Okidoki, didn't waste time I promise! Here's chapter 7, and I hope you enjoy it. :) Please tell me what you think, and come back about this time tomorrow for the last chapter. Thanks so much!

Chapter 7

When Daniel woke again, the first thing he noticed was that he was still on his stomach. Afraid they were still on the planet, and wanting to check to make sure Vala was still all right, he tried to move, to lever himself up on his elbows again, but the moment he shifted, pain shot through the wound on his back, and he groaned quietly and went still again.

"Ah ah, don't try to move. It's all right; you're safe."

The familiar voice came from above him, and he turned his face up to see Carolyn Mitchell looking down at him. That was when he realized that what he was laying on was a lot softer than the ground, and his head wasn't propped on Vala's shoulder, but a single pillow. Groggily he blinked at the doctor for a moment before his vision cleared.

"Vala?" he asked weakly. It was the first thought that came to his mind, and the first thing that came out of his mouth.

"She's going to be fine," Carolyn answered, moving out of his direct line of sight so he could see his wife in the next bed. She wasn't awake yet, but seemed to be resting comfortably.

Daniel let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and tried shifting again. That didn't turn out so well, and he grimaced.

"Be careful," Carolyn frowned. "You've got so many stitches back there it's not even funny. I'll have to put you to sleep again just to be able to get them all out safely when the time comes."

"Thanks for the warning," he mumbled. His mind was coming back into focus, and he took stock. The doctor was right; there sure seemed to be a lot of stitches, and more than one good layer of bandages, too, under the blue scrub shirt. Then, of course, there were more bandaged wrapped around his thigh, which was still throbbing. Then as his thoughts snapped back into focus, he looked up at Carolyn again.

"What about the baby?" he asked suddenly, hating the strain that was all too apparent in his voice.

Carolyn's lips pursed for a moment. "We don't know yet," she admitted.

"Why?"

"I didn't want to run any tests with her still in critical condition. I'll have to wait until she's done more recovering until that can be done."

"Critical? I thought you said she was going to be fine," Daniel said in alarm.

"She will be, Daniel, but right now things are still a little shaky. She's stable, but there's always the risk of infection--for both of you. Don't look at me like that. Neither of you are getting out of staying right here for several days."

Daniel sighed. "Fine…thanks, Carolyn." He didn't have the energy to protest, so he simply returned his attention to Vala. Carolyn followed his gaze.

"Do you want me to move the beds closer together?" she asked.

He looked at her again then. "That would be nice…but can you do that by yourself when we're still in them?"

She smiled then. "No need." She crossed to the doors and pushed out open, leaning out to speak to whoever was just outside. It didn't take many guesses to figure out who that was. "Daniel's awake, guys. You can come in, but speak softly; Vala's still sleeping." Then she pulled herself back in, and a few seconds later Sam, Jack, Teal'c, and Cameron followed her in.

Jack was shaking his head. "You went and got yourself hurt again? And attacked by natives no less. Really, Daniel, what are we gonna do with you?"

He would have shrugged, but he had a feeling that wouldn't work so well. "Be quiet, Jack." The retired general just smirked.

Sam scowled, smacking her husband on the arm. "Jack, be nice." Then she turned to Daniel. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than I did on 252," he said truthfully. Not much better though--but they didn't need to know that.

"Good; just don't do that again," Cam frowned. "You scared us all half to death."

"Sorry…"

Carolyn cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, and then asked for their assistance to get Daniel and Vala's beds pushed next to each other without messing up the other equipment. With five of them, it barely took any time at all, and soon Daniel was lying next to his wife, with one hand wrapped securely around one of hers.

"Thanks guys," he said quietly.

Jack patted his uninjured shoulder and smiled. "No problem, buddy. Now get some rest and feel better ASAP, ok?"

Daniel smiled back slightly and nodded; he didn't have to be told. His eyes were already drifting shut again.

