Okay, here's my new chapter. Starting it right after posting the other... Hopefully it's up sooner than the last one. And it's VERY shippy...

Ask and ye shall receive. Several reviewers wanted Daniel worrying about Vala and more Sam/Vala stuff. So, I complied, for the most part. There is still more to come after this. Seriously, people, I'm a massive DV shipper. Obviously there's more ;-)

For the people at CBO. Shout out to Roberto – creator of the wonderful site!

***

Vala walked casually into the commissary and filled her tray with food before taking a seat beside Colonel Mitchell at a nearby table. She looked straight ahead at the table across from her own and immediately regretted it. Had she anticipated such a sight, she wouldn't have even entered the room. Daniel was sitting with Emmy and Johnny, chatting and laughing. She wondered how he could do it.

She froze. Johnny had spotted her. She struggled to catch her breath as he waved at her. Emmy turned to see who her brother was waving at and smiled brightly, trying to signal for her mother to come over. Daniel eventually looked back as well, though his face showed none of the enthusiasm of his children. His expression was one of concern –he could clearly see the terror in her eyes. He said something to the kids and they both nodded, turning back to their food.

Vala sat completely still for a moment, unable to hear whatever it was Cam was saying to her. When she finally regained her motor skills, she jumped up and rushed out of there, leaving her tray of untouched food on the table behind her.

***

Why was this so hard for her? If Daniel could forge a relationship with Johnny and Emmy, why couldn't she? Was she that screwed up that she couldn't even force herself to speak to her own children?

Maybe the problem was that with Johnny and Emmy, she knew they were different. They weren't like Adria. She couldn't convince herself to hate them or resent them. In another lifetime, she'd been their mother – their real mother, beyond just sharing the same DNA. She had raised them. She just had no memories of it at all. She wasn't the same mother they knew, and she was afraid of letting them down.

Vala tapped her nails against the desk as she waited for her friend to come back from lunch. She squirmed in her seat, nervously. She wasn't used to this whole confiding-in-someone thing. She hadn't had real friends in a long time.

She took a deep breath, hearing footsteps enter the room, though not daring to look up, for fear of losing her nerve. Why was it so much easier to crack inappropriate jokes or interject with sarcastic comments than it was to just tell the truth? Then she remembered. She would have taken advantage of someone's weakness, had they confided in her, and they would have done the same. Until she came here, to the SGC.

"Vala?" came Sam's voice, drenched in a combination of confusion and concern.

"Samantha!" she exclaimed in the sturdiest tone she could muster, but despite her efforts, her voice still shook.

Sam closed the door and positioned herself on a stool across from her teammate. She hesitated a moment before putting a hand on Vala's arm.

"So," Vala began, trembling slightly, "whatcha working on?"

Sam indulged her friend for the moment, spewing out scientific mumbo-jumbo which Vala clearly wasn't listening to, though her frequent nods begged to differ. Her eyes betrayed her, indicating her mind was somewhere far away from whatever Sam was saying.

"Look, Vala, you don't have to talk about this with me," Sam hesitated, "I just...I think it would help."

Vala nodded. She forced a smile. "I'm not very good at this," she mumbled.

Sam sat in silence for awhile, patiently waiting for Vala to speak.

"I have kids," Vala whispered, "and I don't even know them."

"That must be hard," Sam replied, sympathetically.

Vala shrugged, half-smiling in an attempt to withhold tears. She hated crying, especially in front of people.

"First Adria and now this," Sam said. Vala's eyes went wide with the mention of her daughter and Sam immediately regretted saying it. "Sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"No, it's okay," Vala interrupted. "You're right."

The silence returned again as Vala tried to pull herself back together. She hated that she cared about Adria – a child that was never really meant to be hers in the first place. She wasn't really even a child – not for more than a few hours, anyway. She wasn't really her daughter. Still, despite what she told herself, she couldn't help mourning the loss of the baby she'd carried inside her for so many months. All of the dreams she'd had for her daughter, until the Ori snatched them away. She hated them more for that than anything else they had done.

