Despite the early start and subsequent seventeen hour drive to the cabin that day, it took Daniel a long time to settle down that night.

In truth, he really hadn't given much thought to their time onboard the Odyssey in the six months following the mission. Teal'c had been tight-lipped about his experiences, and despite everyone else's apparent curiosity, Daniel had opted to move forward with his life, continuing their fight against the Ori while researching the Asgard database in every spare moment he had. And he'd thought he'd been happy with that, until today.

Then came Vala. She hadn't even been talking about him specifically, assuming he'd be perfectly content left alone for a lifetime of research. But she'd had a point. Fifty years without any meaningful relationship, or children... It was a long time. It was a lifetime. And would it feel like wasted time, at the end of it all, when he had no one to share his findings, no one to share his interests, no one to share his life?

Sha're had been a beacon of light for Daniel, a spot of hope in an otherwise dismal existence. He'd never had much in the way of a family before meeting her, or a home. And he'd never really fit in on Earth. Then, overnight, she'd given him everything he could ever have wished: a wife, a father, a younger brother, and a community full of people who looked up to him for his role in bringing an end to the Goaul'd Ra. It had been a good life, that year on Abydos. And he'd devoted two and a half years of his life afterwards to getting it back. But what had he done since?

He'd mourned Sha're, of course, but then what? He'd redoubled his efforts with the Stargate program to rid the galaxy of the Goau'ld. He'd helped defeat the Replicators. He'd joined the fight against the Ori. And in the process of all that fighting, watching nearly every person he'd ever cared about die at the hands of one enemy or another, what had happened to him? Where had his purpose gone? He wasn't fighting for home anymore, or for the woman he loved. He wasn't fighting for his family, or even his friends. He was just fighting, day and night, barely treading water in a war that was simply never going to end.

And suddenly he found himself grieving for the Daniel who died onboard the Odyssey, completely alone. Would that be him, fifty years from now? It was exactly what Sam and Mitchell had tried to warn him about, he realized. They'd been able to see where he was headed, even when he had not.

And Jack. Much as he ever hated to admit when the soldier was right, nobody would ever wish a lifetime of loneliness on the one they loved. Sha're certainly wouldn't have. Yet, eight years after her death, he still hadn't moved on. Hadn't had a single date, hadn't even so much as flirted with another woman. Apart from the alien encounters his team so enjoyed razing him about, he hadn't had any sort of relationship since she'd been taken host.

It was a sobering thought. Even if he didn't feel quite ready yet, what about the Odyssey? Why, in fifty years, hadn't he at least tried?

Granted, there'd only been Sam and Vala to chose from, he reasoned, but still. A life with a friend is at least a life. All he'd had was work. All he had now was work. Everybody else was moving on, except him. Jack and Sam were married. Teal'c spent most of his free time trying to piece together the fractured Jaffa nation. And Vala... Well, Vala would find her place, too, he had no doubt. Which really only left him.

It left a strangely empty feeling in the pit of his stomach.


Vala woke feeling troubled. Despite her elation the night before at finally discovering the truth of their experience onboard the Odyssey, it somehow didn't sit right with her. She'd already guessed that helping Samantha with her research would have staved off insanity for a short while, at least, but to discover that her lover was Cameron Mitchell... there was just something not quite right about that.

She sighed. Why worry about it at all, she reasoned? It's not like you can change it now. But he wouldn't have been her first choice. How long had it taken her to give up on Daniel? And had she spent those fifty years wishing it was him by her side, rather than Cam?

The thing was, Vala liked Daniel. He was short-tempered and had absolutely no sense of humour, but she had the distinct impression he hadn't always been that way. And he believed in her. Despite everything she'd done to him since first meeting him two and a half years earlier, he really, truly believed in her. Nobody had ever given her so much credit before, unless you could count the innumerable mindless Goau'ld worshipers while she was still a host. Which she did not, by any means.

Cam was different. She was a member of his team, but that was it, really. He would tolerate her outside of the SGC, but they weren't really friends. How they could have been romantically involved for fifty years was entirely beyond her imagination. She must have lived pinning for Daniel, she decided at last. There was simply no way she could have been happy with Cameron Mitchell, anymore than he could have been happy with her. They must simply have settled for what they could get, and made the most of a bad situation for all those years... Which, when she came to think of it, was really no way to live at all.

