Here's the rest of the first Christmas...the next chapter/second Christmas will be coming soon! Enjoy!

Made With Love continued

Vala closed her door behind her and leaned against it for a moment, as if it would shield her from reality. Daniel a prior…couldn't know if he was himself…even a possibility he could be gone for good, mentally…

Daniel was in orbit on the Odyssey, strapped into a restraining chair with the anti-prior device humming in the background. He wasn't awake yet, and the de-brief hadn't improved her mood at all. They were going back to the ship in an hour. He should have woken by then, and they would wait if he hadn't.

For now, Vala had an hour to kill and too much nervous energy to kill it with.

Hands shaking, she crossed quickly to her table and picked up the craft magazine. She was through with the scarf, but there had to be something quick and easy in here that she could do, just to keep her mind off of…Daniel. Of course there wasn't anything that easy. She snorted quietly, wondering if there was any point. Even if he was himself, he wouldn't need anything to keep him warm. He could probably adjust his body temperature at will.

Vala tossed the magazine on her bed, snatched up the scarf, and wrapped it around her neck Just because she didn't know if she would ever be able to give it to Daniel didn't mean it would go to waist after all her hard work. She dragged the leftover fabric and her few sewing tools to the floor and began to sort through them, looking for a decent pattern for a hat. If she was going to make anything else with the materials she'd bought, she could always keep those too—or give them to the others. It wasn't the end of the world, she told herself. It wasn't…

Who was she trying to fool?

If they lost Daniel in the end, it would be the end of her world.

Cameron's search ended in the commissary, where he found Vala with her face buried in her arms at an empty table with an untouched piece of pecan pie at her elbow.

"Hey…"

She jumped when he laid a hand on her shoulder, and squinted when she saw he was already geared up for the most part. "Hi…"

"It's time to get going if we're going to find that Ori-killer weapon."

"I know," Vala nodded.

There was silence for a long moment, so Cam pulled out the chair beside her and sat down. "So what is it?"

She seemed to contemplate whether or not to tell him before answering, but then again that was Vala. "I wanted him back. I didn't want this." She motioned in the air, indicating the Daniel prior/sangra'al situation in general. "I think I almost feel guilty about leaving on this mission now." Her voice tightened. "Woolsey will have had Daniel frozen by the time we get back."

Cameron sighed. "Yeah, that's probably true. But he's not gone. We'll get him back."

"Yes, but see, the thing is that most of me believes we already have him back—that he really is himself. He just needs to be human again. What about his claim that he'll revert on his own? What if by putting him in stasis that's being prevented?"

"Hey, if this all works out that means he really is on the level, and we'll get him thawed out as soon as we get back—but we have to leave first."

Her arms crossed over her chest. "Still, even if that happens—and I'm sure it will—I doubt he would be released by the IOA in time for Christmas. It's in three days."

"So we'll wait until they give him back; not a big deal because we get the whole week off."

"But—"

Cameron stood and pulled her out of her chair. "Come on, time to get dressed."

"All right," Vala sighed finally. She started to move past him toward the door.

"Wait!"

She spun around in confusion. "What?"

Cam pointed to the small plate on the table. "Pick that up and eat it first. One important rule, especially during holidays: Good pie must never go to waste."

The dead space outside the Odyssey viewport in front of them stood empty now, but for the quiet supergate. After Mitchell's solemn and yet accurate assessment of what had happened today, none of them had said another word. He and Teal'c and General O'Neill had lead the silent retreat from the bridge, and Sam had gone back to the command chair to start them on their way home.

Vala and Daniel both had reasons to stare out the windows a little longer. Sam didn't bother them, but she didn't wait until they turned away to jump the ship into hyperspace.

Vala was thankful for that, at least—and that Daniel was safe, himself, and human again. Beyond that they weren't sure of much of anything.

Daniel padded back out into the corridor, still in scrubs and shoeless after running here straight from the infirmary, and Vala shook Adria from her mind and followed him. "Are you all right?" she asked quietly, once the bridge doors were shut behind them.

He was distracted, understandably, and her question brought him back to the present. "What?"

"Your head," she supplied helpfully.

