Title - Meeting Vala, again.
Rating - G
Characters - Jonas Quinn, Team!SG1
Summary - Jonas met Vala once, a long time ago. Their second meeting comes as a bit of a shock.
A/N - prompt given by latin_lunatic
Jonas - (gets scammed by) - meets Vala.
(didn't mean for this to turn out quite as serious as it did - but I hope people still enjoy)
written for the 'Lets blow Something Up' Big Bang Challenge for stargateland at livejournal
Jonas Quinn had always liked meeting people, and his short tenure on Earth as part of the SGC had opened up a universe of opportunity for new cultures and ideas. So when Vala Mal Doran walked into his life, months after he'd left the SGC, like everything else, he welcomed her with an open mind and apt attention.
She was fun, exciting and yes he knew it, a little bit dangerous. There was something underlying in her, a mischief in her eyes. Jonas knew, deep down it wasn't going to end well, but he couldn't help but be drawn to this magnetic woman.
So when she disappeared with precious resources the planet could ill afford and threw a spanner into the works concerning the politics his world were trying to somehow balance out, he wasn't surprised. He was hurt, but not surprised. And he hoped he'd never run into the woman again. But like everything else in his life, fate took a hand and he wasn't in control of his own destiny.
When the Ori came and invaded their world, spreading their poison and taking over the people, Jonas and a lucky few managed to escape. In an effort to outrun the spreading Ori manipulation, they gated from world to world, fugitives in hiding. He didn't risk contacting Earth - who knew how deep the Ori network had become.
It was three weary years later when news of the Ori defeat reached them. They'd settled on some remote planet on the edge of the Stargate network, a planet Jonas had noted in his time at the SGC. Knowledge settled into his head, compartmentalized until he needed to draw on its usefulness. Had it not been for some stealth and recon, they may not have found out for a much longer time that the Ori had been defeated by none other than Earth and SG1. Jonas felt a swell of pride at the idea when he heard the news, like somehow, though it had been a long time ago, that he was still part of the SGC.
He made contact not long after - having kept a dial in code safe and hidden away. He doubted the code was still in use but it helped in the first tenuous steps of contact. He sent through a signal, hoped Sam would understand; of course she would. When the wormhole re-engaged, the small recon team he'd set up hid on the edge of the treeline, fearful. But Jonas stood his ground, waiting, watching for the team to arrive. A man stepped through first that he didn't know or recognise from his time at the SGC, then the familiar form of Samantha behind him. Her face lit up, Jonas imagined, like his did.
The Colonel (Jonas noted from the uniform) gave him a sharp cool stare but Sam walked past him, steady in her gait, directly for him. Jonas didn't look at the rest of the team coming through, just walked straight for her, like he'd been waiting for the moment for too long. They didn't speak. Sam paused for a mere moment i front of him before pulling him into an embrace and Jonas hugged her back with something akin to a bear crush. He didn't care, three years of hiding and sagging hope and there they were, found again.
"I thought," Sam whispered to him, unable to get the words out, but Jonas knew the meaning. Thought they'd been lost, news of the Ori take over on his planet must have reached them.
Sam pulled back and gave him a watery smile, not even trying to hold back the tears in her eyes. Sometimes she didn't have to remain so closed off, not for him, this was too personal a moment to be bound by rules of conduct. Jonas pulled back but not too far, like she was a lifeline to something precious.
"Jonas Quinn, it is good to see you," Teal'c said, walking up to him and holding out a hand.
Jonas grabbed the held out hand in a strong grip, giving Teal'c a wide grin, equally pleased to see the man.
"Jonas, we thought, with the Ori invasion," Daniel joined the three and shook Jonas' hand as well. "Word was your planet had been taken over."
"It was, we, a few of us, managed to escape, somehow." Jonas explained, trying not to think back on the memories. They'd barely escaped with their lives and many of their party hadn't made it.
