Chapter Twenty-Two
Daniel had never been more grateful to receive a call from the home of Cameron Mitchell. He had rushed to answer and breathed a sigh of relief when it was Vala on the other end of the line. "We have an appointment with Dr Vost tomorrow," she said without preamble. "Be here at 0800 sharp. Try not to be late Daniel. Maybe try avoid ascending into the upper realms or I don't know, Ancient information terminals. Don't become a Prior between now and tomorrow either."
Even though she couldn't see him, he grinned. This was at least somewhat normal. "I'll be there," he promised her.
"I have paperwork to fill out too. I can never find any pens in Cameron's house. Oh, and I have been invited back on base tomorrow too. So you'll be babysitting baby Mal Doran for about an hour while I shoot the ship with the bigwigs at the base."
He forgave her idiom but made a mental note to question what Mitchell had been teaching her. "He'll be fine," Daniel reassured her. "And maybe, after, we can talk."
Vala huffed down the telephone line. "Maybe you might want to think about listening, Daniel, for a change." And with that, the line went dead.
o0o
At 0755, Daniel parked his car in front of Mitchell's building. As he got out, he contemplated walking up to the door, but Vala appeared holding their son only seconds after he had pulled up. She held onto him carefully as she approached the car. Daniel's heart soared as she wordlessly handed the baby over into his waiting arms.
Being apart from his son had been excruciating. He let out a little yawn and Daniel melted a little more. With the precision of a man who had handled priceless artifacts over the years, he placed him carefully into his car seat. Vala supervised the entire time, the incongruity of the situation almost amusing. "Is that thing safe?" she asked anxiously. "Back in the village, babies were attached to their mothers at all times in a sling." He gestured for her to climb into the front seat of his car.
"I wouldn't put our son in it if it wasn't," he reassured her. "Come on, I have something for you." With a final glance in the back seat, Vala climbed in. Daniel pressed a coffee into her waiting hands. She stared at him for a moment and then accepted the small gift. "Your son does not like to sleep," she confessed softly. "Thank you."
Progress. He wanted to launch into a thousand promises of sharing the load, of nursing him back to sleep as Vala stole precious moments for herself, of bonding with his son, but he didn't. He had progress and if he wanted a place in their lives, he needed to play by the rules. Even if it killed him.
Vala cleared her throat and shoved a printed piece of paper at him. "Dr Vost's office."
He had nowhere else he'd rather be.
o0o
Dr Vost's office was quiet, save for another two patients. As the on-call physician for their unique military needs, Vala had met the doctor once or twice before. It was reassuring that she didn't need to hide her complex medical history. Her business partner, Dr Yamata served as the military's pediatrician. Vala had been amazed at the level of healthcare available to the Tau'ri and wondered how she had managed to survive out in the real world for so long.
"Here you are, dear," the matronly receptionist said, handing her a clipboard with papers and a pen. "Your son's appointment is first. Unless you would prefer to go in and see Dr Vost yourself and send Dad in with little…?" she paused for a name.
Daniel cleared his throat. "We, uh, haven't landed on a name yet."
"No," Vala said quickly. "Together is fine." Daniel gave a tight smile to the receptionist and took the clipboard from Vala. She was genuinely grateful for Daniel's presence as she glanced over his shoulder at the paperwork.
"Do I have a social security number?" she whispered, patting their son on his back.
"Mmmhmmm," Daniel responded, focusing on the papers in front of him. "We set one up for you a while ago. When you were allowed to live off base." With me, was the unspoken part. She shifted in her chair.
"And what is insurance?" she asked. "Is that like, when your very expensive jewellery gets stolen and someone gives you loads of money to replace it?"
Daniel didn't lift his eyes. "It's health insurance. Covered by the US military. It means we don't have to pay out-of-pocket expenses for either you or…" he stole at look at his son. "Baby Mal Doran."
"And you have all of this information. Of mine," Vala asked, her voice becoming stern. Before Daniel could respond, a figure appeared in front of them.
"Dr Jackson, Miss Mal Doran," Dr Yamata's warm voice greeted them. "Please, come on through."
Vala rose quickly and Daniel followed a few steps behind. Idle chatter followed as the doctor and her nurse inspected every inch of their son, noting down everything. "Is that normal?" Vala asked a number of times throughout the examination. After many reassurances, the doctor sat them down.
"I've read through both of your files," Dr Yamata started. "And all the data I could find on descension. I understand that your son's birth was quite traumatic." Vala looked away. "The good news is that he is in perfect health. He has inherited the naquadah from your blood, Miss Mal Doran, but other than that, he appears to be a regular newborn baby. He'll be back in a few weeks for his first few rounds of immunisations, but other than that, allow me to offer my sincere congratulations."
"Thank you," Vala murmured, almost in a daze. Daniel fought the urge to wrap his arms around her in relief.
The doctor stood and Daniel and Vala followed suit. "I'll let you keep your next appointment, Miss Mal Doran. Oh, and you might want to settle on a name. His official paperwork will need to be in soon. Mal Doran Jackson does have a lovely ring to it."
o0o
Vala had said nothing after her own physical. "Is everything alright?" Daniel prodded as they finally made it back to his car.
"Fine," Vala had responded, leaving no doubt in Daniel's mind that it likely wasn't. "I need to get to the mountain. I believe Samantha has sent me some well wishes."
True to her word, Vala had only taken about an hour at the base. Daniel had gone for the safe option and had driven around, keeping his son happily sleeping in his car seat. Vala had given him a thousand instructions and he had tried to reign in his annoyance. "We will be fine, Vala. Go. You've fed him, he's changed. I'll keep him warm and he'll sleep the whole time. I'll be back here in an hour."
