Author's Note: Seriously, you all need to be aware of the sugar-factor in this one. Such a sappy, happy ending. ;) But as always, please enjoy. :)

Chapter 23

There was a great deal left to do, but Adria admitted to her parents that the events of the day were taking their toll. She expended a little energy and rendered the prior unconscious, then instructed the guards to detain him, to keep his staff from him, and to have a dozen men on watch at all times. If he woke, she could be summoned to put him out once more.

She also ordered all of the soldiers and pilots back to the ship. She had little strength to confront them now, but she ordered that they return to recuperate for a few hours and instructed that she'd address the men later.

After that, she led the way to a chamber on the ship built specially for the Orici. There was a wide bed with curtained canopies and torches in the corner. She lowered the flames with her mind, then opened a drawer to find an over-sized nightgown. Daniel stood in the doorway, while Adria changed behind a screen against the wall.

"Do you suspect another growth spurt, Adria?" Vala asked.

"Yes, Mother," she replied. "I think that's why I'm so tired." She finished changing then came out from behind the screen and Vala helped tuck her into bed. "I just need a couple hours rest, I think." She yawned. "Perhaps this will be the last stage of my accelerated growth."

"Would it be all right, darling, if, we," she looked hopefully at Daniel, "slept here next to you?"

Adria nodded through another yawn. "Yes, Mother, I think I'd like that." She scooted toward the middle of the bed, and Vala climbed in next to her, propping herself up with pillows so that she was half sitting up. She held out her arms and Adria lay down on her chest, wrapping her arms around Vala.

Daniel went and sat on top of the covers on the other side of them, propped up high on the pillows like Vala was, and he rubbed his hand up and down Adria's arm. Just before falling asleep, she reached up and held Daniel's hand. "Love you, Father, Mother."

Both Vala and Daniel had to wipe tears from their eyes.

As she'd predicted, Adria woke up a few hours later, practically a full-grown woman of about 20 to 25 years. She was buried in the covers up to her neck and Vala was softly stroking her hair.

"I tried staying awake long enough to see it happen," Vala admitted to Daniel, "but giving birth to her…how long ago was it now?"

"Not even a day?" Daniel shrugged, having lost all sense of time.

"Well, I was pretty tuckered out as well." She looked down at Adria who was starting to stir from sleep. "I just wonder how it happens. Is it gradual or does it happen in an instant?"

"I don't know. I missed it too." Daniel sat up and stretched, dangling his legs over the side of the bed. "That staff blast hurt like the devil."

"Who's a devil, Father?" Adria groggily asked.

"Nobody, sweetheart, just an inefficient expression meaning 'a lot.'"

"Oh, okay." She yawned deeply.

They washed up, dressed and ate, and talked about different plans to deal with the Ori armies. Daniel told Adria about the anti-prior device that could neutralize a prior's enhanced abilities. She agreed that a device like that could assist her in gathering and subduing the priors instead of her constantly having to battle them with her own powers. She worried though that the device would also render her powers ineffective. Vala assured her that, even if that were the case, she had her trusted guards. Adria had done a great deal to earn their loyalty.

Next, they went to the bridge and Adria made a ship-wide announcement that they were leaving Chulak behind. The warriors on the planet had fought bravely, and it was not their place to impose their beliefs on such a proud and noble civilization. Daniel suspected the bridge would soon be overrun by the fanatical soldiers, but no one arrived. Adria must have suspected it as well, for she turned to her four guards in question. They admitted that they had started rumors that the Orici was on board with direct instructions from the Ori themselves. They had whispered that they didn't know what the orders would be, but obviously her authority must be second to none, not even the Doci and the priors.

Adria's look of shock and awe was only surpassed by her grateful smile. She praised the men for their cleverness and thanked them for their continued loyalty. She really couldn't have asked for worthier men for her council.

She sat down in the chair and launched the ship, then looked to her parents for advice about where to go. They couldn't ring down to the SGC from Earth's orbit, so they'd have to gate there. Vala studied the ship's star charts and came up with an uninhabited world with a stargate. When they arrived, they flew a smaller ship to the surface and contacted the SGC.

Landry ordered SG-1 to meet them with the requested anti-prior device. As soon as they stepped foot on the planet, Adria staggered from a feeling of light-headedness. She still had the ability to read minds and she immediately felt her parents' worry for her. She assured them she was fine, that the device was working as it should. It could indeed be used to subdue the priors and force them to listen to her point of view. Give her a chance to re-teach them Origin.

