You know, I've been trying to write this for forever, and I hope it works. For a bit there I was going to try to do this as a DV, but I'd been hearing Cam here so long I couldn't do it. If anyone cares to write or knows of a fic that is DV about this song, plz tell me so I can read it!

Sidenote: I HATE songfics. Hate them. Not an understatement at all, I srsly do hate them. They're so cheesy and emotional and blargh. One day I was listening to this song and all of the images in my head were of Vala. I played it again to make sure it was srsly that Vala-ish, and it is! I was srsly creeped out and decided that some day I would have to write this.

This moment, for me, is like the moment you find out a song that you have declared your favorite is written by a band you hate. It hurts my insides, but not as much as it would if this were SJ.

The song is "She's always a Woman", by Billy Joel. I don't own it, I just grew up on it. (Don't own Stargate neither, but you knew that).

There's something about her that's just…unusually usual. Yeah, that's it. At first glance, she seems different because she doesn't understand stuff like - stuff like "all that jazz", or "jam-packed". She's the one who would wear a ball gown to a barbeque, or tell stories of her childhood to regular folk and expect them not to tell her she's had a little too much to drink. But at the same time, she's just another hurt person. I've met so many over the years, people missing family members, people growing up in poverty and learning early that if they want to eat they have to get it themselves. Heck, even Jackson's been through that ringer. I think we forget that just because she grew up knowing how big the universe was and we didn't, that somehow she's different.

She's not.

Then again, maybe she is. Not because of her upbringing, so much, but because of herself. You have to admit she's pretty special. She can make people happy that she's gutting their house for treasure. She gets in and out of some of the most dangerous places in the known universe without so much as a scratch. She can intelligently discuss everything from military strategy to fashion, from molecular biology to Goa'uld politics. She's brilliant, persuasive, opinionated, and, believe it or not, compassionate. Have you ever seen her around anyone's pet? She claims she doesn't like animals because they're messy, but I'm pretty sure she offered to take Sam's cat off her hands last week. We went over for a team movie night, and this stray Sam's foolishly been feeding was hangin' around the front porch. Vala picked it up, named it, and carried it around the rest of the night like a baby. And that cat was completely at easy with it – purred the whole time.

Ya know, last time me and Sheppard got together (doesn't happen often, or often enough. He does live in another galaxy, after all) we were listening to some old school memory music. Sometimes songs remind you of something, or someone, but I've never heard anything this close to the truth. I've just tried to explain her to you: you can see it's not the easiest thing to do. I was pretty sure it was impossible before I heard Billy Joel say it straight. Here goes:

She can kill with a smile
She can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child,
But she's always a woman to me

She can lead you to love
She can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth
But she'll never believe you
And she'll take what you give her, as long as it's free
Yeah, she steals like a thief
But she's always a woman to me

Oh-she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh-and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind

And she'll promise you more
Than the Garden of Eden
Then she'll carelessly cut you
And laugh while you're bleedin'
But she'll bring out the best
And the worst you can be
Blame it all on yourself
Cause she's always a woman to me

She is frequently kind
And she's suddenly cruel
She can do as she pleases
She's nobody's fool
And she can't be convicted
She's earned her degree
And the most she will do
Is throw shadows at you
But she's always a woman to me

Ya know, once you save someone's life, and they save yours a couple times, you're pretty much stuck with them forever. I've grown from finding her attractive but deeply annoying and frustrating to knowing that there is at least one deeper level than the one she shows. There's gotta be more than that even, cause every once in a while she comes out with something completely incompatible with the way I think she is. Now, I've known a lot of people who were sparklin' on the outside, but rotten on the inside, but that's not her. Obviously she's very beautiful on the outside, but her inside is too. The more and more I get to see of her soul the more beautiful it is revealed to be.
I hate to admit it, but it's getting to me. She's getting to me.

She done stole my heart out from underneath me like the thief she is!

I wish I knew how to steal hers back.