Ugh, had way too much school junk to do this week. *sigh* That and other things. Anyway, will try to update LB: SG-1 next. I hope you like this chapter! Let me know. Thanks again! :)

Chapter 14

It was easy to be silent now. It came with the new physiology. Daniel didn't have to breathe, so he didn't, and silence in motion was easy. The airmen in the security center didn't notice him at all.

It hadn't been hard to get here, either. His car was parked across the woods, where he used to park when he came to meet Vala. He'd run from there, and it was easy to pull open the hatch at the top of the access ladder shaft and bend the broken locks back into place once he was inside, so they didn't look broken.

Now he was hidden in the small armory room just off the security center of the SGC, looking out watching the banks of screens as they flipped through the views from the various cameras that kept tabs on the SGC. He knew roughly which screens showed which cameras, and which cameras showed which areas of the base. But he didn't know enough, though he'd already known enough to get here without being seen by anyone or anything.

He needed to find Vala, and he needed to know how he was going to be able to get to her. It took him a few moments to locate the section of screens that showed the camera views from the infirmary area, but after half an hour watching those he hadn't seen her once. Alice had said she was already sick, right?

Daniel swallowed and leaned away from the door for a moment, against the armory wall. It was hard enough to believe he was here, in the SGC again, but harder to believe why. Vala had to be all right…he didn't know if he could save her if she didn't recover.

He'd never wanted anything to happen to her. That was why he'd left…so it was why he was back now. And maybe…just maybe Edward was right. Maybe he didn't have to leave again.

But Vala had to stay alive first.

Daniel quickly moved back to his crack in the door and began looking hard at the security screens again. If she wasn't in the infirmary, where would she be? And then one of the nearby screens changed, and his eyes were drawn to it like a magnet. Even from across the room, on the grainy, not-quite-color screen, he could easily see that he'd found what he was looking for.

It was one of the isolation rooms, and Vala was there in an infirmary bed, not awake. Even now he could tell that she didn't look good. What made it all worse was that she wasn't alone. He could see the other bed, and quickly realized that it was Cameron Mitchell in it—and he looked even worse.

Daniel swallowed. Was that part of why Alice had looked so worried? Was it inevitable? Was one of them going to die no matter what he did?

I didn't want it to end like this…

He wanted to get down there right now, but he managed to force himself to stay put long enough to keep an eye on the screen, note how long the intervals were, how long Vala and Mitchell's isolation wasn't shown at all before it came up again. He would need that. With his brain capacity now, he could count and keep tabs on that in the back of his mind and still do whatever he needed to do.

Daniel waited until the late shift change, just to be safe, and slipped out of the security room when the door was open, fast enough that no-one saw him. Then it was a matter of carefully avoiding security cameras and people until he could get to the isolation room.

He made it just as a nurse was leaving from checking up on the patients, and hurried in to duck into the shadows before the doors closed again. It was almost midnight, so even though the infirmary staff would be watching the patients, there shouldn't be anyone else coming in for at least an hour. He hoped. He needed to be able to get to Vala.

When Daniel had listened and was sure there was no one coming, or still close enough to hear anything, he stood from the dark corner and crept quietly to her bedside. Her hair was different again, shorter, and looked freshly trimmed—though now her hair with it's spattering of brown and blonde stripes was damp and matted against the pillow He remembered too perfectly the conversation they'd had in the woods, when he'd commented that she was wearing it straightened again, when he talked to her that first time.

He wondered if this change was his fault, too.

Daniel closed a hand around her barely warm fingers on the bed. He knew if he were human they would have felt ice cold, and it worried him. He brushed the back of his other hand across her forehead, and noted anxiously that it was even more flaming-hot than usual. He saw the bright red spot on her hand, some kind of bite or sore. He didn't know what had done it, but he supposed it must have been the cause of the sickness.

"I'm so sorry…" And there was more than one thing to apologize for. He never should have left…but he'd had good intentions at the time. This wasn't his fault…but he couldn't help but feel guilty.

Tentatively he reached toward her face again, and let his hand rest on her fevered cheek. "Just stay with me…" he whispered. Something peaked, on the monitor. He heard it, but he didn't look up to see what it was. If it were a problem, he would have already the change in her heartbeat. He hoped the sound only meant she was coming around.

