General Landry watched as the wormhole disengaged after SG-1 headed through the even horizon and headed up to his office. It never got old, watching the many teams of the SGC head through the 'gate and he was always in the control room if he could be. Sighing, he entered his office and waited for the conference call to begin.
He ran over the mission briefing that he'd recently finished with SG-1. Just another planet with an Ancient device or two that they were heading out to check on. There'd been many missions like that since the defeat of the Ori along with many planets that they did not have in their databases before. Worlds untouched by the Goa'uld that the Ori had either converted or tried to destroy, sometimes partially. The SGC and their allies had been busy in the months since the end of the war, helping relocate many, teaching new technologies to even more, and taking care of any Ori 'artifacts' left behind. Several Ori ships had been located on the surface of many worlds and they had been primarily in charge of getting them operational again. There were still soldiers out there that tried to continue the spread of their beliefs in the same way as they had before and skirmishes often happened. Minor Goa'uld had come out of the woodwork trying to claim followers of Origin that felt abandoned and in need of something to fill that void.
General Landry rocked back slightly on his chair. Jack had been right, there was always something going on to keep the SGC busy.
The SGC was almost back to full personnel again after losing many men to injury or worse with only a few opting to either retire or transfer. Only a few remained to return and would do so within the next month or so and teams that had lost members were back up to their four man status after training and working with their new members first. SG-1 had been different though.
He didn't think that any team that lost a member had suffered less than SG-1 as it was always hard to deal with someone suddenly not being there, changing the dynamic of the group and the camaraderie. SG-1 had suffered loss before, several times the same individual and had come through in the end. This time had been different though.
Hank remembered when Jack had arrived on base. He'd been notified the moment they knew that Dr. Jackson's situation was dire and due to most of their ships being needed elsewhere and the only ship in orbit did not have the Asgard beaming technology, Jack had been forced to take the old fashioned route, by flying. By the time he had arrived on base Dr. Jackson was gone and SG-1 were still mourning in the infirmary. Landry had raced down there knowing Jack would head there first.
He knew about the previous deaths that Dr. Jackson had suffered and Jack's continued refusal to believe that his long time friend had died and a small part of Landry wanted to see that for himself, convince himself that this wasn't permanent. When he reached the infirmary and found Jack already there comforting his old team mates, Landry knew that he was not about to witness Jackson's refusal to die. He'd left them alone so they could mourn together.
The funeral had been held in the gateroom with people in the control room and briefing room as there wasn't enough space for them all. People that Landry had never met but who had worked with Daniel previously, most of the SGC, several of the IOC including some from the Pentagon and some offworlders.
After the funeral SG-1 was given the task of removing any sensitive items from Dr. Jackson's apartment as Landry couldn't think of a better group to do such a task. He knew it would be hard but at the same time they were the ones that knew him the best. The apartment had been left for almost a month before SG-1 decided to move everything out and store it in Daniel's old quarters on base.
His office had been a different thing entirely. There were so many artifacts, documents, books and journals and not wanting to mislabel or accidentally lose anything while moving or packing it, the office had been left alone for the most part and slowly those that knew what to look for had begun removing items as they were needed. The office still looked the same and had a feel that Daniel had only just left, perhaps for an extended vacation. Every once in a while Landry found himself outside the door, occasionally finding a light on and knowing exactly who was inside.
At first it had been unknown if Vala would stay. The Ori were defeated and Daniel was gone. There wasn't much, he thought, to keep her there. He was glad he was wrong as she continued to live and work with them in no way indicating that she was intending to leave.
SG-1 was still a team, no stronger than previously with each of the four members doing what they had before and perhaps a little more. Landry admired their resilience, persistence and above all the way this brought them together even more than he thought would be possible. He knew that without each other they would've had a much harder time dealing with their grief and continuing life on a day to day basis. He could almost hear Colonel Carter's laughter as she joked with Mitchell during the briefing. It was those brief moments where Landry knew his flagship team was well on the road to recovery.
The loud ringing of the phone jerked him out of his musings and he picked it up, ready to begin.
