A/N: Thanks to chocolatequeen for the beta on this chapter! And thanks to all of you who are sticking with this story!

Avoiding each other, or rather avoiding the complications of togetherness, during the journey to the Ori galaxy was much less easy than it was on Dakara. Since neither of them had duties related to flying the ship, Daniel and Vala were left to their own devices.

Vala would have decided "to hell with it" and sought Daniel out anyway, except that he was spending a lot of time with Tomin trying to figure out if there were any other clues to the Ark's location in the Book of Origin, or even just stories Tomin knew. For one thing, she didn't think she'd be much use in their search, and for another, "in a room with just Daniel and Tomin" was very low on her list of places she wanted to be at the moment.

She hated how being around Tomin made her feel, how she could never forget his kindness and courage or banish the fondness she felt for him. Surely there was something wrong with her? After all, he'd also left her exposed to the elements for days while she was pregnant, he'd zealously joined the Ori army, he'd shot her when he was trying to kill Daniel, and he'd yelled at her and hit her when trying to convert her. What kind of person thought fondly of someone who did that to them? This was the kind of thing she would normally try to talk to Sam about, but of course Sam was busy with the ship and whatever else the military types were always running around doing. And they were in space, so she couldn't even search the Tau'ri Internet and see what some of their experts on human behavior might have to say on the subject.

So Vala brooded, because she just couldn't stop herself.

Daniel was grateful that he could spend the flight throwing himself at the problem of the Ark's location once more. He wasn't exactly thrilled that that meant spending a lot of time with Tomin, but he'd endured far less pleasant things for the sake of a mission. He actually kind of wished that Tomin was worse company than he was, but Daniel found himself thinking grudgingly that Tomin and Teal'c had a lot in common in their journeys away from false gods. After all, just because the atrocities Teal'c participated in took place before Daniel knew him didn't mean they hadn't happened, and it wasn't like Teal'c had been husband of the year to Drey'auc. On the other hand, there was maybe (probably) stuff Daniel didn't know about, especially where Vala was concerned, and just because there were some similarities between Tomin and Teal'c didn't mean Tomin should automatically get the benefit of the doubt.

Daniel knew Vala didn't have to tell him anything she didn't want to, that ultimately it was none of his business; but at the same time, he wanted it to be. He wanted to know whether it was OK to let his tendency to see the best in people take over, or whether he should nurture that part of himself that he liked to blame on Jack and Sam and Teal'c's influence, the part that kind of wanted to punch Tomin in the face for his past sins.

It wasn't his fight, but he wanted it to be, wanted to find reasons for it to be. He wanted to save her, or at least help her get justice, except that was a very dangerous thought with very dangerous implications and connections that he really couldn't afford to deal with right now.

Daniel wondered how much longer his old trick of focusing on the job at hand was actually going to work. Long enough to at least get through this mission, hopefully.

. . .

The initial foray into making contact with the anti-Ori underground went off without a hitch. Well, mostly. Vala was worried about what sort of not-Daniel forces were still running around in Daniel's brain, causing him to see significance in some old local man out with his friends. She was also less than thrilled to get definitive confirmation that Tomin thought they were still married, and very much couldn't afford to deal with how pleasantly flustered Daniel's smile made her.

For his part, though it was relatively easy to shunt to the side in favor of focusing on the mission, Daniel couldn't help but be much more aware of the cut of Vala's dress than he usually was of such things. Fortunately, the vision of Merlin and conversation with Hertis gave him all the excuse he needed to eliminate the risk of staring. Not that he would have. It was just . . . Damn it.

. . .

Vala sighed, relieved, as she changed out of the dress she'd worn so they would blend in on the planet and into her SG-1 uniform. It wasn't that she didn't like the dress, because she did. It was more that, when she was in her uniform, she knew what she was and where she stood, more or less. She was Vala Mal Doran, member of SG-1, and they were here to save humanity.

