Funeral of Hearts

Romance and Adventure

Rated T

English

Daniel & Vala

Chapter One

It always seemed to rain at funerals, Daniel Jackson knew this only all too well. Daniel couldn't even recognise the majority of the faces in the crowd gathered around the graveside and the churned up piles of earth upon the muddy grass either side of the coffin that was being lowered into the ground. The casket, the wood a sleek, dark brown which in the cloudy overcast sky, filled with perspiration, cast a shadow down over the casket making it appear a blackened wood. The silver handles glinted in the poor light which also caught the engraving on the flat face of the casket. Vala Mal Doran.

"Liar, deceiver, thief, saviour – these are but a few words to describe Ms Mal Doran before she came to the place she has come to know as her home she has known for all this time. Unfortunately, her soul has passed on and-" The priest droned on at his side, he wasn't even listening.

He wasn't even sure she was even religious. But he was sure the coffin going into the ground was empty, the coffin underneath the rose and soil that Sam at his right side has just thrown onto its surface, obscuring the silver plaque from view. She sniffled quietly and wiped at her eyes with her hand before hanging onto Jack's arm on her right hand side. Opposite to him was Teal'c with a bowler hat on matching his black suit next to Cameron Mitchell, wearing a suit as dark as his grim expression.

They hadn't been able to bring home a body. They couldn't get in contact with her after going off-world and obviously the IOA and their weasel had sniffed out any negatives thereby persuading the General to mark her down as missing in action; the fact she was dead was much easier on their minds as she knew information on Earth and inside information of Stargate Command. If she had died, the information in the possession would lie with her. They had chosen the same graveyard the SGC used for soldiers whom had fallen in battle. When pointed out as to who was the next of kin, Daniel was the one on the end of the metaphorical finger after being called her boyfriend on numerous occasions. Suits with no name, using only titles and numbers for names had approached him coming from the mess hall back to work. Right there and then they had told him they were giving up their search.

Vala Mal Doran had been off world, on word the village she grew up in was under threat. Naturally, she had gone in search of more information without anybody's word. Although, Daniel had offered to go with her. That had been given approval from the General, yet she had gone and dialled the gate herself without so much as a goodbye. She had taken a P-90, side-arm and zat gun along with her backpack of supplies and items in her black BDUs as the CCTV cameras told the story of how she got out; first when the gate room technicians were on coffee break early in the morning then beginning the dialling programme before locking the door behind her with a zat gun shot to the lock – the was on the Stargate runway and through the iris in seconds. It was after a silent conversation on his behalf and a beer later when he let it all sink in. That was when the funeral arrangements had begun and when he realised he would never see her again.

"She would have liked today. The flowers, the speeches... us." Samantha Carter mutters at his side. She glanced at him sidewards before moving in front of him. "Come back to us, Daniel. We miss you." Sam smiles slightly and sniffs again.

"I can't. I need time." He looked down at his hands, avoiding her gaze. Avoiding them all since his letter of resignation. Teal'c had been musing in his own personal way as to how this future was different from the one he kept secret from them all after the events that had taken place on the Odyssey. It was possible they, Daniel and Vala had a relationship on-board. Such a pity they never could, now in this reality.

"I know nothing I say will help, only time will. We're here if you need us, you know that." Sam tried to find his gaze, though he was giving nothing away.

"Thank you." No emotion graced his features when she answered him.

"No problem, we'll be there, whenever you're ready." Sam linked her arm through his and kissed him lightly on the cheek before moving back to O'Neill. Teal'c merely bowed when moving away from her graveside. A single show of lament; no more would he be flirtatiously be called 'muscles' to his face.

Laying the bouquet of fresh red roses by her grave stone as well as throwing in a handful of soil upon her grave. The colourful flowers, momentarily forgotten, now being beaten slightly by the pouring rain. After that, he too, moved away.

