Vala turned to Daniel, a frustrated crease in her forehead. "Well, that was cryptic."

Daniel laughed humorlessly. Vala softened at that, and walked forward to place her hands on his forearms.

"Relax," she ordered gently. Daniel scoffed.

"Ettan's in trouble," he argued, "and Adria shouldn't have been able to stop you from warning the others."

Vala frowned. "Why not?"

"She told me, when I first met Ettan, that she had no power over her own blood," he explained. "That would include you."

"Maybe she was lying," Vala suggested. Daniel shook his head.

"I don't think so."

XxXxX

"Hey."

Daniel looked up to see Cameron standing awkwardly in his office doorway.

"You didn't come to lunch," Cam stated. Daniel nodded. He and Vala had decided they weren't going to tell the rest of the team about Adria's visit. It was a family issue; everyone else didn't need to be involved.

"I'm aware of that."

"You gonna eat?" Cam asked, walking closer.

"Teal'c brought me lunch, actually," Daniel said, turning back to the papers scattered on his desk.

"Really?" Cam said, surprised. "Oh." The colonel fell silent, watching as the linguist sorted through torn pieces of paper. After a moment, Daniel looked up over his glasses.

"You want something?"

Cam shrugged. "I was just wonderin' if you wanted to play some b-ball."

Daniel sighed and gestured to the mess before him. "I have work to do, Mitchell."

"That's what I said you'd say!"

Daniel frowned, confused, before realization hit. His eyes went round and his mouth shaped a small "o". "Vala rounded you into this, didn't she?"

"'Never argue with a pregnant woman,' my grandma used to say."

Daniel laughed. "Your grandmother was a smart woman." He sighed again, defeated. "All right. Only one game, though."

XxXxX

As Cameron and Daniel walked into the court, they were pleasantly surprised to see Teal'c and a not-too happy Jack already occupied it. Daniel laughed.

"Lemme guess. Sam, through Teal'c, made you come here to relax."

Jack smiled grimly. "Yeah. Vala through Mitchell?"

"Never argue with a pregnant woman," Daniel pointed out. Light-hearted laughter followed, forgetting the horror they had experienced. A game ensued, Teal'c and Cam kicking Daniel and Jack's butts, as the retired general's joints weren't cooperating. At one point, Jack gave a loud, defeated sigh and sat, hard, in the middle of the court. Daniel eyed him, concerned.

"You okay?" he asked, as Teal'c and Cam came up behind him, wiping their brows from sweat. Jack nodded, but then shook his head.

"No," he growled. He looked up to give them an annoyed glare. "I hate,hate,hatethis."

"Getting old?" Daniel asked gently, knowing this probably wasn't the best time to joke around.

"Yes," the man hissed. "I can't move, I can't do the things I used to. I'm confined at home. I can't even play a stupid game of basketball! When I was coming to get you in Atlantis, Daniel, I had trouble simply getting down the stairs!"

Daniel winced, the sensation of the raging waters pushing down on him momentarily distracting him.

"And you know what?" Jack said with sudden conviction. "I'm not gonna let my body stop me. It may be dying," (he got a collective wince from that) "but my mind is still alive and kickin'. I hate retirement."

"You are getting bored!" Daniel exclaimed. Jack smiled grimly.

"Yes. I am."

XxXxX

"What ever brought this up in the first place?" Sam asked, irritated. "I asked Teal'c to get you to relax, not do something radical like coming out of retirement!"

"We were playing basketball with Daniel and Mitchell," Jack started to explain. He stopped, however, when Rose's young cry interrupted. Sam sighed heavily and rushed to pick the child up out of her baby chair. Stroking her blonde hair soothingly, Sam turned back to her husband.

"Basketball?" she repeated. "Well, that was smart! Whose idea was that?"

"Who do you expect? Mitchell!"

"And so you got angry because you couldn't do as much, the reality of your age was plain before your eyes, and so you want to do something extreme. Jack, this is like some mid-life crisis!" Sam exclaimed, rewarded with another burst of shrill wails from Rose. The colonel scowled and bounced the girl a little too viciously.

"Except it's not a mid-life crisis!" Jack argued. "I'm past mid-life! My mid-life crisis was the whole shitty thing with Sara and Charlie!"

Sam knew anything that came out of her mouth would surpass Jack's sudden use of language and result in a harsh blow to their marriage, so she resigned to a clamped jaw and a death glare.

"I'll sleep on the couch," Jack grumbled after a moment. With that, he turned to their bedroom to grab his pillow and a few blankets.

XxXxX

"You're tactic didn't work," Daniel told Vala as he hung up his jacket in the front closet. Vala peeked her head out of the kitchen.

"What tactic?" she asked. Daniel kissed her on the forehead before answering.

"Getting me to relax."

Vala raised an eyebrow. "What'd Cam do?"

"We played ball with Teal'c and Jack. Apparently Sam asked Teal'c to do the same for Jack," Daniel explained, walking into the kitchen and inspecting the clam chowder Vala was making. He was constantly surprised at how good of a cook she was when she put her mind to it.

"So why didn't it work?" Vala asked after slapping his wrist lightly to stop him from dipping a finger in the soup. Daniel smiled triumphantly, however, licking his finger.

"Jack's age hit him. Can't do as much anymore," he replied, grabbing a roll fresh from the oven and ignoring Vala's squawk of protest. "Oh, come on, it's only me 'n' you now. One less roll isn't gonna do much."

Vala sighed. "Fine. Is Jack okay?"

Daniel shrugged. "We stopped the game after he gave up and sat down in the middle of the floor. Said he's thinking of coming out of retirement."

Vala frowned "What would they do with Rose?"

Daniel shrugged again, turning to grab a cup from the cupboard. "Maybe the same thing we did with Ettan. Take turns. But I don't think Sam'll like the idea in the first place." After pouring himself a glass of apple juice, the linguist turned back around, nodding his head at Vala's abdomen. "Speaking of kids… How'd the ultrasound go?"

Vala's lips curved up into a gentle, motherly smile as she placed a hand on the ever-prominent bulge on her stomach. "Found out the sex," she said, voice turning gently. Daniel couldn't resist but smile as well, setting his glass on the counter and walking closer to Vala.

"And?" he pushed, excitement saturating his voice.

"It's a boy," Vala whispered. "We're going to have a son."

An overjoyed laugh bubbled up from Daniel's throat and he wrapped his arms around Vala, burying his face into her mass of black hair.

"Oh, Vala…"

A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!