She pulled a hair tie with plastic baubles on it from her pocket and went to the mirror to put it in her hair, adding a clip with flowers on it as well. She was Vala Mal Doran, and she would put cutesy things in her hair because she damn well felt like it.

These were things she chose, not of necessity or survival, but because she wanted them, had earned them, even.

She hung up the dress with the other clothes kept on hand for under cover work. Maybe that was why it was a relief to take it off-the dress was a costume, and costumes meant pretending. Fun in the short term, exhausting and destructive in the long term. She wasn't herself in that dress, or in clothes like it.

The person Tomin thought he cared for, thought he was still married to, had never been her. Part of her, maybe, but there was so much more. SG-1 knew the good and bad parts of the "more," and let her join anyway. Wanted her to, even.

Frivolous hair baubles and all.

"Hey, Princess, we're waitin' on ya," Cam's voice came over her radio. She smiled and left the locker room. Uniform for SG-1, weapon for safety, hair baubles for herself. This was the armor she liked best, the version of herself that came closest to fitting. This Vala could handle anything. Probably.

. . .

Scans of Celestis revealed a wooded, mountainous area full of what looked like old ruins, which was about as promising a lead as they could hope for, so that's where they beamed down. "Any idea where to start?" Mitchell asked as they all looked around, hoping to spot further signs that would lead them to the Ark.

"Not really," Daniel admitted.

Mitchell chose a direction and began walking. Tomin chose another, and Sam followed Mitchell.

Vala had taken charge of one of the scanners-the week of hard labor on Dakara had been more than enough for her, so she was determined to restrict her contribution on this leg of the mission to scanning for energy readings. She knew that Tomin couldn't make her do anything she didn't want to, so, to further her goal of avoiding manual gruntwork, she followed him instead of sticking with Daniel.

Not that that was the only reason, but that was on the list of things she wasn't thinking about right now.

Daniel shoved down the disappointment he felt when Vala opted to go with Tomin. It was probably for the best-he needed all his focus if they were going to have any chance of finding anything significant amidst the scattered tumbles of rock that had, millions of years ago, been Alteran structures. Once he started thinking about that as he wandered from one to another, looking for signs that he should try digging, it was easy to contemplate how much he wished these ruins weren't at the very heart of enemy territory, because there was so much they might learn from them with a proper expedition.

He very deliberately chose that rabbit trail for his mind to wander down, rather than the adjacent one about what had happened the last two times he'd tried to join an expedition in another galaxy.

Vala meandered from tumbled pile of rock to large moss-covered slab, wielding her scanner, while Tomin went ahead of her, occasionally poking at things with his shovel but not finding anything promising enough to warrant serious digging. As she walked, she wondered whether this might not be a good time to have a bit of a talk with him.

It was then that she noticed he'd come to a halt and was staring off at the nearby mountains. She joined him, also staring at the mountains. "You OK?" she asked.

"I was thinking about what this place really was," he answered.

She glanced at him, then stared straight ahead again. The silence began to feel awkward, but she was determined not to be the one to break it, not when he still hadn't apologized for slapping her in the face the last time they were alone and she confronted him about his beliefs.

He started poking at what looked like the remains of a wall with his shovel. She held out her scanner and was about to turn away from him to walk along it when he spoke, "I don't expect sympathy from you. Not anymore. Not after everything I've done. But I would like to know whether any of it was true."

Vala stopped. "Any of what?" she asked, putting the scanner away and crossing her arms as she turned to face him.

"You told me you loved me, that there were real moments between us. Was it true, or were you just trying to survive, trying to save your friends and the people in the village?"

She bit her lip. "It isn't that straightforward."

"Why not?"

"I can't be the thing you hang onto while all the rest of it comes crashing down, Tomin. Your relationship with Origin isn't simple anymore. Your relationship with me never was."

"I'm beginning to see that. It's why I want to understand. Please." He had stopped poking around with his shovel and just stood facing her, all earnestness and innocence. Well, not really innocence, but only because she knew better.

