What Was Meant-Chapter Eleven
Title: Into this World
Author: Assilem
Rating: PG
Series: Stargate SG-1
Pairing: Daniel/Vala (Secondarys that are there for merely the evolution of Life itself: Cameron/Elizabeth, brief McKay/Keller)
Prompt: 004 Sight On of the 101 Table
Summery: The sight of the future can cause more of stir than anticipated
Previous Chapters Here
Life was not all rainbows, lollipops and fully white clouds. Far from it to say the least; especially for the members of SG-1.
Christmas came and went. The celebration was not that of large, but instead small, Sam went to Mark’s, Cameron made his way back home, which left Teal’c, Daniel and Vala, and little Sorcia. Daniel was never big on Christmas, within his foster family Christmas was more religious than commercial, Teal’c, although he would never admit it, was frightened of Santa Clause, and Vala, well, she didn’t understand the concept of this random fat man in red giving her presents, and knowing what she wanted, and breaking into her house, and not taking anything. She figured he was a thief that didn’t know what he was doing. Sorcia was being too young to understand what Christmas meant, which meant she just liked to sit there playing with the bows and ribbons on the presents she did receive.
Vala and Sorcia spent Christmas as Daniel’s place. He had set up a small Christmas tree and placed the presents for Sorcia under it. It may have been Baby’s First Christmas, but it wasn’t something she would remember. Sure when she got older, Christmas would be more elaborate, than this first year.
It wasn’t until the New Year that the world, as they knew it changed.
Vala and Sorcia moving in with Daniel was done in the long weekend, which mostly meant moving Daniel’s boxes and books to a storage space, which took a lot longer than moving the two girls in. Why they waited until winter was something no one comprehended, but it was SG-1, and they were anything but ordinary. It was becoming more and more evident that the family Daniel never had, was finally coming together, and he was happier and happier-though he wouldn’t admit it most of the time.
The discovery that came next shocked the team.
She had an idea of what was wrong with her, it wasn’t exactly a problem, except that it was, and the problem was big. But in the long run, it wasn’t a problem, and that was problem.
“Sam, are you okay?” Daniel asked as SG-1 sat in the park by Sam’s place. Sorcia was playing on the swings, with Teal’c, only a step away from them. Spending team-nights, turned ‘Play-Dates’ were weekly for the team, Teal’c would usually be the one to monopolize Sorcia, insisting that he was the only one capable to protect her from the harm of mere insects.
“Kind of…not really, um, its difficult to explain really,” Sam sighed as Vala turned her attention to her friend rather than her daughter whom was now squealing with joy.
“Samantha?”
“Its just,” Sam sighed running her fingers through her blonde hair. “I’m pregnant, and…”
“What?” Daniel and Cameron said simultaneously, both mouths agape. They were shocked to say the least, it was the last thing they expected Sam to say. Daniel was more shocked than everyone else, he had known Sam since Abydos, he had seen her in love, about to walk down the aisle, and she gave it up. He knew why, and now, she was pregnant. He had a feeling who the father might be, Sam was his nearest and dearest friend, since the moment they met. She could tell him things, she wouldn’t tell anyone, he could do the same. His hand instinctively went to hers, he knew Sam’s body language, he knew every lilt in her voice, he knew when she needed support.
“Really, that’s wonderful!” Vala grinned brightly, but with a small-confused face Sam still held, she added. “Or not?”
“It is,” Sam quickly replied. “Its just…I don’t know what to do.” Her fingers laced with Daniel’s for support as she held onto his hand, her vision going back to Sorcia who was squealing with delight with Teal’c. Teal’c knew, he knew everything. There was something about Teal’c that was still a mystery to everyone. She knew that on the Odyssey this pregnancy wouldn’t have happened, but they were on Earth, and she was, and having the baby was the only option.
“We’re always here,” Cameron said, speaking up, looking at her.
“I know,” Sam smiled as she looked toward Teal’c and Sorcia. “I’m having a baby.”
~
“Do you ever plan on coming to bed?” Vala asked standing in the doorway of the livingroom, where Daniel was sitting, books spread around him and his nose in a book.
“Yeah, in a bit, just let me finish this,” Daniel mumbled.
“Daniel, you said that three hours ago,” Vala said looking at him. “Which before that, you said a few more minutes when I put Sorcia to bed at seven.”
“I’m almost finished,” Daniel sighed. “I just need to get this done in peace.”
“Fine,” Vala said rolling her eyes and walking away, leaving Daniel feeling slightly cold. “Do what you wish, but don’t come to bed.”
“Fine,” Daniel growled, as he rolled his eyes and focused back on his work. Vala groaned and closed the door, being careful not to slam it, Sorcia, like her father, wasn’t a sound sleeper to say the least. She had started to sleep through the night, sucking on her pacifier or a frozen cloth.
