Nick: Just another little ficlet having to do with Momento Mori. A quick bit of character study into why Vala made her decision to stop running. Song lyrics at the end taken from the song "Feels Like Home" by Chantal Kreviazuk.
Disclaimer: I'm not that crazy. I'm only this crazy. That? That's all them.
Rating: K
You made a decision to stop running…
Those words shocked something loose in my mind. Something that had been buried for the last three weeks awoke with a bright burst of light. My head spun with the sudden onslaught of what I assumed to be memories that I'd last. After a moment, I started to recognize them and place them where they ought to go. I'd stolen things, cheated people and always gotten away in the nick of time. And then I'd run and hid, instead of facing it. All of my life, spent running away, looking over my shoulder. I had spent so many years running away that I'd forgotten what it was like to actually be going somewhere.
And then he came along. The first thing I remember specifically about him was the way he looked when he smiled. My heart was filled to bursting with such a feeling of joy to remember what that beautiful smile looked like when it was directed at me. The elation curdled and mixed in with the turmoil of confusion and fear that rolled around in my gut and the tears started up again, faster and harder than I could handle. I looked at him, horrified to realize that I was pointing a weapon at his chest—that I was trying to run away from him. The gun got heavy and hot in my hand and I could barely hold it up anymore. I had to ask myself why I was still trying, what was that nagging part of me that just had to get out, get away, be safe.
He was safe.
My lungs shoved out a heavy breath of air, releasing a massive amount of the emotional agony that was plaguing me in the form of his name. "Daniel!"
Suddenly, he tugged the gun out of my hand and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his warm embrace. It hit me then, why I had made that decision—why I didn't need to run anymore. There was nowhere else to go. Outside of this man's arms, there really was no place I would prefer to be. I had spent my life deluded into thinking that I was comfortable with living on the run, when all along I was just looking for this. This was safe, warm and soothing. I didn't have to hide or worry about dangerous men with dangerous weapons. From the moment I met Daniel Jackson, I had found my place. In this man's arms, I was where I belonged. I was home.
It feels like home to me
It feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back
Where I belong