A/N: Sorry, I have no idea if I'm spelling Vala's last name correctly. Thanks for all the kind reviews.
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"So" Jacob asked after they had finished waltzing around Amanda's office and he reclaimed his seat, "What do you think it is we're supposed to accomplish in this timeline before we go home?"
Amanda shrugged, picking up her book, "I have no idea. Maybe Shifu will decide to grace us with hisomnipotent presence in a while and give use a cryptic metaphor to go on"
The sound of klaxons startled the two teammates as Walter Davis' voice blared over the intercom, "Unauthorized off-world activation!"
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Shifu watched from his advantageous form of invisible energy as a communication was sent through the gate to the control room at the SGC.
The alluring voice of an as yet unidentified female could be heard transmitting over the gate room speakers.
SG-1 and General O'Neill piled into the room and as the voice continued to speak Daniel's face took on an expression of consternation, "Hello, this is Vala Malderon, normally I would've loved to have come to your fair planet by ship but I lost mine…well, it wasn't really mine…I was wondering if we could all have a lovely chat, there's something I must discuss with Daniel Jackson"
Jack, Teal'c, and Sam faced Daniel sequentially. The archaeologist pressed the palm of his hand to his face and groaned deeply.
"Sir?" Walter asked, wanting to know if it was safe to open the Iris.
Jack raised his eyebrows at the Sergeant, "Why don't you ask, Danny boy here?"
Walter turned to Daniel who still had his eyes squeezed shut wishing he had never even gotten out of bed the morning General Hammond had asked him to join the search and rescue team to Atlantis.
After several more seconds of wistful thinking that perhaps this was only a nightmare, Daniel leaned over the control booth and pressed the button that would allow him to talk to the person waiting on the other side of the gate, "What do you want?" he asked bitterly.
"Daniel" Vala replied, stressing his name with mock affection that made the man cringe, "A little Ancient told me that you had recently received an interesting visitor"
Shifu allotted himself a satisfied smile. He was the one who'd had it arranged for Vala to come to earth, Amanda and Jacob would need her here in order to achieve the task they'd been sent back for.
"What would you want with a visitor to earth?" Daniel asked flatly.
"Plenty if she is who I heard she is," Vala countered breezily.
Daniel paused nervously, thinking, "Let me get back to you" he said, and gave Walter the nod to disengage the Iris.
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"Mom found out I was here?" Amanda asked, sitting at the briefing table across from her father, "How?"
"She said and Ancient told her," Daniel answered in a tone that blatantly stated he did not believe this snippet of information.
Amanda exchanged glances with Jacob, "You think…?" she asked.
"You betcha" Jacob replied.
"I wish you two would quit holding conversations with only the beginnings of sentences" Jack snapped. Everyone stared at him.
"What!" Jack asked, raising his arms above his head and waving them around, "It's getting on my nerves"
"Sir…" Sam explained patiently, "We talk like that all the time"
Jack thought about this for a grand five seconds before rebutting, "No we don't"
"Yes we do" Daniel piped back automatically.
"Don't"
"Do"
"Don't"
"Do"
"Don't"
"I believe that we do in fact, converse mostly in a similar manner towards each other, O'Neill" Teal'c stated, effectively squelching anymore arguments out of the commander, "But that debate is not relative to the matter at hand…should we allow Vala Malderon to come to earth and meet her daughter?"
Amanda shared looks with Jacob once again, both of them suspecting it was the work of Shifu that had brought the young Jackson's mother to contact earth. Meaning that Vala must have something to do with whatever reason the two had been consequently sent back in the past for.
"I think we should let her through," Amanda said.
"I think we should send someone through to her first" Daniel warned, "She might be harboring weapons"
Amanda took slight offense to this suggestion, it was her mother and his future wife they were talking about here, "She's a space pirate, of course she has weapons…she's not going to use them on anybody"
"Unless they happen to be wearing a Rolex" Daniel griped.
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Jack waited at the bottom of the ramp so he could greet their latest guest, as was the procedure. Daniel had gone into hiding under a desk somewhere and Amanda was draining the base of every last drop of coffee she could find in order to calm her nerves…something about reuniting with a caregiver who had allegedly abandoned you being psychologically damaging.
When Vala appeared, she looked around with the same approving look that everyone man in the embarkation room was suddenly giving her.
Her brunette locks were in a thick braid that was wrapped several times in a figure eight shape at the crown of her head. She had dark eyes that flashed with the reflection of wickedly fun thoughts that constantly ran through her brain. She had a wonderful body that was accented by black leather pants and a taught black tank top.
Jack had no idea why Daniel had whined about this woman so much in report after returning home on Prometheus.
"I'm Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, welcome," he said as the wormhole disengaged and she sauntered towards him.
"Well, aren't you good looking" she stated mildly, brushing past him on her way to the door, "For an, older man, that is."
Jack drew his eyebrows together at this comment as he escorted her out.
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"Glad to see me, Daniel?" she asked, lighting up when the anthropologist entered the briefing room.
"No" was all he said.
She frowned, then tipped her head to the side as if to say: "That's okay, you'll get over it" and glanced behind him at the entrance he had just walked through.
There stood Amanda, hesitated at the doorway.
Vala's smile turned from sharp and seductive to soft and gentle with a blink, she headed over to stand in front of the girl, scrutinizing every detail of her appearance.
"You certainly take after your father," she said serenely.
"You're familiar with the concept of time travel, then?" Amanda asked Vala out of curiosity spawned from her seemingly instant acceptance that she was her daughter.
"Oh, yes, time travel and I go way back," Vala said sleekly as she leaned against the doorjamb and reached out to touch her daughter's face.
Amanda smirked at the pun, despite herself, and allowed the contact to occur.
"The man who told me about you…" Vala said, dropping her hand to her side, "He told me what's supposed to happen…in our futures…rather depressing, isn't it?" she said knowingly.
"Yes." Was all Amanda managed to choke out. Seeing her mother again was having the same effect on her as seeing her dad. She wanted to cry.
Vala seemed to sense this, because she turned to SG-1 who was seated in the room, "Do you think you could give us a minute?" she asked.
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"I'm sure I had a good reason for leaving" Vala offered weakly when they were alone.
"I'm sure you did" Amanda replied, "You just didn't bother to tell me what it was"
"Did you ever forgive me?" the space pirate asked, needing to know the answer.
"Eventually…" Amanda got up from the seat she had taken and strolled over to be in front of her mother, who was still standing.
Vala was caught completely off guard when the girl hugged her close and muttered into her shoulder, "I missed you"
The woman was touched…she had never figured herself for the mother figure type, mostly because she had given up a long time ago on ever finding the guy who would make her want to have a child, the fabled Mr. Right. And with her chosen profession, a kid wasn't exactly the smartest thing to have hanging around.
But every once in a while she'd see that one couple or parent with their children. That one that made her gut feel pleasantly queasy with longing…wondering what if…
Her arms embraced her daughter tightly.
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