He motioned to the treeline where a tentative few stepped forward once they realised there was no hostility. The Colonel with them raised his gun warily as well as someone else with them, a woman. Jonas looked over at the two of them, memory flashing like a photograph being taken when he set eyes on Vala.
"Oh," Sam said, catching him looking and making introductions. "Jonas, this is Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Cam this is Jonas Quinn. He was part of SG1 a few years back, for a time at least."
Cameron gave him a cool look and nodded his head. "Quinn."
"Colonel," Jonas returned the greeting with a smile.
"And this is Vala Mal Doran," Sam waved a hand towards the woman.
Jonas already knew who she was, remembered as soon as he'd taken a closer look at her. The woman who'd nearly brought them to political war before the Ori had changed their world forever - and running off with years worth of resource they barely had recovered from. And now she was accompanying SG1 on their missions. He gave her a wry smile and wondered if she remembered him. Evidently she didn't because she stepped forward with a beaming smile of energy and shook his hand cordially like it was expected of her.
"Hi," she said still smiling, shaking his arm until he felt like it was about to be wrenched off.
Jonas wasn't sure what to say, only stared open mouthed in surprise. She either didn't remember or was equally well aware of who he was but didn't want the team to know who she was. Unfortunately her arrival had already been noted by members of his group who'd approached slowly. Merrin, who'd always had a quick temper and equally caustic tongue crashed forward into the middle of the group and grabbed Vala by the arm, bringing her square up to face him before anyone had a chance to stop him.
"You!" he said and Jonas saw a flash of worry in Vala's eyes before it was replaced with an equal fiery temperament.
"Do we know each other?" She asked as the team rallied round her, the Colonel putting his gun up to Merrin.
"Back off," he said, low even tone, from someone who always expected to be obeyed.
"Merrin," Jonas said warningly, casting Sam an apologetic shrug. Too much to explain and not exactly the right time.
"Do we know each other?" Merrin spat out with a hollow laugh. "You damn near destroyed our livelihoods with your lies, got us to trust you then disappeared with a hoard load of our resources. Resources we couldn't afford to lose and you stand there wondering if we know each other."
Vala looked shocked, but within a haze of recognition. Jonas watched it wash over her like the memory suddenly rushing into her mind and reminding her just who they were. She dragged her eyes from Merrin to Jonas who swallowed down hard. There'd been too much that had gone on since then and now, he wasn't bitter any more. His war had been against the Ori and with them now destroyed it was time to rebuild. Their past would have to remain there, Merrin just needed to calm down and remember it was all about the future now.
"Merrin let her go," Jonas told him, hand on his friends shoulder. "It doesn't matter now, none of that matters."
"What she did," Merrin said, dropping his arm but not his stance.
"I'm sorry," Vala said sincerely, looking like she couldn't apologise enough. "Things were different then. I was different."
"We all were," Jonas said with a shrug. "But what you did, at the time - it wasn't the easiest of things to recover from."
From her apology he knew she was different - in a small way. Back then the woman he'd known, even for a short time, certainly wouldn't have apologised for her actions. She'd been intent on her purpose from the beginning, though it was only in hindsight Jonas had realised that.
"Would someone care to fill us in?" Daniel asked trying to diffuse the situation further. Jonas didn't think bringing up his past altercation with Vala would diffuse anything and so shook his head. He thought maybe she looked grateful of that.
"It's nothing, though Merrin is correct, we've met before," Jonas answered evasively before he held out a hand to Vala. "I hope our acquaintance this time doesn't end so - sourly."
Vala took the outstretched hand willingly, looking apologetic, thankful. A smile stretched into her mouth, wide and happy in a way that Jonas hadn't ever seen, not really. This smile reached her eyes and lit up her whole face without looking like a mask, hiding something underneath. He gave a smile of his own and stepped back, inviting the team to come to the camp so they could start making plans, Sam assuring him they'd be welcome at the SGC until they could find a more suitable planet to habituate.
Jonas was happy - he was going home.
~fin~