"Oh. Yeah…it'll be fine."

"Still a little achy now?"

He almost laughed. "I had two consciousnesses in there for two or three months."

"I supposed that's a yes."

Daniel shrugged, and Vala swung her arms. "It's good to have you back…I didn't even need my plan."

He raised an eyebrow. "The one you didn't plan."

"Well…"

There was a moment of silence before he answered. "Thanks." She glanced up at him. "About it being good that I'm back…and everything." The 'everything' implied a little more, but she wasn't going to ask.

"You're welcome." She waited another moment, but he didn't say anything. By then her defenses were low enough that she couldn't resist the temptation to hug him, just to make sure he was real. It was apparent by the way his body tensed at first that he hadn't been expecting that, but after a moment with her arms around his neck he relaxed and gave in for a moment, returning the embrace.

"I missed you guys," he sighed. He was the one to break off though, after another few seconds. Vala took the hint and let go of him.

"We missed you too—I…missed you," she clarified uneasily, though it was only uneasy because she wasn't sure how he would take it.

To her relief he just smiled a little. "Thanks. Again."

Vala nodded with a little smile of her own, decided that now would be a good time to get out while she was ahead, and retreated.

She passed General O'Neill in the corridor and wondered if he'd seen or heard any of that.

Jack watched Vala go, and then made his way back to where Daniel still stood outside the bridge door. Once he was sure his friend had seen him he glanced pointedly back in the direction Vala had gone.

"Well she's certainly still…interesting."

Daniel shrugged. "Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with that."

"Different though."

He blinked, glanced at Jack for a moment. "Yes. She is. She's changed a lot since the last time you saw her. That was what, at least a year and a half ago? Before she disappeared?"
"Yea," Jack nodded. Daniel stared ahead again, distracted. He wasn't going to address that, because he was sure there were plenty of things Daniel had to think about right now that Jack had no business bothering him about. He settled for shocking him back to normalcy.

"You like her."

"Excuse me?"

Daniel was looking at him again now, all right. "Come on, once you get past the whole hijacking you and the ship thing, and the whole linking you together against your will thing, I'm sure there's plenty to like."

"Jack…" he groaned.

"Right, okay, done prying." He raised an eyebrow. "You might want to go find some clothes."

Daniel glanced down at himself and nodded. "Yeah, and then some halfway decent food." His stomach complained loudly and he crossed his arms over it self-consciously. "With a prior's physiology it was much easier to ignore the fact that I haven't eaten in a few days."

"Been a little busy?"

Daniel smirked and walked away, and Jack called after him when his stomach growled again.

"Not so full of yourself anymore, now are you?"

"Shut up, Jack!" Daniel called back.

Daniel couldn't help but pull in a deep breath the moment the beam dissolved around him and he was standing in the SGC again. Jack and SG-1 were now clustered in the 'gate room, standing as they had been when O'Neill had given the order to beam them down.

Thankfully Jack had also taken care of explanations before they beamed down to make sure that Daniel wouldn't be immediately jumped once they were on the surface.

It was over. For now.

It seemed Woolsey was already gone, but General Landry was there to greet them. He made it brief, welcomed Daniel back, and left them alone.

Sam spun to face the rest of them a spread her arms a little. "Hey guys, cheer up. We're home. We're all safe." She motioned to Mitchell. "Cam's right; maybe things are going to get a little more complicated in the near future with those ships here, but we did the right thing today. We did a good thing. We can be happy about that, right?"

"Indeed," Teal'c said quietly.

The rest of them seemed to be relaxing a little already, and she grinned. "Besides, it's Christmas Eve."

Daniel's eyebrows shot up. "It is? Have I really been gone that long?"

Jack smirked. "Couldn't you tell time with those fancy powers?"

"To some extent, but it was harder before that. I was on Adria's ship, and it was hard to compare their schedule top Earth. I could never be sure of the date here."

Mitchell clapped him on the back. "Well the good news is that you didn't miss Christmas. Good thing too, cause Vala here was about to have a temper tantrum if you didn't make it back it time."