Though he wasn't sure how he was going to deal with that.

After another moment her face turned into his hand, and a low sound came from her throat. Daniel sank slowly into the chair that was already beside the bed. He supposed Sam or Teal'c, or both of them must have been in here earlier.

"Vala?" he asked quietly. As much as he wanted to be near her, he didn't want to scare her by being too close when she opened her eyes. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be expecting to see him, so he leaned away a bit more and took her hand again with his free one. "Vala, can you hear me?"

"Course I can hear you," she muttered.

He froze. What right did he have to be here He'd left her, abandoned her. What if she hated him now?

Vala turned clumsily onto her side and gripped the hand on her cheek, and he felt her weakly squeeze his other hand on the bed beside her. She shivered a little.

"You're cold now…you were warm a minute ago," she sighed. "Well at least I'm still dreaming." Her words slurred together enough that he realized immediately that she still had enough drugs in her system to be out of it.

"I'm here, Vala. It's not a dream," he said gently.

Her eyes opened and she smiled at him, sighed. "You're perfect even in a dream." She kissed the hand by her face. "But it's all right; I know you aren't real," she told him groggily. "You don't have to pretend."

Daniel opened his mouth to protest again, but decided not to fight it. Even if she could be convinced he was real, there was no guarantee she would remember any of this in the morning. She might not.

"I love you," he said quietly. "You need to hang on. You can get through this. You have to get better, okay?"

She shrugged weakly, eyes closing again. "Don't know…"

"Don't know what?" he frowned.

"If I want to," she mumbled.

He had to remind himself to take a breath to be able to speak. "W…what?" Or maybe this was what had Alice worried. She saw decisions. "Why?" he asked desperately.

"I'm never going to really see you again—not even when I do die, 'cause you'll live forever…so what's the point of delaying the inevitable? Everyone dies."

Daniel tightened his grip on her hands, barely able to focus enough to make sure he didn't crush them. "Vala…Vala, no. You have to hold on. You can't…you can't die now."

"Why not?"

"I-I need you…"

"You're not even here," she whispered.

That strange feeling, the one in his chest and throat that replaced the tightness caused by human tears…it was worse now than it had been in a good while. "Yes, I am." His voice broke.

Vala frowned and opened her eyes again. She looked at him through the induced haze of medication. "Hey…no being sad," she slurred. "-t's my dream. I need a good dream."

Daniel swallowed everything back as best he could. He was here for her, not for him. He was here to keep her alive if he could. If making her happy would help, he would do it. "Okay…"

She gave a pitiful tug on his hands, beckoning him closer. He came willingly, and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I love you." His mental timer was almost at it's end. "I'll be right back."

Her brow furrowed. "You have to leave?"

"Not really. I just have to go over there in the corner for a few minutes."

"Why?"

No more time! "I just do, I'm sorry," he said quickly, and zipped back into the shadows, out of range of the security camera. The security screen would show this room for a few minutes, and he could come out again. He wished there were a better way to do this, but he couldn't change that. At least he was here.

Finally.

Vala looked around, bewildered for a moment, and he realized that she probably hadn't understood the last thing he said. He might have been speaking to quickly for her human ears to follow. He'd probably disappeared too quickly too. He'd have to remember not to do that anymore for now.

Daniel was more than relieved when he'd counted out the minutes, and he was sure it was safe to emerge. He came out at a human pace, glancing at Mitchell as he went. The colonel looked even worse up close, and Daniel grimaced before drawing up next to Vala's bed again. He realized now that Mitchell's readings spoke more of a coma state than unconsciousness.

At first it looked as if she'd fallen asleep again, but then she blinked up at him. "Oh. There you are." She giggled. "Are you going to be funny, then?"

"What?"

"Disappearin' like that. You're a strange dream." She held a hand up against her forehead. "Oww…"

He sat down again and took her other hand again, careful not to bother the red sore. "What is it?"

"-'m sick. My head hurts."

He had to try not to laugh at the obvious statement, and he took it as a good sign. "Right…I'm sorry. But it'll go away. You have to get better, remember?"

