Origin

Briar Elwood

A/N: Spoilers for Unending. Nothing major, though. Well...not really. ;p

Chapter XIV

Home

"Colonel Carter!" Elerand called, hurrying to catch up with the astrophysicist. Sam turned, halting before she entered the room she and her husband now shared.

"Yes?"

"How is the progression in getting you home?" he asked conversationally. Sam's eyebrows furrowed. Elerand was trying to make it sound like he didn't really care either way, but Sam guessed he probably hoped they would leave soon if only to get rid of Daniel's influence.

"It's not," she admitted. "At the rate we're going, it's gonna take another fifty or so years unless we make a major breakthrough."

"You've already been here for over two months!" Elerand pointed out, his desperation slipping slightly into his voice.

"I know," Sam replied. "We're working as hard as we can."

The Next Morning…

"So apparently we might be stuck here," Cam told Teal'c as the two of them walked to the mess hall. "Ran into Sam last night at, like, two and she was suddenly in frenzy." He glanced over to Teal'c to see the Jaffa has stopped dead in his tracks, a couple feet behind Cam. "Teal'c?"

"I do not believe I could endure another fifty years or more stuck somewhere outside of my own time," Teal'c replied darkly. It took a moment for Cameron to realize what his friend was talking about.

"Oh. The whole thing on the Odyssey, right?"

Teal'c inclined his head. "Indeed."

Cam walked back to the large Jaffa, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Well, I was shooed out of the room when she suddenly had an epiphany…so I wouldn't worry too much."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at him. Cam winced.

"I hope."

Meanwhile…

"Rodney."

Rodney looked up from the manuscript he and Janus were studying to see Sam standing in the doorway. He gritted his teeth, turning back to the manuscript.

"Yes?"

"We…I need your help," she admitted slowly. Rodney looked to her from the corner of his eye.

"You do?" he asked, trying to sound only mildly interested.

"If you two can make the Puddle Jumper with the time machine we can get home before we're old and grey," Sam explained, exasperated. Rodney looked up fully to give her a skeptical look.

"Several problems with that," he said. "First, I though messing up the timeline was a bad thing. Second, two people working on it won't help with the getting home before we're 'old and grey' thing."

Sam sighed. "First, how do we know we aren't supposed to help make it? Second, you've got me and an entire team of Alteran scientists waiting to help."

"Puddle Jumper with a time machine?!" Janus finally managed to exclaim. "As in, travels through time?"

Rodney nodded. "Yeah. It's larger and more complex than a regular Jumper."

"I'd love to help!" Janus proclaimed, eyes bright with childish excitement.

"Great!" Sam said happily. "I'll go get everyone…"

About A Month Later…

"Vala Mal Doran?"

Vala turned to see the female doctor Daniel swore reminded him of Dr. Fraiser (Vala wouldn't know) running up to her. She had personally taken charge of caring for Vala and Daniel's son and periodically came to the proud, however frightened, mother with news. Vala managed to not completely obsess in worry and Daniel spent his working hours when he wasn't playing his role as Orionus at his son's side.

"Yes?" Vala asked eagerly. The doctor smiled.

"Your son has made amazing progress," she informed her. "He's well enough for you to take care of him."

Vala's eyes lit up and she ran to the infirmary to hold her son in her own arms.

A Couple Days Later…

"So I talked to Sam today," Vala said conversationally, bouncing her son gently in her arms. Daniel glanced over to her as he changed into the blue uniform he had adopted as his day clothes.

"Yeah?" he asked. "How's the Jumper going?"

"She says all we need to do is pack," Vala said, "and then we go home!"

Daniel's mouth twisted and he pulled his shirt over his head sharply. "I can't go home, Vala."
Vala's giddiness faded and she slowed down bouncing her son. "What?"

Daniel turned his head to give Vala an almost pained look. "They depend on me to lead them, Vala."

Her expression dropped to annoyance. "They're the Ori, Daniel!"

"They are not!!" he bellowed. Vala froze, shocked. The child in her arms, startled by the loud noise, starting crying loudly. Quickly snapping out of it, Vala returned to bouncing him, shushing him softly. His son's pathetic cry hitting his emotions, Daniel turned his back to Vala, rubbing his eyes wearily. "They aren't the Ori, Vala," he said quietly. Vala ignored him; concentrating on the tiny boy in her arms as to keep the angry, hurt tears at bay. Daniel sighed and turned back to face her.

"Vala, they depend on me. I can't go back."

Vala smiled weakly, keeping her gaze fixed on their son.

"You could stay too," Daniel pointed out hopefully. Vala shook her head.

"We still have a couple days. You still have time to think about it."

00

The emerald lay broken, an ugly crack running down the middle…

A/N: (is suddenly hit by an uncontrollable attack of evil giggles/cackles) I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!!!! Which might not be up for several weeks. I'm leaving for a month on vacation on Thursday...I don't know if I'll have time to update before then, seeing as there are exams right now. If I get access to a computer sometime while I'm gone you can be sure I'll update but just to be safe, don't expect thing until July. Sorry.

I love reviewers.