Title: Time In Between

Author: Caitlin-Todd

Pairing: D/V

Spoilers: None

Disclaimer: Don't own any of it except the non-Stargate characters but they're not as awesome.

A/N: So the time has finally come for me to write my very first Stargate SG-1 fan fiction. I gotta say, I'm somewhat surprised myself it didn't happen sooner. Long story short, I've been obsessed with the show ever since watching the The Pegasus Project for the first time. So yes, I'm a deeply devoted Vala Mal Doran fan and without her I wouldn't even watch the show so you can imagine what my fan fictions will focus on. Also, English is my second language so parden any possible grammar errors and sorry if some words are actually missing... I type fast, but sometimes my mind skips ahead.



CHAPTER I

"See, I got it all figured out! Since this is a simple meet-and-greet mission I doubt it'll take more than a few hours, so there's really no reason for us to be missing the party!" Vala exclaimed with a big grin on her face and the others, Daniel in particular, gave her a look. Ever since hearing about the big fancy yearly party, Vala hadn't been able to focus on anything else. At first her excitement had been somewhat cute but after hearing her go on and on about the party non-stop for almost a week, the rest of the team wasn't sure they could put up with much more. Daniel knew for sure he couldn't but Vala disregarded all his attempts at shutting her up and thankfully by now they were half a day away from the party's deadline.

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say that this mission tops the party. But if you wanna sit this one out and go to the party instead, we'd completely understand. I'm sure General Landry won't mind giving you the day off," Daniel said sarcastically but Vala instantly waved him off.

"No no, it's quite alright. I did all the necessary calculations this morning and unless we actually happen to stumble across Ori soldiers, which I seriously doubt, we'll be back hours before the party's even started!" Vala said with an ecstatic smile and Daniel rolled his eyes, barely suppressing a grunt.

"Look, princess, might I suggest you focus a little more on the mission at hand and little less on tonight's party?" Cam said as they rounded the corner to the Gate room. Vala opened her mouth to interject, but then noticed Cam's glare and put on an innocent smile.

"Sure thing, boss!" she said and looked ahead, clearly avoiding eye contact with Cam at the moment.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is gonna be a very long day?" Cam whispered to Sam and Daniel.

"Oh, come on, you can't really blame her for being so excited. After all, this is her first official party and hopefully it'll be another couple of years until the next one," Sam whispered back with a hopeful sigh. She of all people knew how much Vala had been looking forward to the party; they'd spent the past week planning for it together. Vala had insisted on Sam's opinion when it came to deciding on what outfit to wear and generally knowing how people acted at these social events. After spending nearly the entire week answering random questions regarding the party, Sam sincerely hoped Vala would calm down once the party was over and done with.

"It would seem Vala Mal Doran has us all wishing for this party to be over as soon as possible," Teal'c said with a tiring voice just as the team entered the Gate room. Vala, who'd gone ahead, waited for the others over by the ramp with a pleasant look on her face.

"I think I like her better when she's whining and complaining," Cam muttered as they walked over to Vala. While waiting for the wormhole to open up, Daniel glanced over at Vala and wondered if that pleasant expression was becoming a permanent fixture. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen her this serene before and part of him wished it was a regular thing, while another part of him knew that she'd be even more annoying. Daniel abruptly snapped out of his thoughts when he realized Vala gave him a slightly puzzled look, clearly wondering why he was staring at her. Luckily he didn't get a chance to try and talk his way out of the awkward situation when the Stargate activated, opening up the wormhole. Without another word, the team stepped through the Stargate together to be transported to yet another new unexplored planet. Or so they thought.


When they arrived through the Stargate on planet PXY-645 the team scouted out their surroundings. The planet seemed to consist mostly of forest and the climate was bordering on the side of humid, but otherwise PXY-645 was one of the more appealing planets they'd been to.

"Here's a silly question for ya. Do we have some kind of proof that these people are…friendly?" Cam asked hesitantly while looking around the forest.

"Not exactly, so how about we're keeping an open mind?" Daniel said and Cam stared at him.

"Fine. But if anyone tries anything fishy, I say we get the hell outta here and let them deal with the Priors themselves.""Glad to hear you're keeping an open mind."

"So," Sam interjected. "Shall we get going then? We wouldn't want to miss the party."

Daniel and Cam both turned looked over at Sam before slowly turning towards Vala, whom had been surprisingly quiet so far. She glanced around the woods with an unsettling look on her face, oblivious to others staring at her.

