November 2009
She had been officially taken off active duty. Her stomach as round, and protruding and she was, as she put it daily, fat. She was nearing month seven, and Daniel was starting to feel the effects of her pregnancy more and more. Month five had been amazing, her hormones had made a teenage sexdrive seem tame. The day, he swore, it hit month five, she was basically pleading for him to have sex with her at almost every waking hour. 31 days in which she wasn't angry, didn't care about how much she weighed, ate, and had more sex than he ever had before.
He missed month five. It was far better than the constant grumpiness that emerged from Vala.
And now, here they were, standing in the Home Depot, in front of hundreds, if not thousands of paint colours.
"Danny boy," Jack said patting him on the shoulder. "Come, power tools," he said dragging the doctor away, who looked thankful. Vala turned and looked at Sam and smiled.
"You told anyone yet?" she asked softly, leaning forward so only Sam could hear.
"Only Jack, and Daniel, and Teal'c," she said touching her abdomen. She had found out three weeks earlier she was pregnant, and after lengthy discussions with the doctor, she held off informing the amount of people who knew to a minimum, until after the first trimester.
"Can I help you at all?" a young woman asked, dressed in the trademark orange Home Depot apron, her name read Victoria.
"Just picking out colours for the nursery," Sam smiled. "They're having a boy."
"Oh congratulations!" The young woman smiled. "Have you thought of a theme yet?"
"Well," Vala said with a breath. "We think we want it warm, and have this old kind of feel. We know we want this in the room," she held out a picture of an older 1950s truck.
"Oh, that's fun! Okay, so we can do a lot with that," Victoria said enthusiastically. Sam smiled brightly and let the young energetic woman talk and explain paint colours and the things they could do. Sam had to admit, she was excited to be standing here in the same spot picking colours for her baby's room.
Vala held the paint colours in her hand: Collectible, Ocean Cruise, Glorious Gold, and Royal Breeze, laying them on the counter she gave Sam a smile. "This brown…Collectible, the main colour, and then we do a stripe, starting with….Royal Breeze, the dark blue, and the orange, Glorious Gold, and then a large blue stripe of Ocean Cruise."
"And we can highlight the crib, and with an off white," Sam replied, turning around and thumbing through the colours. "Ah, Delicate Lace" placing it aside the colours.
"You know, what might be fun, we have chalk board paint, or for those who prefer it, white board, the chalkboard paint can be tinted to match the room's décor," Victoria smiled as Sam looked at her friend. "What you could do, is build a bookshelf, using the Martha Stewart box shelving collection, that's down in Décor, and painting it the same dark blue, and use the seat option, making it a nook of sorts."
"We could head to the dollar store, and get letters, and do a portrait of the alphabet, and maybe, even his name above the crib, and paint them in green, and all these colours," Sam explained.
"We should be able to find a rug, to special order, that would also match. The alphabet maybe?" Victoria offered.
Vala smiled brightly and nodded. She loved talking this through with Sam, it was nice not to ask Daniel, who would say, "whatever you want"; that drove her mad.
It was only mere moments that Teal'c came and stood behind his women looking at the colours. "DanielJackson has sent me to make sure that the proper amount of paint is bought. He and GeneralO'Neill are looking at power tools down in the Hardware Tool Chorale."
Sam laughed and shook her head, touching her friend's arm. Leaning into him, she whispered in his ear: "This didn't happen now did it?"
"Indeed not," Teal'c said as Vala moved to look at paint sheens. "ValaMalDoran did not reach this far in her pregnancy in my lifetime."
Sam looked at Teal'c and her brows furrowed. Teal'c rarely showed any comparison of lives, and when he did, he made sure to never directly explain the differences. "Teal'c…"
"It is irrelevant in this timeline," he said dismissively. Sam looked at him and gave his bicep a squeeze.
"I love you Teal'c," Sam said softly.
"As I do you," he said bowing his head.
"Daniel, can you just help?" Jack grumbled as he smoothed frog tape along the lines of the wall. "This is your kid."
"Yeah, I know," Daniel said moving to grab the laser level from Teal'c. Cameron was already painting the one wall that was already taped, and was grumbling how he got roped into doing this.
"So, you two decided on a name for this one?" Jack asked, starting another row of taping. This was going to be a ridiculous project.
"Umm, we've been talking, no name really set though," Daniel shrugged, as he took the tape from his friend.
"What names?" Cameron asked, rolling the brown onto the walls.
"Uh, we've narrowed it down to three: Christian, Damon or Lukas."
"Really, Christian Jackson?" Jack asked, raising his brows.
"It was my grandfather's name, not Nick, my Dad's dad…Christian Jackson," Daniel shrugged. "Vala really likes it."
"Huh," Jack shrugged. "Damon, that's a bit…new?"
"Not really, it's greek, and means the one that tames. Latin Genii, analogous to the guardian angels invoked by the Church of Rome. The belief in such spirits existed both in Greece and at Rome. The Greeks called them daimones, daemons, and appear to have believed in them from the earliest times, though Homer does not mention them," Daniel rambled as the other men merely ignored their friend, as always.
