Chapter III:
Guises and Guesses
Funny how the convoluted Asgard records were making sense all of a sudden.
Shaking his head in quiet amazement, Daniel pursed his lips to contain what he suspected would have been a Cheshire grin. As his finger idly traced circles over the manuscript of a half-finished translation, he wondered if he had gone completely crazy. Probably. But it had been worth it, oh, had it ever!
"Hey Jackson." Mitchell appeared in the doorframe, wearing an enthusiastic expression. "Come on, we've got a mission. Debriefing in ten minutes."
Daniel took a second to sympathize with the colonel's excitement; he could well imagine how the week of virtual on-base confinement must have felt for the man. Briefly, he wondered how Mitchell had reacted to being trapped all those years on the Odyssey, and imagined it must have been pretty bad. Still, he'd had better things to focus on than the colonel's cabin fever then, and he definitely had better things to focus on now.
"Listen," Mitchell took a few steps inside the office, stopping right by the desk and giving Daniel a cautious look. "Much as I have been praying for a new mission," he started, "I'm not going to take my team on it unless I'm sure they can function properly. I don't want things going wrong because of screwed up dynamics."
"You've had two aliens, a civilian and someone equal in rank on your team for two years and now you worry about dynamics?" Daniel quipped with a mockingly incredulous look, and Mitchell gave a lopsided nod.
"Good point. Still…you know what I mean. If you and Vala have unresolved issues…"
"Oh. That…" the archaeologist deadpanned, thoroughly unsurprised.
"Yeah, if that's going to be a problem—"
"Ohh…nope. Not really. No problem," Daniel quickly replied in a sing-song voice, and was very unhappy to notice Mitchell roll his eyes.
"Are you sure you two can play nice?"
Daniel loudly cleared his throat.
"Mmhmm."
"Alright, Jackson…" the colonel accepted, "then come on, the General is waiting to fill us in on the details." As the archaeologist stood up from the desk, Mitchell noticed him wince ever-so-slightly, as though nursing some unseen bruises. On a closer look, he noticed a slight discoloration forming on the man's arm. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Hmm. Intense sparring session."
As the wheels started spinning in his head, Mitchell gave the other a long look. He had an inkling the 'intense sparring session' was closely related to their previous topic of discussion. (how closely, he preferred not to know, really) A barely visible smirk came to his lips, but he knew better than to make any comments that might send Jackson spiraling back into the land of denial.
"Okay, than maybe I was asking the wrong question earlier. Should I be worried that half my team is disabled?"
Consideration aside, he couldn't be expected to entirely miss the opportunity.
Mitchell had half-expected a dissatisfied glare from the archaeologist, or maybe a snarky retort, so he was almost shocked when the man simply offered a cryptic grimace and a pursed-lips grin, and wordlessly headed out the door. With a small shrug and a bemused shake of his head, the colonel followed, thinking it must have been a really intense sparring session to dull Jackson's usual snippiness. His common sense then cut off that train of thought before it could lead to any further speculation.
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As soon as she saw Vala come into the briefing room, Sam directed a discreet gaze of concern to her. For the past week, she'd tried to talk to the woman on repeated occasions, yet each time Vala would subtly but definitely thwart any attempt to discuss the memory. Not entirely sure where the line between friendly concern and invasion of privacy lay for the other, Sam had half-heartedly given up. She would have been a lot more confident talking to Daniel, but he had, gently yet equally clearly, shut her out. And between recalibrating most of the SGC systems, interpreting the knowledge that Teal'c's memory had revealed of the Asgard core and still trying to come to terms with the other memory herself, she simply hadn't discovered any effective way to be of any help to either Daniel or Vala. They had continued to glare and fume and sulk, and frankly, Sam wasn't all that sure that going on a mission was the best idea, under the circumstances.
With those thoughts in mind, she was deeply surprised to notice Vala was not, in fact, fuming or glaring or sulking. In fact, if Sam had had to choose a word, she would have picked 'glowing'.
"Hello," the brunette greeted with a cheerful grin, as she dropped in one of the chairs and promptly propped her elbows on the table. "So, what's this new mission about? It was about time we went off world again!"
"Uh…yeah," Sam nodded, unsure of how to react to Vala's sudden mood shift. "I guess a long time on base can get a little, eh, boring…"
"Boring!" the other's voice sounded amused and incredulous. "Who said it was boring?"