A few hours later, Vala was awake and waiting for Daniel to be, watching him as he slept because she had nothing better to do. Finally, his eyelids flickered and opened. "Hey, gorgeous. Welcome back," she smiled. She knew her voice still sounded weak, but there was nothing she could do about that.

Daniel turned his face to look at her and smiled back. "Hey…are you okay?"

She shrugged a bit. "For having had knife shoved in my stomach, sure."

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't even joke. You could have died--we both could have died."

"I know that, Daniel…" she answered, wincing.

Her hand was still in his, as she' found it when she woke a little while ago, and he squeezed it. "Have you talked to Carolyn yet?"

"Yes…" Her smiled faded.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, voice pitch rising.

Vala shook her head. "I don't know…I don't even know if there is anything to be upset about. That's what I hate." She had no idea whether the baby was all right or not. The not knowing was tearing her apart.

Daniel swallowed. He could only use one of his arm well at the moment, and that was the one in-between them, so he took that hand out of hers and cupped her cheek with it.

"Listen…whatever happens, it'll be all right," he said softly. "We'll get through it, even if it's bad. Ok?"

Vala looked at him for a moment, feeling love anew for the man she'd married--no, the man she'd chosen to spend the rest of her life with. She married more than once before she'd fallen in love with Daniel, and none of them had made her feel like he did. She'd never cared for anyone so much. She'd never met anyone who cared as much as Daniel could. He'd tried to understand her, to help her be a better person…and he'd succeeded. He'd done more for her than anyone ever had in her life.

She gulped and nodded. "I know…"

Daniel nodded back and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'd kiss you, but I can't move any farther than this," he joked quietly.

"That's all right; I can't either," she replied.

"Rain check?"

"You bet."

"I'm worried about Janet and Charlie," Vala voiced suddenly.

Daniel looked at her. "Why are you worried? They're staying with Jack and Sam. They're fine."

"I know, but they haven't seen either of us in days."

It had been almost a week now since the incident. Neither of them had had any serious complications and seemed to be healing nicely, but they still didn't need to move around a whole lot--especially Daniel--and didn't need any temptation. That was why both had reluctantly agreed with Carolyn when she gently suggested that they wait until they were more recovered to see the children. Thankfully though, she was pleased with their progress.

"Carolyn said they could bring them in tomorrow," he reminded her.

"I can't wait that long," she huffed, crossing her arms.

Daniel wanted to see them just as badly as she did, but he could resist the urge to chuckle softly. She leveled glare at him and he stopped. "Sorry."

"How can you been laughing at a time like this?" Vala complained.

"It's a defense mechanism," he answered, deadpan. If he'd tried for any kind of tone, his voice might have faltered. Today they would know for sure. They were just waiting for Carolyn to come back with the results.

She sighed and reached for his hand again, something they'd been doing a lot the past few days. "I know. I'm sorry…but I'm about to go insane," she gulped quietly.

Daniel was going to offer some type of reassurance again, when Carolyn Mitchell walked up. But nothing in her face betrayed anything.

"Carolyn?" Vala asked immediately, when the doctor stopped beside her bed, folder in hand. Daniel looked up at her too, which was easier for him now that he could roll onto his side than it had been when he had to stay on his stomach. Vala was already squeezing his hand again. It almost felt like she was going to squeeze it off, but he didn't say anything.

"Well? Do you know yet?" Daniel added.

She took a deep breath and nodded. Daniel's hand was about to break. Then Carolyn broke out into a grin.

"The baby is fine."

Vala let out a pent-up breath, and with it came a small sob. "Oh thank goodness." Daniel's eyes closed involuntarily as relief washed over him. Thank you. He felt Vala stop squeezing his hand to death, and twine their arms together. He held on in return.

When he could speak again, he stammered out a slightly confused reply. "How...is that possible though? After that…"

"The wound just missed the womb, and wasn't as deep as I thought it was when I first saw it. The damage wasn't as nearly bad as it could have been. Still, it was a miracle…" She shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure how, but it's all right."

