl frowned at him. "Mama wif da boys," she repeated more insistently.

John's brows shot up. "Okay…" he dragged out.

"Who did you come here with?" Teyla intervened gently, "Shall we try to find them?"

The child's eyes went to Ronon's direction, and they widened. "Daddy!"

Ronon Dex looked like a deer in headlights. "Uhh…" he said uncomfortably.

"Alora!" a voice snapped from behind Ronon, "What have I told you about running off like that?"

Alora skipped over to him and launched herself in his arms. "I play!"

Dr. Daniel Jackson sighed at the girl. "I don't care if you wanted to play," he retorted sternly, "You can't just wander off. You had me worried."

She became downcast. "Sorry, daddy," she mumbled.

It was almost impossible to stay mad at the child and he sighed again, mainly at himself and his weakness for her. "It's alright, sweetheart," he told her lovingly, "just don't do it again."

The Atlantis team watched the scene with interest.

Daniel finally noticed the trio and shot them a grateful smile. "Thanks for finding her," he told them sincerely, "I hope she wasn't too much trouble."

John waved him off. "We really didn't do anything," he admitted, "we sorta just stumbled upon her and didn't get much from her before you showed up."

"Just the same, thank you," Daniel said, "She has her mother's natural talent for wandering and getting into trouble," he commented offhand.

John eyed the man's left hand. "Wasn't aware you'd gotten married," he said, "Didn't realize it the last time you were here or that you had a kid."

Before Daniel could comment, Ronon said, "She's grown a lot since the last time she was here."

John looked at his friend with a puzzled expression.

"She has indeed," Teyla agreed, stepping closer, "I almost didn't recognize her, but that is to be expected since she was a mere baby last time."

Sheppard finally understood. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "She's that Vala girl's kid."

Daniel smiled. "Yeah, that she is."

Sheppard stared at him oddly. "You always seem to be the one taking care of her," he noted.

Daniel opened his mouth to reply but Alora beat him to the punch.

"Daddy, I bored," she declared seriously, "Play wif me?"

Daniel focused on her. "I have to work," he told her gently, "We can play after."

"Work boring!"

"Not daddy's work," he corrected with a smile, "Daddy's work is like playing for me."

Alora pondered that for a second. "Daddy play wif me after?" she asked sweetly, "Please?"

Damnit, her pleading eyes always made him crack and he was starting to suspect she was catching on to it. "Your mom is gonna kill me," he muttered, "but yes, I'll play with you when I'm done."

"We can take her to her mom if you'd like, that way you can work," Sheppard volunteered and crouched to Alora's eye level, "How 'bout it, wanna go find your mom?"

Daniel gave the man a puzzled look. "Vala's not here," he told him, "she's home in Colorado Springs."

"Oh," Sheppard sounded surprised, and straightened, "sorry, she said Vala was with the boys and I assumed she meant the other members of your team."

"See mommy?" Alora asked Daniel eagerly.

"Uh, no, Vala's not with them," he answered Sheppard before answering Alora, "No, sweetie, remember, mommy's at home?"

Alora became less animated. "Wif da boys," she mumbled.

Daniel chuckled. "No," he corrected softly, "She's with Auntie Carolyn and Auntie Sam, remember?"

"Where da boys?" she asked curiously.

"With Uncle Cam and Uncle Jack," he answered patiently, used to her incessant questioning.

"Oh."

"Who are these boys she speaks of?" Teyla asked, "Perhaps we can take her to them?"

Daniel let out a sharp laugh. "I'm sorry, don't mean to laugh, but the boys won't be of any help," he told her, still amused, "She's referring to the twins, my four-month-old sons."

"Twins!" Sheppard exclaimed, "That's, uhh, that's quite the challenge."

"You're telling me," Daniel responded dryly.

"Wait," Sheppard said, remembering something, "I thought Colonel Carter was doing a stint on the Hammond?"

"The ship's in for upgrades," Daniel explained, "and Vala could use a break so they took her out."

"Daddy!" Alora whined, not happy about being ignored, "I bored!"

He eyed her. "You are definitely your mother's daughter," he muttered, "You need to watch your tone," he chastised gently.

Alora frowned. "Sorry daddy," she mumbled.

Daniel had never been able to stay mad at her for long and one day it was bound to get him in trouble with Vala. Giving her a smile, he kissed her head. "It's okay," he told her, "Now, daddy has to go back to work and if you're good, we can play when I'm done, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed.

"Promise to stay with me?" he continued, "No more running off?"

Alora nodded seriously. "I promise."

Daniel was satisfied and turned back to the Atlantis team. "Thanks again for stopping to check on her," he told them, "but I should get back to it."

"Would you like us to lend a hand?" Teyla graciously offered.

