Author's Notes: Sorry for being so long since the last update!

Chapter 2: Misconception

"Daniel," Cam called into his radio "dammit," he clicked the button again "Jackson!"

Uncertainty was winding its fingers around his stomach. Was it really such a good idea to bring Daniel along? Was it even a good idea for any of them to be off world? At first it had seemed like the perfect remedy; the signal of the end. Vala had died; they had mourned her and respectively wished each other and everyone else their best. Given their condolences and then spent a suitable amount of time supposedly dwelling on the 'good times' not that it ever worked like that, it was a period of self torture that was certified to exist merely because it had a thinly veiled excuse. But now… now going on a mission seemed like the worst idea on Earth, or indeed any other planet.

The vines twisting around his gut he recognised as ones of nausea and his heart was hammering in his ears. He wasn't sure he would ever be able to bare the thought of loosing radio contact with one of his team-mates again. The hissing roar of static was a constant in the nightmares that plagued his every moment and it instilled a panic that every soldier felt after loosing a comrade in arms. None ever mentioned it because then they would be taken off active duty, subjected to psychoanalysis and told 'we're sorry but…' when they were finally declared unfit for working on the field. And to have that taken away as well… to have the only escape route severed made it all the worse.

"Carter," he said, swallowing thickly and hoping his voice was as shaky as he thought it was.

"Yep," her voice crackled through and he breathed a sigh of relief, ignoring the look of concern Teal'c fixed him with.

"What's your status?"

"I can't find a specific source for the readings," she reported "I think they must be coming from the planet itself-"

"Meet us at the 'gate. Mitchell out," he cut her off and closed his eyes for a moment; to hell with the mission, he'd had enough.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow in query but it was a question left unanswered as Cam simply muttered for him to follow and took off in the direction in which Daniel had gone.

Daniel blinked and ran a hand over his eyes, blinking again when he found that Vala was still there "what?" he whispered breathlessly.

Vala grinned at him "glad to see me?"

Daniel's eyes widened even further and he stepped towards the dark haired woman carefully, as if he thought one wrong move would make her disappear. He stopped inches from her and she stood in silence, watching him with a playful little smile on her face. He stared at her, his skin prickling when he felt her breath against it and after a moment of quiet he wrapped his arms around her gently, strengthening the hug when they did not fall right through her.

He squeezed his eyes shut, burying his face in her shoulder and tried to still his trembling. He was afraid she would say something to ruin the moment, but she didn't, and seconds later she hugged him back, he felt her smile broaden against his neck instead.

"Jackson!" his feet were burning as he stumbled through the shrubs at his feet. The plants in general looked soft, like heather only orange instead of purple, but the ground beneath was parched and hard. "Jackson!" his panic was irrational, his fear had no foundation but it was there and it was real, at least to him, he heard the steady thud of Teal'c jogging behind him as he pounded down the path Daniel had taken. Stopping only when he saw his friend some several feet in front of him. "Thank God," he breathed, leaning over to try and alleviate the pain of the stitch in his side.

"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stopped just behind Mitchell.

Daniel jumped away from Vala and turned to the others, "what's wrong?"

Cam pushed himself up, breathing heavily "gee Jackson I don't know." He snapped, he wasn't sure why he was angry, okay he was but he shouldn't be taking it out on Daniel. He knew that but it was either that or admit to everyone how much their last mission had spooked him "maybe the fact that you weren't answering your – what are you smiling about?"

"She's back,"

Mitchell frowned "who is?"

"Vala,"

Teal'c and the Colonel shared a dubious look "uh Jackson…"

"No," Daniel cut him off "look," he stepped aside and pointed "she's there,"

Once more the other two men looked at each other.

"Daniel Jackson…"

"There's nothing there Daniel," Cam said.

Daniel frowned and looked back, Vala grinned and waved, and he turned back to his friends "she's standing right there!" he laughed in a manner he would have called relief but that Cam would have called hysteria.

"No," Mitchell spoke slowly "she's not,"

The walk back to the 'gate was silent and Daniel was grateful for it. Despite how glad he was that Vala was back, the stark familiarity of it was comforting although now instead of happily being left to his own devices with only the occasional, easily brushed off query as to whether or not he was okay. It was now punctuated with wary glances that were not very well hidden even as he wasn't supposed to notice them.

Mind you, there wasn't really much of an excuse he could come up with to satisfy his team-mates and friends enough for them to completely ignore his temporary bout of insanity which was, although probably accurate to them, was the crude description he used to try and sate them. It hadn't worked and every step closer to the 'gate meant one more closer to more psychoanalysis and interrogation.

"Hey!" Sam ran up to them "what's wrong?"

"We're going back," Mitchell said simply.

"Why?"

Cam didn't courtesy her with a reply, simply brushed passed her and began punching the co-ordinates for Earth into the DHD far harder than was necessary.

She looked to Teal'c.

