A/N: This is my first ever SG1 fic, or even just my first Stargate fic ! I thought of this one in the shower, and had to write it down straight away. Hope you enjoy ! (Does anyone even still read SG fanfiction or is it just me ?)
From the darkness of the prison cell they were occupying, Daniel and Vala contemplated how on Earth they arrived in this situation. It wasn't really their fault, they were just on a regular recon mission to P3X747. The MALP and UAV had determined that there were no obvious signs of civilisation within 2 days walk of the Gate, so their first night on the planet they'd split up into 2 tents for the night. Since Sam was back home working on a side project with Dr Lee, Vala had been shoved on Daniel by Mitchell and Teal'c, who had bagsyied a tent together before Daniel could even protest.
Unfortunately for the pair, a group of travellers had happened across their camp site deep into the night. When the team had woken up and exited their tents, the travellers had quickly questioned them about Daniel and Vala's "marital status", as it was illegal on the planet, which they learned was called Senock, for an unmarried woman to be alone with any man. Daniel explained that they were not from Senock and therefore hadn't known, and that they would of course uphold the law whilst they were there. And the matter was resolved, as far as they were aware. Which is why they were more than surprised when they arrived to the town of Pollot, they were immediately apprehended and chucked in prison. As it turns out, it's not just illegal but punishable by death by hanging.
They were allowed one visit before their hanging, during which Mitchell had informed them that negotiations between them and the townspeople for their release had broken down but he reassured them that they had sent for reinforcements from the SGC. This thought didn't exactly fill Daniel and Vala with hope, as they would take at least two days to get there and their execution was to be at noon.
With only half an hour to go before their impending doom, Vala started to freak out. She broke the silence between them by blurting out: "I don't want to die, Daniel"
"Does anyone?" he answered flatly.
"Don't patronise me, aren't you terrified of the unbearable pain and inevitable ending of everything?"
"Not really."
"But..." She started, but she was cut off.
"Vala, I have died so many times, on so many different occasions that it's taken all the thrill out of it for me, so to speak. I've been shot by a staff blast at least twice, stabbed, poisoned by radiation, and even crushed by rocks. I've also come so close to the point of death so much that pain has become a permanent feature of my life. So no, excuse me if I'm not as excited by this as you are. Although at least I can add hanging to my ever growing list of things I never want to do again."
Vala was stunned. She'd known that Daniel had died before, Jack, Sam, Teal'c and even Daniel himself had made jokes about it. It had become a running joke at Stargate Command. She'd never realised however how affected he'd been by it all, he seemed so cavalier whenever he mentioned it.
"I'm sorry, I hadn't really thought of that side of things for you."
"Yeah well, bit late to be worrying about it now, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically, shaking his hands making the shackles attached to his hands jangle.
A few minutes passed by in silence, before Vala broke it once again:
"Daniel, for fear of never being able to tell you, I have something to say" she said, looking anywhere but at Daniel's face. Daniel recognised the seriousness in her tone of voice, heard but a few times in all the time he'd known her, but very real all the same.
"What is it ?" he asked.
"It was never about Merlin's treasure." She said simply, leaving Daniel confused.
"What are you on about?"
"When I came to the SGC for the first time, it wasn't really because of the possibility of finding gold and jewels, although I must admit it was enticing. It was always to see you again."
The few seconds of silence was enough to force her head around to look at him. The smile on his face befuddled her.
"Mitchell is right, you are a princess. The princess of Bad Timing !" He laughed.
"Well, it's amazing how the certainty of imminent death dissolves one's fear of rejection, darling." she cautiously choked out.
"Well," he started "since we're on the topic of deathbed confessions, I have something to admit too. When you were captured by Athena and disappeared, I lost myself. I hardly ate, hardly slept, all my efforts were concentrated on finding you. I just couldn't bear the thought of losing you. Of losing someone else I care for. When we eventually found you, and you looked at me with those eyes, as if I were a stranger, it broke me. Thank the gods you did remember, or I don't know what I would've done."
Unlike Vala, Daniel kept eye contact with her the entire time. She smiled brighter and wider than he'd ever seen before, and she reached her hand out as far as the shackles that bound it would allow. He reached out his own to meet hers, and their fingers entwined. At that moment, The guard that had been standing outside their cell door entered, grabbing Daniel's arm and unlocking his shackles, and yanking up and towards the door.
"Daniel!" Vala cried, as their hands were ripped apart. She needn't have worried though, since as soon as Daniel was dragged through the door another guard enters and she is also removed from the dank prison cell.