Vala just couldn’t understand him sometimes. Sure, he was a wonderful, loving man. But he got very into his work, and when he did, there was nothing anyone could do. Vala hoped that she could, but he was Daniel and Daniel was a work-a-holic. She did hope that Daniel would put down his work to be with Sorcia, and most times he would, if she cried, he’d be the one to grab her first, or he’d be the one to put her on his knee, bounce her and talk to her, getting her to ‘help’ with whatever he was doing.
The sound of Sorcia’s wails jolted Daniel out of his work. He knew Vala was mad, granted she had the right, but instead of letting her get the child, Daniel put down his book and pen, and stood up, getting a quick stretch as her wails started to get louder. His socked feet walked down the hard wood of the hallway to his former office, which was now Sorcia’s room, he opened the door, the light from her nightlight and the lights from outside her window lit the room enough for Daniel to see the child laying in her crib. The tears streaming down her cheeks, and her fingers in her mouth, biting down.
“Hey Monkey,” Daniel whispered reaching down and picking up the little girl. “Those gums really hurt, I bet you I can make it better.” He said softly, walking out of the room and towards the living room.
“Dada,” Sorcia whined softly as Daniel rubbed her back gently. Sorcia’s first word was Dada, said quite excitedly looking at Daniel. From that moment on, Dada was applied to Daniel, and no one else. He was quite pleased by it, felt loved, completely loved, needed and wanted, for the first time in his entire life, someone, a little someone, was depending on him, and he couldn’t help but smile every time Sorcia called him Dada.
“I’m here,” Daniel whispered adjusting her with his arm. “Okay, we need the ora-gel, it’ll help.”
“Dada,” the ten-month-old repeated leaning her head onto Daniel’s shoulder, putting his t-shirt into her mouth.
“You can stay with me until you fall back asleep okay Monkey?” he asked grabbing the little tube that was sitting beside his cold coffee mug. Sitting down on his recliner, Daniel placed Sorcia in the curve of his arm so that she was comfortable, pulling a blanket of the two. After the gel was applied, Daniel used one hand to hold Sorcia, and the other to rub her belly. She was like her mother that way, needed her belly rubbed to comfort her.
It wasn’t long that the two had fallen asleep, Daniel’s shirt still in the baby’s mouth, him cradling her body.
By seven-am, Vala blinked open her eyes and looked around. Daniel still wasn’t here, and no sign he’d even made it to the bedroom. A bubble of rage built up in her stomach, as she kicked the comforter off her body and crawled out of bed. Angry, Vala walked out of the bedroom, fully intent on waking Daniel up, who was most likely asleep in his work, but what she saw when she entered the living room, made all the anger flow away.
Daniel, head cocked to the side, was fast asleep, as Sorcia, fully awake and ready for the day, as she poked Daniel’s face, repeating ‘Dada’ over and over again.
“Sorcia,” Vala smiled as the little girl turned her head, recognize her name. “Come here darling, lets leave Daniel alone to sleep.”
“Dada,” Sorcia said as Vala picked her up. “Mamamama,” she chorused.
“We’re going to let Daniel sleep,” Vala explained settling the child on her hip. “And we’re going to get you changed. Then Mommy will make you some breakfast.”
Sorcia just stuck her fingers in her mouth and looked back at where Daniel was sleeping. Vala smiled and kissed Sorcia’s head as the two headed towards the bedroom.
Daniel opened his eyes slightly and stared around the room. Sorcia missing from his arms, made him jolt awake until he heard the little girl giggle down the hall. Relaxing a moment, Daniel rubbed his eyes and looked around the room, still covered in his notes. Groaning, he started to clean up the papers, making sure to keep them in order so that he could finish later. He knew Vala was mad, probably still was, but when he got into his work, it was hard for him to stop. Which meant that this was not the last time Vala would be mad at him.
The sounds of the two walking down the hall. “Hey.”
“Hi,” Vala said as Sorcia squealed.
“Dada!”
“Good morning Monkey,” Daniel’s smiled reaching over for the child who practically jumped into his arms. “I’m sorry for last night.”
“It’s okay,” Vala sighed as the two walked into the kitchen. “I guess I understand.”
“I can’t promise I wont do it again, but I’ll try not to,” he said putting Sorcia into the high chair. “Do you just want to do cereal?”
“That’s fine,” Vala said sitting down, letting Daniel do all the work. They had fallen into the rhythm quite early in the relationship, and even more so the day they moved in together. “So I was thinking, we could drive into Denver, and go to the zoo or something.”