"Vala," Sam began, "Johnny and Emmy; they're not like Adria. You don't know them – none of us do – but they know you. They love you."

"It feels the same," was Vala's barely-audible response.

***

Daniel didn't pretend to do work that night. He was too distracted to even feign thinking of something besides Vala. He hung his head and rubbed his forehead. How could he have missed it? He should have known this would affect her so much. After what happened in the commissary today, that look of utter terror in her sweet grey eyes, he realized he couldn't imagine the kind of pain this was causing her. She'd already lost one child, but now she probably felt like she had lost two more.

"I've been such an ass," he mumbled to himself, shaking his head. He'd focused solely on his own issues that he hadn't stopped to think how she was feeling. He must've been some boyfriend on the Odyssey if he couldn't even recognize an obvious problem like this.

Daniel stood hesitantly. He paused for a moment before taking off down the hall. When he got to Vala's quarters, he froze. It didn't last long, just a fleeting instant as he raised his hand to knock. He shoved his hands in his pockets, waiting for an answer. He didn't get one. He knocked again, harder this time, but was again left without reply.

"She's out," said an airman as he passed by.

"What?"

"Vala," he replied, "she went out with Colonel Carter tonight. I saw them leave a few hours ago."

"Oh. Uh, thanks."

Daniel shoved his hands in his pockets and hung his head as he journeyed back to his office.

***

Emmy rolled over in her bed, sensing a presence besides her own. Slowly she opened her eyes, blinking them into focus. It was dark in her room, but she could clearly make out a tall figure with long hair and pale skin reflecting the tiny light which emanated from a small reading lamp she had left on before falling asleep.

"Mom?" she whispered.

The figure jumped and scurried out of the room, and Emmy could see the glimmer of tears in her eyes.

"Mom? Mom? Please come back!"

But the door had already closed, leaving her alone once more.

***

Daniel entered his office the next morning, obviously lacking in sleep. Emmy was perched on the side of her father's desk, waiting for him the way her mother once had. She hadn't spoken to him in days – an occurrence he hadn't experienced since her return from the Ori galaxy. His daughter may look like him and share his interests, but it was spooky sometimes they way she could emulate her mom.

She swung her legs, which were bare, indicating that she had applied alterations to the BDUs she had been given. She waited to speak until he regarded her.

"Hi," he said, distracted by his own thoughts. "What's up?"

Emmy bit her lip. "Guess who dropped by my room last night?"

He looked up, suspicious. If it was one of those airmen he'd seen her talking to yesterday, he'd kill them. "Who?" he grumbled, preparing for a surge of protectiveness for the daughter he'd only just met.

She swallowed, feeling a bit like a tattle-tale. "Mom," she replied simply.

He choked. "Vala?"

She nodded in response.

He dropped the files he'd been holding on his desk, turning all of his attention to Emerald. "How'd that go?" he asked, trying to keep his wits about him. He was a bit shocked that she'd come around so quickly, to tell the truth.

"Not well," she answered, hanging her head. "I think I scared her away." She sniffed, resuming biting her lower lip.

"What? How? What happened?"

"Well," Emmy hesitated, "I just sort of woke up and there she was."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "She came while you were sleeping?"

"I guess. As soon as she saw I was awake she ran out of the room."

Daniel looked up and noticed the tears which had formed in her eyes. "Emmy," he started, not really sure what to finish with.

"Daddy?" Emmy whispered. "Mom doesn't want to know us, does she?" she asked, sounding more like a four year-old than someone in her early twenties.

He stroked her hair in a show of support and replied, "Just give her time, okay? Don't take it personally, Em. It's hard for her to accept that suddenly has two fully-grown kids."

Emmy looked him right in the eye. "So are you," she muttered.

He hung his head. "She's still recovering from Adria. In your timeline that would have been long before your birth, but it's really fresh for her now."

"Oh, yeah," she replied softly. "I forgot..."

