TOO PRECIOUS
Set – 2010/2011 ish. Sam is away on the George Hammond. So, SG-1 is down to four members again.
o – o – o –
The 'two co-workers out for a meal' business had worked well. Again. Daniel had even remembered the correct day this time, and brought a clean, crisp shirt to change into before they went.
Vala's eyes had crinkled appreciatively – she loved it when he wore blue. The color matched his eyes perfectly. She had chosen to wear a not-too-low cut, flowing, silvery-aqua top with short sleeves matched with tight black leggings and knee length, smart black boots. Her hair was caught up with several, tiny, sparkly butterfly shaped clips and she wore a pendant on a slim silver chain at her neck. The pendant was small and perfectly round, it appeared to be made of something which looked similar to lapis lazuli – blue/green and shimmering.
The couple had enjoyed their meal, including the cocktails. Vala had drained a huge pink one containing a real floating flower, a fluorescent yellow one with lemon and lime segments around the edge of the glass, and a third which looked as if it was made of purple washing up liquid.
Daniel's eyes had boggled at the last one. He really had no idea how she could manage to consume so much alcohol and stay upright. The woman had a natural talent for knocking back the hard stuff while exhibiting minimal ill effects. The archaeologist suspected being an ex-Gou'ald had something to do with it.
Vala had wobbled slightly when they'd stood to leave and let out a giggle, but nothing too embarrassing, and by the time they reached Daniel's car she was back to being her sober self again.
They'd driven around for a while, chatting amicably about everything and nothing. Eventually Daniel had checked his watch, seen that it was way past eleven and headed for the Mountain.
Vala's mood had dipped momentarily. A fleeting, sad look shimmered in her eyes for a moment, before she blinked and pretended that nothing had happened. She thought that Daniel hadn't noticed, but she was wrong.
The archaeologist had felt his own heartstrings tug a little as he caught sight of the look on her face. Although he never spoke of it, he often felt bad when he left Vala at the entrance to the Mountain - the only home that she had now. It didn't seem right somehow, shoving something so beautiful back into the bowels of the SGC. Daniel swallowed. He felt it especially tonight, she did look particularly lovely.
Bang on cue, Vala looked across at him, biting her lip. "Thank you for tonight, darling," she said, in that deliciously sexy voice of hers. She undid her seat belt, fingers brushing his.
Daniel pulled his hand away, feeling as if an electric shock had gone through him.
Vala frowned and looked hurt suddenly. "For goodness sake, Daniel, I haven't got lurkies, you know!"
"Got what?"
"Lurkies. Lurkies – you know – nasty things on me!"
Daniel chuckled. "Lurgies." He stilled, and touched her cheek softly, blue eyes locked on her own.
Vala swallowed. How can you not see how much I love you? she wanted to yell, but squashed the question back down. Because he's blind, her inner self reminded her, and he needs you to tell him.
No chance, she thought. Not showing him that part of me. Open the floodgates of emotion? I don't think so. I'm Vala Mal Doran and I don't need ANYONE having that sort of hold over me, thanks very much.
Suit yourself then, said her rude inner self. Suffer.
Vala huffed and tugged her chin out of Daniel's gentle clasp. "Good night then," she muttered, through gritted teeth and opened the car door.
"Okaaaay…" Daniel looked after her, puzzled. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Vala ignored him and climbed out of the car.
"Vala!" Daniel climbed out himself and came around to her side.
She stopped and turned, arms folded. "Yes?"
"I really did enjoy tonight. I always do enjoy our nights out – you and me."
"Our not-dates, you mean?" she ground out.
"Um – yeah…." Daniel was beginning to feel that he was on shaky ground.
Vala's eyes flashed for a moment, before she dropped her arms and sighed wearily. "Me too, darling." Patting his cheek gently her stormy gray gaze flickered again, before she stepped back and walked away. The moment had passed. As it always did.
"See you tomorrow?" Daniel called after her.
"Yes. Tomorrow." She looked back briefly, before disappearing inside the SGC.
Daniel scratched his chin, then rubbed the back of his neck. He climbed back into his car, took off his glasses, cleaned them, put them on again. Then he removed them once more, dropped his head briefly, returned his spectacles to in front of his eyes, took a deep breath and drove away homewards.
o – o – o –
SG-1 had a brief meeting with General Landry at 0900 hours the next morning, to discuss future talks which both Teal'c and Mitchell were hoping to attend on the Tok'ra homeworld.
At 0905 Vala's seat was still empty.
Landry's beetle brows were drawn down over his eyes as he headed for the intercom, but he was interrupted by Val flying up the spiral staircase and hurling herself into the chair next to Daniel. "Sorry I'm late," she said, breathlessly.