“Sorcia would love that,” Vala smiled. Ever since she came home from the Mitchell farm, the little girl was more attached to the animals that before. She liked to blame that on Cameron. Everything was hers, it’d be “my aldergater”, “mine”, and the such. The first time she saw a monkey, she screamed “me” at the top of her lungs, and tried to jump into the cage.
“We can catch a lunch in the city, and then come back here for nap time,” Daniel said placing the box of Cheerios on the table, along with the milk.
“Okay,” Vala nodded as Sorcia reached for the small bowl of Cheerios that was heading her way.
“Vala,” Daniel said softly sitting next to her. “I am sorry. I love you…”
“I know Daniel,” Vala said touching his arm. The softness in his blue eyes locked with Vala’s greys, before he leaned over and kissed her as Sorcia squealed in delight. The two pulled apart before looking at the little girl.
“What?” Daniel asked reaching over and tickling Sorcia. “What is it?” Sorcia’s response was to shove some cheerios into her mouth, missing half of them as they fell to her highchair table. Daniel’s laugh rang through their ears as Sorcia grinned brightly.
~
Another promotion ceremony was a surprise to everyone. The morning of it was a hay-day. Vala was trying to get dressed, while making sure Sorcia would stay out of making a mess, and Daniel was in attempts to get his suit on.
“This is just not working,” Vala grumbled staring at Daniel, Sorcia on her hip, her dress undone and hair half curled. Looking like the mother she was, frazzled, tired, and with her baby plastered to her hip.
“I’ll take her, you finish getting ready,” Daniel said taking the baby from her. “We’re going to be late.”
“I know,” Vala sighed. “Thank you darling.”
“No problem, get ready,” Daniel said walking out of the room, carrying Sorcia and carrying on a conversation with her.
Within thirty minutes, the three were out of the apartment, Vala putting Sorcia’s winter hat on her head as they tried to make it on time. From experience, Daniel knew that Air Force Ceremony’s never started on time, which meant that them being on time, was actually, early.
“Jackson! Vala,” Cameron greeted as everyone started to gather in the theatre, the look of Daniel, Sorcia on his arm, a diaper bag swung over the other shoulder, that hand laced with Vala’s. “Vala, you look Fantastic,” he smiled leaning over to kiss her cheek.
“Looking pretty sharp yourself,” Vala smiled as Sorcia started to pull at her toque. “Okay, we’ll go sit down and Daniel will take that winter hat off.”
“Hi Princess,” Cameron smiled shaking Sorcia’s hand, her eyes bright and wild.
“NO!” she screamed, clapping her hands together in excitement.
“No? You don’t like Uncle Cam?”
“No,” Sorcia smiled leaning towards him. Cameron leaned down and let the child place a sloppy kiss to his cheek.
“That’s lovely! Wasn’t it Princess?”
“Noo,” Sorcia repeated. Cameron chuckled and kissed her nose.
“Learn a new word Princess,” Cameron grinned, he loved the child, though her referring to him as ‘No’ and having that as her answer to whatever he said could get a little repetitive.
“Where’s Teal’c?” Daniel questioned as Cameron pointed to the tall man sitting with Elizabeth. “Okay, well, congratulations,” he said shaking Cameron’s hand.
The three made their way to the two sitting in the front row. “Oh hi,” Elizabeth greeted with a smiled “have a seat.”
“Thanks,” Vala smiled sitting next to the woman, Daniel beside her, Sorcia on his lap. “Okay little miss, lets get that hat off.” Sorcia gave a large grin when the hat was pulled off, and her hands went straight to her head, reveling in the hat being off.
“SorciaMalDoran,” Teal’c said as Sorcia looked at him, her blue eye brightly shining. Her little arms reached out for Teal’c as Daniel passed her over. “How are you today?” The little girl squealed, two teeth and all. “That is well.”
Vala chuckled as Daniel placed Sorcia’s jacket and toque on the diaper bag at his feet. She leaned down to his level and placed a small quick kiss on his cheek. Daniel turned to look at Vala as the two sat up, his hand slipped over hers, lacing his fingers with hers.
By time the ceremony started, Sorcia was sitting quietly on Teal’c’s lap, her rubber duck, which no longer squeaked, stuck in her mouth. The sea of blue behind them, watched the string of promotions. Twenty minutes into the ceremony, Sorcia got fussy. Vala reached over and took her child, bouncing her on her knee, trying to calm her down.
“Sssh,” Vala whispered into Sorcia’s ear, trying to get Sorcia to stop fussing.
“Want me to take her?” Daniel whispered into Vala’s ear as she nodded her head, Daniel reached for the child and bent his knees and headed out the room.
Making into the atrium before Sorcia started to cry, Daniel was thankful. “Ssssh, what’s the matter Monkey?” Daniel said bouncing the child in his arms.