She only shrugged. "You wanna know what else is funny? Besides you?"

"Okay…what?"

"Everything," she said, and giggled. "What everyone thinks. They think I was seeing someone in town before, when I was seeing you—the real you."

"You never told me you told them anything like that…"

She looked at him as if he should know the answer to that. "I didn't before, but I had to tell them something to explain the baby."

Now he knew she was delirious. "We never slept together," he reminded her gently. "It was too dangerous, remember?

She nodded. "I know, an' you were upset about it, 'cause you couldn't give me a family, and I wanted to make it happen for you." She grinned drunkenly and jabbed at his shoulder. "So when you told me to get the blood, that wasn't the only thing I took." She smiled triumphantly. "I made it happen. I founda way for us to have a baby."

Daniel blinked at her a few times, deliberately, because he didn't know how to respond to that. Surely it was just the drugs talking…surely she hadn't—

"Vala…you're on medication, because you're sick. You're imagining things."

She frowned at him. "No m'not."

"Yes, you are. There's no way we could have children. Not while I'm...like this. It's not possible—not without killing you," he explained again. "And I want you to be able to stay human, so we didn't do that. We can't have children."

It hurt all over again, saying it. He hadn't always wanted family, but in recent years, having the friends he did, doing what he did, everything that had happened…the paternal instincts were free before he realized it. He wanted children now. He wanted to be a father, now more than ever, since he had found someone to love again after Sha're.

But now that could never happen.

"Yes, we can," Vala protested. "We already are. We're gonna have a baby."

Daniel swallowed and leaned closer, brushing her forehead with his lips. "Listen, I know you want to, but—"

"Why don't you believe me!" she cried suddenly. Even as he shushed her, afraid someone else would hear, Vala feebly shoved the blankets down away from her torso and smoothed the infirmary gown over her stomach. "See?"

And there was a bump there—a distinct, round bump. But…couldn't she have just gained weight? Stress? His fault because he'd left her?

"N no, I'm not fat," she grumbled. "You're a vampire in this dream. You've got your super-hearing ears. Can't you hear him?"

"W-what?"

"Listen," she insisted.

He didn't want to. Part of him didn't want to believe it even as another part of him did, but he listened. Daniel focused on her stomach, tuning out all other sounds until he was left with one that he realized he'd been hearing since he came in the room. He just hadn't known what it is was.

It was soft, faint, a different speed than usual, but…he couldn't deny what it was. Daniel knew what it was, even if he couldn't quite believe it.

It was the beating of a tiny, perfectly human heart.

The sound of a new life.

Vala squeezed his hand and smiled at him, but her eyes were already drifting shut again. "See…? I told you…"

There was nothing he could have said to make the moment any better…so he didn't. He knew he would be annoyed later, probably even angry…but right now it didn't matter. That tightness in his chest threatened to overwhelm him, but he chose to ignore it and bent to rest his forehead against hers.

A baby…Vala was going to have a baby.

His baby.

"I'm sleepy," Vala mumbled. "Does that mean I'm waking up?" She looked up groggily into his eyes. "Will you be here when I go back to sleep?"

"I'll do you one better," he whispered. "I'll be here when you wake up."

She smiled contentedly, and in seconds she was asleep again. Daniel sat where he was for a moment, stroking her hair away from her face, until it was time to get out of the way of the camera again. He stayed in the shadows after that, waiting for the door to open again. It didn't take long, and half an hour later he was able to slip past a nurse and get out of the isolation room.

He had to get away, just for a little while. Vala would be asleep until morning, most likely, and…he had to think.

He hadn't been prepared for any of this when he'd jumped in the car at Alice's warning and roared off for Colorado. This wasn't supposed to happen. He'd never planned to come back here at all.

The mountain offered an easy place to get out of the way and let the view soothe his nerves. It was different than Washington, but it was more familiar. As Daniel stood under the trees near a ledge he could almost feel his friends beside him. They'd all hiked up here more than one, in the past.

He remembered the first time, the first year. It was Sam's idea, but Jack was the one who backed it despite the condition of his knees. He had to admit that at the time he hadn't understood what the point was.

