Vala started to pack with ease. Five years ago she never would have imagined leaving. This had become her home. Stargate Command was the place where she had learnt to grow up and settle down. But running it seemed was part of her blood. She'd had an itch for at least a few months. She had done her best to ignore it, but with the Ori gone, Sam off in Atlantis, Teal'c off with the Jaffa, and funding for the Stargate program winding down, things just hadn't been the same.

Then again it might have been that only a few months ago she and Daniel had had their inevitable falling out. That is he gave her a speech about how she was "damaged goods". He thought of her as a friend. Oh and that he could never think of her "that way". Not that he exactly put himself in the best of light. He did call himself fragile.

"Fragile my ass," Vala said as she picked up her hair dryer. She shook her head and put it back down. She looked at herself in the mirror. She knew what Daniel had been telling her. It wasn't that he was fragile; it was that he thought she would hurt him. She shook her head and went back to packing.

She heard someone knock at the door. "It's open," she yelled as she threw her pink pumps into a case.

She heard the door open. She didn't look up she knew who it was. "Hello, Darling." She was going back and forth between the dresser and the cases. She didn't want to look at him. She knew all the sides of Daniel and this wasn't one she wanted to look at.

"What are you doing?" Daniel asked apparently upset.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she said as she violently threw a sweater into a case. "I'm packing." The words were difficult to say but she didn't care. He wasn't going to stop her this time.

"Where exactly are you planning on going?" He couldn't erase that tinge from his voice. He was upset. Vala couldn't help but smile. She was glad, at least he had some feeling for her.

"Not that it's any of your business but I've been invited to live with one of the recovering planets. They need someone who knows the lay of the land." She threw some shirts into the case and kept talking. "The General wants some Ambassadors of goodwill out there." She pointed randomly towards the roof. "There'll be plenty of work and from the sounds of it, plenty of adventure. So no need to worry about me getting bored." She couldn't help but sound mocking as she told him.

"An entire planet has decided to have you guide them in this bold new world?" his voice was laced with sarcasm. Oh he knew how to lay it on thick. She just hated that he had gotten so good at taking an extra jab at her expense.

"Believe it or not Daniel," she said trying her best not to throw something at him. "I do have skills required," she waved her hand about sardonically, "elsewhere. And though you may find it hard to believe I do actually have a good reputation with these people."

Daniel sighed. It was that irritating all knowing sigh. The one that said 'I can see into the future. You Vala will not be leaving.' She wanted to kick in the balls. "When exactly are you planning on taking this trip?"

"At 1800 hours. I've already received authorization." She handed him a piece of paper and went back to her cases and shut them violently.

Daniel looked at the paper in disbelief. She wasn't faking it this time. She was actually going. She was leaving her friends behind. She was leaving her home behind.

"What about your friends? What about your life here? You've made a home here," Daniel sounded hurt. Vala tried her best to shudder off the guilt. He had made his choice.

"It's not like I'm exactly leaving." She grabbed the paper from his hand and walked past him into the hall. "I'm just a gate address away. Plus everyone else is heading off making plans. You said it yourself," she paused and remembered that rather hurtful discussion. It hadn't ended so much in tears as in a yelling match. "You're probably going to head off to study the new Ancient repository on P2X-whatever. Everyone is starting fresh. Why shouldn't I?"

Daniel was fuming. Pacing beside her he could barely contain the urge to shake her. "You head off without telling anyone? That's more like running off then starting fresh."

She stopped and looked at him, eye to eye. "Believe it or not Daniel I'm not as immature as you'd like to believe. Everyone… EVERYONE knows… even Sam and she's in another galaxy for god's sake. The only person who doesn't know, who doesn't seem to catch on is you!" She put a finger on his chest as if to emphasize her point. "I told you three weeks ago… and I haven't seen you for what now five days. It's not like I made the decision 'poof'," she waved her hands around and squeezed her face for effect, "I'm gone. I took my time with this decision. I got input from everyone who seemed to care." She shook her head, trying to clear it. "But I guess it was too hard for you to take time to notice your friend needed your help." She turned away from him, but before she could stop herself she looked back. "Or maybe you don't have time for damaged goods."

Then she saw that side of Daniel she had been trying to avoid, the side of Daniel that she had just drudged up not totally by mistake. Maybe it was because she wanted him to hurt or maybe she was just being selfish. She had been selfish enough to believe that seeing this side of Daniel would make her feel better. This side of Daniel just twisted the pit of her stomach and made her want to cry all over again. This side of Daniel was the most common and hurtful side. The guilty side.

She turned and ran off before he had a chance to say anything or even shake himself from his stunned state. She was doing it. She was leaving. She was leaving him.

"What about me?"