“Dada,” she whimpered looking at Daniel with her bright blue eyes.
“Dada is here,” Daniel whispered walking her up and down the hallway. “Why are you crying? Hmm? Were you bored? I bet you your Mommy is bored, you have the same attention span,” he joked pressing his lips to her forehead.
A while later, the doors to the theatre opened and people started to file out in groups; Daniel moved to the side of the lobby, holding Sorcia, who had her head resting in the curve of his neck.
“Daniel,” Vala said walking over to the two, the diaper bag over her shoulder. “Is she okay? You didn’t come back.”
“As soon as I got her settled down the doors opened,” Daniel replied giving a sorry smile. “How was it?”
“Oh you know,” Vala smiled giving him a kiss. “Cameron is still a Colonel, Sam is a General, normal things.” She teased as Cameron and the newly starred General Samantha Carter emerged. Maybe at times life was rainbows and butterflies. At least for now.
~
“So, tell me again why we’re doing this?” Daniel asked as the small ‘family’ made their way through the mall towards one of the spas.
“Because Daniel,” Vala said as she pushed Sorcia’s stroller. “She needs to feel pretty.”
“She’s not even one yet,” Daniel tried to protest as Vala just waved her hand. He was learning to never fight over what Vala said when it came to Sorcia. Neither of them really knew what it took to raise a child, but she was more adept at it than he was. He deemed it Mother’s Intuition. “Okay, what about allergies? My foster sister was allergic to metals.”
“That is why you’re paying for the pure ones Daniel,” Vala grinned as the two entered the spa, Sorcia in her stroller, sitting quietly, eating her bag of Shreddies. It wasn’t often that Sorcia was quiet, it was very rare, she could meltdown any moment, and both knew it. And Sorcia’s scream could alert China of Nuclear War.
“How did I know,” Daniel said shaking his head. “Hi, appointment for Mal Doran, Sorcia.”
“Little girl’s first piercing?” the young woman asked as Daniel nodded. He still didn’t understand why she needed her ears pierced, but ‘mother knows best’. “Well that’s exciting. I’m Lauren, and you must be Sorcia.”
“Yeah!” Sorcia smiled brightly holding out the bag of Shreddies.
The event itself was filled with her screams, and Daniel trying to soothe her, as the ear gun quickly pierced her ears. The piercing itself only took a minute, but Sorcia, being Sorcia, and a baby, made it longer than it should have been.
“That wasn’t so bad was it Monkey?” Daniel asked, as Sorcia’s tear stained cheeks were drying up. “You look so pretty.”
“You do Darling,” Vala said picking up her daughter from the chair. “I am so proud of you.”
“She did good,” Lauren smiled. “One of the well behaved babies I’ve had. Usually they move their head and it goes in crooked.”
“She’s a trooper,” Daniel grinned kissing her head. “Just standard cleaning?”
“Yup, three times a day, morning, afternoon and bedtime. If she keeps touching them, clean them more, and if they turn red or around the earring turns a different color, then take them out and put sleepers in. It’d most likely occur from lack of air around the piercing. That’s completely normal.”
“Okay,” Daniel nodded, as he glanced at Vala putting Sorcia back into her stroller, talking quietly to her, as he watched the pout turn into her bright smile. When he first met Vala, he’d never imagined she’d be a mother, let alone one that was so good at what she did. She was natural, and everything she did was to make Sorcia’s life that much better. Sorcia was her baby, a baby she could call her own, give everything that she never had.
~
It was still weird. She was briefing SG teams, okay, it wasn’t that weird, she’d done it before, but she’d never briefed SG-1, because, she was SG-1. The longest living member of SG-1, Daniel came second. Teal’c third. Her life, for over a decade was with SG-1, even after she came back from Atlantis, it was like she’d never left.
“So, you wanna go here ‘cause?” Cameron asked looking at Daniel, who stood at the front of the room, as he rambled on about something that was found on P3X-something 5 something.
Sam’s focus, albeit in attempts, on Daniel, her hand covered her mouth before she bolted out of her chair. SG-1 watched Sam, before they looked at each other, trying to figure out if one of them should go check on her. For the first, oh….ten briefings when Sam bolted out to empty her stomach from the past several hundred years, they would take turns to see how she was. Now it was getting just part of the briefing.
“So,” Cameron said turning his chair to face Vala. “How’s my Sorcia, I haven’t seen her since yesterday.”
“As same as yesterday,” Vala said, her body leaning back in the chair.
“How’s the little ears?”
“Same as yesterday,” Vala replied.
“So,” Cameron said as everyone else nodded and tried to think of what to talk about while their commander spent time with the toilet. “Maybe we should start having briefings in the bathroom.”
