Things had been weird lately. Well, more weird than usual, actually. It had all started when they had witnessed the mass suicide of the Asgard race. The details on that were all crystal clear. What wasn't so clear was what had happened afterwards. In the next 50 years. Daniel shook his head. He still was unable to wrap his head around that one. 50 years lived, experienced, and gone forever. It was difficult to come to terms with 50 years of "what had been's" and live with the "what now's". They were all struggling with it. It was one thing to know there were alternate realities out there where their alternate selves lived alternate lives. But this was them. This was their lives. Lives they had actually lived. Each one of them was having some trouble adjusting to the reality of what had happened. Of course, Teal'c was dealing with a very different side of it; most notably Vala's near constant pestering for information of what had happened in all those 50 years. Most notably who she had hooked up with. Teal'c was doing a good job of keeping a tight lid on it despite her curiosity, but Daniel was pretty sure he must have been struggling with the experience in his own way.

It had been a weird few days.

He shook his head, staring at his blank desk. Nothing on it. They had just returned from their first mission after the 'weird' mission and it had been a good trip. Good experience all around and nice to get them all back in the swing of things and refocus their minds on something other than the weirdness of the previous mission. Even so, now that they had returned, his mind was already back to the un-lived 50 years. There wasn't anything else pressing for him to do, so he decided he might as well spend a few minutes dwelling on the now forgotten future.

He was still stunned about Thor and the demise of the Asgard. Stunned like he had been after Sha're's death. Like after Janet's death. Even though it had been years, he still had trouble believing they were gone. Now Thor was gone. Shaking his head, he tried to think logically about all of it and see it from Thor's perspective. Thing was, all he could see was his perspective. And he was discouraged and disappointed that one of their greatest allies was now gone.

"What are you doing?"

He looked up at Vala's voice. She looked strangely tired and not very happy. He shrugged, "Nothing actually."

"What are you thinking, then? Because I know you're doing that." She said, still without her normal smile as she sat down across from him.

"Thor."

She nodded, studying him. "You're sad they're gone."

"Well, yeah, I guess so. He was our best ally out there. They gave us all their technology, which is great. But they're gone forever now."

"Life is short." Vala said softly.

Daniel nodded, "They've been extending their lives for thousands of years. I guess that no matter how long it is, life is always too short. They tried everything to prolong their race. We do the same. Science is always looking for that next cure. But we could easily make a fatal mistake and do the same thing."

He rose and picked up a stack of books at the far end of his desk and started to re-shelve them. He heard Vala moving around and he turned back to find her approaching him, her top flung on his desk. Shock did not begin to cover it when he realized she was wearing only a very skimpy lace camisole.

"What are you doing?" He asked warily.

"What we should have done a long time ago." She said, reaching for his shirt.

Daniel grabbed her hands, "Stop. What are you doing?"

"We were just talking about how short life is." Vala said, trying to twist her hands out of his grip. "I think we should stop ignoring the obvious attraction between us."

"Attraction?" He said incredulously, thrown off by her unexpected move. She hadn't been acting like this very much lately. They'd reached a good place in their relationship and he thought she was done trying to seduce him. Apparently he was wrong.

Vala flinched a bit at his tone and finally pulled her hands free. "Well, maybe it wasn't attraction after all."

"Attraction?" he repeated, "Are you crazy?" Vala's eyes were wide, but Daniel had seen her manipulate and put on a great show many times before. "You think I'm attracted to you?"

Vala rolled her eyes and waved a hand, "No, of course not, darling. I was just fooling around."

"No, tell me. I'm curious. Do you think I could possibly be seriously interested in you?"

"Who said anything about serious?" Vala smiled, lounging back on his desk chair, trying to look casual. "I just figured since life is so short, we might as well have a little fun."

"Ah, fun. Right. So, what? We sleep together just for the fun of it?" Daniel felt his temper reaching the boiling point. She was just a tramp, then, if that was what she really was after. If that was all she wanted, just some fun, then everything he thought he had learned about her over the past few years had been wrong. "You want to have a one night stand… We work together! What were you thinking?"

