The storm raged outside, thunder crashing every forty-eight seconds. It was what had woken her from a restless, dreamless sleep.

Vala had been timing them for the last two hours. Practice for her contractions, as Mitchell had suggested earlier in the day.

Not a bad idea.

So, here she was, curled up underneath a thick quilt and flinching every time she heard a clap. She and Daniel hadn't spoken since the night she left him, he barely looked at her in the briefing room, and when she entered the mess hall, he would leave.

So much for his promise to stick by her through their worst problems.

Glad to know she could count on him to pull a Jacek when things became even the slightest bit rough.

And, now, harshest night of the year, and all she wanted was to be held in his arms again. Even living with Mitchell had her feeling as if she was alone.

Shuddering at the sound of thunder as lightening bathed her room in a blue-white glow for the briefest of seconds, Vala felt an answering shiver in her gut.

It was so slight, she truly wondered if she had felt it at all. When it came again, she gasped out loud as she fully grasped what this meant. Rolling over, she grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand and hesitated, suddenly terrified.

She couldn't call Daniel. Not now. Not after the things he had said.

It had been almost five months, she could stand up to him. Or, so she hoped. Forgetting the fact that it was barely past two in the morning, she dialed his number (pulled off Sam's cell several weeks before) and waited through the rings.

" 'lo?" Daniel grappled with his cell phone and clamped it to his ear, wiping his eyes free of sleep while he waited for the person on the other end to speak. When his hand touched a tender place on his cheekbone, he winced.

"Jack?" he asked after a moment of silence. "Sam?"

"Me." Vala's softly accented voice hit him like a blow to the stomach, he was suddenly wide awake.

"Vala." he murmured.

"Yeah."

They were silent for several seconds before she breathed a laugh.

"Okay?" Daniel asked.

"Yes." She fell silent again. He could hear her sniffing, holding back tears.

"What's-?"

"Baby."

"Sorry."

Another few seconds of silence while they accustomed to speaking with one another again.

"Kicking."

"Who?"

"Me."

"Who?"

Vala sighed as if she thought he was the most dense thing on the planet.

"The baby, he's kicking me. I can feel it. From the inside. If I press down with my fingers, very gently, I can barely feel him kick my fingers. I wish you could feel it." She explained. Daniel relaxed until her sentences registered in his sleep encrusted brain.

"Wait, you're still-?"

"Yes, pregnant still. I couldn't get rid of him, Daniel. Not when it might be the only chance I have to ever have a baby, I need him. I can't lose him. Even if it means that I'll die giving birth, I want him to have a chance. I've already spoken to someone, they promised me that if I die in childbirth, they will care for my baby. You don't have to worry about him. Not if you still feel the way you do now." She explained.

Daniel breathed out a sigh. "I don't like this."

"I know. You think I'm selfish and immature, giving up my life on a whim that might not even survive inside me, let alone the birthing process."

Her words cut him deep, the words he had said to her in anger when she told him her decision to keep the baby. Their baby.

"No, not that. I don't like sleeping alone. Maybe we could talk about this sometime? I mean, you know, if that's okay with you." He finally replied.

"Fine. But you don't get to talk about killing my baby." She immediately countered.

"And you say nothing about me talking in my sleep." Daniel couldn't resist.

She giggled at that, and he knew she was opening up to him.

"Maybe you could let me know where you are, so I could feel the baby kick too?" He asked gently. Vala hesitated, her heart pounding.

Never lead the enemy to your home.

Jacek had drilled that into her brain since before she could walk.

Forgiveness is the better part of valor.

Jack always said that to Sam when she picked his socks up off the floor for the umpteenth time and lobbed them at his head.

Technically speaking, Jacek's advice wasn't for everyone, he had never been around for her.

Sam and Jack had been together for years, and were still going strong.

"Cam's new place. He bought a house in the country, been remodeling it for the past few months. I've been helping when and where I can, as best as I can." She finally told him, naming off the address so he could come to her.