A/N: Thank you to all the wonderful people who reviewed. Your feedback is so helpful...Thank you, also, to my lovely beta-reader Khentkawes for all her help...Sorry this chapter took longer to put out but my plot bunny's ADD was acting up so I kept getting side tracked.

Spoliers: This is set after season ten but I will post any specific spoliers at the beginning of chapters.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot...tear

Chapter Two

I Can't Get Used To It. I'll Never Get Used To It.

Jack sighed heavily turning the page of the most boring book in existence. He really wanted to be watching the Bears game but after Sam left, Vala seemed to need her space, so he was hiding out in the guest bedroom attempting to read. Hearing a scream from somewhere in the apartment, Jack jumped out of bed throwing down the book as he ran toward the source of the noise.

Entering the living room he wasn't shocked to find an eight month pregnant Vala, crying and screaming as she threw books around the room. He had been expecting this and truthfully he was surprised it had taken this long. She was finally letting it all out.

"Vala?" Jack called approaching slowly as if she were a deadly animal.

"I hate him!" She screamed picking up another book off one of the many shelves and throwing it at the wall.

"If only he could see me now throwing his precious books!" Vala yelled bitterly, before picking up another priceless tome and throwing it. "He is a selfish bastard and I hate him!"

"Vala, calm down. Let's talk," Jack suggested part of him wanting to let her keep on until she was finished, but knowing this was not good for her in her condition.

Dr. Lam had read them both the riot act at Vala's last appointment about taking it easy. Vala's pregnancy was considered high risk because of what the Ori had done to her when she had given birth to Adria, and the Doctor feared if she exerted herself too much she could be pushed into premature labor.

"I will not calm down!" She raged. "He didn't even give me a second thought. Now I'm going to have our child and the selfish bastard isn't here with me."

"He didn't know Vala." Jack insisted stepping closer to her. ready to pull her into his arms if she collapsed.

"He should be here!" She said, no longer screaming. Seeing her legs begin to wobble. Jack pulled her into his arms. easing her down to the floor before she had the chance to fall. He gently rocked her as she let out her pain and frustration in the form of wailing sobs

"I hh-…haa-..te…him" She cried fisting her hands in Jack's shirt, seeking comfort in the arms of the General.

"You don't hate him." Jack rubbed her back awkwardly, he never had known how to handle crying women but he was getting better. Vala's emotional state had been all over the map throughout her pregnancy and he was getting good at comforting her.

Vala shook her head forcefully against his chest. "Yes…I d-…do." She said between sobs. "He …left me..alo-..ne. He…loved…her…mm-..orre"

Jack sighed, silently cursing his best-friend for doing this. Jack could almost understand why Daniel had gone. Hell, he would give up almost everything to spend one more day with Charlie. But Daniel didn't have to comfort the broken-hearted and abandoned pregnant woman that was left behind, Jack did.

It killed him every time Vala went through one of these stages where she felt she had not been enough for Daniel. Felt that she was never good enough for him, that she had just been a wait station until he could find a way back to Sha're.

It killed Jack because he knew it was a lie. Vala was the best thing to ever happen to Daniel, she challenged him, understood him. Most importantly though, she made him laugh and stop living life so seriously. He let go with Vala, not even Sha're had managed that with the archeologist. Handling him was difficult sometimes, but it came naturally to Vala no matter how hard Daniel fought her.

Everything that had happened to Daniel through his life, the good and the bad, had led him to Vala. She was where he was meant to end up, Daniel was just too stubborn to admit it. It was as if he felt loving Vala was a betrayal to Sha're. It wasn't.

All Jack wanted to do was find that damn archeologist and strangle some sense into him.

He would never forget the day he got the call Daniel was missing again. He had been on a plane before anyone could stop him. Jack had arrived at the base moments before Dr. Lam had dropped her bombshell news.

"You're pregnant Vala," the good Doctor stated simply, causing Jack to wonder if she had any other setting besides blunt. There seemed to be an eternity of silence, before Vala let out a choked sob.

"Oh God." She cried burying her face in her hands. "I can't do this."