"Daniel Jackson claims that Vala Maldoran has returned," the jaffa replied tensely. The only give away for his concern was the sadness in his eyes as he averted the blonde Colonel's gaze and attempted to catch Daniel's eyes but he was far to busy, blatantly pretending to tie up his bootlace to notice.

"Daniel?" Sam said as he got to his feet just as the wormhole formed and the roar of the Kawoosh could be used to claim ignorance.

"Move out," Mitchell gestured to the 'gate. The rush of panic was gone, the panic induced fury dissipating to more manageable levels and leaving him feeling raw and vulnerable to attack.

"Unauthorised off-world activation!"

Landry sighed, running a hand down his face and dropping his pen onto his desk before getting to his feet and heading to the control room. "What's going on?" he asked, the question a pointless one but a signifier of his presence.

"IDC's just come through sir," Walter said, not looking away from the screen, "its SG1,"

It took all the willpower he had not to groan at that statement, instead he watched the iris open, and seconds later the team trudged through.

"Colonels?" Landry called over the intercom.

"Is she still here?" Cam turned to Daniel quickly, ignoring the General and frowning openly when Daniel looked as if he were about to use the same excuse that he had on the planet to brush away the scrutiny.

"Is who still where?" Landry interrupted.

"Daniel's seen Vala," Sam said to try and calm the rapidly agitating man above them.

"What?" he breathed, then into the microphone "Doctor Jackson…"

"She was there," to hell with trying to pretend like it wasn't real because it was, he'd seen her, spoken to her, touched her. That was only possible if she was actually there "I don't know how but she was there,"

"Is she still here?" Cam repeated.

Daniel looked behind him briefly "yes," he muttered, without turning his head back round for a moment as Vala smiled brightly at him.

"SG1 report to the infirmary at once,"

"Well this is boring," Vala commented, falling back to sit in the chair by the bed Daniel was sat on the edge of.

"Hmm," Daniel agreed reflexively, not bothering to look at her and instead studying the floor with an intensity he hadn't realised could exist before.

How was it? Vala was dead; she'd died in his arms. He'd been kissing her as she stopped breathing, and he'd watched them bury the casket. Standing by the freshly dug grave until long after sunset because moving meant leaving and leaving wasn't something he could do on his own. She'd left. Just like everyone else. Everyone left, but he couldn't; not again.

And when he finally had gone home, he hadn't returned to her burial site for a week. Instead of the memories of her laughter being the cause of happy reverie that lead to a dreamless sleep they were cruel; haunted his nightmares, and taunted him even when he was awake. The thought of her touch made him shiver and sometimes, as he edged back into consciousness after exhausting himself to the point of simply falling into the blackness of oblivion, he could remember what it felt like to kiss her, how eager she'd been, how amazing it had felt. How calming. But then reality would thunder back through the doors of dreams and the soft lips beneath his would become cold and hard, the skin wrinkled and dead; the dream of a woman became the nightmare of a corpse.

He clenched his fists in his lap, wincing at the stab of pain that hurtled through his hand. Uncurling his fingers he was surprised to see them stained pink; across the bottom of his palm the pink became red, the skin became inflamed and he stared at it confusion; racking his memory to remember the cause of the injury. He jumped when he felt someone touch his knee, looking up he saw Vala standing right in front of him, the corners of her eyes crinkled in worry as she pressed a piece of gauze onto his hand.

"Thank you," he said quietly, again talking without putting much thought into it.

She smiled "no problem,"

The curtain was jerked back and Carolyn came bustling in, "hello," she said gently, closing the curtain behind her, then frowning when she saw his hand "what happened?" she pried the gauze pad away and put it on the tray that was on the bed next to him.

Daniel watched Vala retake her seat through the corner of his eye and shrugged in answer to the CMO's question.

Carolyn nodded absently and called out "can I get some anaesthetic in here please?"

"It's not that bad."

"You need stitches," she answered firmly "thank you," she said to the nurse as she supplied the needle and drug before leaving "are you sure you don't know how this happened?" she said, using an antiseptic wipe to wash off the blood that adorned her patient's hand.

"No idea," he replied as she examined the wound under closer inspection once it was somewhere in the vicinity of clean.

She tipped peroxide onto a fresh gauze pad and pressed it onto the cut. He hissed and flinched on reflex but she simply strengthened her grip and then released him several seconds later when she went to reach for the local anaesthetic needle to numb his hand and start stitching it up.

"Colonel Mitchell tells me that you've seen Vala," she said, watching herself work meticulously but tryin to distract him a little.

"Uh huh," he answered emotionlessly.

"Any idea how?"

Daniel was silent and she looked up when she felt him staring at her.

"I'm not crazy," he said firmly.

"I know," she placated, going back to work, "post traumatic stress can cause you to see and feel all sorts of things."

"Yeah," he muttered, not bothering to argue with her.

Author's Notes: Please review!