"Right, not so new," Jack agreed. "Beer?"
"None for me thanks," Daniel mumbled cutting the final piece of tape on the last wall. He was starting to regret letting Vala completely design the nursery, and where was she? Sitting downstairs, with Sam, painting letters. Letters! Something about a alphabet wall.
Maybe Jack was right, just don't ask questions, and let the pregnant women do their thing.
"You ever think, that this," she gestured to the space, "is all so surreal and its going to come crashing down?"
Sam looked at Vala, and smiled softly. "Everyday, I think that the president will come and say I can't be with my husband, and the Air Force takes us away from each other, and you and Teal'c get imprisoned, Daniel finally dies, and never comes back, and Cassie," she stops and takes a breath. "Cassie never forgives me, never forgives Jack, or Daniel, or Teal'c, for letting her mother die. Everyday I worry, and everyday I am thankful for what I have, and who I have."
Vala stared at Sam, and touched her hand. "I'm scared for the baby," she said touching her stomach. "I'm scared that he will be born, and he'll be taken away, and I'll never know my son."
"Vala, that's not going to happen," Daniel's voice said softly from the doorway. Vala looked up and smiled softly. "I promise you, I will never, ever, let anyone take our baby away. And he is not, and I repeat not, an Ori, or any other kind of alien. He's our son, and he will be safe here."
Vala smiled, softly she whispered: "Thank you Daniel."
"Always," he replied kissing the top of her head. "Is this for the thingy between the bookshelves?"
"Yes," Vala said switching gears and showing Daniel the letters. They were arranging them on a piece of wainscoting, and sticking them down with command strips. "See how each matches the room in some way! How's the painting coming?"
"I was sent on a beer run," Daniel said sitting down next to Sam, touching her shoulder. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay," Sam smiled. "Oh, Cassie is coming home for Christmas, she says she has a surprise for us."
"Oh dear," Daniel laughed. "She going to stay with you and Jack, or here?"
"Jack and I will take her," Sam said smiling. "However, you want to get her from the airport? She said she wants to talk to you first, I have a feeling its about you Vala."
"Me?"
"Janet," both said simultaneously.
"Oh."
"Look, it was the past, and Cassie probably just needs reassurance, that's all, she had a rough time," Daniel explained. "We're all she has left, and you're new, and are effectively taking me away from her."
"Oh, Daniel!" a voice rang from upstairs. "You get your sorry ass up here and paint your god damn kids room!"
"You better go, you know how Jack gets, and bring him beer," Sam smiled as she placed the last letter on the board.
Kissing Sam's cheek, and Vala's forehead, Daniel retreated back upstairs, to where the men were taking a break. "Jackson, forgot to mention, Penny is coming over," Cameron said waving his hand, as the doorbell rang throughout the house. "Now."
Vala looked at Sam, and moved towards the door, at a waddle. Opening it up, she saw Cameron's girlfriend holding a salad bowl. "Hi, Cameron invited me."
"Oh, come in," Vala smiled moving aside.
"I brought macaroni salad," she said, knowing that today was a finish the nursery, and that that they were having diner. It wasn't like Sam and Vala didn't like Penny, she was nice enough, and definitely nothing like they imagined Cam becoming involved with, she was so…innocent. An interior designer, Penny had perfectly pin straight auburn hair, and bluer eyes than Cameron himself. She was pretty, and covered in freckles, and they both had to admit, she had a wit about her.
"That's lovely, thank you," Vala smiled. "I think the boys are upstairs painting, or drinking, but they know the painting has to be done today."
"Cameron tells me that you designed the nursery," Penny smiled. "Where did you get your inspiration?"
"A picture, of a truck," Vala smiled leading the woman into her house.
"Hi Colonel Carter," Penny said holding out her hand and shaking Sam's hand who smiled.
"Call me Sam," she smiled. "We're working on the décor for the baby's room, if you want to help?"
"I'd love to."
This was just one more step to becoming a mother, a real mother. Every time she attempted to see how the men were doing, she was kicked out, being told to leave them in peace, and let them paint. She caught glimpses, and it wasn't until four in the afternoon, they came downstairs, paint on their skin and clothes, and Jack even had some in his hair.
But it was done, her nursery painted, one step closer, one day closer to giving birth, one day closer to having something she never thought she'd have.
Dinner was filled with laughing, and carefully picked stories to share with Penny; although everyone assumed she would be getting clearance any day with the way the relationship was progressing.
For those of you who are interested in what the nursery looks like, I had picked it from online, here:
/projects/lukes-vintage-truck-nursery/
And for the home, this is currently up for sale in Colorado Springs, which I think is pretty cool!
.com/homedetails/4087-Maizeland-Rd-Colorado-Springs-CO-80909/64511168_zpid/
Also, if you want to see something specific, or even want to weigh in on the names, I haven't named the baby yet, so let me know. :)