Author's Note:

I must once more issue disclaimers that I do not lay claim to any of the characters, places or aspects of plot that the Stargate franchise owns. This is a sequel to "Una in Perpetuum", which you really do have to read to get some of the parts of this story. This work is going to be ten chapters long, so much shorter than the original, but I hope you enjoy this little insight into what I saw as Vala and Daniel's future. I hope you enjoy this story and please do leave me reviews because I do love reading them and I often reply!

Chapter I – The First Time Off-World

"Sam, it's not my fault security clearance takes forever!" Vala yelled at the back seat of the Jeep, "You are a fifteen year old boy! You should be grateful that your dad actually managed to get you access to Cheyenne Mountain at all. Believe me, Uncle Jack and dad had to pull a lot of strings. So, young man, be grateful that you are getting to spend your summer vacation in a different galaxy because your friends don't even have that option! You are a very fortunate boy."

Daniel sat quietly in the driver's seat as he patiently waited for the guards to check out Sam's paperwork and for his wife and son to stop bickering, but he knew from experience that the two of them could go head-to-head for hours, "You two just give it a rest please. If the twins start crying now, I swear, I'm just going to drive back home and you," Daniel turned to glare at Samuel Neil Jackson, "you will spend the summer with your godfather in Washington being bugged to death about fishing and getting acquainted with boring people who have sat behind a desk for their entire life!"

Vala's attention was drawn to the two car seats which were sandwiching their teenager and holding snugly two beautiful five month old twin girls. A contented smile spread across her face as she took in the sight of her two youngest children wide awake but happily gurgling and curiously surveying the car and their family.

"Finally!" Daniel exclaimed as he took back the file on Sam and was ushered through the barricade and permitted to park and proceed to the SGC. He really had worked hard to get the placement his son had wanted for his first summer vacation off-world. He had bugged his parents for months to help him visit Atlantis and stay there for a month and a half to help out with some research Rodney was carrying out and to learn to fight with John and Ronon.

Although initially, they had been wary of letting him go to another galaxy without them, they had established that he could go if they went with him to get him settled in and then he emailed home frequently. They were fortunate that travel between the Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies had become much easier than it used to be when you had to spend three weeks on the Odyssey. Now the McKay-Carter Stargate bridge was up and running and the midway station was permanently secure, inter-galactic travel was a much simpler and less worrying prospect.

As the family of five walked through the familiar grey, concrete halls of Stargate Command, various members of staff greeted the parents of the brood and some even saluted. Sam knew his parents were widely known and respected at work, but he had not expected this. He knew they had to report to the briefing room so that he and his parents could fill out more forms for insurance and nondisclosure and other boring things. But first, they made a few stops at various labs and rooms.

With a soft rap at the door, they all poured into his godmother's lab, "Hi, Sam, how's life treating you?" his dad asked his best friend.

Lieutenant General Samantha o'Neill perked up when she heard the voice that resounded from the doorway, "Daniel! Vala! Oh, and the kids," she cried, taking Amanda from his mom's arms, "how are you all?"

Vala smiled, "We're good. Today's the day that this one," Vala pulled her son, Sam into her arms, "goes to Pegasus for the summer."

Sam smiled at her godson, "Ah, yes, the all-important first mission off-world. Looking forward to it, Sam?"

"Duh!"

"On that note," Sam giggled, going to her desk and pulling a box from one of the drawers, "I got you a little something to take with you out there."

"Sam!" Vala and Daniel chorused loudly.

"Oh, don't make a fuss. It's not a huge thing. In fact, Daniel, you made me think he'd like it, so hush up. Here you go, Sam. Be sure to use it to bug the hell out of Uncle Rodney."

Now Vala and Daniel's interest was piqued and they leaned around Sam to glimpse what he was about to pull out of the box. Daniel had to be careful he didn't drop his daughter, so he was the last one to catch sight of the camcorder that Sam had gifted her namesake.

"Neat!"

They left Sam's lab and made her promise to come to the gate room to see them off and to take the girls. Vala and Daniel had arranged for Sam, Cam and Carolyn to babysit the twins over the couple of days when they would be in the Pegasus galaxy. They were already a bit late for their meeting with General Landry, whose last year it was in command of the SGC before he handed over command to Sam. He had more paperwork for them to sign, but they kept telling themselves that it would be worth it when Sam got to fulfil one of his life's dreams.

