How Daniel and Vala Met: The Alternative Scenarios

Childhood Memories

By acer-sigma

Disclaimers: Stargate SG-1 does not belong to me. I am simply borrowing the concepts and characters for my, and hopefully your entertainment.

Spoilers: None that I can think of, maybe a hint or two from Memento Mori and Family Ties.

A/N: Figured that at some point Vala would have went and retrieved her things. More than likely it would have been once she was sure that she was staying at the SGC. I figure being made a member of SG-1 would have convinced her that she finally had a place she could call home.

xxxx

Vala sighed as she leaned on a table in Sam's lab. Scattered around the lab were the various belongings that she had just recently retrieved from one of her off-world caches. "Is this really necessary?" She asked the members of SG-1 as they examined her things.

Mitchell shrugged as he looked up from a bag on the table, "Sorry Princess, orders are orders. Got to make sure you don't have anything here that might freak out the civilian population up top."

Looking over at Teal'c she turned back to Mitchell, "So you guys rummaged through Teal'c's things too?"

"Ye…"

"They did not," Teal'c interrupted Mitchell.

"What! Now that's hardly fair," Vala exclaimed as she shot them all an outraged look, "What happened to earning your trust and welcome to the team!"

"We do trust you Vala," Daniel said with conviction, "but you've met Woosley," at her nod of understanding, he continued, "and to be completely honest, you've got a lot more things than Teal'c did when he joined us."

"Indeed," Teal'c added.

"Really!"

"Yeah, and we actually did take a look at his armour and staff weapon, which was really all he had." A thoughtful look crossed Daniel's face. "Actually now that I think about it, you're the only alien we've had whose joined us with more than just the clothes on their back."

"Huh," Sam said as she considered the information, "he's right. Teal'c, Cassie and Jonas, none of them had much, and they couldn't really go back for anything."

"Oh," Vala mumbled.

"Hear that Princess," Mitchell said in an attempt to liven things up, "you're a trend setter!"

"Well in that case," she replied with a smile and a wave of her hand, "rummage away!"

Sam looked up apologetically, "I have to say, you do have some rather exotic things here Vala." She said while picking up a small decorative pin that projected a three dimensional image an inch from its surface, "and no offence but some of it's too alien and might draw unwanted attention."

"Hmm, I suppose your right Sam," Vala replied, "after all now that I have Daniel here," flashing him a bright smile, "we wouldn't want him to go into a fit of jealous rage simply because some poor soul couldn't resist staring at my trinkets! Would we darling?"

"Wouldn't worry about that," he muttered.

"Oh I don't know about that Jackson," Cam teased, having overheard Daniel, "after all you pretty much went stir crazy as soon as she," he jerked his thumb at Vala, "went missing." Turning to face Vala, he added, "he was pining away for you!"

"I was not!" Daniel said as he shot a death glare at Cam that clearly said to drop it.

"How sweet!" Vala cooed, "I knew you missed me darling…well actually, no I didn't, since I didn't know you at the time, but I'm sure somewhere in my subconscious I knew you were missing me darling."

"Don't know why I would be," Daniel replied sarcastically.

"Oh don't be like that darling! You missed me and you know it!" Vala replied with a brilliant smile. Pushing a bag towards Daniel, "Now, I think you should probably go through this," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Why," Daniel asked as he cast a dubious glance at the bag now sitting in front of him.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Vala asked with a slight frown, "Were making sure that none of my belongings send you into a fit of jealous rage if other men see me in them?"

"In that case, I definitely don't want to know what's in this bag," Daniel replied as he shoved it over to Mitchell.

"Actually Cam, you better give that to me," Sam said as she cast Vala an amused glance before turning to Daniel, "after all we wouldn't want Daniel to go ballistic on you, now would we?"

"HAHA," Daniel said sarcastically as everyone, with the exception of Teal'c who adopted his I am amused but you can't tell look, broke out in matching grins. Reaching out he picked up a large wooded box, "what's this?"

"That is a box Daniel." Vala replied simply.

"I can see that." He replied with a roll of his eyes, "What's in it?"