"I genuinely enjoyed parts of our time together. I really did find you sweet and good, and it broke my heart to see you so eager to become a mass-murdering soldier. But I never loved you, not like that. It was a lie I told, to you and maybe even a little to myself, to make it all easier, because you can't even begin to imagine what it was like for me. You don't know me, Tomin. To be fair, maybe I don't know you, either, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make."

"You no longer consider us married."

"No. If there's a ceremony or something that would make that real for you, I'm willing to do it, at least as long as fire isn't involved."

"No, you don't need to do anything. I suppose I hoped . . . well, it doesn't matter. As you said, I don't really know you. Though I like to think I knew a part of you. The part that enjoys pretty things and turning bread making into a chance to practice the drums."

Vala couldn't help but smile at that.

"I really am sorry. For everything," Tomin told her quietly.

"I know. And if I ever forgive you, it might even be partially for your sake, instead of just mine." After a brief silence-she was glad he didn't try to say anything-Vala pointed out that they should resume their search, so they began to loop around back towards the others.

. . .

Daniel had found a place he thought was actually worth the effort of digging when he was interrupted by Mitchell. "Jackson, Teal'c, we gotta go. Keep looking."

"What's wrong?" Daniel called back, turning back towards Mitchell as Teal'c, who held the scanner as Daniel dug, did the same.

"Marrick's up to something: he's turned on the Asgard core," Sam informed him.

Shit. "That will alert the Ori ships to our presence," Teal'c pointed out, somewhat needlessly.

"Yeah, I think that's the idea. We got it. You guys . . . find the Ark," Mitchell said, sounding exasperated by the end. Daniel couldn't blame him-this mission was fraught enough without this sort of complication. Hopefully it was easily resolved.

He and Teal'c went back to digging and scanning. It wasn't long, however, before Daniel gave up on that particular site and wandered off in a new direction, waving Teal'c off as he did so. He really hated not knowing exactly what he was looking for. Well, no, that wasn't entirely true: he hated not knowing exactly what he was looking for when the fate of two galaxies depended on them finding that specific thing as quickly as possible, and he was the one with the expertise that was supposed to expedite that process. If this was a normal expedition, he would love not knowing what each bit of ruin was, or what wealth of knowledge about the past was waiting under it; he would love the way pieces of the puzzle he didn't have a picture for would fall unexpectedly and satisfyingly into place.

But this wasn't a normal expedition, and there was too much ground to cover and too few people working and too little time and they needed more help, dammit!

He chose not to question that it was at that moment that he saw Merlin again. Well, he was pretty sure it wasn't actually Merlin, but whoever it was had been helpful so far, so he was rolling with it.

In the mean time, Vala and Tomin had made their way back. Tomin had found a spot to dig, but the enormity of their task was weighing on Vala. She approached Teal'c. "Well, I hate to be the downer at this party, but this is hopeless. I'm not getting any energy readings, so short of literally looking under every rock and stone on this mountain, I'm not sure what we're supposed to do," she told him.

Teal'c, however, was looking at something behind Vala. She turned to see what it was and saw Daniel, staring at . . . nothing. This was really getting worrying. Sure, the visions had been helpful so far, but she still had nightmares about the last time something Ancient messed with Daniel's mind, and remained unconvinced that finding the Ark was an acceptable trade-off for whatever the visions might be doing to him this time around.

She huffed a sigh. "Or we could wait for Daniel to have another one of his visions."

Daniel reached the rocks he'd been staring at, then turned back to the others. "Guys, I think there's something here."

Vala closed her eyes briefly, reigning in her instinct to start listing all the reasons this was probably a terrible idea, nodded, and went to see what Daniel found, followed by Teal'c and Tomin. Once they'd all joined him, Daniel approached the rectangular, moss-covered stone slab and tapped it with his shovel. The resulting noise sounded as though there was probably a hollow space beneath the rock. Finally, something definitive.

They found a gap in the slab, and Teal'c shoved it open, revealing that there was indeed a structure underneath, complete with stone steps. Daniel, Vala, and Teal'c peered in, turning on their flashlights to try to get a better look.

