Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Vala Mal Doran skipped her way down the halls of the SGC, pigtails bouncing and rainbow lollipop in hand. Everyone smiled as she came their way and waved hello to the bubbly alien. She grinned and waved back, inquiring after people's health and families. She knew almost everyone and finally felt like she had settled into her new home.

Vala had chatted with Carolyn for awhile after Cameron left, speculating about what might be happening at 4:00. She finally left when one of the soldiers came in for a post-injury check up. She was now headed back to Daniel's lab to see what he was up to.

She licked her lollipop half-heartedly. She wasn't going to be able to finish this one either. She had tried so many times to finish one of these and had never succeeded. She shrugged and handed it to a confused airman as she rounded the corner to Daniel's lab.

She entered the room to see the archeologist extremely flustered and rummaging through the piles of papers and artifacts that littered his lab. Vala didn't mind, but she still enjoyed teasing him about it. He insisted he knew where everything was, and Vala learned to let him embrace his delusion of "organized chaos."

"What's the matter with you?" she asked him and he angrily shifted the papers on his lab bench.

"Ja- Someone was here visiting me, and they moved things around, and now I can't find anything!" he growled.

"General O'Neill should know better that to touch your artifacts."

He sighed, "I swear he hides things on purpose, but—" he stopped, looking up at her, glasses askew. "Wait, how did you know that he…"

"Oh please, darling, you should know better by now. The whole base knows."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This place is worse than high school."

"You're the second person I've heard say that today," she commented. He continued making even more of a mess as he searched through the pile of books on the floor.

"What are you looking for?" she asked as he stopped his rummaging to lean against his desk and fix his glasses. He had removed his BDU jacket, and Vala thought he looked very nice in his black t-shirt.

"My book on ancient Egyptian dialects. I swear it was right there! Jack must have— what are you doing?"

Vala had walked over to him and was standing very close, looking into his eyes.

"Vala…" he said, not sure what to do as she stood on her tiptoes, reached behind him, and…pulled a book off the shelf above his desk.

"Is this what you were looking for?" she asked, innocently.

"Um," he cleared his throat, "Actually, yes. What made you think to look there?"

She smirked at him. "That's where you always keep it, Daniel."

"Oh, right," he said awkwardly.

She laughed and went to sit on his workbench by the text he had been working on translating. He went over and started flipping though the pages of the book, immediately absorbed in his work again.

"What are you working on?"

"Ancient Go'auld text. There's one character that's giving me a hard time—"

"This one?" she inquired pointed. When he nodded, she said, "That means 'land of beginnings.'"

He looked up at her, momentarily surprised.

She smiled, but he could tell her heart wasn't in it. "Personal experience, remember."

He looked at her with sympathy and took her hand for a moment. Then, realizing what he was doing, he let go and resumed studying the text.
"What about this one?" he asked, showing her a strange symbol.

"That one could have several meanings depending on the context…"

The entire SGC was abuzz about the event at four. Everyone was trying to guess what might happen, and the O'Neill/Carter betting pool was going crazy. As the designated time approached, everyone tried to find a reason to be in or near the control room. Scientists ordered special tests, and Siler and the gate crew ran diagnostics on every piece of machinery they could find. The rest of SG-1 headed to the control room. Vala talked excitedly at Daniel, Mitchell was still confused as no one would explain anything to him, and Teal'c had a smug look on his face. And to all of this, Samantha Carter was oblivious.

Next time: the big surprise :)