The General grunted something non-comital and the meeting began.
Daniel took a surreptitious look at Vala, who spent the entire time fidgeting even more than usual.
Mitchell frowned at her once – she grinned the mega watt smile at him, froze for all of five seconds then started wriggling again.
Daniel was sure that she wasn't paying a blind bit of notice to anything that Landry was saying. After about quarter of an hour there was a "Dismissed," from the General.
Before Daniel could even open his mouth, Vala was gone again like a whirlwind – out of the door and down the staircase. He blinked.
"What the heck is up with her?" Mitchell slowly piled up the notes that were laying about on the long table.
Daniel shook his head. "Search me."
"Probably nuthin'." SG-1's long-suffering CO shook his head. "She's most likely in the middle of painting your office pink or sumthin'!"
"You think?" Momentarily alarmed Daniel stood quickly, before he remembered that he'd left his office to come to the meeting. It had definitely not been pink at breakfast time. "She's probably late to watch one of her shows," he said. "One of those daytime soaps that she loves, I expect."
The two team mates wandered amicably off in the direction of the mess hall, but all the way there Daniel felt uneasy. She wouldn't, would she? Not pink, surely. Not my office. As soon as was polite he left Mitchell and returned to his office, finding it untouched and the same dismal gray colour that it had always been. It was also, interestingly, devoid of Vala.
Daniel got down to work, but when the alien hadn't shown up by 1100 hours he pushed his translation away. He stood, and was on his way out of the office but collided with Vala as she came rushing in.
"Sorry I'm late!" She looked flustered - pink cheeked and uncharacteristically unkempt. Her hair was falling out of it's ponytail and her black, regulation T-shirt appeared all rucked up and dusty.
"What have you been doing?" Daniel flicked a large chunk of plaster from off of her left shoulder.
"Oh – just looking for something." Vala pushed his hand away, sat down and bit her lip. "What do you want me to do for you?"
Unusual, thought Daniel. No flirting, no cheeky winks, no casual trawling of her fingers across some part of his anatomy. He frowned.
"What do you want me to do?" Vala repeated, sharply.
"Um – just -uh - get your laptop going and pull up the archives on Ra's library, if that's okay?" Daniel paused. "Everything fine with you?"
"Marvellous," she retorted, bashing the keyboard with slightly more attitude than usual. "I –."
"Vala Mal Doran to the control room." Walter's voice broke over the tannoy. "Vala Mal Doran to the control room."
"Back in a minute!" And she was gone again, so quickly that Daniel actually felt the breeze 'whoosh' as she raced past.
What on earth is she up to? Daniel sat down, pulled up the files for Ra's library on his own computer and carried on with what he was doing.
Mitchell came past a few minutes later, and asked if he could borrow Daniel's car briefly to run an errand for Walter, as his own was being serviced. There was only one errand that the archaeologist could imagine his CO would be performing for the gate technician - something that related to the betting shop over in town. Daniel smiled and tossed Mitchell the keys, before returning to his computer.
o – o – o –
They hadn't found it.
Vala bit her lip and dug her nails into her palms for a moment before she could summon up the bravado to splash the wide, toothy grin across her face again.
Two airmen had combed the hallways between her quarters and the gate room, the control room and the briefing room. They'd even gone into the elevators and checked those. No sign of it.
Vala swallowed and thanked Walter prettily before moving back into the corridor, mind whirling. Where to look now? She had to find it, she had to.
The cleaning closets! What if it's been sucked up into one of the vacuum cleaners? Without a second thought she took off at a run towards the nearest cupboard.
o – o – o –
Midday came and went. Then 1300 hours. Vala didn't return to Daniel's office. The archaeologist could feel his temper rising further and further as time went on. What was she up to? Because she certainly wasn't up to helping him! Closing the lid of his laptop, he went out and began to look for her.
By 1400 hours he was not only furious but also hungry. Returning to the mess hall, he grabbed a sandwich and jello, paid and was about to leave when a flash of inspiration came to him. He turned back to the lady who was on the till.
"Have you seen Vala?" he asked, certain the answer would be a 'yes'. When the cashier shook her head, he was flummoxed.
"No, Dr Jackson," she said. "I haven't seen her today. It's very unusual – she's always here by at least midday."
Daniel nodded his thanks and wandered off, back towards his office. Should I be starting to worry? he thought. Probably not – I mean, she's here somewhere. It's not like she's been kidnapped.
Mitchell passed by, having recently left the gym – he hadn't seen her. When Daniel reached his office he called Teal'c – no, the Jaffa had had no contact with her either.
