Chapter 14

Daniel hadn't been in a hurry in nearly twenty years, at least no hurry like this one. He had the information he needed safely stored on a camera disk, and the smell of the rotting, waterlogged body of Captain Norman stored in his senses for what would probably surmount to eternity. He ignored the astounded faces that watched him pass and studied his feet so that he wouldn't trip over any stones or roots; and so that he wouldn't risk focusing on another thing that was still eating away at him. Pandora's Box had released a prisoner. Only one. The first one. But the Box never did anything it was expected to do.

Katie and Vala had wound up at the commissary again. A short stint above the surface had made Katie seem a little more at ease, and even Vala admitted that she needed some sunlight. They discussed her world, and what she did there. Katie just stared in wonder at the woman, not only for what she must mean to so many, but for what she could have meant to her. Katie shook her head a small bit to focus on her lunch once more, and to get rid of a tiny nagging ring that wanted to nestle into her right ear.

"So, now you know all about me…for the most part…So why don't you tell me how your father's been these past years?" Katie watched a small trace of pain flitter across Vala's eyes as she asked the question. Whether it was from feeling forced to ask the question, or something dwelling from the past, Katie couldn't tell.

She started with a polite smile before continuing. "Well, Dad's…He…" Katie stopped and furrowed her brow, looking over Vala's shoulder. "He's here."

Vala's eyes became wide before she resettled into her seat, waiting for Daniel to blow up again.

"We need to talk. Now."

Vala rolled her eyes and twisted her torso so as to glare up at Daniel, but before she could say anything the look of fear that she had so rarely seen on his face made her forget her entire planned out speech. "Daniel, what's wrong?"

"Vala, please." He held out his hand to reach for her arm to help, or better yet hurry her up.

"Dad?" Katie stood. "When did you…"

"Katie just finish your lunch and we'll be right back, okay." Daniel's forced smile was anything but comforting. He was trying to make her at ease, she knew. But his sudden repertoire with Vala, and now his sudden insistence that she eat was enough to make her stomach twitch. She nodded as she sat back down.

By that time Vala was up and standing beside Daniel he took her by her elbow, quite gently in fact, and led her out of the commissary and a ways down the hall to avoid a certain eavesdropping blonde.

"Daniel, what has gotten into you?" Vala hissed.

"Look, I know I've been…can we just put everything behind us...for now?" He didn't wait for her to answer, it was assumed that everything would just fall into play and it quickly did. "I just got back from Delphi. They found a body when they dredged the lake. Just one, but…"

"A body?" Vala's hand rose to her lips. "Daniel…"

"It was Captain Norman. The tags and DNA proved it." Daniel took a deep breath and continued one of his more expeditious speeches. "The Box spat him back out, alive they think, but because it was under water, he most likely was caught on debris and drowned…the thing is…"

"It's turning out the sacrifices." Vala concluded.

"We don't know that." Daniel corrected, trying to make it so, and trying not to wish it so at the same time.

"Daniel, there was only one person in it the first time. There's far more than one in there now!"

"That doesn't mean that they will be released, and we can't know either way if it is going to release them or take others."

"But it could…" Vala pressed. "They could come back."

"Just to see it all happen again." Daniel sighed.

Vala took a step closer. "That's not what you're afraid of though."

"Vala…"

She threw a hand up. "Look, whether you want to admit it or not, I know you Daniel. As scared of this plague as you may be, it's not the thing that you drug me out here for." Vala tilted her head to the side and stared down his bastion of misdirection. "It's going to be alright." She nodded, and when he turned his head down and released the tension in his arms she wrapped her own around him. "It's going to be alright."

After a moment's hesitation he held her back.

A small voice brought them back to reality. "Um…Dad?"

"Katie…" Daniel began as he released his grip on Vala. "I told you we would be back."

"I finished my lunch." She replied still looking at the two as if they were conspirators.

"Oh, alright then…um…Vala and I were just discussing…" He looked towards the dark headed woman for help, there were tears in her eyes and he had to look away. "Old times."