He nodded. "It's okay. She'll come around. Just give her time."

***

Vala was startled awake by the furious knocking at her door. She shook her head to wake herself up and pulled a robe over her skimpy pyjamas. She scowled when she caught sight of herself in the mirror – un-brushed hair and unmade face. She shuffled over to the door and huffed, sliding it open.

She was shocked by her visitor, though she probably should have been. He didn't ask for an invitation, he just walked in and crossed his arms across his chest.

"We're going to have a talk, Vala."

"Daniel, this isn't a very good time. I was just –"

"Take a seat, Vala, we're going to have a talk," Daniel interrupted.

He obviously wasn't in the mood to argue, so she just nodded and sat back on her bed. He closed the door and sat on a stool between her and the door. He was silent, and she took that opportunity.

"Are you sure talking is what you want to be doing, darling? Couldn't we just have sex instead?" she asked, only half-joking.

He stared at her without so much as a blink. "Look," he started, his voice softer than before, "Emmy's really upset about last night."

Vala looked away, preferring to focus on the chipped nail polish left over from a manicure she'd had weeks ago during an outing with Sam. "Oh," was her only muttered response.

He took a deep breath. "I know this is hard for you," he said, "but Vala, you can't go watching people sleep."

"I thought you liked that," she winked.

"Be serious. Emmy thinks you don't want her or Johnny. I told her to give you some time, but..." he trailed off.

"But?"

"But she's really hurting. She loves you."

Vala was taken aback by this statement, though she probably should have known. "She...loves me?" she squeaked.

"Yes! You're her mother, of course she loves you," Daniel replied. Vala was silent. He took the time to move beside her and take her hand. "I don't want to be hard on you," he said in a soft voice. "This is harder for you than for any of us. I know that. You don't have to see Johnny or Emmy if you don't want to – I'm just worried you'll regret it if you don't."

Vala pulled her hand away, afraid of showing her vulnerability. She swallowed hard and forced a smile. "Don't worry about me, Darling," she said rather convincingly, but he could see through it. She looked away.

"Vala?" He cupped his hand around her chin, turning her head to face him again. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes. He pulled her into a hug, but she remained stiff, unsure exactly how to react. She wasn't used to him showing this kind of emotion toward her – not since she'd been burned alive had he held her so tightly, comforting her so well.

He pulled away and she felt her stomach sink as he did. She realized then that she wanted to stay in his arms...forever. She shook away the thought. It was ludicrous; completely wonko.

"Daniel?" she asked, her voice unusually shaky.

"Yes?"

"My father missed out on most of my life," she began, "and I missed out on so much of Adria's," she hesitated. "I'm afraid of how much I've already missed with Jonathan and Emerald." She waited a moment and added in a voice so small he could barely make out what she was saying, "I'm a bad mother."

Daniel's anger over what had happened with Emmy the night before had completely dissipated. He was worried about his daughter, but the woman beside him had now taken over his thoughts completely. "What happened with Adria, it wasn't the same as with Jasec. You didn't have a choice. As for Johnny and Emmy, well, they're not technically supposed to be here. They belong in the future. Neither of us got much of a choice with that one, either. Vala, you're not a bad mother, you've just been thrown into unfortunate circumstances. In fact, I'm willing to bet you'd actually make a pretty great mom," he replied.

"Really?" she asked, quietly, still unwilling to make eye contact.

"Yep."

"Thanks," she whispered. She sniffed and looked up at him. Her gaze lingered, though she hadn't intended it to. His eyes never wavered as they stared into hers. There was an intense pull between them – almost as if they were opposite sides of a magnet being brought together. They could both feel it, a power stronger than both of them as they stared into each others' eyes.

Daniel was the first to break, and he stood, gathering himself as he headed toward the door. "Goodbye, Vala," he stuttered.

She forced a grin, rather frazzled herself. "Goodbye Daniel."

***

Hope you liked it... I'm not all too sure about the last bit, myself, but hey, DV is love for me, so I left it in. More to come soon!