Title: Being Found
Author: Milena D.
Rating: T+ for now
Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure, etc. Daniel/Vala all the way ;)
SPOILERS: Up to Prometheus Unbound which is the 12th episode of Season 8, I believe. And although I'm not using any parts of Seasons 9 or 10 yet, I am taking the creative liberty of bringing the team together to include Daniel, Teal'c, Sam, Cameron, Dr. Lam and General Landry. Jack will be making an appearance too!

Summary: What if Daniel and Vala had been reunited soon after Prometheus Unbound, before any of Season 9?

Author's Note: Made it a bit shorter than the last two Hope it'll be easier to read. Thanks always to everyone who reviewed! And sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes, I'm getting pretty tired tonight.

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Chapter 7: Resting & Flying
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Daniel had been agitated since Jack had hung up on him. Worry, frustration and irritation were waging a war inside him and he didn't know which emotion would overpower the others when Vala was returned. Daniel had kept calling them but he was being sent to voicemail each time and that just served to fan the flames of his discontent. Not to mention the fact that Woolsey and his guards had caught up to SG-1 a short while ago, demanding to be present when she arrived. Added to them was Dr. Lam and her two nurses just as Jack had requested.

Daniel checked his watch for the fourth time and was considering asking Sam to call Jack's cell when a familiar green pickup rounded the last bend and rolled smoothly to a stop at the gate. From this distance, they could see two airmen go up to the vehicle and check for ID before opening the gate and admitting them through. Instead of heading for the parking lot, Jack drove right up to them and stopped the truck. They all took a few steps forward and he stepped out of the vehicle holding a hand up in greeting.

"Hey guys. Daniel, you're looking well." Jack said easily, deliberately torturing his younger friend.

"Jack." he glared back, not appreciating his friend's aloofness.

"Well, if you're going to be like that, you can just forget about your present." Jack scolded lightly.

"Jack." Daniel warned and Jack gave an exaggerated sigh, rolling his eyes.

"Oh alright, it's in the truck. Sorry, I didn't have time to gift-wrap it." he said, pointing his thumb to his Ford and Daniel took off in a slight jog with Dr. Lam and her nurses pushing a gurney behind him.

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Vala's body jerked in surprise when the door she'd been falling asleep against suddenly disappeared. She gasped and threw out her arms, inhaling sharply when her shoulder protested loudly, and lost her breath when she fell back into strong arms. She twisted herself as gently as possible to see Daniel's frowning face peering down at her.

"Hello, darling." she said sheepishly.

Daniel said nothing until his eyes flickered down to the red stain covering most of the right half of her hospital shirt. His blue eyes then lost their frustrated edge and grew concerned.

"Can you walk?" he asked, eyeing her bare feet.

"Of course I can." she said with false cheer.

She'd much rather have told him she couldn't and have him carry her but she was tired and he still looked angry so she wouldn't push it. He unwound his arms from around her body and backed away from the door to leave her room to get out. She tried to push herself out of the seat but her arms trembled and buckle and she couldn't quiet her hiss of pain when her injured feet touched the bottom of the door frame. She looked up at Daniel.

"I suppose that might have been a slight overstatement." she admitted and he gave her a pointed look but stepped forward again, lifting her into his arms being mindful of her shoulder. Despite his care though, he could see the colour drain out of her. Luckily, Dr. Lam was waiting for them with the gurney just a few steps away and Vala was able to lie back and breathe when he placed her gently on it.

Daniel went back to shut the car door, grimacing at the sight of Jack's now red leather seat, and followed the gurney until it was stopped by Mr. Woolsey.

"Airman Truswell, cuff the prisoner, please." Woolsey ordered and Daniel was slightly put off to see Vala's wide eyes shoot to Jack in askance instead of him. Jack gave an almost imperceptible nod and stepped forward.

"Stand down, Truswell. Nobody's getting cuffed here." he said and Vala relaxed a bit, but kept a wary eye on the guards.

"General, I'm glad you could make it to supervise the base's security modifications but this matter is none of your concern. She is a prisoner in the eyes of the IOA and you have no jurisdiction here whatsoever." Woolsey said firmly. Jack conceded with a nod.

"I don't, but the President of the United States does." Jack said and Woolsey visibly deflated.

"You contacted the President?" he asked almost pitifully and Jack grimaced slightly.

