Chapter 2 Someone's Not Quite In Trouble
Daniel walked slowly into his office, key card between his teeth, coffee in one hand and a pile of books and papers balanced in the other. He kicked the door wider, stumbling slightly.
The books wobbled. The coffee slopped, but miraculously stayed in the cup. He was about to tut, then remembered what had happened the previous morning – clamping his teeth firmly around his key-card he marched into his office and plonked his mountain of research down on the desk, placing the still-full cup of coffee next to it.
Daniel hoped that he'd see Vala today – she'd been off world yesterday with SG-5, pottering about in some dodgy tavern in a dodgy town on a dodgy planet.
It was the type of work she did best, he thought, when she could use her pirate/thief/smuggler skills in a whole new way, for the benefit of the SGC. Anyway, whatever they'd done out there had worked – the team had come back through the Stargate with a chest full of relics and Naquadah.
Vala had been grinning like a Cheshire cat – she always felt better when a plan she was involved in actually worked.
Daniel smiled. It was rare that any of the SGC's plans actually worked – she really should be doubly proud of herself. Plus it had been nice to see her smiling.
Daniel frowned as he realised that he hadn't seen Vala's Cheshire cat smile for a long time. Oh, she'd still been grinning a fair ammount, mostly when annoying him or trying to wheedle something out of Mitchell, but now he thought about it, they'd been slightly off. Hadn't quite made it to her eyes.
He turned towards his shelf. Where was that hair clip? He'd give it back to her today.
Gone. That was where it was. Vanished.
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck. No, Jackson, you're not mad – that stupid thing was here yesterday, and here is where you left it.
He turned and moved further into the room, stopping at the sight of an empty coffee cup and – were they biscuit crumbs all over the sofa? Looking at his pack of cookies he saw that they were nearly all gone.
With a flash of inspiration he snatched up the TV remote and switched on the screen. MTV came blaring out at full belt! Daniel squeezed his eyes shut and turned down the volume as quickly as possible.
Vala! He tossed the remote aside and scanned the office briefly. How on earth had she managed to get in? Why was he even asking himself – doubtless she'd procured herself a key-card from somewhere. That woman was incorrigible!
In a rare fit of temper, Daniel slammed out of his office and stormed down the corridor towards the control room. Halfway to the elevators he made a swift about turn, went back to his office, made sure the door was definitely locked and then retraced his steps.
Part way back to the elevators again, he turned around, went back, collected his mug of coffee, locked the door and proceeded to march for the third time in Walter's direction.
Boy, was Vala was in trouble!
- o - o - o - o - o - o -
Daniel swung himself up the stairs into the control room.
Walter was sitting in his usual seat but when he saw the archaeologist he stood up.
"Dr Jackson," he said, his face bearing the slightly concerned look that he always wore. "I was about to call for you over the intercom – I think that you need to see this. The CCTV picked it up about three nights ago – sorry, I meant to try and catch you yesterday."
"Let me guess," Daniel scowled. "Is it video involving an ex-space pirate breaking into my office?"
"Er – not exactly," Walter replied, looking at the other man nervously.
"Well what is it then?"
"Just a moment – er – take a seat Dr Jackson, there's quite a lot of it." Walter pulled another chair over.
"What?" Daniel felt rather flummoxed now. He'd thought that he was going to catch Vala in the act of some light pilfering but now the technician was confusing him. He sat down and waited.
The screen flashed and scrolled for a few seconds before Walter spoke again. "There. Look."
It was easy to recognise Vala – hair in scruffy braids, wandering up the corridor towards the gym.
The two men watched her go in - she sat on the exercise bike for a while, then tried to use the punch bag as a kind of giant swing. It was mostly unsuccessful, although Daniel let out a guilty chuckle when she landed on her backside.
Sloping out of the gym and up towards the lifts, she appeared next in the cafeteria. It was empty.
With a small jolt Daniel noticed the time on the monitor – 3.18 am. What was Vala doing prowling around the SGC at three in the morning?
She sat alone at a table, with a sad little cup of coffee, looking very small and lonely.
Daniel felt a strange pull on his heartstrings, which he quickly squashed.
A few minutes later Vala wandered off again, turning up in the empty control room, where she sat looking down at the Stargate for a while, before moving to Landry's office and sitting in his chair with her feet up on the desk.
"She fell asleep like that for about an hour." Walter's voice broke in on Daniel. "Then she went straight back to her quarters."
"Insomnia?" Daniel suggested. He looked again at the recording. The clock now said 5.11am.
"Possibly," Walter agreed. "Although…"
"What?"
"It's been happening every night. I mean, this wasn't the first time. For about five weeks, possibly slightly longer. The reason I called you is because we saw this two nights ago."
Daniel didn't need to look. He could have guessed. Vala, key-card in hand, breaking into his office at half past two in the morning.
"How long was she in there for?" he growled, eyes narrowing.
"About three hours." Walter fast forwarded the recording. "She came out just before 0500 hours."
"And which of my possessions did she take with her?" said the archaeologist, brusquely.
"Er – none, I think." Walter looked surprised. "I wasn't implying that Ms Mal Doran had slipped back into her old ways, I just thought that perhaps you ought to know what she was up to. Being as you're, well, you're …rather…well, you're the closest thing that she..ahem..that she has to family, here on earth."
Daniel closed his eyes and dropped his head. Yes, he supposed that he was. He felt a twinge of sympathy for his team mate – how long had she been suffering with insomnia?
She'd looked rather a sad little figure, all alone in the SGC at night. And why hadn't she said anything? She was probably afraid that Landry would stop her going off-world. Or maybe even pull her from the team altogether. Although she wore her SG-1 patches with pride, Daniel suspected that even now Vala sometimes didn't quite believe that she was really worthy of them. It explained why her smile wasn't quite right too – she was probably exhausted.
All of his anger had slipped away. Poor Vala.
"Thanks Walter." Daniel stood up and nodded to the other man. " I'll get to the bottom of this. Don't worry."
The long-serving, long-suffering technician smiled. "I know that you will Dr Jackson. Good luck."
Daniel slowly descended the staircase. How on earth was he going to bring it up with Vala though? He ran through various scenarios in his head on the way back to his office – broaching the subject over dinner? No – remember what happened last time! At the conference table? A little too public. In the gym? The cafeteria?
He needn't have worried. When Daniel returned to his office the door was wide open and there – sprawled across the couch, fully dressed, boots on, TV remote control in her hand – was Vala, absolutely and soundly asleep.
TBC...