Daniel felt both relieved and excited: the visions were still steering him forward, and forward was always better than stalled. Even if forward meant going down into a possibly-unstable ruin that was probably older than any he'd explored to date. "I think we're supposed to go down there," he said. He went first, followed by Teal'c, then Vala, who was using the flashlight on her P90. Tomin brought up the rear.

They'd all reached the bottom of the stairs and were proceeding cautiously into the tunnel when Mitchell radioed them. "Hey, guys, this is Mitchell, we're going to have to beam you aboard immediately."

"Wait, you can't. Not yet," Daniel answered, frustrated. They were finally getting somewhere, and now this.

"Yeah, well, Marrick activated the Asgard core, so we're expecting Ori ships around here some time soon," Mitchell told him, clearly dealing with exasperations of his own. "Plus, we have a little replicator problem, so we're gonna jump into hyperspace to avoid the bad guys while we deal with it."

When Mitchell said the bit about a replicator problem, Daniel and Teal'c stopped and glanced at each other, not wanting to believe what they'd heard. "I'm sorry, did you say replicator problem?" Daniel asked.

"Unfortunately, yes, I did." Shit.

Daniel turned to look back at Teal'c again, who blinked slowly and then glanced to the side.

Tomin and Vala had found bits of ruin on which to sit on opposite sides of the tunnel while Daniel and Mitchell talked. "What's a replicator?" Tomin asked into the tense silence that hung over them while they waited to be beamed aboard.

"You do not wish to know," Teal'c told him.

Before Vala could comment on what an understatement that was, Mitchell came back on the radio. "Yeah, it's me again, your friendly neighborhood ship's commander. Uh, looks like you've got a little more time down there: we're having a bit of trouble with the beaming thing at the moment." There started to be a lot of static coming from his end, and his voice was much less clear. "I promise, you'll be the first to know . . . "

There was nothing but static.

Daniel glanced around. No point worrying about the situation on the ship yet, since they couldn't do anything about it. What they could do was find the Ark. "OK, so. Onward."

Vala sighed and got to her feet. She was liking this mission less by the minute.

They proceeded down the debris-filled tunnel until they came to a dead end caused by a cave-in. Because of course there was. "Hmm. What do you think, Muscles?" Vala said to Teal'c as they all stared at it.

Teal'c pulled out some C4.

Seeing what he was doing, Daniel immediately began to protest: "Wait, wait, wait, we can't! We don't know how stable this tunnel is."

Teal'c turned to him. "Shall we turn back, then, Daniel Jackson?"

Damn. "Bombs away," he acquiesced.

Vala grinned to herself as she made her way back down the tunnel while Teal'c placed the C4.

Once they were all in relatively safe positions, Teal'c set off the explosives, and when the tunnel didn't collapse, they went back towards the blockage to see whether they'd successfully gotten through.

Daniel was relieved to see that they had, and they began to climb carefully over the rubble into the next section of ruins, Teal'c leading the way this time.

Vala coughed, waving her hand in front of her face to try to clear some of the dust, and followed Daniel as he went to the left instead of going after Teal'c, who continued forward.

She was about to start complaining that the dust was probably going to make her sick, not to mention what it was doing to her hair, when Teal'c interrupted. "Daniel Jackson," he called.

Daniel turned and approached, trying not to hope, not quite being able to help it. Teal'c removed some of the larger chunks of rubble from the top of the thing that had caught his eye, and Daniel's doubts vanished.

"This is it," he breathed.

"Oh, you're sure this time?" Vala asked, having come up behind him. She thought she had every right to be skeptical after Dakara.

"Definitely," Daniel said, ignoring her tone. "We found it."

Even though she still had reservations, Vala couldn't help but enjoy Daniel's enthusiasm and near-reverence as he and Teal'c finished unburying the Ark, though she could have done without all the dust he kicked up once the rubble was removed and he started first blowing on, then dusting the lid of the chest. In fact, as she leaned back in a futile attempt to avoid the swirling dust, she decided enough was enough. "Daniel, for goodness' sake, stop fussing and just open it."