Daniel shook his head. "No, it's okay," he smiled, "It won't take long and that's why I brought her – some daddy-daughter bonding time, ain't that right, Alora?" he bounced her in his arms, causing her to giggle, "That and I didn't want to leave her with Jack and Cam – infants are hard enough without an energetic two year running around."

"I only have one child and I find it trying at times," Teyla admitted, "I could not imagine having so many."

Daniel chuckled. "Yeah," he agreed, "we were kind of blindsided by the whole twin thing and were only expecting one, but we wouldn't trade them for anything."

"So not having anymore?" Sheppard teased.

"Oh, hell no!" Daniel instantly retorted.

Alora gasped and pointed at Daniel. "Bad word," she whispered, scandalized.

Daniel grimaced. "Right," he acknowledged, "Sorry."

"She speaks well for a child of her age," Teyla noted, "She seems quite intelligent."

Daniel smiled proudly. "Yeah, she is," he agreed, "It's genetic, isn't that right, sweetheart?"

Alora grinned at him. "Smart like daddy!" she exclaimed, repeating what she had heard since she could remember.

"That's right," he murmured, "Ready to go back to work?"

She sighed dramatically. "Okay."

Daniel shot the Atlantis team one last smile. "Thanks again," he said, "See you around."

John waited until he was out of sight before saying, "I thought he said she didn't have a father."

"Those were his words," Teyla confirmed.

"And I told you she did have a father," Ronon reminded them, "He always was, despite what he believed – he just hadn't realized it yet."

Sheppard shot him an inquisitive look. "Since when are you so deep?"

Ronon shrugged nonchalantly. "I've always been deep," he claimed.

"Sure you have," Sheppard replied, unconvinced.

o0o

Just as he loaded the last dish into the dishwasher, he heard the door open, and the sounds of multiple bags hitting the hardwood floors. Daniel smiled, realizing his wife was back. He quickly shut the dishwasher and went to greet her, smiling again when he saw her. Since the twins were born, she had barely left the house for anything other than work, and this was the first time she truly had time for herself, and it left her looking so relaxed and radiant. He made a note to himself to make it happen more often.

"Hey," he greeted softly, leaning against the kitchen's door frame, "you have fun?"

Vala spun in his direction and returned his smile. "Oh gods, yes!" she exclaimed softly, "It was so nice to get out and have a conversation with an adult…female adults, that is."

He walked over to her and tugged her into his arms. "Well, I'm glad," he told her sincerely.

"Kids in bed?" she asked, wrapping her arms around him.

"For now," he responded wryly.

She winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stay out so late," she apologized, "but it was so good to see Samantha and Carolyn wanted Cameron to get as much baby practice before baby Mitchell arrives, and we just lost track of time."

"Don't apologize," he said, "Jack and Cam did most of the work anyways and Alora practically passed by bed time."

Vala raised an eyebrow and backed away. "Did she?" she questioned skeptically, "No fighting, no demands for more stories, no bogus excuses to get up? I find that hard to believe."

Daniel winced and hesitated. "Cam burned himself making a bottle earlier," he confessed gingerly, "He spilled boiling water on himself. He's fine, it wasn't that bad but…" he trailed off.

"But Alora saw it and healed it," she finished for him, closing her eyes in frustration, "Damn it, child."

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I was with Jack in the boys' room and Alora was with Cam. I didn't even know about the burn and if I had, I wouldn't have left her with him. He feels awful as well – he didn't even realize she had done it until it was too late."

Her healing ability seemed to be the only thing she retained, thanks to her Ori DNA, which they preferred to think of as Ancient DNA. They hadn't even known she had, never exhibiting any signs of her former abilities until Vala had cut herself with a knife when Alora was one. Somehow the child had recognized that her mother was in pain and healed the wound. It had freaked the parents out at first, especially when Alora became lethargic for a period of time, and they had taken her to Carolyn. Thankfully, the child was okay, just exhausted herself, and while it didn't sound extensive, healing a minor cut, she was only one and didn't know how to properly use her power. From then on, they had been careful about showing signs of pain and injury, not wanting a repeat of that experience, and tried to hide them as best as they could.

Sam had wondered about Alora's ability to communicate and why she didn't have it now, and while they honestly had no idea and probably would never, Daniel suspected it was a byproduct of the knowledge the Ori had given her. Using the knowledge, Alora may have been able to learn how to access other parts of her brain, resulting in extra abilities. While the Ancients may have had an array of powers, Alora was genetically half and it didn't make sense for her to have multiple powers. But this was all purely speculation, for all they knew, the Ori genetically modified for more abilities to grow as she was supposed to grow.

"It's not Cameron's fault," Vala conceded, "She's sneaky that way. Did you have a talk with her?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if she listened," Daniel stated warily, "She can't stand the people she loves in pain, you know that better than anyone."

