Daniel was in his lab, leaning over his desk and studying an ancient piece of papyrus that SG-6 had brought back from P8K-457. He smiled slightly, sighing happily as he settled in and started the work to tease out the secrets from the faded writing scrawled across the pale, fragile surface. He had spent the past several hours pouring over Athena's research of the weapon that she had tried to find through Vala's damaged memories, and he was almost ready to call it a day.
Before he did, however, he had decided to treat himself and put the more important work aside, giving himself the luxury of looking at the rolled up scroll that SG-6 had left on his desk a week ago. The furled piece of papyrus had been sitting there since, teasing and taunting him with the mysteries that lay within. It was a welcome reprieve from the laborious work of cross-referencing the cartouche.
As the archaeologist began to lose himself in the translation, his mind falling into the gentle lull of linguistics, his concentration was shattered as a shadow fell over the parchment.
Before he even glanced up, the smell of perfume told Daniel who it was.
"Hello Vala," he said with a warm voice, pausing a moment before looking up to stare into her brilliantly blue eyes.
The raven-haired woman, leaning on the adjacent side of his lab bench, hesitated at his greeting. A faint look of surprise crossed her face as he greeted her before looking at her, a smile playing upon her lips as their eyes met. She looked into his gaze fondly, a look he returned with a patient smile.
"Hello Daniel," she said with a pleased voice, happily caught off guard by the warmth she heard in his words, savoring his attention as they looked at each other.
Several moments crept by without another word, causing Daniel to grin wryly. "What's up?" he finally asked, raising an eyebrow at her. The woman blinked as his words broke the spell, catching her off guard with the question.
"Oh, uhm," she began awkwardly, clearing her throat as she tried to get her wits about her. Daniel smiled all the more, remembering a time long ago when she would have irritated him by interrupting his work. Those days were long past, however. Now, he found her presence an even more welcome interlude than the paper he'd been studying - though he'd never admit it to her.
"I'd been meaning to stop by before," she said slowly as she glanced down, now suddenly unable to keep eye contact with the archaeologist. Daniel furrowed his brow at this, sensing an awkwardness in her that was rather uncharacteristic. She continued, "but something always seemed to come up." Clearing her throat she paused and tossed her head back up, meeting his gaze again. "Truth be told, I kept putting it off because, well," she sighed, "well it's not easy for me to do this."
Daniel stared at her with a bewildered expression, blinking a few times. "Uhm," he mouthed, hesitating. "Vala, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about." Even as he said the words, he wondered inwardly if he really wanted to find out. The raven-haired woman looked a touched embarrassed as she realized she'd completely failed to explain to him what was on her mind. "What's not easy for you to do?" Daniel asked with a hesitant voice, increasingly nervous about her answer.
Smiling nervously, Vala forced a fake laugh. "Right," she said, looking down again. She paused a few moments before finally blurting out, "I came here to apologize to you, Daniel." As the words left her lips, she looked up again, watching him with an intent gaze. "I know it's been a while, and I should have probably said it before, but..." she sighed, "like I said, this isn't easy for me."
Her answer left him both relieved and even more confused than before, though a measure of apprehension remained. "Well," he started, hesitating once more, "I suppose that's good to hear, but I really don't know what you want to apologize to me for yet," he prompted in a gentle voice, now watching her with a curious eye. The woman's expression fell even more.
"Oh, I am just butchering this, aren't I?" she asked forlornly, looking at him with a pleading expression.
Daniel smiled warmly at her. He was glad to see his smile helped Vala to relax, if just a little bit. He stopped leaning on his desk and stood up straight, watching her as she mirrored his actions. "Look," he started, glancing over to the corner of his lab with the computers. "Just relax, and let's go sit down and talk about this." He glanced back over to her, raising his eyebrows with a questioning gaze.