"Oh just a few trinkets and declarations of love from admirers. But it's nothing for you to worry about darling." She said offhandedly.

"Probably more like trophies of your conquests." Daniel muttered as he opened the lid. Inside was a collection of different pieces of jewellery. "What do you know," he murmured to himself, but one particular piece caught his attention for being out of place. It was a small Egyptian ankh attached to a string to form a crude necklace.

"Oh these are lovely Vala," Sam said as she leaned over to glance at the contents.

"Why thank you Sam,"

"It's a pity you won't be able to wear any of these."

"Oh that's alright," Vala replied with a dismissive wave, "they're mostly keep sakes, besides I doubt I'll have much time to dress up, what with having to fight the Ori and all."

"Still…" Sam began but was cut off by Daniel.

"Where did you get this," Daniel asked as he held up the ankh.

Vala scrunched up her face as she looked at the necklace, "I'm not sure," she said as she took hold of it, "they're still quite a few blanks," she said referring to her memory, "but…I get the feeling that it was from a childhood crush…" shaking her head to clear her memory she looked back at Daniel, "So don't worry, you don't have to worry about any competition after all this time."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Daniel replied sarcastically, "It looks familiar. Do you mind if I hang onto this for a while so I can check out a few references?"

Biting her lip, Vala looked somewhat reluctant to let him examine it. It must have been important to her despite her lack of memory of it, Daniel thought to himself as he watched Vala.

"I'll be careful with it, and I'll bring it right back after I'm finished with it," Daniel promised her.

"Well I suppose," Vala replied, "but only if you take me out on another date," she said with a hopeful smile.

"It wasn't a date!" Daniel replied automatically, "It wasn't," he exclaimed at the incredulous looks from the rest of SG-1. Sighing he turned to Vala, "Fine I'll take you to dinner, but it's not a date," he emphasised, "now can I please see it."

"Here you go darling," Vala said as she placed the necklace in his open hand.

"Thanks, I'll see you guys later," Daniel replied as he walked out of the lab.

"What was that all about?" Cam asked the room.

"Don't know," Vala exclaimed as she bounced over to Sam. "Sam you have to help me find something to wear for my date," she said as she dragged her out the door.

"Alright Vala!" Sam laughed as she was dragged out the door.

Watching the two women leave, Mitchell shook his head and turned to Teal'c, "Well guess it's just you and me big guy."

xxxx

Flashback Thirty-odd years ago:

Sitting on a crate playing with her pigtails, Vala huffed a sigh as she looked around the marketplace. She was supposed to have been on an adventure, but here she was gazing out into a marketplace that was like so many others on so many other planets. Granted there were a few interesting sights, like the big animals with the odd humps that some of these people used for transportation, but she had already explored as much of the town and its sights as she could on her own. To put it simply she was now bored.

Leaning back she began to kick at the dirt underneath her feet. The sound of running caused her to look up just as a large canine bowled her over. Laying flat on her back, she barely had the time to regain her breath before large brown eyes appeared in front of her and a warm tongue began to lick her face furiously.

"Ha ha, stop it!" Twisting her head away from the exploring tongue, she tried to push the dog off of her with little success.

"Indy!" A young male voice called out. "Indy! Down boy, down!" Grabbing a hold of the dog's collar he dragged the over excited dog off of Vala.

With the weight of the dog gone, Vala pushed herself into a sitting position and wiped the drool off her face with the back of her sleeve.

"I'm really sorry about that!" The boy's voice interrupting her attempts to get rid of all the slobber. "He just slipped off his leash and wanted to play. He didn't mean to hurt you. Are you alright?"

Looking up into the face of a boy about her age, "its o.k." she replied with a small smile.

Blushing slightly the boy suddenly stuck out his hand, "My name's Daniel, I haven't seen you before, did you just move here?"

"I'm Vala, and no," she replied shaking her head, "my dad is just here looking for business opportunities." Taking hold of the hand, she let herself be dragged up, only to collide with Daniel, when his dog began tugging on the leash, causing them both to tumble to the ground with her on top of him.