Vala sighed. "That's all we need to know, Carolyn. Thank you so much."

Carolyn nodded and retreated to leave them alone, smiling to herself. When she was gone, Vala, who was able to move more now than Daniel could, rolled over toward him carefully and he kissed her. Then she huddled in against his chest, and he wrapped his one good arm around her and held her close. But he wasn't quite prepared when she started to cry softly.

"Hey…it's all right," he said into her ear softly, stroking her hair.

"I…I know," she cried. "I just…I'm sorry…"

The stress had caught up with her, and he couldn't blame her for it. After a week of not knowing, and nothing to do but worry…now that he knew that worry was unfounded, he was exhausted, as if he had been tense the entire time and was just now releasing his muscles. He supposed that was an accurate analogy.

Sighing, Daniel held onto Vala gently as he comforted herself. After a few moments, once he'd forced his mind to relax as well, he felt a few tears of relief escape his own eyes.

The next day, Vala was sitting up propped up against a stack of pillows behind her, and Daniel was on his side turned toward the infirmary doors, trying to get himself up on elbow, when one of the doors opened and Janet came in, trailed by Sam, and then Jack carrying Charlie. Janet came their way immediately.

"Mom, dad, are you okay?" she asked worriedly. "They wouldn't even let me and Charlie in here until now."

"I know, sweetie. I'm sorry, but we had to be careful and couldn't move a lot, so you had to wait," Daniel explained.

"But you'll be all right, won't you?"

"We'll be fine," Vala smiled, as Daniel gave his daughter's hand a squeeze. He couldn't try to hug her from that side, as that arm still wasn't moving so well because of the injury to the shoulder.

Janet smiled back. "Good." But she didn't ask about the baby, because she didn't know yet. Daniel and Vala exchanged glances, silently communicating that they would have to fix that soon.

Charlie bounced in Jack's arms when he saw his parents, cooing happily, but still not getting any words out. That was all right. He had several months before he needed to do that. Jack grinned.

"Well somebody's happy to see you."

Vala pouted. "I wish I could hold him, but Carolyn threatened to keep us in here an extra week if either of us tried."

Sam laughed, and whispered something to her husband, whose eyebrows went up as he smiled in agreement.

"That's okay, how about this?" he asked, and came over and set the six-month-old down on the bed in-between them. Charlie whipped his head back and forth, not sure which parent to go for first, so Daniel enveloped him in a one-armed hug. The boy giggled as he fell backwards against his dad's chest, then snuggled there for a moment before breaking free and crawling over to his mother.

Daniel turned back to Janet, who was grinning in amusement. "What?"

"He's so funny," she laughed. Daniel glanced back at Vala again, and after a moment she just smiled and shrugged. He turned to his daughter again. This time it was her who posed the 'what?'.

Daniel grinned. "What would you think about having two of him?"

"Two Charlies?" Janet asked, confused. Behind her, Sam was smothering her own grin, and Jack just crossed his arms and smirked.

"Not exactly…but another baby."

She shrugged. "I don't know. That'd be fun, I guess. Why?"

Vala looked up from playing with Charlie. "If that happened, would you want another brother, or a sister?"

Now poor Janet was a bit exasperated. "I don't know, mom. Why?"

"Just curious."

"Are you gonna answer?" Daniel asked.

"Well…a sister, I guess…"

Vala smiled and laid a hand over her stomach. "Well, I'll see what I can do."

Janet blinked, her expression changing from slightly to curious. Daniel was pretty sure she was starting to get the idea. "Wait…do you mean…?"

"You're going to have a new brother or sister in seven months or so," Daniel announced gleefully.

Her eyes widened. "Really? Another one?"

"Yes, dear, another one," Vala laughed.

Janet started jumping up-and-down and whooping for joy.