When she had appeared at the car, her eyes were bloodshot and she clutched flowers and gift bags. She didn't say if she wanted to go back to Mitchell's place, so Daniel had taken a gamble and taken them back home.
Because that's what it was. From the moment he had kissed her in that pyramid and let her into his life, it was going to be their home. Vala hadn't protested but had steadily avoided him the whole way there, occasionally glancing in the mirror Daniel had installed to check their son. He had slept the entire way and continued to sleep as Daniel carefully carried him from his car seat to inside the house.
Vala had lingered in the hallway as Daniel placed the baby into the crib his friends had so lovingly built in his absence. His son looked peaceful against the beautiful blue. Daniel had brokered enough peace treaties to know what awaited him outside his son's nursery would be difficult. He also knew that all of them paled in comparison to the task ahead.
He rounded the corner and walked straight into a slap across the face. "Ow," he breathed, rubbing his cheek. "I suppose I deserved that."
Vala looked wild with fury, as if every controlled emotion he had seen her have since his return had simultaneously exploded. "How dare you," she seethed, attempting to keep her voice down. "How dare you just come back and...fit in as if nothing happened!"
He remained quiet, wanting to show her that he was going to do the thing she wanted him to do. Listen.
"You turned up and promised me everything would be alright. It wasn't, Daniel!" She pointed to the baby's room. "Our son died. And then you played hero and saved his life!"
Again, he remained silent.
She looked at him straight in the eyes. "Not only did you save his life, but you also gave me back my daughter. I am so overwhelmed with gratitude that it's making me wonko. Because you did all of that but then you left me to die."
Daniel wanted to correct her, to tell her that he would never do that. That there would have been some reason if he did. That saving their son's life eclipsed the need to save hers. But he wasn't able to do that because he didn't know if that was true. He didn't know that maybe someone up there had foreseen that Cameron would save her life. Maybe he had been responsible for Adria and Intef's live-saving interruption, or maybe he had alerted Sam to double back, or it had been his intention to come back for her after their son was safe. Or maybe he had intended to come to help her ascend.
Whoever had destroyed his memories of his time trying to prevent an Ancient civil war had obviously never wanted him to know. So, he had no words of comfort to give her. Maybe he had truly left her to die. The thought filled him with shame. "I can forgive you for that," Vala finally breathed, filling in the silent chasm between them. "I really can. I have nearly killed you enough times. And you've died even more times than that. I read the files." She took a deep, steadying breath as if the next words out of her mouth had the power to destroy her.
"But you forgot us."
It was then that Vala's wild, untamed anger dissolved into a frenzy of words."I had to stay on the base and then move out of our home. I've had Cameron just waltzing into my room during the night to take our son so I can get a few moments rest. My daughter isn't allowed to visit me and I can't just take a quick jaunt through the gate whenever I want because, even though I'm an alien and wasn't born here, I'm technically not on duty. I can't live alone here yet or go anywhere by myself.
"Today, Dr Vost told me that I can still have more children if I wanted! I barely made it through the last two! Then she told me I have to wait at least a month before resuming sexual relations, which, surprisingly, was the last thing on my mind! And Teal'c told me we didn't even have our son in those fifty years on the Odyssey, but we were together and in love for all that time. We lived happily ever after stuck on a ship, Daniel! And even though you forgot me and you forgot our son, who I couldn't even bear to name without you, I still love you! I wanted to run, part of me still does, but I love you and our son will love you and I'm stuck here...loving you and being angry with you and I don't know how to do this." The last sentence spilled out of her desperately.
Actions spoke louder than words, and for a linguist, this was a hard lesson to learn. Daniel closed the distance between them then, bringing her into a hug. She hesitated for a moment and then melted into his embrace. Vala's walls were down and his window was short. He placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm so sorry," he whispered to her, his voice steady. "There isn't anything I can say to make up for the last few months. All I can do is promise you that I'm here now. I remember you both now. No matter what happens, I'll still love you both." She lifted her head at that. "Life is short, Vala. We're done saving the galaxy. I want to spend it with you and our son. You're wrong-you do have a home. It's here, with me, and our son. Come home."
It was Vala who made the first move and Daniel welcomed it. Her arms slipped around his neck and she leaned into him, kissing him. He tried to pour all of the gratitude and love he felt for her into that kiss, trying to communicate that the hard times they had both had were coming to an end. Their life, their real life together, was only just beginning.
"We have to name our son," Vala mumbled, after breaking off the kiss and burrowing herself back in Daniel's arms. "And you have to fill out the paperwork."
He stroked her hair in response, content to just hold her right there in the middle of the hallway. "I think I can handle that."
"And you'll have to move my stuff back in. Cameron won't be doing that again." She looked up at Daniel. "He's pretty angry, our Cameron. Did someone tell you that he's going to be baby Mal Doran's...or is it Mal Doran Jackson now? Anyway, I asked him to be his godfather. I would probably apologise to him too."
"I'll put it on the list," Daniel promised.
"And you probably heard from my earlier rant that there is to be no sexual activities for at least a month. So if you wake up and see me breastfeeding, you'll need to suppress any animalistic urges you may have."
Normally, that response would have warranted an eye-roll or a gentle scolding. Instead, he leaned in for another kiss, not wanting to wait another moment. Life was too short, after all. And he intended on living it, here on this earthly plane, as soon as possible.