Daniel caught the annoyed glare Vala sent Mitchell's way before she realized he was looking at her. She quickly composed herself and changed the subject. Sam, wasn't the plan to be at your house tomorrow? Is that still on? You missed visiting your family yesterday…"

"I called my brother before we left. He knew I wouldn't get there, so I'm going later this week. Of course we're still having Christmas at my place." Sam glanced uncertainly at O'Neill. "General Landry and Carolyn are coming, sir. You're more than welcome to stay, too."

"Well, I should get back to Washington…"

Daniel shot a frown at him. "On Christmas Eve, Jack? Come on, you didn't make it back for Christmas last year."

"He is correct, O'Neill."

Vala bounced up to his side and grinned. "Besides, this is my first Christmas here, and the more the merrier, I say!"

Jack seemed to contemplate for a moment and finally rolled around to his answer. "Oh…all right. What the hey."

Vala cheered, Teal'c smiled that little smile of his, Sam grinned, and Mitchell pumped a fist in the air. Daniel laughed a little at the look on Jack's face.

"We should all go home and get some sleep," Sam said finally, when the noise had died down and they were all moving out into the corridor. "We can meet at my house in the morning, say around noon? I would say ten, but we were gone and I haven't had time to cook anything yet."

"Don't worry; I'll help," Vala offered.

"Uhm…"

"We'll come early and help too," Cameron said quickly, and elbowed Daniel. "Right, Jackson?"

"Right!" Daniel answered in surprise. "Right…Yea we can all help with the cooking…"

Jack clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Well we might as well all get there at ten then, hmm?" Teal'c nodded, and there were various verbal agreements. "Great! Now I need to figure out where I'm crashing." He looked around at the group expectantly.

"You can stay at my place, sir," Cameron answered immediately.

"Thank you, Mitchell."

"You too, Jackson."

"What?"

"You just got back; there's no reason to leave you alone in that house of yours."

Daniel shrugged. "I like my house. It's bigger anyway. Why don't we all go there?"

"Because, again, you just got back. You shouldn't have to be the host," Mitchell pointed out.

"Is your apartment even big enough for more than one guest?"

The colonel rolled his eyes. "I've got a recliner, sleeping bags, and a couch that folds out, besides the bed. There's plenty of room for four."

"Four?" Teal'c inquired.

"You're coming too, of course."

"Am I?"

Jack dropped a hand on the jaffa's shoulder. "Yes, T, you are coming as well," he said dramatically.

Teal'c nodded deeply. "Very well."

Sam grabbed Vala's arm and started to pull her down the corridor. "Well this one will be with me, and we will see you boys in the morning."

Vala waved good night over shoulder and winked, and the two women disappeared around the corner, already falling into an easy female conversation.

Daniel stared at the place where they'd vanished. "Huh. I knew they were friends before, but…"

Mitchell glanced down the corridor and then back at him. "Oh that? Yeah…I think that's gotten a lot stronger while you were gone."

"That's good…" His voice trailed off and his throat clogged unexpectedly.

"Jackson?"

He cleared his throat. "Ah, nothing. I'm fine." He fell silent for a moment, and a thought occurred to him that suddenly seemed more important than before. "Hey, my car is still in the parking lot, right?"

"Yeah, and your keys are still in your locker as far as I know, but you don't need them. We'll all fit in my car."

"Yeah, I know, but I think there's something I need to do first," Daniel sighed. "You guys should go on." They all stared at him for a moment, and he shifted uncomfortably. "I'll be fine. I'll be there later." Finally the they let him go, and he hurried through the corridors to the locker room to claim his coat and keys.

He ran into Jack on the way out. "Whoa! Hey. Shouldn't you be with Mitchell and Teal'c?"

O'Neill shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Nah. I think I'll go with you. Who needs sleep or sanity when you can go to the mall at six o'clock on Christmas Eve?" Daniel gaped him for a moment before he remember that the two of them had an uncanny way of reading each other's minds. "You do know you're crazy, right?"

He shrugged. "Well I don't have time to pull anything else together, but after what they've been through while I was gone I'm not showing up at Sam's house in the morning empty-handed even if most of what I end up with comes in a form of an I-Owe-You-Big-Time."