"Uh-huh…" Katie nodded and grinned. "Whatever. Um, so, are you back back, as in, for the day, or for good hopefully?"

"For now." Daniel answered and took one more swift glance at Vala. "I think I said something about a talk today, if I'm not mistaken."

A huge smile crossed Katie's face, one Vala had never seen, nor expected to tear so deeply into her heart.

"Yes!" Katie nodded swiftly.

"Okay…let's head to my office." He held out an arm and ushered her down the hall, nodding to Vala as they left.

The klaxons went off, and Katie didn't even jump this time, they were becoming so routine. "Vala?" Daniel called over his shoulder.

"I'll just go and see what that's all about!" She waved and sauntered away with a slight sniffle in her voice.

Daniel wasn't happy with the setup of the office. Katie could tell by the way he sat off balance on his stool. She could also see his handy work of organizational skills, or whatever you would call them, all around the desk, and on a shelf or two. He was slowly getting it back to the way he liked it.

"So…" Daniel shifted his hands until they were folded on the center desk. Katie was seated across from him like an eager student. "Your mom and I met here…well, actually we met on a planet called Abydos." Daniel tilted his head remembering the event. "It was quite some time ago, but I had lived off world for sometime as you know. She came with a group who was sent to retrieve me."

Katie wasn't sure she liked the sound of that, but she shifted in seat and continued to listen intently.

"Sam was a captain then, in the Air Force, just like…" Daniel coughed. "Just like a lot of the other people around here. But she was also an astrophysicist. She knew every single thing about the Stargate. What made it spin. What made it go." Daniel smiled to himself. "She knew a lot about a lot, let's just put it that way."

Katie leaned forward. "Sam?"

Daniel nodded. "Oh, yeah, you never called your mom Samantha. She hated that. It was either Sam, or Colonel when the time came…or Carter." Daniel bit his lip back into his mouth. Things he'd tried to forget were painful to dig back up, no matter how happy the times had been. "Sam Carter…your mom." Daniel huffed, studied his fingertips for a minute, then looked back over his glasses towards Katie. "And asides from being brilliant, she was an amazing soldier as well, a beautiful person inside and out…she was…" Daniel smiled. "She was a lot like you."

Katie blushed, not so much from the complement, but from the sheer knowledge that she was like her mother. "When did you…how long…"

"Let me think…I met your mom about…e-leven years before you were born, twelve?" Daniel bounced his head counting back each year in his mind as he stared at the ceiling.

"How come she didn't change her name?"

"Why would she change her name?" Daniel asked befuddled.

"I mean, why didn't she change her name to Jackson? You're a Jackson, I'm Jackson…" Katie rolled her hands in the air before her.

Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose. "Well…see…the thing is…your mom and I weren't married, Katie…We uh…"

"Daniel Jackson!"

Daniel practically fell out of his seat. "Teal'c?"

"Daniel Jackson, you must come now."

"Why didn't you just call me on the…"

Teal'c stood impatiently at the door. "There is someone here who wishes to speak to you. Immediately."

Daniel rolled his eyes back and forth between Katie and Teal'c. "This is important Teal'c, who could possibly…"

"The general wishes to speak to you." The emphasis said enough, and Teal'c merely bowed his head when the understanding dawned across Daniel's face.

"Katie, I'll be back." Daniel rushed towards the door, leaving Katie behind on her stool. "Teal'c, stay with her." He ordered and took off. "And don't play mediator on this one!" He warned as he took off in a lope.

Working in the mountains and hiking aside, Daniel was out of breath when he turned the corner to the briefing room. Vala was the first person he saw. Her fingers were ringing in the skirt fabric of her dress. Her eyes were both scared and sympathetic, and somehow happy at the same time.

He didn't see the person who had summoned him until after he heard his voice.

"Daniel! What the hell is going on?"

A/N: So, I deleted the first version I had and re-wrote the whole thing. I hope it was for the better. Plus being a senior in college sucks. Oh well :D

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