About to ring the surface, Daniel was interrupted as his office door flew back for the second time that day, to reveal an extremely filthy Vala.
Her hair was no longer caught up in anything which resembled a ponytail, but hung down her back in limp, dank strands. The skin on her arms was dirty and grazed in places, there was a large tear in the left shoulder of her T-shirt and her pants looked as if she'd repeatedly wiped her grubby hands on them.
Daniel pulled his lunch closer to himself, alarmed. "Stay over there!"
Vala glared. "I'm not coming in," she retorted. "I'm busy! The world doesn't revolve around you, darling!"
"Er – I rather think it does when we're at work," Daniel reminded her, temper beginning to rise. "As I recall, you're meant to be my assistant!"
"Well, I'm not assisting you today, so live with it!" Smacking her hands hard on the desk, Vala showered Daniel with bits of debris from about her person.
"Damn right you're not assisting me," he shouted back at her. "I've barely seen you all morning! What have you been doing? Why are you so filthy?"
"None of your business!" Swinging away, Vala moved to the small sink, turning the taps on with such force that water sprayed half way across the room, hitting the archaeologist and his lunch.
"Hell's teeth, Vala!" He crossed the room, furious, and dragged her round to face him. "What has gotten into you?"
Eyes bright with anger, she twisted her arm out of his grip.
Daniel grabbed at her again - she thumped him hard on the chest, making him stagger.
It hurt, and made him crosser. "Get a grip!" He yelled. "Whatever is eating you, deal with it! You're acting like a deranged woman! What's the problem?"
"Nothing!" Vala - livid, afraid and furiously upset - barely paused before scrunching her hand into a fist and landing her best friend in the world a stern right hook on the chin.
He staggered back, tripping over his own briefcase and crashing to the floor.
"I'm sorry!" Vala's face fell, she moved towards Daniel, but he was quite rightly by now in a towering rage.
"Get out!" He hollered. "Get out of here, and don't come back! Ever, for all I care! Just get out!"
Vala froze on the spot, half horrified, half still livid. Then she kicked his feet out of the way and slammed out of the office.
Daniel, lay on the floor, one arm draped over his face. What on earth had that all been about?
- o - o - o - o - o - o -
Daniel sat morosely in the mess hall, alone, at about 1900 hours that evening. His jaw ached from where Vala had punched him, Even though he'd sat with an ice pack pressed against it for a large part of the afternoon his jaw still ached from where Vala had punched him. The swelling had gone down, but he was going to have a lovely colored bruise along his jaw by the morning.
Daniel ate the last of his spaghetti bolognese and pushed the plate away. He sighed, and took a long swig of his coffee. Women. He'd never understand them. Particularly Vala. The archaeologist removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
I'll have to find her, he thought. I can't leave without sorting this out, however cross we are with each other. And I still don't know why she's angry!
Quite righteously confused, Daniel finished his coffee, put his specs back on and stood to leave. The lady on the till at the counter called across to him.
"Have you found Vala yet, Dr Jackson?"
"Oh," smiling faintly, he nodded. "Briefly. How about you?"
She shook her head. "No. Not seen her all day. Is she feeling well?"
"I – er – I guess." Daniel frowned, and exited the mess hall. Vala hadn't been in all day? That woman loved for food –heck, she lived for the stuff! Whatever had come between her and the consumption of SGC delicacies must be serious. Beginning to feel distinctly concerned now, Daniel made off in the direction of her quarters.
o – o – o –
Daniel hovered uncertainly outside Vala's door for some minutes, before summoning the courage to knock. There was no answer, but he hadn't really expected one. Daniel rapped once more, louder, and then again. On the third occassion he used his fist, followed by a good kick with his right foot. He didn't speak – not wanting to bellow her name in the corridor, and unsure of how all this was going to pan out.
The door still didn't open. Daniel folded his arms and pinched his nose. Perhaps she really wasn't in there. Eventually he tapped again, very gently, before resorting to a small "Vala?"
Silence. As he began to turn away he heard the un-locking mechanism whir into action. The door remained closed, but when he moved closer and pushed down the handle – voila! It opened.
Vala sat on the floor, illuminated only by the glow from a small lamp on her night stand. The room was shadowed and still, as was the alien. She was still filthy and bedraggled and neither moved nor spoke as Daniel entered.
Closing the door carefully behind himself, he paused, not fancying another right hook. "Hey," he said softly. There was a long pause, before Vala turned her head and looked at him.
Twin tear tracks ran through the grime on her face, one on each cheek. Her eyes were sheened silver, the lashes still damp - another single tear sneaked out and slipped down to hang suspended off of her chin as he watched.