Jack nodded. "Yea…and after missing last year I figure I have something to make up for too."

Daniel smiled and finally shut the locker room door behind him. "So…do we have a plan of attack?"

"Shock-and-Awe. Don't let 'em know what hit them."

Daniel chuckled.

It was good to be home.

Sam and Vala were putting the finishing touches on getting the huge stuffed monkey wrapped when the guys pulled up the next morning, and Carter quickly stashed away the wrapping supplies and glanced in satisfaction at their work under the tree.

"Well, that's everything else. The ham has been in for a while, they're helping with the rest of the food, and then we're ready."

"Brilliant!" Vala clapped her hands.

"You did wrap the other thing, right?"

Vala looked at her blankly. "Other thing…?"

"For Daniel."

She winced. "Well, I did. It's in my bag, but it's not under the tree…"

Sam eyed her. "Why not?"

"Well, I don't know if h—"

"Vala, you cannot chicken out now. You put a lot of work into that thing."

There was the knock on the door, and vala used to opportunity to discard the subject. "I'll get it!" She heard Sam sighed behind her as she ran into the entryway, but she ignored it.

All four of them came in with a stack of gifts in their arms, and Sam gave Daniel and General O'Neill a look when they set them under the tree. Both did their best to look innocent, but the dark circles under their eyes showed a little even through their grins. "You two," she sighed, shaking her head.

"Don't worry; we read them the riot act when they finally got in last night," Mitchell chuckled.

Vala couldn't help but smile. That was Daniel, all right. The look on his face helped convince her that he really was himself again, even if he was himself with a bit more baggage to carry just as the rest of them had.

But then again, she was already gathering that that was part of what Christmas was about—dropping it all for a while, even if it was only for a day.

Not long after Daniel and the rest of the guys arrived at Sam's house, the party moved into the kitchen to get the rest of the dishes for dinner put together. After another hour or so most of the food was prepared, and General Landry and Carolyn arrived early and helped set the table once they'd left their own gifts under the tree.

Daniel reveled in the warm feeling of being home again; he couldn't have picked a better day to return if he'd been able to choose himself. Jack was there, cracking jokes like old times, the general and Carolyn seemed comfortable in their second Christmas with SG-1, and Vala sat beside him at the table and he didn't mind—it didn't even phase him when he realized she was looking at him more often than she did her food. After he'd been gone for so long, he wasn't going to snap at her.

Things got more interesting when they moved back into the living room; part of it was the extra elbow room they had then, because Sam's dining room was rather small. It was time to exchange gifts, and Sam turned on her stereo before joining the group around the tree. There were eight of them this year, more than there had ever been.

"What are you guys waiting for? Dig in."

That elicited a round of chuckles, but they quickly realized that with this many people it wasn't very efficient for everyone to be passing out gifts at once. Jack and Landry volunteered to do the passing around, and forced the others to take a seat. When the two generals were done giving out all of the gifts, there was still a large wrapping-covered lump against the wall beside the tree. Jack looked at Sam questioningly, and she motioned for him to forget about it and sit down to open his presents. Jack just shrugged and did so.

Now why didn't he like the looks of that? Something in him wasn't surprised when Sam and Vala got up once everyone was done and went to drag out the strange big thing. Sam cleared her throat and Vala called out loudly.

"Excuse me!" She paused and let them all focus on her and Carter.

"Thank you," Sam said when they were quiet. She motioned to Vala. "We have a little bit of a presentation to make. As you all know, Daniel was missing for several weeks…"

Vala picked it up. "And we thought we should get him something for his return that would let him know how much we love him," she said, and winked in his direction.

Uh oh. What now?

Sam grinned and patted the big lump. "Come on, Daniel. Get over here and open your present."

He stood up slowly. "Do I really want to…?" Both women laughed, and Mitchell and Teal'c were smirking. It seemed they knew about it but Jack, Landry, and Carolyn looked a little bewildered. Daniel shrugged and made his way warily to the huge conglomeration of wrapping paper that surrounded something that sat on its own and came up to his waist. He waited another moment, looking it over and building the suspense, and then ripped the paper off quickly.