Alora had noticed her mother's pain after the delivery of the twins and when Vala had finally come home from the infirmary, she had taken it upon herself to relieve some of that pain. At two years old, Alora now understood she wasn't allowed to heal without her parents' permission, so she waited until Vala had been sleeping and Daniel elsewhere before trying. 'Trying' being the operative word since Daniel had walked in and snatched her away from Vala when he realized what she was doing, but it had been too late, and the little girl was once again lethargic, bordering on unconscious and unresponsive.

After Carolyn had checked her out again and declared her to be okay, the parents had a serious talk about her and using her healing power, strictly forbidding it without their permission, stating she was too young and inexperienced to be using it. One day, when she was older, they would slowly allow it on minor things, like scrapes, bruises, small cuts, etc., so she could gain more experience and control it better and her reaction to it, but until she was older, their decision was firm and unyielding.

Vala smiled sadly at the memory. "She's so ridiculously caring," she said quietly, "Quite like her father, I must say. But she's okay?"

"Yeah," he quickly assured her, "She was just more sluggish and slow, and I got to cuddle her for most of the night, which was a nice change of pace." That girl was like the energizer bunny, no matter what time of day or night.

She snorted. "I bet," she replied, knowing her daughter was a ball of energy, "I know I'm not suppose to admit this, but her healing me after having the boys was glorious, even if it was only halfway. That's twice now I haven't had to experience the full extent of after labor pains, and now I never will."

He raised his brows. "You talk to Carolyn about it?" he asked.

"Yep!" she said cheerfully, and wrapped her arms around his neck, "She said she would remove my tubes in a month or two. She wants to wait a little longer."

"Remove?" he asked, frowning, "I thought we were tying?"

"Apparently removing means less chance of ovarian cancer," she recited what Carolyn told her, "Either way, it means no more babies. You still good with that?"

"Yeah," he assured her. They had only agreed on two total but got a surprise when they found out they were having twins, but they wouldn't trade their sons for anything.

Vala perked up a little. "So, how was Atlantis?" she asked, "Find any more secret labs that get you kidnapped by rogue Asgard?"

"Haha," he mocked, "That was a complete accident."

"You almost died!"

"But I didn't and I came home to you and Alora," he pointed out calmly, "I will always come home to you and our kids, I promise."

Vala studied him for a minute in silence. "You know, this would normally be the part where I tell you that you can't make such promises," she said, "but somehow, with you, I believe it."

"It's because after everything we've been through, we've always come through it together, no matter how hard they tried to keep us apart," he told her all sappily. In his defense, he was tired. Handling two infants and a two-year-old on your own was harder than it sounded. Damn, he was getting old – it was crazy to think back on how this all started. "Hey, when we met on Prometheus, did you ever imagine us being here?"

Vala snorted. "Never in a million years," she answered, "In fact, I often wondered what would've happened had I done something different and how drastically that would've changed everything."

Daniel tilted his head. "Like what?" he asked curiously.

She hummed as she thought. "Like…" she dragged out, "if I hadn't been so noble and sacrificed myself to destroy the first beachhead…or if I had made sure the Orici wouldn't live," she confessed the last one quietly, "Or if I hadn't hid when she was born or you hadn't been there, and how all these things may have kept us apart had they all turned out differently."

He shook his head. "No way," he denied, "It probably would've taken longer, but we would've always found each other in the end."

"Our lives would be different."

"Yes," he conceded, "but we would have still ended up together."

"We wouldn't have Alora if I had done either of those things, and most likely the boys too," she pointed out sadly, "and I don't like the possibility of that happening."

Daniel looked at her in understanding. "I know, and I don't either," he said gently, "but thank God for that sharp mother's instinct you've got or else we just may have, so let's not dwell on what ifs and focus on what is actually happening right now – raising and watching our three children grow up."

Vala leaned forward, her lips inches away from his. "I rather like the sound of that," she confessed before kissing him.

Things could have turned out differently, but they hadn't. Maybe in other realities, each of those decisions were made differently, affecting a whole chain of events, but one thing Daniel knew for certain was that he ended up with Vala no matter what.

It was the only ending ever written for them – together.

The End.

o0o

Author's Note: Odd choice of an epilogue, I know, but the second I wrote that scene back in Atlantis earlier on in this story, I knew this is how I wanted the epilogue going. I also wanted it to be different from the rest of my ending, you know? Not 100% of what my brain had envisioned but did my best to write it out as it played in my mind.

I also wanted to give a short...update(?) on Alora's abilities. I knew I only wanted her to have one and don't think it's plausible for her to have multiple due to her genetics. Hopefully that doesn't disappoint you all.

Final thoughts? Let me know how I'm doing and what I can do to improve for the next one

TitusVorenus - I'm working on yours! Hoping it will be done in a couple of months! Keep an eye out!