Note: Came out of nowhere and I knew I wouldn't sleep without typing it up. First SG fic for me. Also first time I've just posted without re-reading and re-writing a couple hundred times. That could be because it's 2:30 in the morning and I want to sleep, though. Set maybe 6 or 7 years in. May eventually become part of a collection of Unending one-shot scenes. We'll see about that so for now I'm calling it complete.
Spoiler Warning: Again, this is set during Unending so definite spoilers for that episode.
Disclaimer: You all know the characters aren't mine.
Our Life If
Vala awoke from her slumber and instinctively reached a hand out only to find the familiar warmth and comfort of Daniel's body in their bed strangely absent. Opening her eyes she looked around, adjusting to the dark and seeing his form outlined against the window.
"Hey?" Her voice asked quietly. He didn't turn but leaned his head down and to the side toward her.
"Hey." Silence filled the room and he looked back out through the window at the never-ending space. He heard her rise from the bed and then her soft footfalls padded on the floor. She pushed her arms through a light robe and wrapped it around her as she made her way towards him. She stopped behind him and laid her head against his bare back.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked, her voice slow with the remnants of sleep. He paused, but she knew it wasn't from any hesitance to tell her what kept him awake. It was just his way. He would talk when he was ready and she had learned to wait.
"What our life would be like, if we weren't on this ship." She wasn't surprised that he had said "our life" and not "our lives." They had both come to think of their lives as so intertwined that they were really one.
They were silent for another moment and she moved around to stand in front of him, her head never breaking contact with his skin – strangely warm for all that he had probably been standing here for some time. He brushed her hair back and kissed her brow before resting his head on hers.
"And what would it be like?" She said at last.
"You sure you want to hear? It's depressing."
"Mm," she acknowledged. "But tell me anyway." The silence stretched on for long moments before he spoke again, slowly.
"Little house in the mountains. Nice big yard. Maybe a dog running around. Couple kids." He said the last quietly, barely above a whisper. She paused before replying.
"You're right. That is depressing." She said quietly, taking his hands lightly in hers at their sides, and he knew she understood. They, all of them, had long since stopped counting the time in months. It was now years, and though they never said it, the prospect of life off of the ship was fading further from reality.
Vala pulled back just enough to look up at him. "They'd be beautiful children." The corners of Daniel's mouth turned up ever so slightly. "Blue-eyed, like their father. And intelligent."
"Clever, like their mother."
"They'd love learning, like their father."
"They'd love life, like their mother." A long silence followed his words before she stepped back, lightly tugging on his hands.
"Come back to bed, Daniel." She unwrapped the robe as she moved away from him, slipping once again between the covers. With one last look out at space, he followed.