Sometimes, friends didn't need words. Even if it was your best friend, who annoyed you continuously, and who'd previously given you a stout wallop to not only your face but also your manly ego. Your friend who irritated the hell out of you, but who you missed if she was out of your office for longer than about ten minutes.
Daniel sat beside Vala, put his arms around her and pulled her into a strong but gentle hug. A tiny sob indicated that his team mate was amenable towards the cuddle, and she pushed herself close in against his chest, wrapping her own arms around his midriff.
"Ssshh," Daniel didn't know what was wrong but he held her close, and rocked slowly as she tried to pretend that she wasn't crying. The soggy state of the front of his shirt, and the damp handkerchief clutched in her grasp belied this however. After a minute or two the tears stopped – Vala leaned against Daniel, cheek against his chest, eyes red rimmed and gritty.
"What's up?" asked the archaeologist. Then – "Don't tell me if you don't want to."
There was a long, long silence, before Vala said in a hoarse voice "I'm thirsty."
"Here." Daniel handed her the quarter-full bottle of water that he was carrying, which she drained quickly. Another pause.
"Daniel?"
"Mmm?"
"I'm hungry." Vala didn't move however. Being wrapped in the archaeologist's arms was like being in heaven. It was even worth not having eaten since breakfast. She felt Daniel wriggle underneath her, then he handed her a slightly squashed energy bar from one of his pockets.
"Thank you." Vala's voice still sounded wet and wobbly. She cleared her throat. "Thank you, Daniel." Nibbling slowly at the bar she began to chew her way through it.
"You want to tell me what's up?" Daniel asked again, after a minute or two.
Vala paused, then slowly pushed herself off of him. Her face, as she looked into his, was immeasurably sad. She leaned around him, and tugged something out from under the bed – as she held it on her knee he saw that is was a small, wooden jewellery box. There was another lengthy silence.
"Jacek gave me this," she said eventually, voice catching in her throat. She wiped her nose on the back of her hand, before remembering Daniel's handkerchief. "He gave me all of the things in it."
Opening the lid, she turned the box so that they could both see the cheap necklaces and bracelets that hung inside. She ran her hand through the trinkets, catching the chains of a couple onto her fingers.
Daniel said nothing. He gently stroked and twirled the long strands of hair that trailed limply across her back, waiting for Vala to speak again.
"The only thing that he didn't give me was the necklace that I wore last night, to go out with you." She wiped her nose again, and took a deep, shuddering breath. "Did you see it? It was a sort of greeny-blue stone on a silver chain."
Daniel nodded. "Yeah, I remember."
"My mother gave me that. It belonged to her. My real mother, not Adria." Vala shut the lid of the box and pushed it away from her. She leaned forward onto her hands, covering her face. Her shoulders shook slightly, before she managed to compose herself and sit up again. She looked bereft, and so heartbreakingly sad that Daniel couldn't help it – he drew her in against himself again, holding her tight.
"I lost it," Vala stated, finally. "After I came home last night. I had it on in the restaurant, but when I went to get ready for bed it was gone." She scrubbed ineffectually at her face with the sodden handkerchief. "It-it was the o-only thing that I had of h-her's."
Daniel slid one arm around her shoulders again and sat quietly with Vala close against his chest. To have lost such a precious thing would have caused woe in anyone's heart – for the ex-space pirate the grief was almost insurmountable.
After a while Daniel became aware that the heavy sniffing and nose wiping had tailed away. Vala lay still and heavy against him. He thought for a long time before he spoke, eventually querying "Are you still awake?"
"Mmm," came the very tired-sounding reply.
"I'm so sorry that you lost the necklace," Daniel said. He rubbed his hand gently up and down her arm. "I'm really and truly sorry that you lost such a precious beautiful thing. And I'm so sad that you don't have anything else of your mother's. I'm really sorry, Vala."
He cuddled her tightly, pausing.
"All I can tell you, is that you have my respect and admiration and friendship, which you've earned unreservedly over the years. You have the respect and admiration of every single person at the SGC. Mitchell and Sam and Teal'c and me – we all – we're all so proud of you." Daniel stuttered slightly. "We love you – you know that. We all love you."
Vala lifted her grubby, tear-stained face towards him which now also bore faint signs of hope. "Do you?" she asked huskily. "Do you all really love me?" Biting her lip, she watched him carefully.
"I – now wait a minute – yes, yes. Definitely yes – but as a team mate! A comrade. A friend. That's all." Daniel's cheeks were tinged with a faint pink hue now.
"But you love me a little bit? Just for being me?"
A beat. Two blue eyes locked onto the sweet, if soggy, face in front of him. Something jumped inside Daniel's chest. "I do," he whispered, very softly. "Just a little bit."
