Chapter 3

Daniel thought he would only be a couple of days at the most but it turned out that he was away for over a week. He was dreading seeing Vala again. He didn't hate her, he knew exactly how he felt about her but he always thought that she was messing with him and using him as a long running joke. He only realised just before she left their office that Vala was serious. He really went for her and she hadn't done anything outrageous. In fact; he later thought that she was being sincere but it was just the wrong time. He was going to have to bare his soul to make her understand and he would have to confess his feelings for her as he knew without a doubt that she would never ever admit her feelings for him again.

He arrived in the gate room hoping to see Vala, on previous occasions when he went with another team she was always in the gate room waiting to welcome him back, every time apart from today. He went to the infirmary to get checked out by Carolyn, surprise surprise, there was nothing wrong with him nor the other members of SG-5 so he went to his office hoping to see Vala. He was disappointed. His office was empty, there was a stack of items on his desk and when he went to have a look it was a checklist with notes from Vala to let him know what she had completed, started or needed to start. There were also a couple of comments notifying him about some texts that she couldn't quite decipher. He was amazed, she always worked hard, it may not look like it to those on the outside (e.g. not part of the team) but she always completed her workload by the deadline and if she couldn't she would work herself to the bone to finish, it just happened that some people saw her when she was having a break after hours of work but they didn't see her before when she was working. Daniel remembered numerous occasions when he (yes, he saw the irony) would have to tell her to go and get something to eat or get some rest. There were a couple of times when he banned her from the office and got either Sam or Cam to take her away from the work. Sam would take her to the Mall and Cam would either take her home to his parents for a couple of days or if his parents could make the trip they would meet up for pie that his mom always made for Vala. There was also a banana muffin and a cup of steaming hot coffee waiting for him. She always made sure he ate or drank something. She knew he didn't like leaving the office to spend time eating even though he loved his team but Vala made sure he would take even five minutes to have a snack, every so often she would demand to have a meal in the canteen and so they would go and more often than not would meet up with the rest of the team for some down time. He realised how much he messed up.

He was prepared to face her the next day but he wasn't prepared for the new Vala. He was ready to apologise, grovel and even beg for her forgiveness but it seemed as if he was too late. Vala would usually be brash and come out with even more sexually explicit innuendoes just to make him squirm but not this Vala. This Vala was quiet.

"Morning Daniel, I hope you were successful with SG-5?" asked a subdued Space Pirate

"Vala, we need, no I need to talk."

"Daniel there's no need."

"Vala, please I need to…"

"Daniel, you were very clear. It's fine. I've put it behind me. Now what would you like me to do? If there is nothing at the moment I can help Siler with something."

"Erm I had a look at your work and for the most part its great can you show me how you got this part of the text translated?"

"Of course."

That was how they worked. No longer was there any banter between the two. It was all very civilised and Daniel was going mad. During team nights Vala would be her usual self with everyone bar him. When they used to watch movies, it didn't matter whose place they were at, Vala would always use Daniel as her personal pillow/ sofa. She would have her legs on his lap or her head on his shoulders and on a couple of occasions her head in his lap. Teal'c would have a chair to himself or the floor sometimes. Sam and Cam would share another sofa both would have their feet on the coffee table, if Jack was there Cam would be on the floor. But since he was rather blunt with her, Vala kept to her side of the couch, she didn't really banter with him and he missed it. He also missed the touching; he liked having her lean on him or use him as a pillow. He felt as if he was comforting her in some way. The biggest surprise, although it shouldn't be, was whenever the team night was at his place Vala would always stay over in his bedroom; he took the sofa as the spare bedroom was covered with books and they would spend the next day or two together, but that was before he destroyed her; when she went back to the base after 'his' team night he realised what he lost, his best friend. She still made sure he ate regularly but there was no joking between them, no sharing of stories from their past. They were colleagues now and he hated it. He knew what he had to do but just had to figure out how.

"She'll come around; she can't stay mad at you." Cam said

"It's been a couple of months already. In all honesty if I was her I wouldn't forgive me. I was despicable."

"So are you giving up on her? I never would have thought you were a quitter!"

"Will you help me?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not get crazy here. If Vala finds out I'm helping you she'll be all polite to me and I do not want that. I like the banter. I, and if you tell her I will deny it, like having a sister and I want to keep it that way. I don't just want a co-worker."

"She won't find out, I promise."

Cam gave him a disbelieving look.

"Ok, so I'll make sure she won't take it out on you!"

"How can you guarantee that?"

"You know she will forgive you if take her shopping!"

"I thought you said she won't take it out on me?"

"What's the worst that can happen?"

"Seriously?"

Cam looked at Daniel and then carried on.

"1, she could bankrupt me, you know she loves to shop and that's an understatement and 2, you know she'll drag me into Victoria's Secret and ask my opinion on EVERYTHING. Now I love that shop but no brother wants to help his sister by lingerie. She will ruin that shop for me and you know it!"

"So I'm not part of the team? You don't want to help me?"

"Oh please, don't even try that! You, Sam, Teal'c and Vala are all equally important to me but Vala she's like my kid sister and I know what it's like to join a tight team and try to fit in!"

"Cam…"

Cam held up a hand palm up to stop Daniel.

"Just tell me what you want me to do but I swear if she ruins Victoria's Secret for me there is nothing you can do to make it up to me! Also if you ever break her heart again you'll have to answer to me and Teal'c!"

"What about Sam?"

"Well I think you'd want to face me and the Jaffa because if you make Sam mad that means you make Jack mad and I think those two can be a little mean if you hurt someone they care about! Basically you are screwed if you hurt the Princess."

"What about if she hurts me?"

"Has she done it yet? Do you really want to reflect on who's hurt who so far? Because if you do I think you would come out on top and that's not something to be proud of. I don't know the details but what I do know is that you two always butt heads but you always work through it, this time it's different, you broke her!"