Daniel was the one she wanted. And if she had been given this second chance, then Daniel was the one she would get. Even if it took her the next fifty years to convince him she was right.


Daniel was the last one up that morning, stumbling bleary-eyed into the small kitchen to find all his friends already clustered around the cluttered table, eating, laughing, and having a grand old time.

" 'Morning, sleeping beauty," Jack quipped as Daniel grabbed an empty mug and filled it with steaming coffee. Daniel grunted in reply.

"Daniel, come and try some of this," Vala said, motioning towards the lone remaining vacant seat, nestled between her and Sam. Daniel blinked blearily at her, sipping his coffee. "It's called Lucky Charms, although I haven't quite figured what makes it lucky, yet."

"I believe that would be the dehydrated confections within the cereal," Teal'c replied with a smile.

Vala held one of the tiny marshmallows up for closer scrutiny. "I still don't see it," she said at last. Jack smirked into his orange juice, while Daniel frowned.

"It's the shape," he replied rather vaguely. Vala squinted at the tiny green blob, giving a small shrug.

"If you say so," she replied, popping the candy into her mouth.

Daniel slumped into the chair beside her, taking a long draw of coffee.

"You know, I've heard that that stuff is horrible for you," Vala pointed out, popping another marshmallow into her mouth. Daniel scowled.

"So, now that we're all up," Jack said, rubbing his hands together excitedly, "Any big plans for today?"

"Maybe one or two little ones," Vala replied smugly, rubbing her foot up and down Daniel's leg beneath the table. Everyone stared at her a moment with looks of mild confusion, save for the object of her attention. Daniel glowered into his coffee cup instead, pretending not to notice her efforts, even as her foot slid beneath his pant leg, all the way up to his knee.

"Well, I brought a couple of new novels with me, so I was thinking of having a lazy day on the dock...," Sam replied. Jack grinned.

"You don't say? It just so happens, my plans involved lazing on the dock as well," Jack said, gazing appraisingly at his wife. Daniel rolled his eyes.

"You know, you two do have a room here," he muttered.

"Ah! Daniel, what's the number two rule at the cabin?"

Daniel sighed. "Public displays of affection are to be tolerated without comment," he grumbled.

"What's the number one rule?," Vala asked, confused.

"No work allowed," Sam supplied with a grin.

"Are there any other rules I should know about?," she asked.

"Nope," Jack replied.

"Yes," replied Daniel. Vala looked from one to the other in consternation. "Never walk into the cabin unannounced when these two are alone," he explained after a moment, indicating their married friends. Now it was Jack's turn to roll his eyes.

"Give me a break, Daniel. It was one time."

"Once was enough," Daniel shot back. "Like walking in on your parents," he shuddered. Sam smacked his arm, hard.

"I resent that," she said. Daniel rubbed his stinging arm, reserving any further comments to the recesses of his mind.

"I believe I will spend the day in meditation," Teal'c replied, returning to Jack's original question.

"With a fishing rod in hand?," Jack asked hopefully.

"No," Teal'c replied.

"Care for some company?," Daniel asked, hoping maybe to clear his head a little.

Teal'c tilted his head forward in silent affirmation.

"What about me?," Vala asked, a look of panic coming into her eyes. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Oh, here," said Sam, getting up from the table to retrieve something from the other room. "You might like these," she said, returning to hand Vala the first romance novels she herself had ever read. Daniel frowned.

"I think she'd like the one's you brought out last year a little more," he said.

"How would you know?," Vala demanded, graciously accepting the novels from their friend.

"These are military romance," Daniel explained, gesturing towards the books now clutched to Vala's chest. "The other ones are full of pirates, thieves, and knaves. Much more your style." Vala glared at him, then looked sheepishly at Sam.

"I'll go get the other ones," Sam laughed, disappearing from the room once more.

"So I guess that settles it," Jack said, rising from the table. "We'll call it a 'make your own lunch day' and I'll see you all back here at six for dinner."