Chapter Thirteen

"General!" Sam exclaimed as she barged into their corner of the infirmary. "What're you doing here?" she inquired, sending Daniel an apologetic look.

"What, am I not allowed to visit my old stomping grounds?" he grumbled sarcastically.

"I meant here, in the infirmary," she specified, sending him a small glare. He very well knew what she meant.

"Heard through the grapevine that Danny boy here was in the infirmary again and just had to see what he'd gotten himself into this time," Jack quipped. "I was not expecting to find him by the side of a woman who is apparently his baby mama! Was anyone gonna tell me that Space money was gonna be a father?"

"Space money?" Vala mumbled puzzledly to Daniel.

"Later," he promised/pleaded quietly.

Sam winced at her husband's tone. "The past forty-eight hours have been pretty crazy, even by SG-1 standards. We only got back about two hours ago," she tried to explain and defend.

"Forty-eight hours? This only happened within the past forty-eight hours?" Jack incredulously asked. "She's got to be over halfway through it!"

"Twenty-one week tomorrow," Vala corrected gently, giving Jack a small smile. So this is Daniel's best friend, Sam's husband, and the future godfather of my child, she thought as she studied the man.

Jack, for all intents and purposes, ignored her and focused on his wife. "Carter!" he snapped, "I thought I explicitly told you, no ordered you, to keep a close eye on Daniel at all times! You know what kind of trouble he attracts and gets into! Look at her, case in point!"

"I'm a grown ass adult," Daniel protested, offended, "I can take care of myself!"

"You've died how many times now?" Jack retorted, "Not to mention you've ascended twice!"

"You still haven't told me that story yet," Vala interjected, shooting Daniel an accusatory glace.

"Later," he promised her again offhandedly, "Jack, we all at some point have died more than once so you're not being fair there and the situation with Vala, me, and the baby is, well, complicated and not what you think."

"Isn't it always," Jack remarked dryly before taking a good look at Vala, studying her for a moment. "So, you're Vala Mal Doran?"

"I am," she confirmed, "and you're General Jack O'Neill, my daughter's future godfather."

"That's me," he gave her a smile. "I believe I owe you my thanks for stopping Daniel from going to Atlantis a few months back."

Daniel rolled his eyes but Vala returned Jack's smile. "Think nothing of it!" she told him, "I was glad to be of help."

Jack snorted softly at her words, words that sounded similar to something he would have said. Hell, he was sure he had said them before. "I need to speak to Daniel for a minute," he told her, "Would you mind if I stole him?"

"Go right ahead."

"Vala," Daniel said sternly then faced Jack, "Jack, we just got back. Let us at least get settled in."

Vala leaned in close to Daniel. "Go and get it over with. I'll be fine. I'll go to your office and wait for you," she told him and continued when he made a face. "I promise I won't break or even mess with any of your priceless artifacts. Go."

Daniel locked gazes with her before sighing in defeat and stood. "Let's get this over with," he muttered and headed out the door with Jack.

"Carter, you too," Jack ordered, stopping at the infirmary's entrance.

"Oh, well I was going to stay with Vala and help get her settled…" she trailed off when Jack gave her the look and she sighed as well. "Yes sir," and followed them out.

O'Neill led them to Carter's lab, shutting, and locking the door behind them. He hadn't wasted any time before he started to chew them out for the decision they had made in going to the alternate reality. He hadn't given them the opportunity to defend themselves, too busy in getting his point across, emphasizing how wrong it was and that this was not what SG-1 did; hell, it wasn't what Earth did. The thought of them even considering such a thing bothered Jack, the thought that it was his wife's idea and that they actually went through with it made him furious.

"So I repeat," Jack emphasized sternly, coming to a close, "what the hell were you two thinking?"

"We were thinking that the Ori were coming and we had no way of stopping them," Daniel was the one to reply, trying to take the brunt of Jack's anger since he wanted to spare Sam a future fight with her husband. "I admit, it was a stupid, horrible, and desperate thing to do, but it worked out in the end and not for reasons we anticipated. Because of our original intentions, we ended up coming back not with the ZPM but with everything we needed to defeat the Ori once and for all. I don't regret that; I don't regret going to that reality, and not just for that reason."

"You got lucky," Jack retorted.

"Yeah, we did," Daniel gave him that, "and we also regretted our actions once the other us gave us in the intel on the Ori and had come to that conclusion that we weren't going to go through with it; we just got caught before we could backtrack," he admitted sheepishly.

