A/N: Sorry for the delay on this chapter. Got a serious case of writers block on this!

Chapter 13

There is something to be said for the fresh light of morning. It is a sweet mix of hope or despair or sometimes the best part of the day. The fact that Daniel woke up with Vala in his arms happened to be one of those moments. They'd crawled into bed both exhausted by the early morning departure of Paul Ryan. This whole mess was slowly becoming exhausting in its own right. Daniel held Vala and watched her sleep. He was always amazed by her. Her strength of spirit was always something to behold. It's just that these days Vala actually acknowledged when something was hurting her but it didn't mean she had lost any of her fight to be alive. He thought in fact it made her stronger to be something other than the shut off person she used to be. Through her vitality Daniel himself acknowledged that Vala made him also acknowledge that he had a right to be alive. Their relationship allowed for the two of them to shore up their flagging aspects of their lives and be the best part of themselves that they had once lost. He sighed and kissed her head and continued to watch her. The world and its worries could wait. Give him this for now and he could be happy.

Paul woke later than he expected around 10 am. His wife had shaken him awake and placed a cup of coffee on the nightstand next to him. She wasn't surprised when he rolled in around 3am. She just asked if everything was going okay and for once he could say that it was. Stella had simply smiled and rolled back to sleep. He dreamed that night about glowing eyes and strange people causing much pain over the universe. When he pulled himself out of bed, he called the base and apologised to General Landry. He advised him of the incident from the night before and stated that Adam was at Doctor Jacksons. He felt that from now on Doctor Jackson and Vala may be better away from the base for their own security with Adam as a house guest until this was solved. The General agreed with him and asked that he be kept him apprised of the situation.

Today was going to be another day of exhaustive interviewing with Vala. He did however want to drop into his teenage daughter's room and see her before he did anything else. "Hey kiddo what are you up to?" His daughter Ali's curly hair swirled around as she turned to face him from her desk where laptop sat and her chocolate brown eyes rolled. "Daaad! Don't you ever knock?" She threw her hands up in an exasperated sigh! "Parents! Honestly you should be house trained or something. Can't a girl get some privacy anymore?" She turned back to her computer and began to tune Paul out. Paul stepped up and looked over her shoulder at the website she was browsing on. "So," Paul began. "Whatcha doin'?" Ali gave him her patented 'gimme a break!' shrug of the shoulders and tried to sound enthusiastic. "Dad it's a networking site – ya know – people get together and challenge other people to do crazy things. This one is quite popular cos you have to post as many pictures as you can. Kinda like a treasure hunt – 'cept you are challenged with the first picture and you have'ta ya know, add more to it. The page with the longest is declared the winner. Most pages also encourage comments and chat on it. She clicked on one called 'Have you…?' There was lists like have you seen my dog? Or have you seen this car? Paul smiled and shook his head eyes closed. People really did have nothing better to do some days other than come up with crazy lists. His daughter clicked on one that sounded interesting – 'have you seen my love?' She giggled.

"Daaad have you seen this? Someone's out looking for a girl and has got loadsa hits on it. She's really pretty but have you seen the geeky guy that's with her in some of them?" Paul turned his attention back to the computer. He realised he had tuned out for a moment. He shuddered. On the list were multiple pictures of Vala Mal Doran and Doctor Daniel Jackson. His mouth went dry and he reached for his Ali's laptop pulling at the lead and the plug. "Dad! I was using that! MOOOOOM! Daddy's taking my computer. Tell him to give it back!" Paul heard Stella come into the room with a frustrated growl. He could tell she really wasn't in the mood for this. He looked to each of them. "Stell, it's important. I promise. Ali, I'm sorry love. I will make it up to you this evening with a little treat." Both women folded their arms and he had a feeling that he had some major making up to do when he got home. "Ali, sweetheart, I will let you order Pizza this evening and you can choose the movie. I'll even watch the Twilight Series with you." Ali's face brightened at that. He sighed inwardly – he hated those movies. "Thank you Dad!" His wife smiled. Peace was restored to the world – at least his was. He reached for the cell phone and began to make calls.

