Title: Revelation
Pairing: Daniel/Vala
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate, but it would be fun if I did... Stargate's owned by Sony.
Author's Note: Thought of this as soon as I saw the end of Crusade, and it's been spinning in my mind sense then. It's my take on what happened to Vala, and what happened between Daniel getting his body back and talking with Landry at the end of the episode. Hope you enjoy it!
Summary: Daniel gains a new perspective on life and love after Vala "returns" to the SGC. (Crusade Spoilers, scene filler)
This was insane. This had to have been the most insane thing he had ever seen in his life, but Daniel kept watching it, mesmerized, like an inevitable train wreck he couldn't stop nor delay.
The tape was of himself, but not himself: someone else using his voice, his hands, his eyes. The words coming out of his mouth were not his, the gestures so completely off it boggled his mind, and the hankerings his body experienced were not his in origin. It was his body being used as a time share, and the actions taking place were bizarre, unlike signs of another presence entirely.
Vala.
He kept watching the tape, eyes glued to the screen. How could it be possible that when he glanced in his own eyes, he saw her? When the words sprouted out with a slight accent, it was her speaking through him, and for a few seconds, he wished he'd been able to feel what that was like.
When the words "getting pregnant" escaped his lips, he'd cringed, unused to hearing it from both a man and himself at the same time, but then his archaeological curiosity got the better of him. Pregnant? She was pregnant? Who was the father? And when she'd, for lack of a better term, "laid it out" for him, he was still curious. From the time she arrived until the time of her wedding night...
...but she didn't say anything about before she arrived. Did she?
He mentally kicked himself, shocked. "My God," he murmured, realization coming to him.
That night. That one night where she had been too tempting to resist, and his body hungered for a woman's touch. Right before the BeachHead mission, and the result of his crankiness during it. That one damned night where she'd invited herself into his room, wearing that slinky red lingerie she loved, and he finally gave into his sexual desires...
That child could be mine.
Urgency flooded his system. "I need to find her," he announced to himself, bolting from his seat and turning the TV off. "Damn it, I need to find her now." But a momentary thought kept him waiting, hesitantly, from approaching the door. What would Landry think? Mitchell? Sam and Teal'c? And this was just a hunch, not confirmation, even with the timing being perfect. How could he immediately go gallivanting off into space like a white knight when the last time he'd been near her he'd treated her like trash?
No, this wasn't time for open heroics. He had to clam down, play this cool, just until he was sure of everything.
A knock came from the door, and he finally opened it after awhile, staring almost blankly into Landry's face. "Dr. Jackson," greeted the general pleasantly, almost too pleasantly if Daniel had anything to say about it. "I'm glad to see you're back to your old self again."
"It's, uh, nice to be back, sir," he replied. "Is there something you needed?"
"I was going to brief SG-1 on our situation in the debriefing room, and I knew you were in here, so..."
Daniel nodded, and stepped out into the hall, closing the door on his way out. He fought to keep his voice even. "I understand..."
"Look, Dr. Jackson..."
"Please, General. If you're going to say something about Vala... don't. At the moment, I'd like to think of something else besides what could've happened to her to break our connection. Can we talk about something else?"
Landry smiled sadly, and nodded his head as they came to the elevator. "Alright. Let's talk about something else. How about how the Russian and Chinese 'negotiations'?"
"That would be fine. And sir? Thanks."
"Anytime."