Jack shifted his gaze between the two of them, staying silent for several moments. "I never want to be left in the dark like that again, is that understood?" he ordered firmly, "I don't care if Landry decides that I don't need to know or whatever. That is not who we are or what we do!"

Sam mumbled a "Yes sir," and Daniel nodded.

Jack let out a breath before changing the subject. "Now, which one of you is going to tell me how the hell Daniel knocked someone up?"

"That's a bit complicated…" Daniel warned.

"Daniel, I'm married to Carter, I can do complicated."

Sam rolled her eyes at her husband's words while Daniel started from the beginning – the alternate reality, specifically finding out about the Orici, what she entailed, and how to stop the Ori and the Orici, ending with them setting off the device to destroy the Ori, finding the Ark of Truth, and finding Vala, who they later discovered, was carrying the Orici. Daniel skipped over the technical details of what Thor actually did since he wasn't completely sure himself but gave Jack enough information to understand that Daniel's DNA had replaced anything the Ori used to create the baby, leaving it half his and half Vala's.

"For cryin' out loud, Daniel," Jack complained, "do you enjoy making my life difficult? Do you know how the IOA, NID, Joint Chiefs, and literally anyone else with a say is going to react to this?"

"I know this complicates things, but I don't regret what I did. I wasn't about to let Vala lose her child when something could've been done about it," Daniel defended.

"And no one else could've done it?" Jack questioned skeptically. "I thought you couldn't stand Space Princess?"

"Space Princess?" when Jack just shrugged, Daniel continued, "That was before. She drives me insane, but things are different now."

"How?"

"Jack, I really don't want to get into this right now."

Jack's head swerved to Sam. "Carter?" he inquired.

Sam grimaced but was saved by the phone ringing. She quickly answered and spoke a few words before hanging. "Duty calls," she offered in the way of an apology and gave Jack a small smile. "We'll talk at home." She waited for his nod before leaving.

Jack refocused his attention back on Daniel. "How are things different?" he prodded again.

Daniel let out a sigh, knowing Jack wouldn't back down anytime soon. "The first thing, the first person I saw when we went to the other reality was Vala," Daniel began the tale he felt like he had told a hundred times already. He confessed to his friend the feelings he had for his Vala and how he suppressed them up until the moment he departed from the reality, promising that Vala he wouldn't waste the opportunity he had previously ignored and denied. "So when Thor said it was possible to replace that last remaining but essential Ori DNA, I volunteered mine. I had been ascended twice and probably be more compatible than anyone else. Plus the thought of another man being the baby's father, being linked to Vala in that way, well it drove me crazy and I couldn't stand the idea of it. I already knew I wanted to try with her so I went all in."

Jack was silent once again for a minute or two, taking in all the new info, before speaking, "I'm proud of you, Daniel."

Daniel's eyebrows shot up. Well, that wasn't what he had expected his best friend of over ten years to say. "You're proud of me?" he repeated/questioned.

"Yeah, I'm proud of you," he reiterated, "You finally decided to take a risk and let go of the past and if this woman, space pirate or not, was responsible for that, then she has to be special and I'll welcome her with open arms."

"Just like that?" Daniel's face scrunched a bit, "No interrogating her, threatening her, no lectures for her or me, nothing?"

"Well, I'll definitely get to know her better," Jack amended, "but yes, just like that. Daniel, you finally are taking a chance on someone after six or seven years; you couldn't even bring yourself to do that with Janet, someone who was a much safer bet than Vala Mal Doran."

"You knew?" he asked, surprised, "Did everyone know?"

"Of course I did, Daniel. I'm your best friend, and no. Only SG-1 and Hammond knew. Possibly Cassie," Jack responded, "None of that matters anymore. What matter is that you finally got over Sha're and can move on now."

"I'll never be over Sha're," Danie argued, "She was my wife, Jack, and that's not something I can just get over. She played a big part in my life and I'll always love her."

"I know that, but you need to stop using her and what happened as an excuse, as your crutch, to not get close to someone again," he contradicted firmly but gently, "What you had with Sha're was great and I won't make light of that, but it was a long time ago and you're no longer than young, naïve man I left on Abydos. Had you never come back to Earth and joined the SGC, you could've been happy there, living out your days with her. I hate to break it to you, but you idolize her too much and the relationship you had. I know you loved her, but you need to stop pretending your marriage was perfect.

