Daniel let the familiar feeling of the asguard beaming technology flow over him as he was beamed from the Odyssey into the city of Atlantis

Daniel let the familiar feeling of the asguard beaming technology flow over him as he was beamed from the Odyssey into the city of Atlantis.

Finally, after years of failed attempts to get here, Daniel was at last in the Pegasus Galaxy with no pressing mission or the future of Earth or the Milky Way Galaxy hanging over his head. He was there simply to explore the wonders of the Lost City of the Ancients and catch up with Sam, and he couldn't be happier.

The Atlantis gateroom suddenly materialized around him as he and the small crew of people, along with the supplies for Atlantis, were beamed in, and some of Atlantis's military personnel came forward to start sorting and putting away the supplies with a practiced efficiency.

"Doctor Jackson!" John Sheppard came forward to greet him with a grin and a outstretched hand. "Welcome back to Atlantis."

Daniel shook the hand and couldn't resist the smile of his own. "Great to be here without the threat of impending doom."

"Yeah, that always makes for a better vacation." Sheppard agreed.

Daniel was scanning the visible area for any sign of Sam, eager to see his friend after almost a year of being in different galaxies, when Sheppard seemed to read his mind. "Colonel Carter says to tell you that she wanted to be here to greet you herself, but something came up with one of our off-world teams and she's in a briefing right now."

As Daniel nodded in acknowledgment of the statement, Sheppard looked over the handful of people that had come with Daniel. "So, where's the princess? Take off on you already?"

Daniel brow crinkled in confusion. "Who?"

Before Sheppard could answer, Rodney McKay entered the gateroom, calling for the Colonel so he could show him something. He stopped as he entered, looking momentarily confused at all the activity before he remembered about the Odyssey arriving today.

"Oh, right…Sheppard, I think we need to check out this planet, see these readings, and…oh, hi, Doctor Jackson." Rodney waved to Daniel in what apparently was supposed to be a greeting before turning back to John. "I think…"

He abruptly stopped and spun to look at Daniel in something akin to horror. "You arrived today? I forgot that you were on this trip!…do not let her anywhere near my lab until I secure it!" Rodney turned and started to hurry out of the room.

Daniel stood there in shock, then shook his head swiftly to try and clear it. "What?!"

McKay heard him despite being almost to the door, and called over his shoulder, "She almost blew up a whole section of the city last time, remember? You really want that to happen again?" He looked over his shoulder to say the last part, but then stopped, eyes taking in the room. "Where is she?" His eyes took on a slightly panicked look. "Don't tell me she's gone off to destroy my lab already!"

"Who?" Daniel asked, now slightly frustrated. Then McKay's words sunk in, and Daniel remembered McKay yelling for an extended period of time at a certain ex-space pirate last time when they'd been there for apparently touching something that set off a sequence that could have been explosive if Rodney hadn't found it in time. He also remembered Sheppard picking up Mitchell's nickname for her as well, which explained who Sheppard had been talking about.

Daniel frowned, looking between them. "You mean Vala?"

McKay gave him the look he reserved for those that didn't pick up on what he perceived to be painfully obvious. "What other brainless idiot has almost blown up my lab after I specifically told them not to touch anything?"

Daniel bristled slightly at the swipe at Vala, stopping himself at making the automatic rather childish retort that she was not a brainless idiot and reminding himself that this was Rodney McKay, who was famous for such remarks about almost everyone.

Instead he asked, still frowning in confusion, "She's not here. Why, were you told she was coming with me?"

McKay's look changed from the panic to slight embarrassment. He and Sheppard exchanged a look before John answered,

"Not exactly…we just…"

"You know…" Rodney picked up the sentence, waving a hand vaguely in the air, "sorta thought that if you were coming, that meant…" he shrugged.

Daniel blinked, clearly not understanding what was going on. Luckily, they were all saved from the situation when Sam appeared, hurrying over to where her long-time friend stood.

"Daniel!" She gave him a hug which he eagerly returned. "Welcome to Atlantis!"

A large smile lit Daniel's face as they pulled apart. "Hey, Sam. Long Time, No See."

Sam laughed. "Way too long." She agreed.

The gateroom was slowly emptying as the personnel finished with moving the supplies. Sheppard and McKay, glad for a chance to leave the somewhat awkward situation, made their exits with flimsy excuses.

Sam lead Daniel to the commissary after a brief stop in what would be Daniel's temporary quarters for the two weeks he would be staying to drop of his things.

"So, how's being in command treating you?" Daniel stirred cream into his coffee while Sam did the same with sugar in hers.

Sam smiled. "Different, but good. A little daunting at times, but…"

Daniel gave a small laugh. "I can imagine. Being responsible for all this…" he waved around them. "It's a big job."

"It is that." She agreed, taking a sip of her coffee. "But I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it."

Daniel raised his own cup to his lips. Then he frowned as he remembered his conversation with John and Rodney in the gateroom. "Sam, did you think Vala was coming for some reason?"

Both of Sam's eyebrows rose. "No. Just you. Why?"

Daniel shook his head as he put his cup down. "I'm not sure. Sheppard and McKay seemed to assume that she was coming with me. McKay about had a panic attack thinking Vala was going to try and blow up his lab again."

Sam laughed. "That would have been something to see. Rodney always puts on a show when he gets worked up."