Blushing bright red, "S…s…sorry," Daniel stuttered as he looked up at the girl above him, "he gets that way whenever something catches his attention,"

Tilting her head from side to side, Vala examined Daniel before breaking into a huge smile, "Did you know you're cute when you blush!" She exclaimed while nodding at her own conclusion.

Cheeks flushing even redder, "Th…Thank you," he stammered, "Ah, can you please get off me?"

As if noticing her own position for the first time, Vala's own cheeks reddened as she quickly scrambled off of Daniel, "Sorry," she said shyly.

"It's o.k." Daniel replied as he got up off the ground. "So ah, I guess you are new around here. So have you done much exploring?"

"Ah huh."

"Oh…well that's good…ah, I guess I'll see you around," he said before turning to walk away.

Biting her bottom lip, Vala watched Daniel walk away, before running to catch up to him and tugging on his arm. "Wait…what do you do for fun around here?"

"Well I help my parents at their dig sites. Their archaeologists," he said proudly.

"Dig…what do they dig for?"

"Oh they look for old relics and things from a really long time ago."

"You mean like buried treasure," Vala exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, I guess it is," he replied with a smile at Vala's excitement.

"Can I help dig?"

"I don't think so, they're in the city right now looking for supplies and talking to people."

"Oh," Vala said with disappointment.

"But…if you want," Daniel flushed as he looked at the ground, "I can show you around, I know you said you've already looked, but there are some neat stories and stuff too. Plus we can play with Indy if you want." Looking back up, he smiled shyly.

"Really!"

"Yeah, if you want."

"Than let's go," she said as she grabbed his arm and dragged him off. "Oh…what's that Daniel?" She asked as she pointed to a random object.

"That's a…."

xxxx

The Several Days Later:

"Daniel!" Vala exclaimed as she gave him a hug.

"Hey Vala," he said as he returned her hug. "What's wrong," he asked as he caught sight of her expression.

"My dad, he said that it was time for us to leave." She said sadly.

"Oh," Daniel replied, unsure of what to say.

"I'm really going to miss you Daniel! I had a lot of fun with you."

"I had fun too Vala. Will I see you again?"

"I don't think so," she replied sadly, "my dad, says it's too much trouble making it out here."

"Oh…"

"…."

"I'm going to miss you Vala," he said sadly. "When do you have to go?

"Right now, he said I could say good bye before we left."

"So soon," he murmured.

Nodding sadly, Vala gave him another hug, "Bye Daniel," she whispered in his ear before turning to leave.

"Wait Vala," Daniel cried as he ran up to her, "I want you to have this to remember me by," he said as he reached around his neck and removed a small Egyptian ankh hanging under his shirt. "It's the Egyptian symbol for life," he explained as she examined it.

"But it's yours, I can't take this Daniel." Vala exclaimed as she tried to hand it back.

"No," he said as he pushed her hand away, "I want you to have it to remember me by, and if you really don't want it, then you can give it back to me the next time you come back." He said firmly.

"Thank you Daniel," Vala said with a smile, "I'll try to come back some day, alright."

"I'll hold you to that," he said returning her smile.

"I really have to go now Daniel."

"I know. Bye Vala."

"Bye Daniel," she said as she turned a way. A second later she turned around and ran back to Daniel. Before he could say anything she gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran away again.

Daniel simply stood there with a hand on his cheek as he watched Vala disappear in the distance. He waved back to her as she briefly turned to wave at him. When she was out of sight, he turned and with a sad smile walked home.

xxxx

Present:

"Well I'll be damned," Daniel, said to himself as he looked at the necklace lying on top of an open photo album. "Looks like she kept her promise after all." Pocketing the necklace he went off in search of Vala. But not before taking one last look at the open page and its picture of two laughing children, one of them a younger version of himself, and the other was a girl with long black hair in pigtails, greyish eyes and a devilish smile.

xxxx

A/N2: While writing this, I've discovered that I can no longer get into the mindset of anyone under the age of ten. So this will probably be the only attempt I will ever make of writing the characters as children. In any event hope you all enjoyed. And please leave a review.

A/N3: Seen a lot of young SG-1 meeting stories, but haven't seen one with Vala yet. Maybe this chapter will start something, who knows.