"Well no, not yet, but I will. And I've got a pretty good idea of what he'll say, don't you?" Woolsey knew exactly what the President would say and he didn't like it.

"Well until such a time as the President can be reached and give us his decision, this woman will remain under constant supervision." Woolsey almost glared back, not willing to give up his prisoner.

"Absolutely. I completely agree." Jack smiled back but stopped the guards from advancing. "Nuh uh, not so fast. You two are out, Daniel, you're in."

Daniel's head snapped up so fast Dr. Lam thought he might have to be checked for whiplash later. He'd been distracted by Vala's pallor and hadn't registered much of the exchange.

"Excuse me?" he asked confused.

"You're going to stay with our friend here until she gets better." Jack repeated for his slow friend.

"I like this idea." came Vala's exhausted but pleased voice from the gurney and Daniel's eyebrows just drew closer and closer together.

"But he's just a civilian!" Woolsey protested as the party made its way back inside the mountain.

"So are you, Richard." Jack said, clapping the man gleefully on the shoulder before joining his former team and the medical staff in the elevator.

"So, what's new around here?" Jack asked as the doors closed.

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"Well, that's it, Ms. Mal Doran." Carolyn said as she finished dressing Vala's bullet wound. "The bullet only passed through muscles so you'll be sore for several weeks but there won't be any permanent damage if you keep your arm as immobile as possible. When you're better and can move around more, I'll give you a sling to help support your arm. You've lost quite a bit of blood but nowhere near the amount you'd lost when you first came to us. What you're missing now, your body will regenerate naturally." she said concisely and the woman smiled up tiredly.

"Doctor, you've thoroughly inspected every inch of my body twice now, I'd say we've passed the need for formalities, I'd very much prefer it if you'd call me Vala." she smiled despite her obvious fatigue and Carolyn envied the ease and natural confidence her patient displayed.

"Vala then." Carolyn nodded and thought a moment before speaking again. "You could, if you wanted to, you could call me Carolyn." she said without even half of the other woman's elegance.

"I'd like that very much, Carolyn." Vala replied and Dr. Lam gave a hint of a smile before continuing sternly.

"You realize of course that you are not to put any kind of pressure on those feet? Your other wounds are healing nicely but the soles of your feet aren't getting a chance to, so if I see you walking or standing or doing anything else with those feet, I'm going to reconsider the restraints." she mock-glared and Vala gave her a mock-solemn nod in reply.

"I can't say I feel much like dancing at the moment anyway." she mumbled sleepily.

Carolyn smiled. "I'm not going to give you a sedative since the painkillers will have you unconscious for a while anyway. I'll let Dr. Jackson know he can come in now." she told her dozing patient needlessly and left the room to get the archeologist.

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Hours later, Daniel let out an accomplished gust of air and sat back in his chair. He had finally caught up with the work he'd been too distracted to complete for the past three days, and he did it with Vala sleeping only a few feet away. Why was it that now that she was actually present (though unconscious) to distract him, he could finally concentrate? And while she'd been on an entirely different floor, having absolutely no contact with him, he'd had to read the same page over and over again before being able to process the words. He wasn't sure he'd be comfortable with the answer so he pushed it to the back of his mind and turned back to the translations he'd asked Sam to get for him.

Dr. Lam had told them she would be resting and stuck in bed for quite a while but Jack had been serious about his plan. He had walked Daniel into the room and told him he'd be back with a comfier chair and a small temporary desk. So there he was, sitting in his comfy chair, peacefully working on his translations, raising his eyes every so often to check on the slumbering woman in the bed.

Sometime around 6 pm, a soft knock at the door disrupted his thoughts on the Sumerian language and he got up to let Teal'c in. His teammate had brought him his supper as per the schedule Jack had established.

"Thanks Teal'c." he told the Jaffa as he set the tray on his desk. As was his custom, Teal'c simply bowed his head in acknowledgement before moving quietly to the bed.

"Has she awoken yet?" he asked and Daniel looked over to Vala shaking his head.

"Not yet, but she has had kind of a long day." he said wryly and a ghost of a smile flit over his friend's lips. "Has Jack reached the President yet?"

"He has not. Although GeneralO'Neill was released from the meetings, PresidentHayes still has many days of deliberations to attend." Teal'c informed him and Daniel sighed.

"Well, I suppose I should be thankful Jack could get Woolsey to back off at all." Daniel accorded, folding his arms and leaning back against his desk. Teal'c bent his head in agreement before heading for the door.

"Please pass on my well wishes to her when she awakens." Teal'c asked him and Daniel gave him a small smile, Vala was worming her way into a lot of hearts despite all the chaos she caused.

"I will. Thanks again for supper." Daniel said and Teal'c was gone.

Daniel bit into his sandwich and contemplated the woman in the bed. She was quiet and expressionless, it disturbed him. He wished she'd wake up already, he needed to talk to her. He'd only finished half of his sandwich when his wish was granted. She squirmed a little on the bed before stilling. He could see she was trying to stop her lashes from fluttering and trying to slow her breathing. He glared at her.

"I know you're awake Vala." he told her and her eyes snapped open to locate him.

"It's you." she smiled with relief.

"Who'd you think it was?" he asked with an inquisitive eyebrow. Something dark flashed across her eyes and Daniel suddenly had the insight that this must be the first time in weeks that she would have woken up to a friendly face.

"Not you." she said simply before leaning up and giving him a bright smile. "Is that for me?" she asked pointing to his tray.

"No, but you can have it." he said bringing the tray to her and her eager fingers wrapped themselves around the other half of the sandwich before he even reached her.

"Hungry?" he smirked at her, placing the tray on her night stand beside the little bird.

"Starving!" she got through around the sandwich "I haven't really eaten in almost four days now, you know."

"And who's fault is that?" he shot back and she paused incriminatingly before resuming her meal. "I was right, you were awake every time I came to visit you!" he accused her and she winced guiltily. "Why?" he demanded and she swallowed the last bite.

"Well…it wouldn't have been very conducive to my plan now would it? I would have loved to sit up and reminisce with you, darling, but those brutes would have known I was getting better and would have been more suspicious of me. It would have made it much harder to escape and believe me, it was hard enough as it was." she said thinking back to when she'd been shot before having to climb that monstrous ladder.

"Yeah, about that." Daniel's voice was not happy as he recalled her escape. He brought his chair over to her bed and sat in it with crossed arms. "Explain that to me, would you? You weren't delusional but you still decided to run." he bit crossly and she winced again. "You could have just given up your ruse and talked to me if you were feeling anxious."

With that last line, the guilt Vala had been feeling evaporated and was replaced with annoyance.

"Talked to you? How would talking to you have helped me in any way, Daniel?" she sat up properly in her bed to better defend herself. "That Woolsey man told me exactly how things would be progressing and had Jack not arrived to intervene, I would be back here in restraints again or maybe even in a cell." she glared at him and he wasn't sure what disturbed him more, the look of anger she wore or the casual way she mentioned Jack by his first name.

"I don't know!" he said, flustered "But if you hadn't run off again, you wouldn't be wounded again, Jack wouldn't have been necessary and you'd still be healing here with just the two harmless guards watching you, not restraints and definitely not a cell!" he said with a raised voice.

"Harmless?" her eyes blazed and she pulled down her shirt collar revealing her bandaged shoulder. "This looks harmless to you, does it?"

"Again," he repeated standing up "he wouldn't have had to shoot you if you hadn't tried to escape!"

"Well I'm sorry that I'm not the most docile of prisoners!" she shouted sarcastically and he groaned.

"But you're not a prisoner!"

"Well your Mr. Woolsey didn't seem to share that opinion, he was already arranging a court date and probably picking out the linens for my cell!" she yelled at him and he paused.

"What?" he asked confused and her eyes narrowed.

"Oh don't play ignorant, Daniel, it doesn't suit you." she accused him.

"This is the first I'm hearing about any court date." he told her sincerely and she was slightly mollified but still very annoyed.

"Well what did you think he was going to do?" she bit at him and he looked at her thoughtfully.

"I never thought he'd get the chance to do anything, I knew Jack would somehow overrule him eventually and that we'd just have to suffer through Woolsey's power trip until he could. The only thing I was worried about was that he wouldn't get here before you got better, but chances were good that he would." he told her simply and her eyes grew wide.

"You knew Woolsey wouldn't get the chance to do anything?" she asked him incredulously and he nodded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She shot out and smacked him as hard as her injuries would allow. He rubbed the spot on his shoulder where she hit him more out of symbolism than actual pain.

"Well you could have told me that!" she yelled at him and for the first time he realized what she must have been going through all this time, thinking she'd be incarcerated again on yet another alien planet. He stood chagrined beside her bed while she sat with her good arm wrapped around her waist, refusing to look at him.

"I'm sorry, Vala." he said softly, grazing the elbow of her wounded arm "I just – I'm just so used to Woolsey being shot down lately – I didn't realize how you'd be experiencing this whole thing." He was rewarded with a sideways glance. "Although if you hadn't pretended to be asleep for three days I might have had the chance to tell you!" he couldn't help but add and she gave him a great look of disbelief before notably cooling down.

"Alright, it's both our faults." she conceded with a small smile and he nodded. "More yours than mine, but we're neither of us innocent." she smirked at him and he let it go with a shake of his head.

Daniel sat back down in his chair, suddenly tired, and wordlessly passed her the salad on his tray. She grabbed it eagerly and dug in.

"I'll have Mitchell bring more." he said and she nodded earnestly around the lettuce. He chuckled softly and made the call. Hanging up, Daniel suddenly realized he'd forgotten to ask a very important question in all of their arguing.

"How are you feeling?" She looked up at him but didn't stop nibbling on her tomato.

"Much better, thank you." she smiled sweetly "I mean, my shoulder is aching, my back is sore and I wish I didn't own a pair of feet but overall I find my situation has much improved." she finished perkily and Daniel raised an indulging eyebrow at how ridiculous her assessment sounded.

"Teal'c wanted me to pass on his regards. He hopes you feel better soon." he said absently and caught the quick look of joyful astonishment on her face before she turned back to the croutons, smiling. While she finished the salad, Daniel sat pensive in the chair, his eyes shifting to the little wooden bird beside the tray. He picked it up.

"There's something else I wanted to talk to you about." he started and she looked at him, bringing a carrot up to her mouth. He opened his hand to show her the bird and the carrot fell back to the plate with a thud.

"Where did you -" she broke off and reached for the bauble, bringing it close to her face as if checking to make sure every facet was exactly as she'd left it.

"It's how this all started." Daniel said and she tore her gaze from the bird to look at him. "Jeim Salesh knocked on our door with a bag of goodies for me."

Understanding dawned on her face but her held confusion.

"But how did he - " again she trailed off but Daniel knew what she was asking.

"Apparently Mr. Salesh takes great pride in keeping apprised of the status of his clients." he said recalling the words of the little man. "He knew you were on Plitis, being tortured by the Talkenans." he continued and a shadow crossed her face before being pushed away. "He gave me your valuables and the stargate address and left." he said sourly as he remembered how the man had seemed so completely insensitive to his client's plight.

Vala nodded slowly and absent-mindedly fingered the wooden toy. She still look disturbed but after a moment, her face cleared and she smiled lightly.

"That's right, Jeim usually takes his vacation around this time, doesn't he?" she asked him as if this was a valid reason for the contents of her will to be distributed prematurely.

"Yeah," Daniel said contritely "I'm sorry, Vala." She turned to him confused.

"For what? My problems are none of Jeim's concern." she said and her acceptance just bothered him more.

"It doesn't bother you that this man knew you were in danger, knew where you were, and didn't try to help you at all?" Daniel asked skeptically.

"Of course not, it's not as if we're friends. He provides a service for me and that's the end of it. No one in their right mind would risk themselves for an acquaintance like me." she defended Jeim.

"We did." Daniel challenged and she smirked at him.

"Yes, well, we're not just acquaintances, are we?" she winked at him and he gave her a dark look. "Well what? Why else would you come looking for me?" she asked defensibly.

"The SGC does not make a habit of leaving people to die when there's a chance we can help, no matter who they are." That was the answer that would go into all of their mission reports, the much edited and completely objective answer, and he had to suppress the urge to change his reply when disappointment flickered across her face. He cleared his throat.

"So why'd you do it?" he asked and her eyebrows drew together.

"Do what?" she cocked her head to the side.

"Why'd you leave your most personal treasures to me, of all people?" he asked her and her eyes widened. She was quiet for quite a while before answering.

"And who would these 'of all people' be exactly? Jeim is a very typical example of the people in my life, plenty of acquaintances but nobody I'd ever trust with anything so personal. I trust Jeim professionally, Daniel, but he doesn't mean anything to me." she said and mentally slapped herself for those last words.

"So…you beat me up, I beat you up but you trust me personally?" he asked dubiously, carefully ignoring her last sentence, and she looked away. This was more honesty than she was used to, this is why she didn't make friends, deep conversations were not her thing.

"It's not just that. On the ship, when I was trying to steal it," she specified as if he'd be confused. "I gave you the fabricated story of my heroic efforts to save my 'people' and despite being in the process of stealing your vessel and having abandoned all of your people in the broken al'kesh, you were still willing to try to find a compromise. You were willing to help me and I…" she shifted uncomfortably "I felt guilty." she finished.

Daniel looked at her with surprise but he didn't understand how that explained her leaving her precious keepsakes to him. She suppressed a groan and resisted the urge to bury her head under her pillow and wish him away.

"I never feel guilty, Daniel." she said, feeling the residual indignation of that day "It's a cutthroat world out there and you learn quickly that whatever you're stealing has most likely been stolen by its current owners. That or it was acquire through other, more subtle but just as unlawful means. But you made me feel guilty!" she accused him but he didn't look like he was inclined to apologize.

"I felt guilty and I wanted to explain myself, tell you exactly what had gotten me to that day and to your ship. But I never got the chance, never mind the nerve." And Daniel was starting to understand.

"The only things I kept safe were things from before my youth I became a host, before I turned to this life. I wanted you to know me, Daniel. I wanted you to know I hadn't always been like this." Her throat was tight and she couldn't look at him but at least she'd gotten it off her chest

Daniel didn't know quite what to say. He wasn't used to this. He didn't have deep, meaningful, personal conversation often. But despite his unease, he realized that everything she said, about wanting him to know the real her, he wanted that too. And the fact that she looked just as uncomfortable in such heavy settings comforted him some. He cleared his throat and pointed to the bird she was stroking fiercely.

"So, what's the story behind this bird? I brought it to Plitis and I kept it by your bed after we came back but you never noticed it." he said and she smiled strangely, glad to have the attention away from her.

"It was beside me the whole time?" she asked with laughing eyes.

"Yeah, I brought it when you switched rooms too." he nodded and his brows knit in confusion when she laughed.

"My brother made this for me." she started, gazing at it fondly.

"Holane…" Daniel said and she looked at him in wonder before smiling and nodding.

"Yes, 'Lane. Our life wasn't all that great when we were young. Our mother passed away when we were young and our father remarried very quickly. Her name was Adria and I still think she was a human-looking Goa'uld by-product." she said with disdain "She was horrible, and with our father away conducting his not-quite-legal business, she had full reign over the house. She worked us like slaves and beat us whenever she felt like it. Things only got worse when she spawned a little demon herself." Vala's eyes narrowed in memory and Daniel couldn't help but smile at the descriptions. The actuality of her childhood must have been horrible but the way she recalled the people reminded him of a sulking teenager.

"Anyway, Lane was very skilled at woodwork he gave me this one day after Adria had been especially unpleasant. He said it was a Vala-bird and I smacked him until he assured me it was no reflection on my intelligence." she smirked and he did too recalling the video he'd watched with Jeim where she'd tackled her brother to the ground. Her smirk fell though and she grew more serious.

"He said it was meant to remind me that I would be free from the confines of our dreadful lives one day and I would fly away anywhere I liked. It would always be a reminder that something better was waiting for me, that I just had to take the risk and fly." Vala's face was frowning slightly as she remembered her brother and Daniel wanted to ask her what had happened to him but judging by her reactions he didn't think it was a pleasant memory, so he kept quiet.

"I kept it by my bed always, I would watch it before falling asleep and think of all the different ways I could escape and all the things I would do once I was free." she took a deep breath to clear the painful nostalgia, "After Qetesh, I broke into my old house and found those items I left you. After that, I was constantly on the running away from something so the bird really wasn't necessary anymore, and I didn't want to lose my journal or memory boxes so I left them with Jeim." she finished and smiled.

"That's why I thought it was ironic that you left my bird by my bedside everyday." she told him and he smiled ruefully.

"I left your symbol for escape by your bed everyday." he sighed "I really wish I would have known that beforehand." he told her and she smiled, placing the little bird back on her night table.

"So what about the-" before Daniel could continue, he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"That'll be Cameron with food." he said, getting up to answer it, and Vala smiled wide at the thought of another feast. It wasn't Cameron on the other side of the door. The figure pushed past Daniel easily to reach the woman on the bed.

"Jack!" Vala's excited voice greeted and Daniel wondered idly when his good friend would be leaving the base.

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Please review!! It makes me write real fast ;)