Daniel smiled in agreement…it would have been funny if he wasn't so confused. "I'm just trying to figure out why they thought she was on the Odyssey."

"Isn't it obvious?" When Daniel just continued to look at her blankly, Sam lowered her cup to the table to look at him in amusement. "You really have no idea, do you?"

Daniel looked at her curiously. "About what?"

"Daniel…" Sam shook her head, then said after a pause, "when was the last time you went anywhere without Vala tagging along? I mean more than just to your apartment for the night? Or Vala without you, for that matter." Daniel immediately opened his mouth to speak, and Sam put up a finger to stop him. "Voluntarily. Getting captured or kidnapped against your will doesn't count."

Daniel's mouth snapped shut, then opened again, then shut once more as he thought and tried to come up with such a time.

Sam hid her smirk but taking another sip of coffee as Daniel struggled to think of something to refute her statement. Finally, rather lamely, he said, "I went to Camelot and then England without her when we were searching for Merlin's weapon."

Sam nodded. "Okay. But that wasn't completely your choice to go, either. You had to. And it was almost two years ago." She lifted the coffee cup to her lips once more. "Anything else?"

Daniel shot her an annoyed look but none the less went back into thought, staring off at the wall of the mess as he went through his memories of the past couple years.

Finally, unable to come up with anything else, he sighed. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that they assumed Vala would be with you simply because she always is." Sam shrugged. "Just a fact. I thought she probably would be, too, until I got the list of personnel that were coming. If I wasn't the leader of the expedition and hadn't gotten that list, I probably would have assumed the same as them."

"But-but" Stuttering slightly, Daniel, for all his languages, seemed to be having a hard time coming up with words. "It's not like we're attached at the hip or anything. And in the beginning we were connected by those stupid bracelets!"

Sam shrugged and said casually, "I don't seem to recall any bracelets once she returned from the Ori galaxy."

"That's not the point! And anyway," He motioned around himself dramatically as he said sarcastically, "I seem to be here, a whole galaxy away from her, and doing just fine."

"I didn't say it was necessarily a bad thing, Daniel, just that it was a fact." Sam couldn't help the laugh at his defensiveness. "And to look at it from John and Rodney's point of view, the last time you were here when we all came to dial into the Supergate, the two of you did stick together 99 of the time."

"Someone had to keep an eye on her, she hadn't been with us all that long and…" When Sam just raised an eyebrow at him a la Teal'c, Daniel picked up his cup, sighed, and muttered, "All of you have gone wonko."

Daniel froze with his cup halfway to his mouth as he realized the very Vala word he'd just used. Sam had to struggle not to burst out laughing as a look of pure 'I-did-not-just-say-that' crossed his face.

He groaned and dropped his head to bury it in his arm on the table.

Sam smirked and decided not to point out to Daniel that that move was also very reminiscent of the woman he was trying to argue about.

Daniel mumbled something into his arm that Sam couldn't make out, so she asked, "What?"

This time it was louder, though still muffled though his arm. "I have a confession to make."

Now Sam was intrigued. "And that would be…"

Daniel tilted his head to look up at her rather sheepishly. "Vala was going to come with me. She would have, except that she somehow caught the measles about a week before we were supposed to take off, so she was still under quarantine and Doctor Lam wouldn't let her leave."

Sam didn't try to stop the laughter this time. "I rest my case!" She managed between laughs. "And you wonder why they thought she was coming."

Daniel sighed as he pulled himself back to a full sitting position in his chair. "I suppose there's no point in continuing to try and argue my point after admitting that fact, is there?"

"Nope." Sam tried to calm the shaking that was coming with her now-silent laughter. "You just out-argued yourself. Only you could pull that off, Daniel."

Daniel just shook his head and without a word moved to get the coffee pot to refill their cups, effectively avoiding having to reply.

When he returned to the table, Sam took pity on him by changing the subject slightly. "I guess we always took it for granted she had the same immunities we did…I take it where she grew up they didn't have vaccinations?"

"Nope." Daniel confirmed, retaking his seat. "At least not for measles. Vala had never heard of the disease before."

Sam assumed that Daniel wouldn't have left if Vala was seriously ill, and therefore assumed that Vala was going to be okay, but she asked anyway since measles could occasionally be serious. "She's alright, isn't she?"

Daniel nodded. "Yeah…felt pretty rotten for a couple days, but she was feeling almost completely better by the time I left." Then he smirked. "The rash hadn't gone away yet, though, and she was still complaining about it…actually that's been her chief complaint through it all, fretting about how she looks with the rash. She didn't seem very confident in Doctor Lam's assurances that it would go away."

Sam smiled at the thought of Vala fussing about her rash. "I can see that." Then, glancing at her watch, she pushed her cup away and sighed regretfully. "Well, I suppose I better get back to work. Atlantis doesn't run itself." She reached across and squeezed Daniel's hand as she stood. "Great to have you here, Daniel. Catch you later?"

"Definitely." Daniel agreed. "Find me when you're done for the day. I'm just going to take a look around."

"Sure." With a final smile, Sam headed out of the commissary. Daniel took a moment to appreciate the fact that he was finally here, in Atlantis, before thinking on where to start. And when he found himself automatically thinking of places he knew both he and Vala would like to see and separating them from what would only be of interest to him, Daniel just sighed. He might as well face the fact that he was doomed.