Part Two Here:
Author: Assilem
Rating: PG
Series: Stargate SG-1
Pairing: Daniel/Vala (Secondarys that are there for merely the evolution of Life itself: Cameron/Elizabeth, brief McKay/Keller)
Prompt: 004 Sight On of the 101 Table
Summery: The sight of the future can cause more of stir than anticipated
Previous Chapters Here
Life was not all rainbows, lollipops and fully white clouds. Far from it to say the least; especially for the members of SG-1.
Christmas came and went. The celebration was not that of large, but instead small, Sam went to Mark’s, Cameron made his way back home, which left Teal’c, Daniel and Vala, and little Sorcia. Daniel was never big on Christmas, within his foster family Christmas was more religious than commercial, Teal’c, although he would never admit it, was frightened of Santa Clause, and Vala, well, she didn’t understand the concept of this random fat man in red giving her presents, and knowing what she wanted, and breaking into her house, and not taking anything. She figured he was a thief that didn’t know what he was doing. Sorcia was being too young to understand what Christmas meant, which meant she just liked to sit there playing with the bows and ribbons on the presents she did receive.
Vala and Sorcia spent Christmas as Daniel’s place. He had set up a small Christmas tree and placed the presents for Sorcia under it. It may have been Baby’s First Christmas, but it wasn’t something she would remember. Sure when she got older, Christmas would be more elaborate, than this first year.
It wasn’t until the New Year that the world, as they knew it changed.
Vala and Sorcia moving in with Daniel was done in the long weekend, which mostly meant moving Daniel’s boxes and books to a storage space, which took a lot longer than moving the two girls in. Why they waited until winter was something no one comprehended, but it was SG-1, and they were anything but ordinary. It was becoming more and more evident that the family Daniel never had, was finally coming together, and he was happier and happier-though he wouldn’t admit it most of the time.
The discovery that came next shocked the team.
She had an idea of what was wrong with her, it wasn’t exactly a problem, except that it was, and the problem was big. But in the long run, it wasn’t a problem, and that was problem.
“Sam, are you okay?” Daniel asked as SG-1 sat in the park by Sam’s place. Sorcia was playing on the swings, with Teal’c, only a step away from them. Spending team-nights, turned ‘Play-Dates’ were weekly for the team, Teal’c would usually be the one to monopolize Sorcia, insisting that he was the only one capable to protect her from the harm of mere insects.
“Kind of…not really, um, its difficult to explain really,” Sam sighed as Vala turned her attention to her friend rather than her daughter whom was now squealing with joy.
“Samantha?”
“Its just,” Sam sighed running her fingers through her blonde hair. “I’m pregnant, and…”
“What?” Daniel and Cameron said simultaneously, both mouths agape. They were shocked to say the least, it was the last thing they expected Sam to say. Daniel was more shocked than everyone else, he had known Sam since Abydos, he had seen her in love, about to walk down the aisle, and she gave it up. He knew why, and now, she was pregnant. He had a feeling who the father might be, Sam was his nearest and dearest friend, since the moment they met. She could tell him things, she wouldn’t tell anyone, he could do the same. His hand instinctively went to hers, he knew Sam’s body language, he knew every lilt in her voice, he knew when she needed support.
“Really, that’s wonderful!” Vala grinned brightly, but with a small-confused face Sam still held, she added. “Or not?”
“It is,” Sam quickly replied. “Its just…I don’t know what to do.” Her fingers laced with Daniel’s for support as she held onto his hand, her vision going back to Sorcia who was squealing with delight with Teal’c. Teal’c knew, he knew everything. There was something about Teal’c that was still a mystery to everyone. She knew that on the Odyssey this pregnancy wouldn’t have happened, but they were on Earth, and she was, and having the baby was the only option.
“We’re always here,” Cameron said, speaking up, looking at her.
“I know,” Sam smiled as she looked toward Teal’c and Sorcia. “I’m having a baby.”
~
“Do you ever plan on coming to bed?” Vala asked standing in the doorway of the livingroom, where Daniel was sitting, books spread around him and his nose in a book.
“Yeah, in a bit, just let me finish this,” Daniel mumbled.
“Daniel, you said that three hours ago,” Vala said looking at him. “Which before that, you said a few more minutes when I put Sorcia to bed at seven.”
“I’m almost finished,” Daniel sighed. “I just need to get this done in peace.”
“Fine,” Vala said rolling her eyes and walking away, leaving Daniel feeling slightly cold. “Do what you wish, but don’t come to bed.”
“Fine,” Daniel growled, as he rolled his eyes and focused back on his work. Vala groaned and closed the door, being careful not to slam it, Sorcia, like her father, wasn’t a sound sleeper to say the least. She had started to sleep through the night, sucking on her pacifier or a frozen cloth.