She fell onto her bed exhausted. After a mission that required far too much walking combined with soggy terrain, rain and cold wind, the post mission checkup and debriefing felt like it had taken far longer than it should've. She'd showered as fast as she could longing to curl up under the warmth of the covers and fall into the deep, dreamless sleep that was rare for her now.
They'd found what they'd been looking for, some Ancient gizmo that Sam was eager to begin testing to find out what it did. Vala was sure that she was in her lab at this very moment beginning testing on it. She'd translated the tiny amount of Ancient text on the device before they even made it back home so she assumed she wouldn't be needed anymore.
Reaching for the bedside light she smiled at the team photo that sat in it's frame by her bedside, one that had been taken shortly after returning from their mission that Teal'c still wouldn't talk about. General O'Neill had taken it at one of his bbq's as Cam said something slightly off beat, Sam giving him a strange look, Teal'c with one eyebrow raised, Daniel laughing, and herself smiling at the camera. He'd given it to her shortly after Daniel's death and as it had been the only picture she owned of him at the time, it had immediately gone into a frame and set in a place she would see it often. Since then the other members of SG-1 had shared other photos and they resided in an album sitting on the sparse bookshelf she had. The pictures Daniel owned of himself with various members of his team continued to reside in his office as Vala loathed to move them.
Turning off the light her last thought was the same as it was every night, of Daniel.
She woke suddenly the dream of Ba'al fresh in her mind. This time he had been torturing her with the hand device and for information about Adria. Her dreams rarely stayed the same, they were either subconscious memories from her time as Qetesh, memories of the deaths of Daniel, Tomin and Adria or dreams that her mind conjured up from all that she had seen and heard in her life so far. Knowing where she could go to calm down she dressed in her BDU's and headed out the door.
She opened the door and flipped on the light smiling sadly as she entered. She loved this room and it was probably her favourite place on this entire planet, what she had seen so far.
After Daniel had died she had considered leaving the SGC and trying to forge a life for herself away from the constant reminders of him. Every day felt more difficult than the previous one especially as they were not going on missions to distract her. She'd kept her thoughts to herself as she worked with the others removing anything relating to his work at the SGC from his apartment. During that time she'd been given permission to move freely on the surface providing she kept within Colorado and informing the SGC if she chose to leave Colorado Springs. She had no vehicle nor a permit but Teal'c kindly offered her a ride one night when she felt as though the walls on the base were beginning to close in on her.
He had not asked her any questions nor commented on her request, merely driving her to Daniel's and informing her that when she required a ride home, to call him. She'd spent several nights there, sleeping on the couch, watching TV, some light cleaning, resting. At first she had been worried what her team mates thought of her staying at his house but Sam assured her that they thought nothing of it and if it made Vala happier then she should continue. Within a month Vala knew she couldn't stay there and the thought of living there permanently only made her depressed. She couldn't hold onto him forever and there was a time when she would have to forge a life for herself.
They'd sold the apartment and with General Landry's permission, stored Daniel's belongings in his old room. Why they didn't get rid of them too, Vala had no clue. Perhaps it was just better to do this one thing at a time.
The office was somewhere on base that she could go to, close her eyes and imagine that Daniel was sitting at his desk, a mug of hot coffee in his hand, reading. She'd done the many times but eventually began looking through the books to give her something to do. It didn't take long before she immersed herself into his work as much as she could. There had always been something fascinating to him that he'd been working on and she wanted to share in that passion just even a little bit.
She could read Goa'uld thanks to her time as a host but knew very little Ancient. With the help of several others on base who could read the language she began to learn Ancient along with Latin, immersing herself in studying Daniel's work from the past 10 or so years. The cultures of this planet did not interest her as much as the cultures of the others out there and she found herself drawn to the artifacts of the Ori and Ancients. Before 3 months had passed she was eagerly working with SG-1 tracking down various objects left behind, working with many others on base, scientists and researchers alike to figure out what each device did. By no means was she an expert, but she told herself repeatedly that she was learning.
No more thoughts of leaving SG-1 crossed her mind as she felt that this really was her home. She'd worked hard to find a place amongst these people and she hoped that Daniel would be proud of what she had done.