"Something the matter?" Cam asked impatiently and Vala snapped out of her daze, turning to look at the others with a nervous smile.

"I just thought I recognized this place. Guess that's what happens when you've traveled as much as I have," she said and shrugged.

"Right. Well then, now that we've cleared that up, how about we do what we came here for?" Daniel said tiredly and hinted towards the small path leading away from the Stargate.

"Good idea," Sam said and Vala nodded along.

"We wouldn't want to keep the villagers waiting. Poor souls probably don't get many visitors," she joked and headed down the path without waiting for the others.

"Is it just me or is she being weirder than usual?" Cam muttered to Daniel.

"At least she's not nagging about the party," Daniel sighed. "Works for me."

He looked at the others and shrugged before following Vala's lead. Sam and Cam shared a look before falling into stride behind him.

The forest was thicker the further they got, eventually nearly blocking out all the sunlight from time to time. Vala looked up at the enormous intertwined tree crowns and inhaled the strangely familiar smell of the nearby flowers. She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks as she was struck by a very disturbing realization.

"It can't be…" she mumbled to herself, ignoring the gnawing feeling inside of her. Everything was too familiar to just be an uncanny coincidence. Not even Vala was foolish enough to believe that two seemingly identical planets had no connection with each other.

"What?" Daniel asked with an annoyed expression. Vala quickly turned around facing him, suppressing the urge to run the other way.

"What?" she echoed and gave Daniel a dumbfounded look.

"You got that look again," he muttered. "Plus, you're holding up the line."

Vala let out a relieved breath, smiling nervously at Daniel.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Guess my mind was elsewhere. Besides, I really think you should be leading the way, darling! I'm terrible at this sort of thing," she blurted and Daniel sighed.

"Whatever you say," he said and squeezed past Vala, taking the lead.

"You okay?" Sam asked with a concerned look as she walked up alongside Vala.

"Just peachy!" Vala nodded with a hesitant smile and hurried after the others.


"You know what would make the party just perfect? If you were to accompany me!"

Daniel gave Vala a sideway glance, trying to focus on finding his way to the village. Vala's nagging regarding the party had however not ceased just yet despite her earlier behavior and Daniel almost wished she'd go back to acting weird.

"Or, you know, we could always skip the party entirely and have some fun just the two of us…" Vala suddenly whispered and Daniel turned to stare at her, struggling to come up with a clever retort.

"Jackson!"

Daniel and Vala simultaneously turned around at the sound of Cam's voice.

"Yeah?" Daniel called out hesitantly, slowly taking a step back from Vala.

"Hate to interrupt your little discussion," Cam grinned as he saw the look on Daniel's face. "But it seems that you just missed a pretty big clue."

Daniel and Vala followed Cam's hand gesture, noticing a tiny stonewall house on their far left. The house was partly hidden behind some bushes but the chimney smoke made it hard to miss.

"Well that's hardly a big clue," Vala shrugged and began to turn around but Daniel quickly grabbed a hold of her arm before she took another step.

"But I'm sure it's enough to help us find out the location of the nearest village. That way this whole thing will be over much faster," he muttered and let go of Vala's arm once she was facing the house. She looked over at it and pouted, desperately wanting to keep heading in the opposite direction.

"Must we really?" she whined and Daniel gave her a stern look, making it clear that the discussion was over and that she'd lost.

"So let's going kids. These woods are giving me the creeps," Cam muttered and Sam gave him a playful nudge.

"Got up on the wrong side of bed this morning, did we?" she said and Cam rolled his eyes.

"It would seem Colonel Mitchell is right. I do not believe we have much time before nightfall," Teal'c joined in and Vala suddenly got a lump stuck in her throat.

"And we wouldn't want to miss the big party," Daniel said dryly with a meaningful look at Vala, who just barely managed to put on a smile in response as they made their way over to the house.

"Who wanna do the honors?" Cam asked once they reached the door, all eyes turned to Daniel.

"Fine," he sighed and started knocking on the wooden door. The team members all exchanged glances while waiting for someone to open the door.

"Guess nobody's home?" Cam whispered with a shrug and in that moment a middle-aged woman and man suddenly appeared in the doorway, both with surprised looks on their face. But it wasn't just because they had visitors from beyond their planet.

"You?!" the man cried out in disbelief and all eyes turned to Vala. She opened her mouth to speak but remained speechless, getting that terrible feeling again. By the looks on everyone's faces, she knew she was in for a world load of trouble.


TO BE CONTINUED...