Actually, signing Landry's documents took less time than they anticipated and they made their way down to the gate room soon. On the walk down, Vala was beginning to change her mind about going as she clutched her daughter, who was – for once – being quiet and not crying, to her chest. It would be the first time she had spent any length of time away from her daughters and she was hesitant about leaving them with other people, even people who were like family to her.

When they reached the gate room, Vala inhaled in awe as she remembered the times when she used to step through 'the old orifice' (as Jack called it to everyone's disgust) on an almost daily basis. She remembered the last time she walked through it and flinched.

Daniel watched his wife as she remembered her old jaunts through the Stargate as a member of SG-1 and knew she would eventually arrive at the painful memory of her final trip through the Stargate and he gripped her hand firmly to comfort her, "I love you, honey."

Vala smiled warmly, "I know and I love you too."

Sam watched his parents with a curiosity he had inherited from his mother and tried to make sense of what he had just witnessed, as something had evidently upset his mom and he could not figure out what it was, though he had enough tact – inherited from his dad – not to ask questions at that particular moment.

"Have a nice trip, folks," Hank said from the control room with a smile, "and good luck, Sam."

Vala handed her baby girl over to Carolyn with a sad smile, "I'll see you soon, baby. You be good for Auntie Carolyn and Uncle Cam, do you understand, Amanda Claire Jackson?"

Carolyn knew how much the mere thought of separation plagued her friend, "Vala, don't worry, you're only going to be gone a couple of days, then you'll see them again. They'll be fine with us. You know what Cam's like with them," she winked as they both recalled Cameron playing with the twins, only hours after their birth and that's exactly how long it took for them to have Amanda's godparents, with whom she would be staying, wrapped round their little fingers.

As Daniel watched his wife part with one of the twins, he knew he had to do the same with the other, who was beginning to squirm in his arms sensing the tension, "Ok, sweetheart, your turn to go to Auntie Samantha," they had decided to call her that to avoid confusion with their son, who had expressed concern that one day his siblings would call him 'Auntie Sam' by accident, "no, no, don't cry. It'll be all right, you love Auntie Samantha and Uncle Jack."

Daniel passed over his daughter to Sam and noticed how well she settled once she was comfortably enveloped in Sam's arms. He loved that about Jennifer, that she was so sensitive to everyone else around her. Vala joked that she got that from her father, whereas Amanda was more like her mother and was completely self-obsessed. Daniel knew that Vala was being insincere, as he knew she was not self-obsessed at all, but actually was incredibly selfless but preferred not to be such an open book with her emotions. He knew that bringing up the girls was going to be one hell of a ride, but one he was looking forward to…

He whispered to his daughter, "Goodbye, darling, my beautiful Jennifer Elizabeth Jackson, your mom and I will see you in a couple of days and I know you'll be good for Auntie Samantha because you always are."

He shrugged off the building tsunami of sadness that was threatening to utterly engulf him and pull his son into the manliest of hugs he could, "Right, enough of all this, or you're going to see your old man cry. Let's go," he looked up at the control room, "dial it up guys!"

With that they approached the event horizon and as Sam walked through before his parents, Vala smiled enigmatically at Daniel before taking his hand and turning both of them round so that their back was to the gate and with a wink to her friends, Dr. and Mrs Jackson stepped backwards through the gate.

When they arrived in Atlantis, Vala and Daniel were greeted by raucous applause by their family and friends, whom they hadn't seen since before their twins were born. First to approach the trio were Vala's father, her stepmother and Tomin. Her father opened his arms wide and pulled his grandson into a bear hug until they could just about make out Sam asking for permission to resume breathing.

Despite Vala's formerly terse relationship with her parents, it made Daniel happy to see that their children would have a relationship with one set of grandparents, which was a right sight better than what he had spent his formative years with. He had also grown closer with Vala's parents as time had elapsed, he even considered them to be as close to parents as he was ever going to get.

"Vala, baby, how are you doing? And how are my little granddaughters? God knows, they look so sweet in all those pictures you've been taking and emailing over," Jacek said jollily.

Vala laughed, "They're fine, dad, they're with the Mitchells and Sam. How've you and Adria been?"

"You know, honey, sweet as rain in August, sweet as rain in August."

Vala hugged Tomin, "Hi, Tomin, what's been going on with you? Found that special someone yet?"