She opened her mouth to add something, but Teal'c entered the room at that precise moment. As she noticed the genuine beam that Vala directed at the Jaffa, the pieces began falling into place for Sam, and her mouth formed a silent ohh, before the colonel allowed herself a small, cautious smile. Reasonably sure that Daniel and Vala had worked things out, she felt immensely relieved; at the same time, a small part of her wondered exactly where they stood with each other now, and she mentally frowned at her indiscretion. That's none of your business, the colonel in her admonished. They are just friends, the reason in her said. Just check that grin, the woman in her giggled. That's ridiculous, reason argued. That's sweet, her romantic heart sang. That's enough, the friend in her ended the debate. Wherever they stood, she hoped it would work out best for them. (and she'd figure it out soon, anyway, since none of them were famous for their poker faces, the woman in her got one last word in)
Daniel and Mitchell walked in, followed shortly by the General, and Sam indulged in one last, curious look in Daniel's direction, as he sat down in the chair beside Vala. The two exchanged a short glance, and, oh ye gods, was that a toothpaste-commercial grin the man was giving the beaming brunette?
"Alright, SG1," Landry started, "this is what your new mission is about."
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"It's alright to ask, you know, Sam."
The colonel felt a small blush creep to her cheeks and coughed, half-amused and half-uncomfortable.
"I'm just…glad…things are okay between the two of you, that's all."
Vala undid her jacket and opened her locker to take out the BDUs. The two of them were alone in the women's locker room, gearing up for the upcoming mission, and she could virtually see the waves of reluctant curiosity coming from Sam.
"Do you think we grew really close on the Odyssey?" Sam hesitated for a second, unsure of the we Vala was referring to, and the other woman caught up on it. "You and me, I mean. We were the only women on the ship…think we became best friends?"
The blonde smiled.
"Yes, I can imagine we did."
Vala sat on the small wooden bench, giving Sam a curious look.
"I've never really had women friends…thieves and smugglers aren't exactly famous for their friendly nature", she joked, "and most of them are men, anyway. Well, for some species it's almost impossible to tell, really," she amended, and Sam laughed as she pulled on the BDUs.
"So tell me…" Vala cleared her throat, stood up and started changing as well "what kind of things are…okay…for friends to discuss?"
The other woman was genuinely amused—and somewhat wary, as she could very well imagine where that conversation was going. She wondered if the locker room was the best place for a heart to heart, especially with off-world departure scheduled in about twenty minutes. On the other hand, she was only human. She couldn't bring herself to put off the discussion that Vala was just starting.
"I don't know…friends can talk about anythi—oh my God!" Her relaxed reply was cut off as Vala took of her jacket and, beneath the short tank top, Sam spotted a huge bruise taking up half her abdomen. "What happened?" she asked in shock, noticing, at the same time, a similar bruise on the woman's right arm.
"Erm." Vala grimaced. "Part of the healing process?" she ventured.
"That doesn't look like healing to me."
"Don't worry, it doesn't really hurt, and the gel the doctor gave us is really efficient!"
"Us?!" Sam frowned in confusion.
"Yeah, me and Daniel. Who else did you think gave me these?" Vala asked with a saucy wink, thoroughly enjoying the other's bewilderment.
Sam shook her head, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. On second thought, maybe she couldn't imagine where that conversation was going. She shouldn't have been all that surprised, really. When it came to Vala and Daniel, things could rarely be predicted. And more often than not, they ended with numerous bruises. But then again, a smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.
"Okay, you lost me," she finally admitted. "This talk is not turning out like anything I expected…"
Vala grinned, as she pulled on the BDU jacket, and as she opened her mouth again, Sam had the feeling that story would take more than twenty minutes.
A/N: You wanted to know the team's reactions—well, here is a little bit of what I think they'd look like! What do you think?
(Same as with last chapter, the story could end here, or…not end here. As it's been virtually writing itself, I'm not making any prognoses…)
As always, feedback is very appreciated! Thanks to all of you wonderful people who review and let me know your opinions, I'm encouraged to write more and update faster (and not care about the midterm coming up in two days; but don't let concern for my educational well-being stop you from sending me your comments:D)
Until next time, then.
Myosotis