Vala just couldn’t understand him sometimes. Sure, he was a wonderful, loving man. But he got very into his work, and when he did, there was nothing anyone could do. Vala hoped that she could, but he was Daniel and Daniel was a work-a-holic. She did hope that Daniel would put down his work to be with Sorcia, and most times he would, if she cried, he’d be the one to grab her first, or he’d be the one to put her on his knee, bounce her and talk to her, getting her to ‘help’ with whatever he was doing.
The sound of Sorcia’s wails jolted Daniel out of his work. He knew Vala was mad, granted she had the right, but instead of letting her get the child, Daniel put down his book and pen, and stood up, getting a quick stretch as her wails started to get louder. His socked feet walked down the hard wood of the hallway to his former office, which was now Sorcia’s room, he opened the door, the light from her nightlight and the lights from outside her window lit the room enough for Daniel to see the child laying in her crib. The tears streaming down her cheeks, and her fingers in her mouth, biting down.
“Hey Monkey,” Daniel whispered reaching down and picking up the little girl. “Those gums really hurt, I bet you I can make it better.” He said softly, walking out of the room and towards the living room.
“Dada,” Sorcia whined softly as Daniel rubbed her back gently. Sorcia’s first word was Dada, said quite excitedly looking at Daniel. From that moment on, Dada was applied to Daniel, and no one else. He was quite pleased by it, felt loved, completely loved, needed and wanted, for the first time in his entire life, someone, a little someone, was depending on him, and he couldn’t help but smile every time Sorcia called him Dada.
“I’m here,” Daniel whispered adjusting her with his arm. “Okay, we need the ora-gel, it’ll help.”
“Dada,” the ten-month-old repeated leaning her head onto Daniel’s shoulder, putting his t-shirt into her mouth.
“You can stay with me until you fall back asleep okay Monkey?” he asked grabbing the little tube that was sitting beside his cold coffee mug. Sitting down on his recliner, Daniel placed Sorcia in the curve of his arm so that she was comfortable, pulling a blanket of the two. After the gel was applied, Daniel used one hand to hold Sorcia, and the other to rub her belly. She was like her mother that way, needed her belly rubbed to comfort her.
It wasn’t long that the two had fallen asleep, Daniel’s shirt still in the baby’s mouth, him cradling her body.
By seven-am, Vala blinked open her eyes and looked around. Daniel still wasn’t here, and no sign he’d even made it to the bedroom. A bubble of rage built up in her stomach, as she kicked the comforter off her body and crawled out of bed. Angry, Vala walked out of the bedroom, fully intent on waking Daniel up, who was most likely asleep in his work, but what she saw when she entered the living room, made all the anger flow away.
Daniel, head cocked to the side, was fast asleep, as Sorcia, fully awake and ready for the day, as she poked Daniel’s face, repeating ‘Dada’ over and over again.
“Sorcia,” Vala smiled as the little girl turned her head, recognize her name. “Come here darling, lets leave Daniel alone to sleep.”
“Dada,” Sorcia said as Vala picked her up. “Mamamama,” she chorused.
“We’re going to let Daniel sleep,” Vala explained settling the child on her hip. “And we’re going to get you changed. Then Mommy will make you some breakfast.”
Sorcia just stuck her fingers in her mouth and looked back at where Daniel was sleeping. Vala smiled and kissed Sorcia’s head as the two headed towards the bedroom.
Daniel opened his eyes slightly and stared around the room. Sorcia missing from his arms, made him jolt awake until he heard the little girl giggle down the hall. Relaxing a moment, Daniel rubbed his eyes and looked around the room, still covered in his notes. Groaning, he started to clean up the papers, making sure to keep them in order so that he could finish later. He knew Vala was mad, probably still was, but when he got into his work, it was hard for him to stop. Which meant that this was not the last time Vala would be mad at him.
The sounds of the two walking down the hall. “Hey.”
“Hi,” Vala said as Sorcia squealed.
“Dada!”
“Good morning Monkey,” Daniel’s smiled reaching over for the child who practically jumped into his arms. “I’m sorry for last night.”
“It’s okay,” Vala sighed as the two walked into the kitchen. “I guess I understand.”
“I can’t promise I wont do it again, but I’ll try not to,” he said putting Sorcia into the high chair. “Do you just want to do cereal?”
“That’s fine,” Vala said sitting down, letting Daniel do all the work. They had fallen into the rhythm quite early in the relationship, and even more so the day they moved in together. “So I was thinking, we could drive into Denver, and go to the zoo or something.”