Daniel stood gaping in complete confusion at what lay beneath. "What?" Everyone was laughing now, as he stared at the oversized stuffed monkey that stared back at him with big glossy blue plastic eyes.

Blue. With light brown fur the color of his own hair. Somehow they had even found large plastic glasses to stitch to its head, the arms disappearing under the Santa hat that perched on it's head. Two plush candy canes stuck out of one of its hands.

"Oh. I get it," he smirked, and crouched down in front of it. "Looks just like me."

"Spitting image!" Jack called cheekily. Daniel shot him a look that didn't phase the general in the slightest.

"That was the general idea," Vala told him, nearly breathless with laughter. She and Sam were holding each other up.

"Do you like it?" Carter gasped.

Daniel had to shake his head at the ridiculousness of it, but then he grinned. "I love it." Then he gave O'Neill another look. "I think I'll name it Jack."

"Hey, I don't have blue eyes!" Jack protested. "Pick on Mitchell here. But he even he doesn't have glasses."

And thus, after a few minutes of animated discussion, Doctor Jack Mitchell the Monkey was born.

"Call him DJ, for short," Cam suggested. Since he hadn't been the one to dispute his name being used, Daniel agreed to leave off his initial in the nickname. Of course by then, well, DJ were his own initials and they were right back around to the fact that the monkey was supposed to be him.

Daniel finally decided to haul the thing out to his car already, before there was any more good-spirited argument over it in any way shape or form. When he came back inside Mitchell was on a mistletoe ambushing spree, so he figured he'd better stay out of site long enough for it to pass. He didn't realize Vala wasn't in the living room with the rest of them until he ran into her in the hallway.

She was coming from the direction of the guest room, and she had a small bulging package wrapped self-consciously in her arms. "Hi," she said suddenly, stopping in front of him—which was when she finally realized he was there.

"Hey," he smiled. In the back of his mind an alarm went off, warning that it was dangerous to be standing this close to her, if Mitchell were to come looking for the missing persons from the party right now. "What do you have?"

Vala glanced down at the package in her arms as if just remembering she had it. "This? Oh, well, uhm, I had it back there…"

"I gathered that."

She was silent for a long moment, and then sighed. "I didn't put it under the tree because I wasn't sure how it would go over."

"What do you mean?"

She hesitated against, and then thrust the clumsily-wrapped present into his arms. "Here. It's for you." He blinked at her for a moment in surprise, and motioned to it questioningly. "Yes, open it."

"Okay…thanks," he said uncertainly.

"Wait until you see it," she muttered. He chose to ignore that, and pulled the paper away from whatever was inside.

A nine-or-ten inch wide length of cobbled together fabrics fell into his hands as the paper fluttered to the floor, and then he noticed the short tassels and realized that it was supposed to be a scarf. Now that he noticed, it felt pretty thick, too—effective even if the craftsmanship wasn't perfect. It was a little overly-long, but in a scarf that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. What was hard to get his eyes around were the loud Christmas patterns and pictures on the soft, fuzzy material.

He realized his eyes were wide again, and tried his best to soften them. "Huh…wow…did you…did you make this?" he managed. The prospect seemed incredible, but it was the only explanation considering the way it was put together.

Vala nodded sheepishly, and glanced at him warily as he stared at it. "You don't like it."

"What? No, of course I do. It's, it's soft…and interesting. Sure I like it…"

"You don't have to."

"I do," he said again, and it was mostly the truth. The colors might take a little getting used to, but it was kind of…nice. Cute. She smiled a little.

So why did part of him want to drop it and run? Why was his chest squeezing in hard and cutting off the air in his throat?

Sha're. That was why. She had been the last person who had ever sewn anything for him; the last person who had looked at him with that expectant, hopeful expression; the last person who had cared enough…who had felt…who had wanted him to…

It all made him want to scream I'm not ready for this!

"Daniel?"

But that was when Mitchell found them, and launched into the room to dangle a sprig of mistletoe above their heads. "So this is where you ran off to. Your turn!"

Daniel's gaze snapped quickly to the colonel. "What?" he snapped, and he was barely able to push the sound past his clogged throat.