"Face it, Daniel, you unburied the 'gate for a reason; your curiosity got the better of you when you discovered the Abydos cartouche. As much as you claim that you would've been happy to remain there indefinitely, you wouldn't have been, hence why you unburied the 'gate. Your curiosity was going to get the better of you eventually and where would that have left your relationship with Sha're? Would she have been okay with that; you exploring other planets and living on Earth, away from her people and home planet? I know it's no guarantee you would've joined the SGC had she never been taken, but as I've said, you unburied the 'gate for a reason and were planning on doing something with that information.

"So do yourself and Vala a favor, let go of the past. Let go of the fantasy that you've created in your head. I'm not saying you didn't love Sha're and what you guys had wasn't special, I'm not telling you to forget about her. I'm just saying stop exaggerating it, stop using it as an excuse to justify your actions and decisions when it comes to your love life. If you really want things to work out with Vala, you need to accept the truth for what your marriage really was and let the past go for good. You're no longer that man, Daniel, and you haven't been for a long time. The man you are today wouldn't work with who Sha're was. I'm not saying this to be harsh or anything; I'm saying it because I want you to be happy and for your relationship with Vala to work; for the baby's sake, if nothing else."

It was hard to hear that and he was so tempted to fight back, saying that Jack was the one exaggerating, not him, but to a degree, Daniel saw his point. Maybe he had idolized Sha're and what they had. He could even admit that he had used what happened to her as an excuse to keep an emotional romantic distance from any woman. It was easy to protect himself that way. Whenever he started thinking about the possibility of such a relationship, he would panic and think of Sha're and what happened to her; he would justify what he went through with her as a reason not to get involved with someone, always telling himself that he wasn't ready. And here he was, almost ten years since she was taken as a host and six years since her death and he was still alone. Maybe some of what Jack said was true and he had to work through that; and Jack was right, if he wanted his relationship with Vala to work, he had to let go of the past, not forget it, but accept and move on from it. And he really wanted things to work out with Vala.

"Look, I'm sorry if I overstepped," Jack cut into his thoughts after several moments of silence, "but I don't want to see you, Vala, or my goddaughter get hurt, and I'm sorry if I was a little harsh."

"No, you were right," Daniel reluctantly admitted, "about letting go so I can make a fresh start with Vala and not let any past baggage hang over our heads. There is more at steak with her because of the baby and I don't want to screw it up. I really want this, Jack, and I am scared I'll fuck it up."

"Daniel…" Jack trailed off, not sure how to reply.

"I saw the potential for us, the possibility of us in that other reality. I saw our family, at least a prospect of what ours could be, and I really want that here, with my Vala."

"It really got to you, didn't it?" Jack asked rhetorically, "That reality, I mean."

Daniel chuckled humorlessly. "Why does everyone keep saying that?" he muttered to himself, causing Jack to raise his eyebrows questioningly and Daniel waved him off. "Yeah, it got to me, obviously. I willingly made a child with Vala Mal Doran because the thought of another man being tied to her like that makes me want to hit something, preferably that man."

"Possessive, are we?" Jack quipped.

"Very," Daniel admitted with a light blush. "I don't know what it is about her that makes me so possessive of her one minute and then completely annoyed or frustrated at her the next."

"That's love for ya sometimes."

"I'm not there yet," Daniel firmly denied, "I don't I'm ready for that."

"But you want to be," Jack stated.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

Jack laid a hand on the archeologist's shoulder. "Look, Daniel, I'm here for you, whatever you need," he promised, "I mean it; I've waited a long time for this moment, and I'll do whatever I can to help you make this work."

"Thanks Jack," he smiled appreciatively at the General and then something came to mind. "Actually, if you're serious about that, there is something I could use your help with."

"Name it and I'll do what I can!" Jack told him cheerfully with an O'Neill smile.

"I need you to help me get Vala permission to live off base, with me if need be," Daniel told him, "and I need it to happen as fast as you can. Landry said he would do what he can, but you have more pull and not just with the President."

"Isn't it a little too soon to be moving in together?"

Daniel agreed that it probably was but proceeded to give him the same reasons and excuses he used on General Landry. He left out the part where he'd marry Vala if necessary – he didn't think his friend would take that so well. Jack consented that Daniel had valid reasons and told him he would do what he could and hopefully expedite any papers and legal documents Vala would need in order to become not only a citizen of a particular country but a citizen of Earth itself.

Jack left not long after, intending to seek out his wife, leaving Daniel to go join Vala in his office. The two of them had a lot of talking to do.