"Sure you can." Jack said once the brunt of his shock had worn off. He had to keep her clam.

Vala just kept repeating "I can't do this. I can't do this." Again and again, placing her left hand on her soon to be swollen belly. Another child without a father, she thought to herself, just like Adria. Just like herself.

Grabbing Vala's chin, Jack forced her to look him in the eye, "You can do this!" He told her firmly.

"You aren't going to be alone. I will be here every step of the way. Okay?" Seeing how serious he was Vala gave a weak watery nod. "Good, now let's go get some blue jell-o. It heals all."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"How's Vala?" Mitchell asked as Sam took her seat next to him in the briefing room.

"Better. She only cried twice while we looked for a baby name." Sam explained, opening her briefing packet.

"Has ValaMalDuran chosen the name of her son?" Teal'c inquired from across the table

"Not yet, but she did narrow it down."

"I thought she'd name him after Daniel," Mitchell supplied, leaning back in his chair.

"Daniel isn't her favorite person right now." Sam answered, trying to keep her anger out of the tone. Daniel had abandoned all of them that day, not just Vala, and Sam still fought not to be angry with him. It was hard though. After everything they had faced together, he had simply quit. Leaving those left behind to clean up his mess. Every time they lost another good soldier to the Ori, Sam had to fight not to blame Jackson. She knew Mitchell was fighting the same battle too.

"You think he's happy?" Mitchell asked suddenly. It was something that had been weighing heavily on his mind in the months since Daniel had left.

"I do not believe so." Teal'c offered. "DanielJackson is not a man to give up."

Before either Sam or Mitchell were able to respond General Landry rushed into the room and took his seat.

"We have a problem people," he began, his face drawn and concerned. "It has come to our attention that we have an Ori spy here at the SGC."

"What...How?" Sam asked in shock. Who at the SGC would betray them?

"Two days ago Walter intercepted a coded radio transmission. This is a copy of what was said." Landry stood and handed each one of the team a packet containing the message.

Mitchell had only reached the end of the second sentence when he stopped.

"What's the plan General?" He asked, there was no way in hell he was letting this happen, and he told Landry as much.

"Of course we aren't going to let it happen, son. As for a plan I was hoping you all would have some ideas." Landry asked, looking around the table. "In the mean time, however, we are implementing new security protocols in an attempt to catch the spy. And the IOA will have to be notified so be expecting a visit from Mr. Woolsey."

"Sir, we need to notify the General," Cam stated, concern now marring his features.

"Not yet, Col. He has enough to worry about right now," Landry overruled, "Alright, any ideas?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

After nearly a half hour of crying Vala began to calm down to hic-upping sobs that were coming further and further apart.

"You hungry?" Jack asked hoping to distract Vala before she could begin the tears again.

"Kind of."

"How about some cookie dough ice-cream?" Jack suggested, pulling back to look at Vala's tear stained face. "It always makes Sam happy."

"With tortilla chips?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure." Gently Jack pulled the very pregnant woman to her feet and led the way to the kitchen.

"Jack," Vala said halfway through the tub of ice-cream.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks…I don't know what I would do without you. I-…Thanks."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Daniel watched the sunrise over the horizon, bathing the desert valley in a pink-orange glow. Never had he seen a sunrise look so beautiful. Everything here was more beautiful, though he had now idea where "here" was exactly. And while the sunrise was perfect, it wasn't the same as watching the sun come up over the mountains at home with a cup of coffee and Vala.

"Do you ever stop thinking?" A soft female voice asked from behind him. Daniel turned to find his mother smiling at him, dressed in much the same way as the day she had died.

"It's what I do best."

Claire sighed and took a seat next to her obviously upset son. "Tell me what is bothering you."

"I've only been gone six days and I already miss it…Home, that is." He answered sadly, turning to his mother hoping she could help him.

"Son, you chose this. You have to live with the consequences. I am sorry to be so curt, but that is the truth. There is no going back." Without another word Claire got up and walked away.

Alone again, Daniel turned back to the horizon and blinked back tears. What had he done?

A/N as always reviews are like candy...a wonderful thing