And her plan worked too. The crusaders were extremely open to ideas about free will, freedom of choice, and love and respect above all else. Some of the commanders who'd become addicted to the power they'd had over the other men under the priors' rule openly questioned her, but every time, the common soldiers defended her and the ideals she was preaching. In the end, both Daniel and Vala knew that Adria could take care of herself and her people.

Their parting was heartbreaking, but Adria convinced her parents that she'd be fine and that she'd contact them frequently.

As the days passed, Vala could barely comprehend that less than a week had gone by from the time Denya had come to tell them of the crusade's launch. In that time, she'd given birth to the Orici, nearly lost her dear friends to a battle at the second – or was it the third – supergate, followed her daughter to meet the Ori soldiers and watched her end the crusade with as few lives lost as possible.

She'd even been offered an official position at Stargate Command, fully backed by the United States government as well as the IOA. That event she really couldn't believe until General Landry showed her the letters of recommendation from General O'Neill, Sam, Mitchell, and Teal'c. Even Carolyn and Bill Lee spoke up in her favor. Carolyn had cited her courage in facing a seriously unlikely pregnancy— she had asked for a sample of Adria's blood and been given it willingly, and was then able to confirm her genetic make-up as a combination of Vala's and Daniel's DNA and some other third component, confirming the Ori's hand in Adria's making. Bill had acknowledged Vala's tenacity in helping to perfect the technology to communicate at inter-galactic distances. And while his words had warmed her, she was even happier that Denya had once again contacted the SGC and expressed her thanks for Vala's warning, asking that Vala be assured that she, Panos, Ber, Kira and the rest of their family were all well.

All this was fine and dandy of course, but there was one recommendation that she didn't see, and before she accepted the position she needed to have a talk with the stubborn man.

As she plodded along the corridors toward Daniel's office, she tried to keep her temper in check. Maybe he didn't know the offer of a position was in the wind. When she didn't find him in his office, she blew out a breath in frustration. He was supposed to love her, why wouldn't he recommend that she be allowed to work with him in his oh-so-laudable SGC.

She found him in his quarters, duffle bags spread out over the bed, dresser drawers open, clothes, books and items strewn over every surface. He was leaving! The nerve of the man! She knew the Daedalus had recently returned from the Pegasus galaxy and it usually took a couple days for it to resupply and head back. But that still didn't mean he had to go!

She stormed straight over to him tapped him on the shoulder and punched him in the face before he even had a chance to say hello.

"Vala! Seriously, this isn't what it looks like," he said, defending himself from her left fist.

"Oh no? It looks like you're packing!" She swung at him but he ducked out of the way in time. "I can't believe you! This obsession with Atlantis is ridiculous." She swung again and Daniel blocked it.

"Hold on, Vala, get a grip!"

"Get a grip? You get a grip!" She feinted a jab at his face then punched him in the gut. He got a hold of her wrists then and she tried to twist them out of his hands. "Adria is literally not even a week old and you're gonna go off and leave us." She cursed and kicked unsuccessfully at his shins. "You know she can't go back to the Ori galaxy without facing the Ori themselves. She still needs our help, and not just you and me. We may have to find that anti-ascended weapon thingy to help her." She grunted and twisted as he toppled her onto the bed beneath him around the scattered piles of clothes.

"Whatever you do, Vala, do not knee me or there is NOT going to be a happy ending to this story!"

She kept struggling for a while as Daniel pinned her legs in place with his and pressed his entire body down on her, essentially keeping her breathing shallow enough that she felt weak in only a few minutes.

"Fine! Explain yourself if you can." He let go of her arms and instead of slapping him, she crossed them over her chest.

Daniel lifted his weight off her slightly as he spoke. "I'm sorting through my clothes and things to see what will be useful to us if we leave the SGC to help Adria."

Vala looked up at him in wide-eyed shock. "Not packing for Atlantis?"

Daniel shook his head with a laugh and sat straighter on top of her, keeping his weight firmly on his knees. "Not packing for Atlantis."

"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" She sat up then and jabbed him playfully in the shoulder.

"I don't know," he smirked back at her, "guess I was in the mood for a fight. It's nice being able to win one every once in a while." She shoved him a little harder after that, but he anticipated it and rocked them back down to the surface of the bed.