“Sorcia would love that,” Vala smiled. Ever since she came home from the Mitchell farm, the little girl was more attached to the animals that before. She liked to blame that on Cameron. Everything was hers, it’d be “my aldergater”, “mine”, and the such. The first time she saw a monkey, she screamed “me” at the top of her lungs, and tried to jump into the cage.
“We can catch a lunch in the city, and then come back here for nap time,” Daniel said placing the box of Cheerios on the table, along with the milk.
“Okay,” Vala nodded as Sorcia reached for the small bowl of Cheerios that was heading her way.
“Vala,” Daniel said softly sitting next to her. “I am sorry. I love you…”
“I know Daniel,” Vala said touching his arm. The softness in his blue eyes locked with Vala’s greys, before he leaned over and kissed her as Sorcia squealed in delight. The two pulled apart before looking at the little girl.
“What?” Daniel asked reaching over and tickling Sorcia. “What is it?” Sorcia’s response was to shove some cheerios into her mouth, missing half of them as they fell to her highchair table. Daniel’s laugh rang through their ears as Sorcia grinned brightly.
~
Another promotion ceremony was a surprise to everyone. The morning of it was a hay-day. Vala was trying to get dressed, while making sure Sorcia would stay out of making a mess, and Daniel was in attempts to get his suit on.
“This is just not working,” Vala grumbled staring at Daniel, Sorcia on her hip, her dress undone and hair half curled. Looking like the mother she was, frazzled, tired, and with her baby plastered to her hip.
“I’ll take her, you finish getting ready,” Daniel said taking the baby from her. “We’re going to be late.”
“I know,” Vala sighed. “Thank you darling.”
“No problem, get ready,” Daniel said walking out of the room, carrying Sorcia and carrying on a conversation with her.
Within thirty minutes, the three were out of the apartment, Vala putting Sorcia’s winter hat on her head as they tried to make it on time. From experience, Daniel knew that Air Force Ceremony’s never started on time, which meant that them being on time, was actually, early.
“Jackson! Vala,” Cameron greeted as everyone started to gather in the theatre, the look of Daniel, Sorcia on his arm, a diaper bag swung over the other shoulder, that hand laced with Vala’s. “Vala, you look Fantastic,” he smiled leaning over to kiss her cheek.
“Looking pretty sharp yourself,” Vala smiled as Sorcia started to pull at her toque. “Okay, we’ll go sit down and Daniel will take that winter hat off.”
“Hi Princess,” Cameron smiled shaking Sorcia’s hand, her eyes bright and wild.
“NO!” she screamed, clapping her hands together in excitement.
“No? You don’t like Uncle Cam?”
“No,” Sorcia smiled leaning towards him. Cameron leaned down and let the child place a sloppy kiss to his cheek.
“That’s lovely! Wasn’t it Princess?”
“Noo,” Sorcia repeated. Cameron chuckled and kissed her nose.
“Learn a new word Princess,” Cameron grinned, he loved the child, though her referring to him as ‘No’ and having that as her answer to whatever he said could get a little repetitive.
“Where’s Teal’c?” Daniel questioned as Cameron pointed to the tall man sitting with Elizabeth. “Okay, well, congratulations,” he said shaking Cameron’s hand.
The three made their way to the two sitting in the front row. “Oh hi,” Elizabeth greeted with a smiled “have a seat.”
“Thanks,” Vala smiled sitting next to the woman, Daniel beside her, Sorcia on his lap. “Okay little miss, lets get that hat off.” Sorcia gave a large grin when the hat was pulled off, and her hands went straight to her head, reveling in the hat being off.
“SorciaMalDoran,” Teal’c said as Sorcia looked at him, her blue eye brightly shining. Her little arms reached out for Teal’c as Daniel passed her over. “How are you today?” The little girl squealed, two teeth and all. “That is well.”
Vala chuckled as Daniel placed Sorcia’s jacket and toque on the diaper bag at his feet. She leaned down to his level and placed a small quick kiss on his cheek. Daniel turned to look at Vala as the two sat up, his hand slipped over hers, lacing his fingers with hers.
By time the ceremony started, Sorcia was sitting quietly on Teal’c’s lap, her rubber duck, which no longer squeaked, stuck in her mouth. The sea of blue behind them, watched the string of promotions. Twenty minutes into the ceremony, Sorcia got fussy. Vala reached over and took her child, bouncing her on her knee, trying to calm her down.
“Sssh,” Vala whispered into Sorcia’s ear, trying to get Sorcia to stop fussing.
“Want me to take her?” Daniel whispered into Vala’s ear as she nodded her head, Daniel reached for the child and bent his knees and headed out the room.
Making into the atrium before Sorcia started to cry, Daniel was thankful. “Ssssh, what’s the matter Monkey?” Daniel said bouncing the child in his arms.
