Sam groaned as she sank into a steaming bathtub, fully immersing herself before raising her head above the water. It was only then that she allowed herself to cry. She stared up at the ceiling, tears silently coming down her cheeks as she thought of what had happened over the past week.
Vala had been kidnapped by an old rival of the Goa'uld that she had been host to in the quest for some treasure. The abduction had happened one evening while she was on a date with Daniel.
She closed her eyes and sniffed back more tears as she thought of how utterly bereft he had looked at the former host's abduction. Of course she had been worried too for their friend's welfare, but she had to wonder whether he had ever been that upset and lost whenever she had been abducted.
Sometimes she wondered what had happened to them… to their relationship. They had been so close over the years but then it seemed to have fallen apart when they parted ways to do their own things after the Goa'uld and Replicators had been defeated.
How could such a strong friendship, a strong bond, go that quickly? Something that had lasted for years had appeared to crumble within a fraction of that time.
What had happened?
When before they would regularly visit each other's workspaces and homes with offers of coffee and a listening ear, they now appeared to ignore each other… and when she had tried to reach out to him, he was always tired or occupied.
How then, did he always seem to have time for Vala?
So anyway, Vala had been kidnapped and by some kind of accident while SG-1 had searched for the former host, she had lost her memories and ended up eventually being arrested. After that, the Trust kidnapped her by deception and…
Sam couldn't help but smile as she thought of her, Daniel and Teal'c storming into a motel room to find Cam stark naked and handcuffed to a bed. The scene had provided a lot of ammo to be used against the Colonel in the future.
Her smile faded as she remembered them finding Vala in a warehouse, and, after a fire fight with Trust operatives, she had begun to remember who she was and Daniel had hugged her.
Earlier today at the mountain, when all had calmed down, Vala had finally been made a member of SG-1 and proceeded to tease Daniel about their date, the Archaeologist repeatedly claiming that it hadn't been.
Right.
She sighed softly, scrubbing her face with her hands as she thought again of how sad and tired he had looked, leaning in the doorway of her lab after they had learnt of Vala's abduction. Suddenly feeling the need to get out of the house, she got out of the bath, drying herself off as she drained the tub. She threw some clothes on and went downstairs, grabbing her keys on the way out.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Grabbing her bike, she angrily rammed on her helmet and sped out of her neighbourhood as the memories repeated in a loop of Vala teasing Daniel about the date and Daniel repeatedly saying that it wasn't a date. That had led to her storming out, albeit in a controlled manner, before taking her anger out on her poor lab.
She knew that she had to work it out of her system, because she had to work, after a fashion, with Daniel as well as Vala… and if they had found some happiness, who was she to stand in their way?
What saddened her was that Daniel, despite apparently knowing herself so well – at least it had been that way in the past – didn't know how she felt about him, how she had always felt about him. She just never told him… and now completely regretted it.
How had Vala taken his affections? Vala had abducted him and the Prometheus to sell it for refined Naquadah.
Should she have done that to win his love?
She shut her eyes briefly as she took a bend to stem the oncoming flow of tears as pieces began to come together in her mind.
Suddenly she and the bike parted ways, the bike shooting off from under her as she fell to the side, a searing pain slowly engulfing her body as she scraped across the tarmac of the road surface, the Colonel eventually coming to a painful stop.