Vala's smile was electric – it spread across her face, as if someone had turned the sun on after a particularly rainy day. "Me too." She murmured. "Just a little bit."
Daniel hands trembling, stroked his finger down her face. A kiss would have followed, if the unscheduled wormhole alert hadn't gone off along the hallway.
Vala sighed. "Do we have to go and see who it is?"
"No." Shaking his head, Daniel climbed slowly to his feet, pulling her with him. "But you DO have to get into the shower if you want me to take you out for dinner tonight."
"Like a date?" Eyebrows raised, Vala smiled hopefully. "Because you feel sorry for me? Because I need cheering up?" Her grin wobbled just a little.
"Exactly like a date." Daniel opened the door. "But not because I feel sorry for you. Because I want to."
Vala clenched the screwed up handkerchief in her fist and twisted excitedly from side to side. "A real date? At last?"
Grinning, Daniel pinched her chin as he left. "A real date. But only if you're out of the shower inside of ten minutes!"
Vala ran for the showers as if the hounds of hell were at her heels, grabbing her towel and shower gel as she went.
Daniel shook his head, feeling surprisingly elated. He stood in the hallway, humming tunelessly and smiling lopsidedly to himself. He felt genuine sympathy for the alien, and the fact that she'd lost something so precious. A thought flashed into his mind – he yelled into the shower "Back in a minute!" and high tailed it off to his office.
o – o – o –
When Vala came out of the her room, clean and fresh, dressed in a long, figure hugging pink top and black jeans, she met Daniel, standing sheepishly in the corridor.
"Here." He hastily pushed a tiny gray box at her. "It was my mother's. Not the same I know, but – still a mother's."
Vala took the gift, unable to speak, and opened it. Inside was a small silver locket in the shape of a heart. Her eyes brimmed over again, at Daniel's thoughtful little act – hand shaking with emotion she lifted the necklace and, with his help, fastened it around her neck.
"It's perfect," Vala tried to say, but no words came out.
Daniel hugged her tightly. "It's yours," he told her. As am I, but he didn't say the last part out loud.
Vala scrubbed at her eyes and smiled. "Date time?" she asked.
"Definitely! I'm starving." Daniel took her hand and began leading her up the hallway. As they approached there was the sound of the elevator approaching, and the doors opened to reveal Mitchell.
"Hey! Just the people I was looking for." Frowning, he looked at Vala. "You okay, Princess?"
Her smile was huge and dazzling. "Yes thank you, darling."
"Good, good." Mildly puzzled, their CO turned to Daniel. "I found this in your car Jackson, meant to bring it back earlier," and he held out his right hand. Laying on the palm was a broken silver chain, still attached to a small, perfectly round, green/blue stone.
"Oh – oh – my – I don't know!" squeaked Vala, and threw herself into Mitchell's arms. "Oh, Cameron, darling – thank you, thank you!" She took the little chain and pendant and kissed it softly. Her eyes were huge and sparkling - startled, happy tears glittering on her lashes.
"You're welcome." Her CO blushed faintly and looked bemusedly at Daniel, who was shaking his head in disbelief.
"Mitchell, could you not have brought that necklace back about three hours ago?!"
"Er – I was kinda busy." The Colonel rubbed his neck embarrassedly. "Probably should have called to tell you I found it though, huh?"
"Oh, it doesn't matter!" Vala was ecstatic. "It only matters that you found it." She went to kiss Mitchell again.
He backed off hastily, hands raised protectively. "Enough of that, Princess!"
Smiling widely, Vala dashed back into her room and placed the necklace carefully in the little wooden box, tucking it back under the bed. When she returned she glanced almost shyly at Daniel. "Do you still want to go for dinner?"
Uncaring of his CO, Daniel pulled Vala close and wrapped his arms around her. "Yes." His own smile was dear and genuine. "I most definitely do."
"Er …" Mitchell began to back off. "Okay, you guys, I'll er – I'll see you in the morning." He had his back pressed against the elevator door by now.
"Yup," Daniel flashed a grin at him.
Vala was too busy snuggling in close to Daniel to pay any attention to Mitchell whatsoever.
- o - o - o - o - o - o -
The last thing that the Colonel saw as the elevator doors shut was Jackson and Vala undoubtedly zooming in for one helluva giant lip lock. Right there, in the middle of the corridor!
Mitchell grinned. Lucky thing he'd gone to the bookmakers' earlier for Walter, to lay those new bets down. If the CCTV feed showed him tomorrow what he thought it would, he was going to make himself a nice little earner, courtesy of the archaeologist and his girlfriend!
THE END
Thanks for reading xx