There was a bench underneath an old oak tree that overlooked the grave yard, the silence was punctuated a few times by the birds in the trees and the odd guest leaving in cars. A tall wall with a black iron gate was at the end of the grassy area. The black cars that drove them all there were still waiting to take them back. The speech and poems long since ended. He wasn't even paying attention so he didn't know when he had stopped reading. He saw that Jack and Sam were at the end of the long path that ran from where he was seated on the bench until it ended at the metal gate, Daniel rested his eyes for a few moments.

"My Daniel." Her voice wisps over to his ears and he clears his throat before looking up. His head, at some point had lolled to one side. Falling asleep at a funeral was considered impolite.

Rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand, he saw someone who shouldn't be at this funeral. Seeing at it was hers. "Vala?"

"That's me." She smiled, it would have made him feel better about himself if it wasn't for the confusion wrapping itself around his brain and tongue. Her hair was in its usual wild curled state, stopping just below her shoulders. Not wounds or violence could be seen on her pale flesh, or make up for that matter. Vala's appearance drew his attention further as her movements were like smoke. She drifted towards him, her long, thin dress like a shroud on her small frame. It suited her. Suited the occasion furthermore. "How do I look?" She asked as if she could read his mind.

"Beautiful." The words were forced from his mouth before he had chance to think. "How are you here, how-" Daniel tried to get up, to touch her but Vala outstretched a hand and gestured him to stay still.

Vala floated towards him, her movements causing no sound. "I'm in your mind. This isn't real, you're dreaming, my dear." To further her point, she settled herself on his lap. Of course she had to, like many a time. She was always seducing him. "You've fallen asleep." Vala answers him.

"If this is all in my head then-" Daniel begins.

"-It's your fantasy." Vala smirks, tucking a lock of dark hair behind her ear as she finished his sentence.

"Can I touch you?" He asks cautiously, her body not as frail as he would have had imagined. Was he already forgetting what she looked like?

"Of course you can, I'm your fantasy. You can do anything to me." Vala finished and Daniel cupped her cheek with his hand.

The sun setting in the sky, on the horizon swirling the dark grey sky a pink making it look like a disturbing alien planet. Or raspberry swirl ice cream as Vala might say. Vala's face is caught by the sun and tuns her skin a slight tan. She smiled at his tentativeness before he pulled a hand around her waist – still as slim as he remembered her. The thin cloth left nothing to the imagination and did nothing to her body but make her all the more alluring. Mysterious and alluring. Daniel held her by the hips as he sat up a little straighter to meet her warm mouth with his. Running his hands down her bare thighs, he bent his fingers, catching her soft skin with his nails as he bit down into her lips after a couple of seconds of just kissing her lips.

"Mm, that hurt." She frowned and moved her hands down his chest, on top of the black suit.

"This isn't real. I want the real you." Daniel replied before kissing her lightly once more. One more time wouldn't hurt, surely.

"Daniel? Daniel..." Her voice repeats before he feels her escape his clutches. The second he opens his eyes she is gone from his body.

"Daniel, are you okay?" He looked up and feels his eyes a little bleary before sensing a presence beside him. Sam sits next to him and rubs her hand on his arm and shoulder. "C'mon, you've fallen asleep, we're taking you home. I'll take you back to your apartment."

*SG*

He wasn't paying attention to the ride home – that had become something of the norm without her soul missing from the picture. He had become a shell of his previous life, not answering his phone nor going outside. He had no job, no life and certainly no love. She had taken that when she left him, too. Before he knew it he was standing outside the door in the corner of his apartment block. Sam, leaving Jack in the car with the window wound down; much to his dismay.

"Look after yourself." She hugs herself to him when he opens his door, not letting her see the insides of his home. Nor his current state of mind. We're worried about you. He heard in the concerned tone of her voice, they all were in their own ways.

Getting inside and shedding off his jacket and loosening his black tie, Daniel presses a button on the answering machine and lets the electronic voice tell him he has one new message. He lets it play as he casts his eyes down on his copy of his resignation letter from Stargate Command.

"Doctor Jackson, I guess you are at the funeral of Ms Doran as I'm calling. This is a secure line so I won't beat about the bush by telling you there may be reason to believe Vala Mal Doran is alive, if you could get to the SGC immediately we have her situation to discuss."