"I haven't been able to spar for months, that's the only reason you won this round," she said softly, brushing her fingers against the bruise blossoming on his cheek. "I feel so foolish."

"Don't worry about it," he said, leaning down to kiss her nose, "I'll blame it on raging hormones."

"Oh, yes, that's a good one," she complimented his reasoning, leaning up to kiss his bruised cheek, then brushing her lips against his gently. She was content and comfortable as they started necking, but something was niggling in the back of her mind…some reason for her coming to see him. Oh.

"Daniel," she whispered, trying to think of a way to bring up her new employment opportunity.

"Yes, Vala," he murmured back to her, trailing kisses along her jaw, stopping to nibble on her earlobe.

"Uh," the nibbling was so distracting, but she still wanted to talk to him, "why do we have to leave in order to help Adria? Doesn't the SGC have more than sufficient resources?"

"Yep, everything I need is here, but I'm sure they'll let me come and go if I need to." He stopped kissing her as he realized the seriousness of her question. "Most importantly, I want you to have the freedom to decide where to live. I don't want you to resent me for keeping you here if you'd be happier elsewhere. Honestly, I wasn't planning on us leaving without discussing it with you. I was just going through all my stuff."

Vala considered her next words carefully. "Couldn't you put in a good word for me, maybe get me on to SG-1 or some other team?"

Daniel squinted at her, confused. "Is that what you want? 'Cause I'd do it in a heartbeat but I figured you'd want to earn the position on your own merits, of which you have plenty. You're more than qualified for a position in the Stargate Program. Every time I walk by Landry's office I have to tell myself to keep my mouth shut. Seriously, I thought you'd hate me if you thought the only reason everyone wanted you here was because I'd asked them to let you stay."

Just then she brought his head down to hers in their most passionate kiss yet. She'd had no idea how much he truly understood her until that moment. She tugged his black t-shirt up and it bunched under his arms until he raised them to help her take the shirt off.

"I guess I did the right thing, then, huh?" She answered him with another firm liplock, her hands rubbing up and down his back.

She raised her hips in an attempt to flip. "On your back, Daniel," she instructed. He rolled them and when she sat there on top of him she pulled her shirt off and threw it over her shoulder. "I can't believe what you've done for me. I don't deserve someone so wholly and wonderfully selfless." She leaned down to kiss him again, sending her hands to work on the buckle of his pants. He quieted her frantic hands and brought her body down across his, letting their skin touch from chest to stomach.

"I beg to differ," he breathed as his own fingers went to work on the bra clasps behind her back. "Time and again, you've proven to me that your courage and selflessness is without bounds. I don't think I deserve someone with such strength of heart. But you also combine that strength with humor and fun." He smiled up at her as he finally released her breasts. "You lift my spirits whenever you walk into the room." He brushed the hair from her face and held it back for her. "I can't imagine my life without you now. I meant what I said before, I'm yours, now and forever."

Vala nodded her head that she understood, and that she felt the same. The two of them were one now. There was no going on without the other. They teased and played with each other, rolling around the bed amidst all of Daniel's clothes.

When they were naked and spent, sweaty and panting underneath the covers, Vala laughed and said they'd have a fair bit of cleaning up to do later.

"Doesn't matter," Daniel said between deep breaths. "We'll just stuff everything back in the closet. I probably don't have enough leather for wherever you take us anyway."

"While I do agree that there should be more leather in your wardrobe, darling," Vala began, "you probably have plenty for where we're going to live."

"Hmm?"

"I've been offered a position at the SGC," she said, beaming at him. "I think I'd like to stay here with you, if that's all right?"

Daniel's response was another heartwarming, breathtaking kiss, and Vala's heart felt light and full at the same time. They'd found each other, they'd survived the year together. They'd grown together and made room for each other in their lives—they were going to make a life together. She finally felt worthy of someone's love and felt pure joy and happiness in giving her love wholeheartedly in return. She truly was the most fortunate woman in the universe.

THE END

Final Author's Note: Well, there you have it, my huge AU fic for a Daniel/Vala-centered, alternate Season 9 of SG-1. I hope you all enjoyed reading it. :)
~Erin

P.S. If someone who's read the entire thing could let me know if I rated this correctly at "M" or if it would be okay as a "T" rating, that would be great. I rated it "M" to be safe, but maybe I was being too hard on it.