They were blindfolded and escorted from the prison to the public square, where in the centre there were an ominous set of gallows, with a crowd surrounding them, waiting for the show. They were pushed onto the "stage" as it were, and onto stools. As the nooses were placed around their necks, Daniel whispered to Vala to get her attention.
"Hey, you know what they say, till death do us part and all that" he joked. She could only smile at the inappropriate joke, her eyes beginning to overflow with tears.
A booming voice rang in their ears: "These … travellers have disobeyed the laws of the planet, specifically the most important law of this here land: no unmarried man and woman shall be left alone with one another, lest they be killed for their indecency. It is therefore my duty as Mayor of this town to charge them with indecency, which is punishable by hanging. Guards, the time is now."
Daniel and Vala both closed their eyes tightly, preparing for the pain. The guards kicked the stools out from under their feet and the nooses constricted around their throats. They struggled but it was in vain, there was nothing they could do. Suddenly, a series of gunshots rang out across the square. Vala fell to the floor as the rope holding her broke. She gasped for air and took the rope from round her neck and the blindfold from her eyes. She looked around and saw the guards on the floor, shot in the chests. He eyes then shot to Daniel, still held by the rope to the beam, his face turning blue and his arms limp at his side. She shot up, grabbing onto his legs and attempting to lift him upwards.
"Come on Daniel, don't die on me yet, lets keep that tally in the single digits." She pleaded as her arms started to ache. Luckily Mitchell appeared onto the stage, gun poised to shoot any potential attacks. Once he assessed to lack of threats he ran over to the pair, pulling the noose over Daniel's head and helping Vala lay him onto the floor.
"Dammit Jackson, now is not the time !" Cameron yelled. "We sort of pissed off the townspeople and we gotta get out of here ASAP !"
Only then did Vala hear the continuing gunfire and realise the danger that still surrounded them. She hovered her hand over his mouth and placed her head on his chest.
"He still has a heartbeat but he's not breathing" she said to Cam. She promptly pinched Daniel's nose and leaned down to blow air into his lungs. It only took two or three breaths before He coughed, sputtered and spasmed his way back to the world of the conscious.
"Urgh, thank the Gods !" Vala sighed.
"Glad to see you alive Jackson, but there's no time to just lay about, we gotta go !" Cam exclaimed and slid his arm behind Daniel's shoulders in order to help him stand. The trio made their way to a Jeep that neither Vala nor Daniel had noticed before, what with the whole almost dying. They jumped in and the car sped away before they could even shut the door. Vala watched as they got further and further away from the town, then turned to check on her Daniel. He was lying across the back seat where he's been thrown in by Cameron, who had moved into the front of the car. He seemed a bit breathless, with a fair bruise across his throat, but otherwise intact.
"Nice timing Mitchell" he croaked out, voice hoarse.
"Yeah sorry about that, I was waiting for reinforcements" Mitchell replied.
"Where did the cars come from?" Vala asked, unconsciously pulling Daniel's head into her lap and stoking his hair.
"Through the Gate, when we informed the General about the whole … misunderstanding, he declared it an emergency and sent them through along with SGs 2,3 and 7. They were the only ones free." The colonel explained.
"And where's Teal'c ?" She asked.
"He's back in another car, with the other SG teams. He was providing us with cover whilst he made a quick getaway." Cam answered.
Vala leaned back against the seat relishing in the fact that they were still alive as Cam turned back around towards the front of the vehicle to talk to the driver, a major from SG3. After a while she glanced at Daniel to find him eyes closed, breathing deep, apparently asleep. She took the opportunity to lean down and press a sweet kiss on his forehead. She was sure that he had only said what he did to appease her, to make her happy before she died. There was no way he could actually love her the way he said he did.
As she leant back he opened his eyes, and as if reading her mind he said, eyes gleaming :
" I meant it all, you know."
" Whatever do you mean darling?" Vala feigned ignorance, not willing to believe him just yet.
"What we talked about before we were dragged to our doom" He answered. "I meant every word of it" He stared up at her with a sincere smile on his face, and she couldn't help but smile back down at him. With as much force as his oxygen deprived muscles would allow, Daniel lifted himself up enough to lightly press his lips to hers. With a breathless sigh, the dark haired woman deepened the kiss and placed her hands on either side of her Daniel's head. Together they moved and the world around them just disappeared.
Mitchell glanced back from his front seat at the pair, love struck idiots who'd only just figured out their feelings. Of course it would take almost dying for them to finally come to their senses, he thought. He wasn't as oblivious as everyone thought, and as he turned back to face frontwards, he rolled his eyes at the driver, who also looked amused. This was going to make for an interesting mission report.