Tomin had mentioned in a couple of emails that he had been seeing a couple of people on Atlantis, but he had never been able to find 'the one'. Vala had tried to set him up with a couple of SGC personnel whom she knew were single, but they had not panned out either, but every time she emailed him with news of her family, he was concerned and interested in her life. She knew that it was cruel in some ways, but the other alternative was to exclude him and that felt more severe somehow.

He smiled back at her kindly, "No, not yet, Vala. Still searching, but I'm sure she'll turn up one of these days."

Sam was impatient to find his favourite 'uncle'. He skirted around his mom's relations and after high fiving Ronon he examined the expansive room for his Uncle John. John had been the main reason he had wanted to spend his summer in Atlantis. He found the older man funny and he always had the best stories. John in turn, was incredibly fond of the young Jackson boy and the Jackson girls, but he and Sam had bonded over their passion for cars and sci fi films.

"Hey, Uncle John," Sam hollered up to the control deck, "you ignoring me or something?"

The black haired man in blue BDU's talking to a technician smiled as he walked onto the viewing deck and leaned on the railing, "Well, look who's finally showed his face on another planet. What took you so long, Jackson Junior?"

Sam laughed heartily, "All right, we can't all have been to God knows how many planets and galaxies! At least I still have my youth ahead of me, whereas when you got here, you were already so old!"

John shook his head at the kid's boldness in teasing him about his age, but walked casually down the stairs to greet his greatest admirer and his parents, "Hi guys, glad you could make it. Bet the paperwork to get this tyke here was a bitch, huh?"

Daniel groaned, "You have no idea! Just glad we got to come…finally!"

"Yeah, how are the most gorgeous girls on Planet Earth?"

"Well, I'm fine and so is General Carter," Vala piped up cheerily.

John punched her good-heartedly on the shoulder, "We've missed you, Vala. The banter just isn't the same without you."

Ronon cleared his throat, "Well, as cosy as this is…can I go now, John?"

Everyone looked stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter, but John clapped his hand on Sam's back and said, "Yeah, Ronon, you can go. I'll just show you guys to the quarters we've assigned for you," he looked awkwardly at Daniel and Vala, "Guys, I hope you don't mind, but you're quite a bit away from Sam, but I thought it would be a good idea if Sam's suite was closer to mine and Ronon's rooms, just in case and there are no other rooms near ours."

Daniel was surprised, but impressed with his friend's concern, "Thanks, John, we appreciate that. Vala and I don't mind, after all, we're the ones who are only here for a couple of days."

"Right then, Tomin will take you guys up to your rooms and I," John looked sternly down at Sam, "will take this guy to get settled in before Rodney's compulsory tour of the entire city."

Upon hearing Rodney's name, Vala tensed up as she knew she had to see Jennifer before she got settled in. The woman must be dying to see her and retrieve the package which Sam o'Neill had given her to pass on. She wondered why the McKays had not come down to see them, but it occurred to her that Rodney was probably under a mile of research and Jennifer would not want to ruin their happy arrival by asking for news of her children.

Rodney and Jennifer McKay had been forced to make an unspeakably difficult choice when Jennifer fell pregnant seven years ago and then again four years ago. The SGC were not going to allow her to have her children in Atlantis, especially as the galaxy was still at risk then, but Jennifer had been heading critical and vital research that had saved the lives of millions of people in the Pegasus galaxy, so many – in fact – that there were numerous settlements across the galaxy called Keller. She and Rodney had chosen to send their children to live on Earth without their parents and it's what had prompted Rodney to throw himself into trying to construct ZPM's. With the constant availability of ZPM's, Rodney and Jennifer got home once every two months to spend a week with their children, but otherwise they existed to receive the emails and videos from the SGC with messages from their sons, John Radek McKay and Ronan Carson McKay. Vala had made sure she had gotten Hank to get the boys to record recent messages for their parents, as they lived with General Landry. She would go to the infirmary and give the tapes to Jennifer before heading up to her and Daniel's temporary quarters.

Vala was actually quite excited to experience the feeling of being off-world once more, with Daniel and this time, her son. She could only imagine how exhilarating the experience must be for Sam, who was so young but knew so much about the world. He had been spoon fed stories about aliens and space travel since he was born and it had nurtured in him a lust for knowledge of the foreign and alien. She felt comforted in the knowledge that she never had to worry that she had any regrets when it came to her son.