Vala shrugged, trying her hardest to hold back the tears. This was not going like she had envisioned. Not at all. How had it gone so wrong? She loved him. She was sure of it. She thought he loved her too. They'd been working together and learning about each other over the years and Vala really thought he might love her too. Maybe she'd been wrong.

"Where would it go from there? You think it's gonna be anything more than that?" He said, still feeling his anger growing. He wasn't sure where it was even coming from at this point, but something had snapped and he didn't know how to stop it. "What? A relationship? Sure, you've come a long way. You've proven yourself as a professional member of this team. I'm proud of you for that. But, personally? For anything beyond friends?"

Vala turned away abruptly, reaching for her shirt. She couldn't stop the tears this time. She'd never expected this. She really had thought he cared about her.

"There's just no way. Face it, Vala, we're not really right for each other; maybe not for anyone. We're both unstable wrecks. I never thought I'd get over my wife's death. Never." He shook his head, pacing the room, ignoring her completely. He could feel himself spinning out of control. "The idea of…well, being hurt like that again. But I think I've finally gotten there. Finally gotten to the place where I might actually be able to get close to someone again. But you, Vala, come on. You've been flirting with me and trying to seduce me from the very first day we met. You're never serious. We're wrong for each other. Completely and totally wrong. Maybe you can find someone and maybe someday I can too, but there's just no way that that someone could ever be you."

Vala pulled her shirt back on, trying to breathe through her mouth so he wouldn't hear her sniffing. It was what she deserved, she realized. He was right. She was unstable, she was not right for him or anyone. She didn't deserve to be loved.

Daniel turned back and studied her back. She was ignoring him which was unusual. He would have expected her to be fighting back at him. He frowned. Her shoulders were shaking. Was she laughing? Was this still a big joke to her? She suddenly stood up and started to walk out of his office. He couldn't believe she was just going to ignore the entire situation like that. He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her around.

"Vala, look at me."

She put her hands over her face. "Give me a minute."

Daniel watched her, realizing she was wiping her face and sniffing. She was crying. Daniel's heart hit the floor. He'd hurt her. A lot. What had he done? He kept one hand on her arm and put out his other hand to smooth the hair back from her face. She finally dropped her hands, but couldn't bring her eyes up to meet his. If there was ever a time when he felt like the absolute scum of the Earth, it was now. He pulled her quickly into a hug and she broke down and cried harder against his shoulder. Daniel kissed the top of her head and whispered, "I'm sorry."

He held her for almost ten minutes until she cried herself out. During those ten minutes, he called himself every name in the book. He was a complete jerk. Why he had snapped like that, he still wasn't exactly sure, but it had been a bad mistake, that was for sure.

Finally, she pulled away from him, her eyes red and still avoiding his.

"Vala? I'm sorry." Daniel said softly, tilting her chin up. Even so she kept her eyes averted and he hated himself even more.

"It's fine."

"No, no it's not." He kept his hold on her. "Vala, I didn't know…I didn't know you were serious. I thought you were messing with me."

"Daniel, I haven't been messing with you in a long time." Vala said softly. "I just thought maybe we had a chance. Life is short, remember?"

Daniel nodded slowly as she looked up at him for the first time. They studied each other and Daniel knew that he truly loved her with his whole heart. He had for a long time now. He'd been afraid for his heart, afraid she was going to hurt him. But now, he knew she loved him too. For real. For the first time he was 100% sure. There was only one problem. He touched her cheek, apology in his tone, "You're married."

Vala felt like she'd been punched in the gut. She saw the apology and extreme distress in his eyes. She had been uncertain, but now she knew two things for sure. He loved her. And she was still married to another man. All the pieces fell into place. The pieces were in place, but she didn't know where they were going to go from here. Stepping back, she nodded and walked out of the room without another word.

He didn't stop her.