Now he did.

This was home…and no matter how much he tried to tell himself it was elsewhere now, he knew it couldn't really be true yet. He was still tied to this place, to these people.

And now…

He groaned quietly. "Now what?"

Sam was barely holding herself together by the time the next morning came, and she knew it, too. It was all she could do not to break into a dead run on the way back to the isolation room, as early as she could justify being awake and bothering the infirmary staff to let her in. She had never left the base; she gotten what little sleep she could in her quarters.

How could things go so wrong so quickly? Daniel was already gone…but they were going on. But now Vala and Cameron were sick, in danger for their lives along with the baby Vala was carrying. Cam hadn't woken up once, either. If he didn't…

She pushed away the memory from yesterday. "He's in some type of coma, and we're losing him fast," Carolyn had told her regretfully. "If he doesn't wake up in the next fourty-eight hours…"

Even though they were all closer than ever before, SG-1 was falling apart at the seams.

Teal'c was already waiting outside the isolation room door when Sam ran up, and he nodded to her and followed her in as a nurse finally let them in. Carolyn was inside, checking the readouts.

"Is there any change?" Teal'c asked.

Carolyn sighed and shook her head. "They're no better—but no worse, either. I'm sorry; I don't know what to tell you."

Teal'c nodded and gravitated between the two beds with their silent patients. Sam swallowed and fell in beside him, hoping one of them would wake up, to help calm her fears. There was no guarantee that Vala wouldn't fall into the same coma-like state Mitchell was in.

And right now, it looked like it was over once things were that bad.

Please, please don't let us lose them…

Vala did stir, after a little while. Both of them were at her bedside when her eyes flickered open up at them. "Hi…"

"Hey," Sam smiled back.

"How are you feeling, Vala MalDoran?" Teal'c questioned gently.

She looked more bewildered than the last time they had seen her. "I…I don't know. The same. Head is…killing me. I had a dream…" Suddenly her eyes were damp and far away. "Daniel…"

Sam winced and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I'm sorry."

Vala shook her head weakly. "No…good dream. He was…here…" she said quietly, her gaze falling on the chair beside the bed.

"That's good," Sam said half-heartedly.

At least Vala didn't notice. "Cam…?"

"No change."

"Oh…I'm sorry," she said tiredly. "You all right?"

Sam shrugged, tried to force another smile. "I've been better."

Vala shifted her focus to Teal'c. "How about you, muscles?"

Sam didn't hear the answer the answer, because a sound behind her had her spinning in sudden hope. "Cam?"

A soft grunt. "Wh…?" A louder one. "Oww….Ow!" The tone was frightened, confused.

"Cameron?" She crossed to his bed quickly, as the readings shifted to tell her that he was, indeed, awake.

"Ow! Ahh…what the—?"

"Cam! Thank goodness." She leaned into his line of sight, but his eyes were still closed. She took his shoulders and called to him. "Cam, take it easy. It's okay; you're at the SGC."

"Sam?"

"I'm right here."

He moaned. "What is wrong with my head?" he grated out.

"Something got to you, off-world, we think. It must have been some kind of bug. You were bitten twice. It caused this. You're in an infirmary isolation room."

"Great…"

"You'll be fine," Her voice broke, and she realized she was crying. But she didn't have time to wipe the tears away before Cameron finally looked up at her, squinting through bleary eyes.

"Sam? What are you cryin' for?"

Sam sobbed once and sank into the chair by his bed, clinging to him. "I'm sorry; it's just that you were in a coma for more than two days…and we were afraid you might not wake up."

"Crap…" he muttered, typically. She laughed a little. "That bad, huh?"

She nodded against his arm.

"Does this mean I'm okay now?" he asked, of the fact that he was awake.

"I don't know," she sniffed. "Vala's been awake on and off the whole time…but she keeps getting worse."

Silence at first. "Her too?"

Sam nodded again. Mitchell spit out an expletive, and she didn't have the energy to object to its color.

"I'm not going anywhere," he muttered, and tried to pull her closer. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

As she hugged Cam, Sam thought she saw something move off in the corner, in the shadows by the shelves, but she dismissed it immediately and focused on trying to gather hope.