Cameron indicated the plant above their heads and grinned. "Go on, kiss her, Jackson. Everybody's kissing everybody today. It's fun. Come on, this is the last day this year I can carry this stuff around."

Of all the times when he really didn't need Mitchell to be goofing around…

But they were both staring at him, and there was no way he would be able to speak enough to explain why he couldn't, even if he was willing to. He settled for quickly leaning over to kiss Vala's cheek. He could tell she was disappointed, but it was all he had in him.

In his hands he gripped the scarf that he couldn't give back—because he didn't want to hurt her—and backed away. "Thanks," he all but gasped. Then he turned and fled at a brisk walk, back out into the living room. Behind him he heard Mitchell stealing a peck on the lips from Vala with the mistletoe, but Daniel felt her eyes on his back as he left them just the same.

Daniel didn't see any of them for a few days. He caught up on sleep, food, and the translations he had at home while Sam went to visit her brother's family, Cameron went to see his parents, and Vala and Teal'c stayed at the SGC doing whatever it was they did when everyone else was gone.

The scarf Vala had given him lay abandoned and avoided on the bench under the coat rack inside his door, in the first place he had seen to drop it when he'd arrived home after the party. That week Daniel woke up crying for Sha're twice—something that hadn't happened in years, not since just after remembering her again when he regained his memory the first time he descended.

Before he realized it was time to head back to Sam's for New Years. They always spent it together, all night, and this was a first for Vala as well.

Daniel rushed through his house, trying to find his winter things, when he remembered that he had been gone, and then stayed home all week…and he hadn't unpacked them yet. All he had right now for this cold was the one heavy coat he kept out all year for emergencies out-of-season cold days. All of his gloves and scarves and hats and other heavier coats were in a box somewhere in the bottom of his closet, but he needed to be out the door in five minute by the time he realized it.

Suddenly he stopped and saw the one scarf lying on the bench by the door, alone and forgotten. Slowly Daniel walked to the bench and picked it up. He ran the soft fabric through his hands, and remembered that the scarf was thick and strong and would probably help a lot with warmth, actually…

His throat clogged again when he remembered why he hadn't touched it all week, but to his surprise this time he could gulp the sensation away quickly.

It really had been a sweet gesture, for Vala to do this. She had probably put a lot of hard work into it, too. Daniel stared at it for a long moment, and this time he was able to chuckle at the assortment of designs in the different materials.

Finally he sighed and wrapped the scarf around his neck—twice, because the length required it.

It was just as warm as he'd thought it would be.

Vala spent most of the week after Christmas resting, just relieved that Daniel was back and things would soon go back to normal. She and Teal'c spent most afternoons watching Christmas movies late into the night, or talking until the early morning hours. She knew well that there were not many people with whom Teal'c could talk for that long, but the extensive experiences with the Goa'uld both had in their past formed a bond there that she was grateful for.

Especially when she was worried sick that she had scared Daniel away. He'd said he liked the scarf, but the look on his face had said something else entirely. She'd been agonizing over it all week.

That was why she was surprised when he wandered into Sam's house on New Years Eve wearing the scarf she'd given him. Teal'c had driven the two of them here in his SUV, and they were the only ones here so far. Sam and Teal'c were in the kitchen, which left Vala to answer the door and gape at Daniel when he came in with the scarf.

Daniel pulled off his coat and hung it up, but left the scarf on over his black sweater and turned sheepishly back to her with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. "Hi…"

She smiled a little "Hi." Silence. "So…you do like it?"

He glanced down at the bright thing around his neck and was quiet for a long moment, reflective, seeing something she couldn't know about. "Yea," he said finally, and chuckled a bit. "I do like it."

Vala hugged him again then, and he let her. He smiled at her when she let go. "Thank you."

He might have said more, but another knock on the door signaled Mitchell's arrival and the completion of the party. Jack was back in Washington now, and Landry and Carolyn had other plans. Tonight it would be only SG-1.

"So how is DJ?" Vala asked wryly as she went to the door.

"Oh, you mean Doctor Jack Mitchell the monkey? He's fine. He's sitting under the mantle in my living room…"