Meditation
Spacegypsy1
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POSSIBLE UNENDING SPOILERS.
Not long after S10 Unending, Vala tries to save her sanity and stop wondering about who she hooked up with in those fifty or more years that, according to Sam, did not exist.
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At 03:33 hours she walked the halls of Stargate Command knowing at this hour exactly where he was and what he would be doing.
He never minded her intermittent interruptions. Although he did occasionally get a bit testy when she forgot and asked him that one question he had forbidden her to ask ever again.
She hadn't bothered fully dressing, just thrown on the wrapper. Having long ago confiscated the large and rarely worn 'housecoat' - as the American Tau'ri term was - from the top resident archeologist who'd been smart enough to stop demanding it back since she'd told him she only wore it when she was naked underneath…because she liked the feel of it against her skin.
Of course, now she had on her favorite sleeping attire underneath. She was, after all, not visiting Daniel, so she had no need to be naked. Not that she really ever was, she just enjoyed making him crazy with the thought she might be.
That, in itself - the driving Daniel crazy - was part of her reason for this visit. Her 'irregular and sacred early morning candles burning, counseling session when things were getting her down' visit.
Muscles had quoted something to her years ago about his indecently early morning ritual. "The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you; don't go back to sleep." Which he'd reported was from some old guy name Rumi something or the other. 'But,' she'd told Muscles, 'how can you get the breeze when you're miles under a mountain?' And to that she got a raised brow.
Tapping lightly on his door she listened for his response.
"Enter."
She did.
"Sit."
And she did that also.
There followed the long silence she'd learn to expect before he startled her with…
"Speak."
And so she did.
"Muscles, I can't sleep. I wake up and swear I can smell him."
"You are wearing his clothing."
"I don't wear the wrapper to bed!"
"And whose 'boxers' do you have on?"
"Oh. Well, they're clean…anyway. I feel all tingly sometimes when I wake up. I think I might be having…well, you know, those hot kind of dreams about him."
"Do not insist on repeating them. I do not need to hear the details."
"Right. So," she sighed absentmindedly, "tonight after we all met for dinner Daniel and I went back to his office for coffee. It was one of those strange times," Vala cleared her throat, "stranger I should say, when everything was comfortable and relaxed. I was going on and on as I do and trying to explain my reasoning about what happened on P2K-377. And he was smiling, that way he smiles that makes me wonko and I wish he didn't, and well, he put his hand on my face, like he rarely does and which makes me more than a little nuts, and then he smiles again, bigger, you know, like that full blown grin of his that could melt the entire polar ice caps and probably some on distant planets," she took a deep breath, "and all I could think of was how I could get him to kiss me. And you know what he does?"
"I do."
"He pulls away."
"As expected."
"It wasn't him was it? I know, I know. I promised I'd never ask again, but I didn't hook up with Daniel in the time that wasn't time for me but only for you, that's obvious, but really, Muscles, I need to give this up and move on as Samantha would say, but I just can't. I know deep inside that we are meant to be together and I can't for the life of me figure out how to …"
There was a knock at Teal'c's door and both of them looked up gazes locking in question.
"Who is that?" Vala whispered.
"I do not possess x-ray vision." Teal'c whispered back.
"I did not say anything about x-rated, which would be absurd." Vala's whisper contained a 'pfft', as well as being accompanied by an ever so slight narrowing of her eyes.
Knowing there was no need in trying to respond to her statement, Teal'c called out,
"Enter."
The door opened slowly, creaking and moving as if by its own volition. The corridor's evening lighting set him in shadow with an eerie glow all around. But both Vala and Teal'c recognized Daniel.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't know you had company." The archeologist's hands went deep into his pockets.
"Enter." Teal'c had the slightest undertone of discordancy.
Slowly, Daniel entered, as if unsure he should be here.
"Sit." If either of the other two had been listening carefully they would have detected a well hidden grumble in their Jaffa friend.
Folding his legs, Daniel removed his hands from his pockets and sank to the floor as instructed.