Without waiting for him to respond, she grabbed the lid and did just that, right over the top of his protests: "Wait, wait wait!"

Nothing happened.

Daniel let Teal'c grab the lid and pull it the rest of the way open. The chest was empty aside from the complex-looking array in the bottom that there was no way Daniel was going to risk messing with.

"What was supposed to happen?" Tomin asked. Vala, unimpressed, coughed and waved her hand in front of her face as yet more dust floated into the air.

"Nothing," Daniel said. "I don't think it's turned on."

"Maybe it's broken," Vala suggested, feeling pessimistic.

"Perhaps its power source has been depleted," Teal'c pointed out.

"Well, it is millions of years old," Vala reminded them, enjoying the look on Daniel's face despite the situation.

"I don't think it's turned on," Daniel repeated, glaring at her.

"Well, turn it on then," Vala said flippantly, meeting his eyes.

Daniel reached up and grabbed the lid, "I think," he carefully pulled it closed, "it has something to do with," he began brushing the raised circular part on the lid's top, "these symbols. They look like buttons."

He tried pressing one, but just at that moment, there was a rather ominous rumbling noise from the surrounding ruins, and little bits of debris fell from the ceiling right on top of them.

"Perhaps we should examine it more closely on the surface," Teal'c suggested.

"Good idea," Vala said, heaving herself to her feet. The each grabbed a corner of the Ark and made their way back through the ruins with their prize.

Once they made it to the surface and set down the Ark, Teal'c tried to radio the ship while the others stretched. "Odyssey, this is Teal'c, come in."

While Teal'c waited for a response, Daniel dropped his pack and crouched down to examine the Ark some more. They'd actually found it. They actually had a chance now.

"Odyssey, this is Teal'c, come in."

Then there was the flash and zip of weapons fire, and Teal'c went down.

"Teal'c!" Daniel screamed, but there was too much weapons fire and Teal'c was in the open in front of the Ark, and they couldn't get to him and he wasn't responding and how could everything go from the real possibility of victory to his friend wounded and unmoving and the enemy all around them so quickly?

Training and experience kicked in, and Daniel and Vala dropped down behind large stones on either side of the Ark and began to return fire with their P90s.

They glanced at Teal'c's too-still form, then at each other.

Vala's mind raced as she continued to fire. She wasn't a military strategist she didn't . . . oh. Right. Tomin. She dove towards his position and he, realizing what she was doing, made room for her.

"If we surrender, will they help Teal'c?" she yelled.

"I do not know. But what other choice is there?"

Daniel looked back at them, eyebrows raised, and Vala nodded. He grimaced but returned the gesture, then they both made a show of putting down their weapons. The Ori soldiers stopped shooting, and Daniel, Vala, and Tomin stood slowly, hands in the air.

"Please, help our friend," Daniel said as the soldiers approached. "He's hurt. We're surrendering, but he needs help, he needs a doctor, please—" he was cut off when a soldier backhanded him with a gauntleted fist, laying open his cheek and sending his glasses flying as he toppled to the ground.

"Hey!" Vala cried, trying to run to Daniel but pulled up short when several soldiers leveled their weapons at her.

"Please," Daniel said from the ground, and the brokenness in his voice was worse than anything else that had happened that day as far as Vala was concerned. Well, except . . . "Please just help our friend, at least check to see whether—" the same soldier who had hit Daniel kicked him in the ribs, and he doubled over where he lay.

"He's just asking for help so our friend doesn't die!" Vala yelled, tears of anger and frustration and fear forming in her eyes, sounding in her voice. The soldier looked right at her and kicked Daniel again, in the shoulder this time. He grunted in pain, and she understood without Tomin's warning hand on her shoulder.

They were silent as they were taken aboard a transport, separated from one another by soldiers, tears trickling down Vala and Daniel's cheeks.

The soldiers left Teal'c behind.