Vala drew in a deep breath at his words, nodding silently. She followed him as he walked back and pulled up a chair for her, seating himself by the computer. He smiled warmly at her as she sat in front of him, regarding her with a gracious eye. "Okay," he began, watching as she tensed up again. "Why don't you start from the beginning, and just tell me what's on your mind?"
The raven-haired woman drew in another deep breath at his words, nodding yet again. Sighing heavily, she paused and looked down, gathering her thoughts. "What I was trying to say Daniel," she began slowly, looking back up at him as she continued, "was that I wanted to apologize to you for not believing you when you were a Prior." She watched him intently as she spoke, and he could sense her nervousness. "You were telling the truth the whole time and I didn't give you the benefit of the doubt." He saw her jaw clenching as she paused, amazed at what he was hearing and how it seemed to affect her. "You deserve better than that," she added, "especially after how much you've taken chances on me, believing in me when I really hadn't done anything to earn it." She sighed heavily as she finished speaking, watching him with a nervous eye.
The archaeologist blinked in surprise at her words, completely taken aback. He wasn't sure what he expected, but this wasn't it. He supposed he was expecting some early apology for her getting into trouble, getting him to forgive her before Landry chewed him out for something she'd done.
This caught him completely off guard, though. He had to sit silently for a moment or two and process it, watching her intently as he did. While the silence dragged on, Vala became more and more nervous, watching him with a wary eye.
Finally, Daniel smiled beatifically, watching her with amazement. Vala let out the breath she'd been holding, smiling in answer. "Vala, I can't tell you how much I appreciate that," he said, "but you really don't have to apologize for anything." She furrowed her brow at this, looking perplexed.
Chuckling, he explained with a shrug, "I understand where you were coming from. Given what was at stake, and given how well you understand Adria, I can't really blame you for being skeptical."
Vala smiled faintly at his words, watching him intently as he spoke. She looked down as her expression grew troubled, hesitating for a moment before answering, "That's very sweet of you to say Daniel, but that's exactly why I need to apologize to you." His eyebrows knitted together as her gaze came up to meet his again. "Ever since that day I've been second guessing myself - Was it because of what was at stake that I didn't believe you, or was it because Adria was involved?"
Daniel inclined his head as she spoke, his face becoming reflective. Seeing his reaction, Vala realized he hadn't considered that angle before. She almost regretted coming to him with it now. Almost.
"By refusing to believe you," she said painfully, forcing herself to keep eye contact with him, "I was saying that I didn't believe you could resist her attempts to sway you, that you weren't strong enough." Daniel's brows knitted together again, it amazed her that this seemed like a surprise to him. "But you deserve so much better than that, especially after everything you've done for me," she said with an emotional voice, her eyes searching his as she spoke. He didn't speak, but looked back into her eyes with a deeply thoughtful expression.
She drew in a deep breath, adding, "That's the other thing," she said with a nervous voice, smiling weakly, "I've never really said thank you for any of it, have I?" She paused, waiting for a moment. Seeing he wasn't ready to speak, she continued, "I mean, you were even sweet enough to take me out to dinner as a thank you of your own, when it really should have been me doing something just as nice to thank you for everything you've done for me." She stared into his eyes, worried beyond words. Again, silence.
She sighed, looking down. This was far more difficult than she'd thought. "In the time since that day, Daniel," she said, pausing gather up her courage again. "I've really been questioning whether my unwillingness to believe in you was simply jealous I was of Adria." She lifted her head, meeting his gaze once more. "Jealous that perhaps she'd managed to touch you on a level that I've been hoping to reach with you for a long time now."
The archaeologist blinked in shock at her words, completely speechless. His jaw hung slack. She looked at him with emotional eyes, clenching her jaw anxiously. Daniel found himself feeling surprisingly nervous as well, his heart racing as he slowly absorbed her words.
He opened his mouth to answer when suddenly Cam's voice from the doorway shattered the moment, "Hey, guys!" The two jumped in shock, both looking over with surprised expressions at the Colonel standing in the door. "You ready for the meeting tomorrow morning, Jackson?"