“Dada,” she whimpered looking at Daniel with her bright blue eyes.
“Dada is here,” Daniel whispered walking her up and down the hallway. “Why are you crying? Hmm? Were you bored? I bet you your Mommy is bored, you have the same attention span,” he joked pressing his lips to her forehead.
A while later, the doors to the theatre opened and people started to file out in groups; Daniel moved to the side of the lobby, holding Sorcia, who had her head resting in the curve of his neck.
“Daniel,” Vala said walking over to the two, the diaper bag over her shoulder. “Is she okay? You didn’t come back.”
“As soon as I got her settled down the doors opened,” Daniel replied giving a sorry smile. “How was it?”
“Oh you know,” Vala smiled giving him a kiss. “Cameron is still a Colonel, Sam is a General, normal things.” She teased as Cameron and the newly starred General Samantha Carter emerged. Maybe at times life was rainbows and butterflies. At least for now.
~
“So, tell me again why we’re doing this?” Daniel asked as the small ‘family’ made their way through the mall towards one of the spas.
“Because Daniel,” Vala said as she pushed Sorcia’s stroller. “She needs to feel pretty.”
“She’s not even one yet,” Daniel tried to protest as Vala just waved her hand. He was learning to never fight over what Vala said when it came to Sorcia. Neither of them really knew what it took to raise a child, but she was more adept at it than he was. He deemed it Mother’s Intuition. “Okay, what about allergies? My foster sister was allergic to metals.”
“That is why you’re paying for the pure ones Daniel,” Vala grinned as the two entered the spa, Sorcia in her stroller, sitting quietly, eating her bag of Shreddies. It wasn’t often that Sorcia was quiet, it was very rare, she could meltdown any moment, and both knew it. And Sorcia’s scream could alert China of Nuclear War.
“How did I know,” Daniel said shaking his head. “Hi, appointment for Mal Doran, Sorcia.”
“Little girl’s first piercing?” the young woman asked as Daniel nodded. He still didn’t understand why she needed her ears pierced, but ‘mother knows best’. “Well that’s exciting. I’m Lauren, and you must be Sorcia.”
“Yeah!” Sorcia smiled brightly holding out the bag of Shreddies.
The event itself was filled with her screams, and Daniel trying to soothe her, as the ear gun quickly pierced her ears. The piercing itself only took a minute, but Sorcia, being Sorcia, and a baby, made it longer than it should have been.
“That wasn’t so bad was it Monkey?” Daniel asked, as Sorcia’s tear stained cheeks were drying up. “You look so pretty.”
“You do Darling,” Vala said picking up her daughter from the chair. “I am so proud of you.”
“She did good,” Lauren smiled. “One of the well behaved babies I’ve had. Usually they move their head and it goes in crooked.”
“She’s a trooper,” Daniel grinned kissing her head. “Just standard cleaning?”
“Yup, three times a day, morning, afternoon and bedtime. If she keeps touching them, clean them more, and if they turn red or around the earring turns a different color, then take them out and put sleepers in. It’d most likely occur from lack of air around the piercing. That’s completely normal.”
“Okay,” Daniel nodded, as he glanced at Vala putting Sorcia back into her stroller, talking quietly to her, as he watched the pout turn into her bright smile. When he first met Vala, he’d never imagined she’d be a mother, let alone one that was so good at what she did. She was natural, and everything she did was to make Sorcia’s life that much better. Sorcia was her baby, a baby she could call her own, give everything that she never had.
~
It was still weird. She was briefing SG teams, okay, it wasn’t that weird, she’d done it before, but she’d never briefed SG-1, because, she was SG-1. The longest living member of SG-1, Daniel came second. Teal’c third. Her life, for over a decade was with SG-1, even after she came back from Atlantis, it was like she’d never left.
“So, you wanna go here ‘cause?” Cameron asked looking at Daniel, who stood at the front of the room, as he rambled on about something that was found on P3X-something 5 something.
Sam’s focus, albeit in attempts, on Daniel, her hand covered her mouth before she bolted out of her chair. SG-1 watched Sam, before they looked at each other, trying to figure out if one of them should go check on her. For the first, oh….ten briefings when Sam bolted out to empty her stomach from the past several hundred years, they would take turns to see how she was. Now it was getting just part of the briefing.
“So,” Cameron said turning his chair to face Vala. “How’s my Sorcia, I haven’t seen her since yesterday.”
“As same as yesterday,” Vala said, her body leaning back in the chair.
“How’s the little ears?”
“Same as yesterday,” Vala replied.
“So,” Cameron said as everyone else nodded and tried to think of what to talk about while their commander spent time with the toilet. “Maybe we should start having briefings in the bathroom.”
Part Two Here: