Author's Note: It's a new chapter! I'm moving away from the official military aspect of the story for a few chapters until I can get those chapters written out properly. My lack of knowledge of any military system is sort of a mark against me (not liking the military is an even larger mark against me), but lucky for me I've got a few friends who have more than a passing knowledge. So until I can torture all the information they have to offer me out of them, I'll be focusing a lot on the Daniel/Vala aspect of the story. So read and enjoy and please don't forget to review. I'm getting into the plot now and I want to know if the story is interesting enough to keep you all reading.
Disclaimer: Stargate ain't mine… but I hold out hope.
Warnings: There are a few objectional phrases this time around, as well as a couple of phrases that are sexual in content. So consider yourself warned. I'm sticking with a PG13 rating for those couple of lines. It's nothing too serious.
Chapter Seven: I Do or I Die
Daniel was down the hall from the infirmary when he first heard the screams. The sound was like a punch in the gut. He remembered the last time he had heard those desperate sounds, sounds that had been mingled with his own wounded shouts. He was trying to shove aside the memories that came with the sound of Vala's frightened screams as he ran down the hall and into the infirmary. It took a moment before the entire situation to actually register in his mind. Dr. Lam seemed to arguing with one of the Sisters about administering a sedative, but most of their words were drowned out from the screaming. Dr. Lam looked frustrated and furious, about ready to do physical harm to the tall and slight female before her. But something he did must have caught the Sister's attention.
She turned about on her heel, a swirl of thin veils, skirts, and material used as a shirt and shawl. Dr. Lam looked to Daniel with a slightly relieved look on her face. Daniel had no idea what was going on, except that there appeared to be a struggle taking place on the bed next to Dr. Lam and the Sister, and the person being restrained seemed to be putting one hell of a fight. "What the hell is going on?" Daniel demanded, moving closer to the corner bed to see who was struggling.
"Daniel Jackson," the Sisters sandy voice sounded above the screams. "You must attend to the mordra-eshu. We cannot keep her in a sleep state without the rest of our brethren. Your proximity should calm her and bring her back to herself." Daniel was frowning, trying to understand what he was being told while he continued to fight off the memories that those screams were bringing to the surface. Because he was so distracted, he missed the Sister's dismissive gesture. The other Sister and their two guards released the struggling body and stepped back from the bed. Without the extra support the two nurses that were left were unable to keep Vala on the bed.
Daniel blindly caught onto Vala when she launched herself off the bed, flinging the two burses aside. His instinctive grab, however, did not protect him from getting a fist in the face, and a knee in the groin. Swallowing the sharp pain that followed that blow, Daniel dragged Vala in against him, more to protect himself from more damage than that knee had caused. Vala's strong, lithe body struggled against his hold, and she continued to scream. Daniel tucked his head onto Vala's shoulder, his arms wrapping more tightly around her, bringing her back against his front, leaving only his shins and forearms particularly vulnerable to her struggles. "God dammit woman, stop struggling!" Daniel hissed into her shoulder.
It was as if a switch had been thrown inside of her. Daniel stumbled at the sudden lack of resistance from the woman clutched tightly in his arms. All he wanted to do was huddle over his own agony, but he wasn't sure why Vala had suddenly stopped fighting him and did not want to risk her getting hurt now that he had found her. "Daniel?" her voice was hesitant and cracked, probably from all of her screaming.
Daniel made a grunting sound in reply, still trying to breath past the last of the searing pain radiating up from his groin. He could think that he was grateful that it had been her knee and not a fire extinguisher again. But remembering what it had felt like to have the solid cylindrical object hit him in such a delicate region made him shudder in remembered agony. "Daniel?" she asked again, adding on, "Is it real this time?"
"It's very real," he answered gruffly, not realizing that her words were echoing his thoughts on the dream he'd had of her the last night. But he did ease his hold on her, loosening his grip so she could slid to her feet, but remain in the protective circle of his arms. She held onto him when her feet touched the floor and she found that her legs wouldn't keep her standing. Daniel's eyes were still water from the pain of her knee in his groin and couldn't focus on her face.
"Did I hurt you?" she asked, but did not appear to need an answer. Taking support from his arms, she leaned into him and whispered, "Should I kiss it better?"
Daniel felt heat creeping up his face and gave a half growled response and deposited Vala onto the closest bed, falling into the closest chair. He leaned forward putting his head between his legs and breathing deeply. Daniel could hear Dr. Lam try to suppress laughter at his predicament. Apparently Vala's offer to kiss his hurt better had not been as quietly spoken as he had thought. He should have gotten used to her blatantly sexual comments by now, but there were apparently a few he still hadn't gotten used to. At the moment he would have preferred if she had just grabbed his ass and made a comment about it. Embarrassment did not begin to cove it.
Vala clung weakly to the edge of the bed Daniel had unceremoniously dropped her on. She had never seen Daniel so uncomfortable. It was a thrill to know that she could still put him off balance, but she was still a little disoriented. The last thing she could clearly remember was lying in Daniel's bed with him. And she was fairly certain that such a thing had never happened while she was here the first time around. It had been a dream, which meant that this was a dream.
But she had never dreamed of Daniel Jackson in any place but his bedroom or his overly stuff office at the SGC, unless she counted the few dreams of him in some strange room. But there had never been any people with them. "Daniel, are you sure this is real?" she asked nervously, seeing the four Drakin's staring at her. She vaguely remembered encountering people like them, but the memories were mingled with fear and frustration and pain. "Daniel?" she asked a little more desperately this time. He had to have an explanation, some form of reassurance for her. Even if he was only a figment of a dream.
Daniel looked up when he heard Vala's make his name a question the second time. He recognized some of that fear. It wasn't just in her voice; she was nearly in a panic. Her pale skin went ashen and her knuckles had gone white clutching the edge of the bed. Something wasn't right. He stood up, wincing slightly, and walked over to her. His movement drew her attention to him. Her eyes were opened wide, more white than grey, and she looked ready to bolt. "Vala?" he asked carefully not wanting to frighten her more.
She let go of the bed, hands coming up to clutch Daniel's shirt. The material bunched in her fists pulled the rest tight over his shoulders. "Is this real?" she asked. "I don't know what's real and what's not any more, Daniel. Those dreams felt so real but I'd wake up and you wouldn't be there and I didn't know where I was and I couldn't figure out what was real any more…"
Daniel held her face between his hands, breaking her babble of frightened words. She wasn't looking anywhere but at him. She desperately needed reassurance. He remembered the dreams she was talking about and had a feeling that the crystal the Matriarch had embedded in her forehead had something to do with the realness of those dreams. And while it relieved him greatly that he had never given in to the sexual urges some of those dreams had brought up in him, he pushed it all aside. Vala needed him to be calm and collected. She needed him to reasonable and comforting. "This is real, Vala," he answered gently. "We found you and brought you back. This is all very real."
"You found me?" she asked in a small voice. He remembered his constant insistence in those dreams that it wasn't real. That it was just a dream, that it wasn't real. Now he was trying to convince her that it was real. That she was back at Stargate: Command.
He smiled to her and nodded his head slightly. "Yes, we found you. We brought you back to the SGC with us." He was avoiding the one line that would make things better, but wouldn't be true. He didn't want to lie to her, but she wasn't accepting the truth. He guessed even those little lies, the comforting ones, were necessary at times. Sliding his arms around her shoulders, he brought her against him and whispered very softly to her, "It's alright, Vala. Everything is going to be alright. We found you, we brought you back. It's all real; it's not a dream this time. It's going to be alright this time… Trust me?"
Safe, she was safe in his arms. The last time he had held her like this, she'd come back from the dead. She remembered feeling safe. The protective circle of his strong arms drew her in against the warmth of his body. Closing her eyes she breathed deeply, trying to relax, and all she could smell was Daniel. She could smell his cologne, something vaguely spicy and exotic, under normal circumstances she was certain that her mouth would have watered at the smell. Under that she could smell his soap, something woodsy and natural. But under it all she smelt Daniel, his skin, the slightest hint of sweat. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the feel of his arms, the smell of his skin, and the sound of his voice. Daniel felt, smelt, and sounded like home, like safety, acceptance, and contentment. Trust me? He asked her. She didn't even hesitate in her answer: "Yes."
She'd trusted her Daniel to do everything he could to see her safe and well. He'd found her, he'd brought her back to his planet where she would be safe…Safe from the Priors, safe from the Ori. If he said this was real, than it was real. He said that everything would be alright, and she believed him. Things would be okay now that she had found home, right were Daniel's neck met his shoulder, right in the curve. There was home, and that was where she belonged.
Daniel ended up sitting on one of the beds with his back against the wall; Vala was curled up on his lap, huddled against him. He kept his arms wrapped loosely around her, offering comfort. When Dr. Lam had tried to draw Vala away from him she become panicked again, unable to focus on what was happening to her. The Matriarch had arrived just when Dr. Lam was getting ready to administer a sedative while the Sisters hissed out objections.
"Stop!" she'd called into the room. "You will harm her with your medicines." That had made Dr. Lam stop abruptly. She turned towards the authoritative voice of the Matriarch and the other from the briefing room. General Landry, Mitchell, Sam, Teal'c, and the other Drakin's had come into the room, mostly to inform the other Sisters and guards of the situation that had been decided for them.
That had been twenty minutes ago. Daniel was now rocking Vala back and forth softly, trying to get her to go to sleep while the nurses pocked and prodded at her - taking her temperature, her blood pressure, listening to her heart, and even taking blood tests. Dr. Lam had asked about the crystal on Vala's forehead and Daniel had listened interestedly when the Matriarch had answered her.
"It is a medical device that we use," she said. "It is much like your monitors, but both simpler and more complicated. It is also used when performing the bonding between two peoples."
Dr. Lam had extracted information from the Matriarch about Vala's time with her; the Matriarch's answers had been relatively uninformative. There was nothing that she could tell Dr. Lam that Dr. Lam couldn't find out for herself. Daniel, did, however, notice that Mitchell was keeping close to the good doctor. And even though the military man kept his hand respectfully behind his back, Daniel could see he wanted to touch her, even if it was just to cool a slowly rising temper. Even General Landry was taking note of Mitchell's actions, Daniel saw, the other man had a smirk on his face, as though he found Mitchell's predicament amusing. Of course, finding amusement in something other than the extended debate taking place between the Matriarch and the good doctor was necessary.
Daniel tried to keep up with the conversation taking place, but could feel sleep whispering to him. He hadn't gotten that much sleep when Sam had dragged him out of bed, he'd only gotten maybe three hours. Adding to this was the fact that he usually only slept four or five hours a night, coupled with his constant need to exhaust himself before hand… Daniel just wanted to go to bed. He was already drifting off to sleep when someone moved to stand next to him, startling him awake.
"It has already begun," the Matriarch's sandy voice echoed in his tired mind.
"What's already begun?" demanded Dr. Lam.
"I have been trying to explain to you that they are already bound, incompletely, but the connection is still there," the Matriarch answered. "If the bond remains incomplete, no matter how close they remain, they will both lose the will to continue to exist. And when they lose this will, they will cease to exist. It is progressing more rapidly than I had anticipated…"
Daniel blinked his eyes open, focusing on the veiled face before him. This close, Daniel was able to see the veins and nerve endings laced over the surface of her face. This close, he could also see that her eyes weren't silver, but dark grey and medium blue. It was an interesting mix of colours, he thought. "I must complete what was begun," she said finally.
"Whoa now just a minute," Mitchell said, stepping forward, away from Dr. Lam to confront the Matriarch. "You said that this bonding thing is like our idea of marriage for your people."
"Yes," answered the Matriarch and turned back to Daniel and Vala. The two just sat there and stared at the Matriarch. Daniel was just too tired to care what they were arguing about this time. He just wanted to sleep. Now that he had gotten Vala back, he could rest; he could sleep and find some peace in that act. He couldn't even work up enough concern as to why Mitchell was stalling the Matriarch.
Vaguely Daniel heard to soft click of the safety of a hand gun being released and forced his eyes open, forced himself to become aware of what was going on. If guns were coming out of holsters, he wanted to make sure that he and Vala weren't going to be in the bullets way. When his eyes focused and his mind began to function again, Daniel became very, very still. Mitchell had his pistol pointed at the Matriarch; other guards in the room that had come with the Drakins had their weapons out, safeties off, pointing at the various veiled guests. The four guards the Matriarch had brought with her did not appear to have any weapons in their hands, but then again Daniel was staring mostly at their backs. Things had obviously gotten ugly.
"You will stop us with your projectile weapons?" one of the Sisters asked. "You will sacrifice their lives?"
"No," Mitchell answered. "But you aren't going to go hitch up Jackson and Vala either."
"Then you are condemning them to death," one of the Drakin guards hissed at them, almost spitting out the words. "If the bond is not completed between them they will both die in a matter of hours. It will be an unpleasant death to watch. They will lose their minds before they begin to rip their bodies apart. And when one finally dies the other will feel their death."
"Kai, be silent, please," pleased the other Sister.
"Is this true?" asked the General, directing his question to the Matriarch.
"Yes," she answered evenly. "I was the one performing the ceremony when a cave in occurred and crushed Joral'em. The bonding was only partly complete when it happened. The end was … unpleasant."
There was silence for a moment. Daniel was watching them all, but he was functioning on an instinctual level. Everything in him was screaming to protect Vala from the danger that the drawn weapons presented, and while he was listening to what was being said, he couldn't understand what the meaning was behind the words. General Landry was watching Daniel and Vala, contemplative. "If you can gain their legal consent you may proceed," he said finally.
The Matriarch hesitated for a moment before answering, as though unsure what would be better. "Very well. We will do what we are able to bring them back to themselves while it is explained to us what constitutes legal consent."
The Matriarch had produced two more crystal objects that looked a great deal like the one Vala had embedded in her forehead. When the Matriarch placed it against his forehead Daniel could only frown at her, not understanding what she was doing. There was a pinching sensation and things seemed to come into focus. It was like putting his glasses on, everything just seemed to become clear and focused.
Abruptly he turned his attention to Vala, wanting to check on her. But one of the Sisters had just replaced the crystal that had been on her forehead. The two Sisters took up positions on either side of the bed Daniel had been sitting on holding Vala while Dr. Lam explained what legal consent meant to the Matriarch. "I will have to sign off on their being able to legally consent to the act," Dr. Lam finished. The Matriarch did not appear to be overly concerned by this.
"You may speak to them, Dr. Lam. We have brought them back to themselves for the moment. We will not be able to maintain this level of coherence for very long. Without the rest of our brethren to lend support, this is a temporary situation," the Matriarch told her.
Dr. Lam walked over to Daniel and Vala, flashed a light in their eyes and asked some basic questions of them. Their name, where they were, who was in command of the SGC, she asked Daniel what the date was, asked Vala the name of the Goa'uld who had taken her as a host. They were fairly routine questions when one worked at Stargate Command. But all of their answers pointed to their being able to give legal consent to a marriage ceremony of any sort. Stepping back, Dr. Lam bumped gently into Mitchell's side, but Daniel noticed that neither seemed in a hurry to separate themselves. It made him wonder just how much of a relationship there was between the good doctor and the stubborn lieutenant colonel. Daniel worried a little over the possibilities since Dr. Carolyn Lam was General Landry's daughter.
"Daniel Jackson? Vala MalDoran?" The Matriarch questioned and Daniel brought his attention back to what was happening. When both Vala and he were listening to the Matriarch she asked, "Do you understand what the bonding ceremony means?"
"No," they answered simultaneously. Daniel had a vague idea of what it was, but not what it meant. He doubted Vala knew either, not with the level of curiosity showing on her face.
Sighing the Matriarch sat down and looked over the two of them. They were still sharing a bed, but mostly because neither felt much like moving. "Very well. When Vala MalDoran first arrived in my Colony, we were able to repair her injuries, and attempted to repair the incomplete bond that she had to you, Daniel Jackson. We did not understand then, that you physiology was never meant to sustain such an incomplete bond. You have the capacity to create and exist with the bond, but not to have it so incomplete without causing you further harm. When we realized our mistake, we were able to repair much of the damage that had been done. But we were unable to close off the bond, nor find the person who held the other half of this incomplete connection.
"Because of our lack of understanding you are now both at risk of losing your lives in terrible ways. We cannot close off the connection that has been established between you due to our lack of understanding. We are now at a cross road, we can either complete the bond, or we can leave it as it is and attempt to make you both comfortable in your last hours of existence." The Matriarch fell silent, watching the two of them. Daniel's jaw had dropped and his mind had just stopped working from shock. It was worse than with the bracelets, at least then they had just had to wait for the effects to wear off, but now there was the choice between getting bound together or dying.
Apparently having given them enough time to absorb the information, but not muster enough energy to ask questions, the Matriarch went on. "If you choose to be bound together, it is not an unpleasant experience. For my people, when a couple is bound, they become the others half, almost literally. For your species I believe it will not be this strong, but you will be able to feel the others stronger emotions, you will be able to sense what the other senses, and you will have an instinctual knowledge of where the other is at any given moment. But you will also feel when the other becomes injured; you will likely feel their pain. And should one of you cease to exist, the other will know it has happened and feel it occur. After this, for your species I believe that you will soon follow the other.
"But if you choose not to become bound to one another, the out come will be far more unpleasant. You will lose you minds, you will attempt to cause yourself harm attempting to rip the invisible webs that connect you from your body, and then you will die. It will only be a matter of hours before this will begin," she paused, taking in a breath before going on. "Your Mitchell has instructed me to inform you that this is the first half of our marriage ceremony. When you consummate the ceremony the union will be complete and you will, in effect, be considered married by the laws that govern your people. I will give you a short amount of time to consider your options, but I worn you that you do not have long before I will be unable to perform the ceremony." With this the Matriarch stood up and moved away from the two, going to confer with her guards.
Daniel just sat there for a moment, not sure what to think. He either bound himself to Vala or watched her die. And then he would die, came the after thought. But his death was less important to Vala's. He had spent months looking for her, months in a desperate state because he didn't know what had happened to her. And now he might lose her again because of some incomplete bond. He didn't think he could live with that. Then again, he would have to live with that if what the Matriarch had said was true. He'd die with her.
When he looked down at the woman who was still held securely in his arms, Daniel didn't really need to think about his answer. Something was telling him that it was alright, that everything would be just fine. Daniel had long ago learned to trust the gut instincts. They had never really been proven wrong before. He usually ended up in deep water when he ignored them. But it was more than that. Daniel had never thought he would get married again, not after he had lost Sha're. But just like being told to forgive Teal'c for the role he had played in Sha're being taken from him, Daniel felt as though he were being told to take the leap.
"It's up to you Vala," he said carefully. Daniel tried to ignore the crunching sense of anticipation that was turning his stomach into knots.
Vala huffed in his arms. "You're not evening going to ask if want to be your wife?" Her grey eyes sparkled with mischief when she added, "You may not be a romantic, Daniel Jackson, but did it never occur to you that I might be? That maybe I might want to hear a man promise to make me happy and satisfy my every need?" But the humour in her words could not completely hide the seriousness under voice.
Daniel couldn't help himself; his head fell forward in laughter while his arms tightened around her. The irony was just a little much for him. Vala MalDoran was a thief, a cheat, a liar, and she was a romantic. Daniel could feel her stiffen in his hold from his laughter. He stopped laughing abruptly with this realization. She had just opened up to him in a way. And while he was fairly certain that her last comment about having some man promise to satisfy her every need was just a joke, he was completely sure that the first statement about being a romantic was true.
Lifting his head, Daniel looked Vala squared in her guarded eyes and asked in his most serious voice, "Vala MalDoran will you be my wife?" It was a complete leap of faith. He was trusting completely in that little voice that told him everything would be alright.
In an equally serious voice, Vala answered him. "I would be honoured, Daniel Jackson." She smiled brightly to him then and asked, "Do I get a ring with a diamond as large as the one stuck in your forehead?"
"Not a chance," Daniel answered laughing.