The two looked at him in silence, both still overwhelmed from the moment before and stunned by the sudden ending of it. Sensing the awkwardness, Cam asked hesitantly, "I, um..." he coughed, "I wasn't interrupting anything there, was I?"
Vala jumped up at his words, smiling brilliantly at him. "Not a worry Colonel," she said, "it's late and I should be heading to bed anyway." She walked briskly to the door, her anxiousness carrying her forward. She couldn't believe she'd just said all that to Daniel, she was sure now she'd made a mistake. "If I don't get a full night's rest, I'll be a wreck tomorrow. That just wouldn't do if we end up on a mission." She forced a grin as she walked past Mitchell. Pausing at the doorway, she looked back for the briefest of moments at Daniel. As she did, all traces of her happy facade vanished, her eyes showing him again how nervous and frightened she was. Then she was gone.
Daniel sat in his chair, staring at where she'd been in shocked silence. Cam looked on for a moment before he silently slinked away, his cheeks flushing as he felt like a damned fool for barging in as he had. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd interrupted, but he figured his timing couldn't have been worse.
All of SG-1 sat around the briefing room table, except for Sam. Daniel and Vala were on one side while Mitchell and Teal'c were on the other. Landry sat at the head of the table. The archaeologist had arrived first, hoping that Vala would show up early too. He was eager to talk to her about what she'd said last night. Unfortunately, she was not only the last to show up, but she was also ten minutes late. Daniel had no choice but to dive right into the meeting as soon as she seated herself.
"The Clava Thessara Infinitas," he opened up with elaborating, "The Key to Infinite Treasure. A cache of Ancient wealth and weapons."
Looking over at the archaeologist thoughtfully, Mitchell replied, "You do realize the last cache of Ancient stuff we picked up is what got us in trouble with the Ori in the first place."
"So what?" Daniel answered incredulously, "Just leave it out there for someone else to find?" Mitchell shrugged, nodding once in acknowledgment of Jackson's point.
Teal'c pointed out, "I thought you believed the Clava Thessara Infinitas to be a hoax, Daniel Jackson."
Nodding, he answered, "I did, yes, but the research Athena did is actually quite compelling. Now, after cross referencing her research and our cartouche, I was able to generate a gate address."
Looking intrigued, Mitchell said, "Possible location of the treasure."
"I'm not sure, but we sent a MALP to P4M-328, and the images it sent back are particularly interesting." Leafing through the papers in the open folder before him, Daniel pulled out some pictures. "Now, the hieroglyphs on the wall are all out of order and from various different dynasties. At first glance, they don't make any sense," he said as he started to hand the pictures to Landry when Vala interrupted, reaching for the photos.
"It's a code!" she said exuberantly, smiling brilliantly at him. The archaeologist paused, glancing back at her with a measure of irritation. He didn't say a word but pushed her hand away, proceeding to hand the images to Landry.
"Sounds like it's worth checking out," the General answered. "Go ahead."
Teal'c spoke up at this, "Should we not wait until Colonel Carter returns from Washington?"
"She's still there briefing the President on the scenario that played out in the alternate reality where the Stargate was made public," Landry responded.
Furrowing his brow, Mitchell commented, "Well that's taking longer than it was supposed to."
Daniel shrugged as he pointed out, "It could be a good way to examine what might happen here."
The General grinned at this, saying, "Sounds like President Hayes is having a hard time just getting past the fact that he wasn't President." With that, they all wordlessly got up and set about getting ready for their mission to P4M-328. Again, Daniel lingered a little, trying to discretely get Vala's attention. She was quick for the door, however, leaving without a word.
The columned room with the Stargate was dark and silent. Suddenly the stone ring came to life, each chevron lighting in turn until the last lit up and the wormhole connected with explosive force. The blue light from the wall of water shimmered within the circle, and within moments the four of SG-1 that were in the briefing stepped through the event horizon.