After a reasonable amount of intended uncomfortable silence, Teal'c was ready to get this over with. "Speak, DanielJackson."
And so Daniel did. To Vala. "I didn't mean to interrupt. I come here occasionally when I can't sleep. Just to meditate. You know, I've been doing it for years. You?"
"Um hmm." Vala's hastily knotted top bun came crashing down at her animated nodding, spreading a tangled array of dark hair about her shoulders.
"Right. So I can leave and come back later." Daniel placed both palms on the floor just to the side of each thigh and started to push himself up.
"No need, DanielJackson. Perhaps we could have a group meditation." As it is time to stop this madness.
Vala and Daniel turned their gaze to Teal'c and quickly back to each other before shrugging in agreement.
Teal'c drew a long breath while both Daniel and Vala watched him in fascination. The Jaffa's lung capacity still intrigued them. It seemed to take forever for Teal'c to fill his lungs and even longer to release the air.
Eyes closed, Teal'c seemed to drift deeper into the recesses of his mind. What he actually did was struggle to stop himself from speaking his mind aloud. DanielJackson, you must face your fears and admit your love for ValaMalDoran. And you, ValaMalDoran, must face your fears and let go of your need to attract only to push away DanielJackson.
While Teal'c's mind fought to control his mouth, the other two kept closing and opening their eyes, sometimes just one for a peek, and sometimes both eyes, to study the master at work in his deep, sacred meditation.
Slipping further into contemplation, Teal'c received images witnessed in his time aboard the Odyssey. His eyes sprang open wide, catching sight of the two now staring at each other longingly.
"Perhaps," Teal'c spoke in a low soothing voice, "we could continue another time. I have need of respite. I would suggest you both continue together, perhaps in DanielJackson's quarters."
"Oh? Alright, Muscles." As Vala attempted rise, so did Daniel and the two bumped heads.
"Er, crap, sorry," Daniel grabbed Vala's shoulders as she teetered sideways.
"Ow." She rubbed frantically sending her hair into further disarray, her face screwed up with pain.
"Let me see." Pulling her wrist in an effort to remove her hand from her hair, Daniel began to dig through the tangles in search of a wound.
Teal'c rose, stepped over the couple and opened the door. "Leave." He managed to say not unkindly.
Vala slapped Daniel's annoying hand out of her hair and with his help managed to get to her feet. For just a moment they drifted towards each other, but Teal'c's throat clearing brought them back to the task at hand.
When both Daniel and Vala glared at each other as they exited, Teal'c smiled and closed the door behind them.
"You know, Daniel," Vala insisted, rolling up a wad of tangled hair and stuffing a hairpin through it, "I'm pretty sure we hooked up on the Odyssey."
Daniel's hand rested intimately, unconsciously, on the curve of her lower back as they headed up the corridor. "Why not Mitchell?"
"Eeww. Who would ever imagine me and Mitchell? That'd be like some kinda wonko outer space puppets and wild aliens in all colors, shapes and sizes TV scifi show!"
Daniel blinked rapidly to help clear the image. "Ah, okay, I can see that. Wanna "meditate" at my place...off base...er...uninterrupted?"
"I do, but first, darling, I'm hungry."
"Me, too. iHop?"
Rubbing her hands in glee, Vala smiled up at Daniel. "That'd be jam packed and they have jam there also."
"Right." He sighed loudly and began to rub her back. "I guess I'm falling in love with you."
"I know, Daniel, but thank you for telling me...finally, but you already know I'm all gaga over you. And I'm sure you realize we spent fifty nonexistent years together, which is why we're so close, by the way. Do they have waffles at iHop or is it only at Waffle House? And are we F I N A L L Y going to make love and not actually meditate?"
Daniel looked down at her with a big grin and blue eyes twinkling. "Yes."
"Yes, you know about the fifty years, yes to waffles at iHop, or yes make love?"
"Yes, for iHop and lovemaking."
"I guess two out of three isn't so bad." As they reached the top and headed towards Daniel's car, Vala looped her arm through his. "I'm just so crazy in love with you!"
"Iiiiii know."
~END