Four flashlights clicked on, the pale yellow beams of light casting about the room. Daniel spoke first, "Well, I'm gonna set up my camera and take some high-res stills of these glyphs." He walked over to one of the walls with hieroglyph panels, shining his light over it's surface, looking at it with a perplexed brow. At the same time, the others started to spread out, shining their own lights around, surveying the room silently.
After a few moments, Mitchell looked over at Vala, casting his light in her direction, "Give Ansel Adams there a hand. Teal'c and I'll check out the perimeter."
The woman pursed her lips at this, furrowing her brow. Given her disastrous attempt to apologize to him last night, being alone with him wasn't exactly what she wanted right now. "Right," she answered, slowly wandering over to the archaeologist. She began to mutter, "Well, I'm sure that's a very witty popular culture reference, but I..."
"He's a photographer best known for his black and white images of California's Yosemite Valley," Daniel answered flatly, meeting her gaze as she came to stand by him.
Vala watched Daniel with a reserved expression as he answered, forcing a smile as his words explained Cam's comments. "Oh!" she said in sudden comprehension, forcing a chuckle. She called after Cam with a fake laugh, "Ha, ha. Good one!"
Suddenly the two of them were alone in the room, which was even more dark now that the flashlights carried by Teal'c and Cam were gone with the two. Vala looked back at Daniel with a nervous stare, swallowing hard as she found him studying her intently instead of the hieroglyphs. She looked into his eyes in the shadowy light of their flashlights and knew there was no more escaping this. So, she decided to just tackle it head on. "Listen Daniel, about what I said last night," she began, only for the archaeologist to cut her off.
"I'm glad you brought it up, because I've been eager to talk to you about it," he started but she interrupted him in turn.
"Well, I'll make it easy for you," she answered quickly, her heart pounding in her throat. "You don't need to worry about any of it, I really shouldn't have said anything," she blurted out, hoping against hope that would be enough to put the matter to rest.
Daniel's expression quickly told her that was a foolish thought, however, as he looked at her with a slightly annoyed expression. She sighed, pursing her lips. "Well, it was worth a shot," she said quietly.
"Vala," he began, decided to cut to the heart of the matter, "what did you mean when you said you were jealous, that you wondered if Adria had managed to reach me in a way you'd wanted to for a long time?"
The raven-haired woman closed her eyes painfully as he spoke, trying to fight back the tears. Yes, this was exactly what she didn't want. "Daniel," she said in a trembling voice, "Please, just forget it, alright?"
He watched her in silence, stunned at the hurt he saw written across her face. Suddenly everything about her that annoyed him, everything he thought that he was afraid that kept him from getting to close to her vanished. Swallowing hard, he said simply, "Vala..."
Something in his voice made her open her eyes against her will. She looked up into his gaze with wet eyes, frustrated beyond belief. What she saw there confused her, the warmth in the look he gave her was not what she expected.
Suddenly he cupped her face in his hands, leaned in, and pressed his lips to hers. Vala drew in a sharp, surprised breath as he kissed her, every last thought vanishing from her mind as she felt his lips pressing against hers. Suddenly her eyelids became too heavy to keep open, slowly falling shut as she reached up, stopping just shy of touching his face as he kissed her insistently.
Even as he pressed his lips to hers, Daniel couldn't believe that he'd done it. Nonetheless, he gently stroked her cheeks with his hands and lovingly caressed her lips with his own. His tongue glided tenderly over her lips, which she immediately and thoughtlessly parted for him. He kissed her deeply, exploring her mouth sensuously as she moaned softly against him.
After a few moments, Vala regained her senses and began kissing back with a passion that grew with each breath she took. Her wavering hands reached up the rest of the way and she wrapped her arms about his neck, pressing her body against his. She finally met his tongue with her own, tenderly caressing him and smiling within the kiss as she heard him moan against her mouth. Daniel slid his hands down her body, wrapping his arms about her waist, pulling her even more tightly to him as they kissed passionately, the fire growing faster and faster.
Time lost all meaning for the two as a heady feeling came over both of them. In the back of his mind, Daniel couldn't believe what he was doing, but at the same time he knew it felt right. He pressed his lips to hers more firmly as he felt her respond, the eagerness of her lips and tongue clouding his mind and making him lose himself in her scent and in the feel of her body pressing against hers.
Vala couldn't have been happier, all of the fear and doubt that she'd been living with for the past twelve hours melting away. She kissed Daniel for all that she was worth, hungry for as much as he would give her. With every second that passed, she felt a growing yearning for him, and an irritated frustration as she remembered that this was neither the time or the place where she could have what she really wanted.
But right now, she didn't care. Instead, she ran her fingers through his hair, moaning loudly against his lips as her tongue wrestled playfully with his. Daniel squeezed her to him, sighing happily into the kiss, his lips caressing hers sweetly.
"Pack it up!" came Mitchell's yell as he rounded the corner, he and Teal'c stopping on their heels as they saw the two entangled with one another. "Woah!" he yelled in surprise, even as Teal'c regarded the two with wide eyes and an eyebrow that shot halfway up his forehead.
Daniel and Vala broke the kiss instantly, the archaeologist looking back over his shoulder with suddenly blushing cheeks and even Vala peering around from behind the man who held her with wide eyes and a scarlet countenance.
The four paused awkwardly as the seconds ticked by, none sure exactly what to say. "Ooookay," Mitchell began as he realized of the two in front of him, neither of whom had even started to release the other, neither were about to say anything. "Look, we'll talk about this later. Right now, we've got to get out of here. I'm pull the plug on this mission. This is not a tomb, it's a museum!"
"What?" Daniel asked in shock, sharing a stunned look with Vala. Both looked relieved that there was something to serve as a distraction from the very awkward moment that they'd just gone through. Nonetheless, the two were slow to pull apart. In spite of their circumstances, neither seemed willing to let the moment go.
As they stood apart, Daniel glanced over at the column that was right next to him and Vala. "Well, that would explain why the hieroglyphs were all jumbled," he said as he shone a light over its surface.
As he walked briskly past them to the DHD and started trying to dial, he added, "And there's a pretty big party going on next door, so"
"Right!" Daniel said, suddenly even more motivated to leave quickly. He knelt down, intending on packing up, when he realized with a wry grin that he'd never really unpacked. All his time had been spent lip-locking with Vala.
At Mitchell's words, Vala lit up, asking, "What kind of party?"
The Colonel paused in his efforts to dial the difficult symbols on the DHD at her words, turning his flashlight on her. "Don't you think you've had enough excitement for one day?" he asked dryly, casting his light over to Daniel, then back to her.
"Oh that?" she asked spiritedly, a wide grin covering her face. "We were just warming up," she said with a wicked voice, glancing down to see Daniel looking up at her with a surprised expression.
"Well, in either case," Cam continued, turning his attention back to the DHD, "This is the kind we do not invite ourselves to." As he spoke, he started tapping the buttons with increasing frustration as nothing seemed to be working. "This is a first contact situation. When a civilization reaches a certain level of development, we don't do those in person. We send the MALP to make contact and, if they are into the idea of extra-terrestrial visitors, then we get to go to the party, not before. Basic protocol."
By this time, he'd become both frustrated and worried at his fruitless attempts to work the DHD. Suddenly, one of the keys came loose in his hand. He picked it up and showed it to Daniel, the two sharing a worried glance. Walking around to the front of the unit, he bent down and too easily lifts it up, half of the plastic keys falling to the floor with a clatter. Mitchell dropped the unit and it landed with a hollow thud. The four exchanged amazed looks.
"Okay, this is not good," Cam said obviously, the lot of them suddenly forgetting the awkward circumstance from just a few moments ago.