When Paul arrived into Daniels house there was an air of seriousness that Daniel had noticed straight away. He'd left Vala to get ready upstairs and had directed Paul into his private study. It wasn't what the detective expected. The back wall was one massive mahogany bookcase with glass panel doors across them. The side wall was a panel of glass that let the light shine through making the room appear large and airy. There were two soft chairs sitting next to the window and a desk sat tucked into the corner overlooking the garden with a fancy laptop perched on it. The desk was covered in papers and the room had a few small archaeological artefacts from various parts of the world and some that Paul couldn't begin to identify. Daniel offered Paul a seat noting the laptop he carried with him. "Please, tell me." The tone in Daniels voice was not demanding just pleading. Paul wanted Vala to see this but he decided that Daniel had a right to know as well. "Daniel my daughter was surfing online this morning and she came across this website. I just want you to see this first. Maybe then you can help me add to the list of calls I've already made." Paul reached across and handed Daniel an open laptop with a website page sitting open. Pictures of Vala and Daniel flitted across the screen.

Daniel's first reaction was 'this has got to be a joke' then disbelief then fear. They had been compromised and not by some secret agency but by people who weren't any the wiser as to whom they were taking pictures of. He looked at the photographs and realised that this would hurt Vala. She had started to get a sense of security about living off base. Athena was still out there but at least she had her independence. This could force her back to the base and the IOA would delight in doing so. It had taken a fight using all of Jack's contacts and some of Daniels to get her privileges to live off base. If he didn't tell her and she found out?

"Paul, I am very tempted to take this laptop and hide it from Vala. I love her and I want her to be safe. I'm sick to my stomach that this guy thinks he calls her 'his love' but I'm willing to bet that this could be his first mistake. The fall out of this though could be costly for both Vala and I." Paul looked at Daniel with a quizzical look. Daniel realised that Paul had a lot to learn about the stargate programme. He suddenly felt a deep sympathy for him. The implications needed to be explained and he would have to get more involved so he could help Paul catch this guy.

Daniel straightened himself up in his chair feeling very tense and nervous. "There is a civilian organisation that oversees a lot of the SGC funding called the International Oversight Advisory. They haven't been too sympathetic to Vala and sometimes me over the past few years she has been here. I had to fight hard to get her off the base and into this house. If they saw this it could be the end of that and Vala would have to go back to signing out and living on base again." Daniel took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "This could hurt her deeply though she'd never show it. I want to say hide the pictures but I won't. Show them to her but please let me tell her? I want to help." Paul looked at Daniel with some respect. He would've hidden these had it been Stella but this man was willing to risk it with Vala. There was another tense silence. Paul nodded.

After another long silence there was a knock on the door and both men jumped slightly. "Daniel?"

"In here Vala." Vala walked slowly into the room dressed in charcoal sweatpants and a powder blue t-shirt. Daniel thought she never looked more beautiful. She nodded to Paul and walked over and not so chastely kissed Daniel good morning. Paul suddenly felt the need to stand and look at Daniel's books. He heard her stop and whisper "good morning" in Daniels ear. Daniel kissed her cheek and returned the sentiment. She sat in his lap and cuddled into his chest. "Sorry to embarrass you Paul. I just love mornings here with my Daniel. We have to behave on base so much of the time that it is simply nice to relax with him." Paul listened to her voice and there was a purr in her voice like a cat with her cream but there was a sincerity there that just lay below the surface.

"Daniel, what has the good detective told you that has you all serious this morning?" Vala had read the tension in Daniels frame. He couldn't hide it from her. They had learned to read each other better the closer they had become. "Vala, come over to my desk and let me show you something. Give me a minute I'll need to move some stuff here." Vala snorted. She knew exactly how much stuff was on his desk. "Daniel, darling you'll need more than a minute. Paul you need to take a seat – he could be a while." Daniel shot Vala a look of mock indignation but that lasted a minute. She smirked. He rolled his eyes but the tension in him remained.

He sat her down on the plush leather desk chair and Paul set down the laptop. Vala looked at the pictures and stiffened slightly. She read the caption. Then she did something that Daniel didn't expect. She began to click on the pictures and read the comments below. "OOOh Daniel! Wait till you hear this one – it's about the two of us. Apparently this girl thinks you're dreamy and she wishes she were me so she could try you out. Well I wouldn't argue about that one! I get to try you out on a frequent basis! Oooh, here's another!" She clicked onto a different picture of the two of them having a picnic in the park. Daniel appeared to be very focussed on Vala. She smiled at that. "This one says that they wish that they had someone like you!" Daniel sighed and shook his head. He had been worried about this but she seemed to be taking her hyper approach. "Vala?" Why are you not more worried about this? He'd used another of his name tones.

"Daniel, what am I supposed to think? Yes I know what this could mean. Yes I know that we could be split because of it and that the IOA could cause us problems. The only logical thing I can do besides worry is to work on catching this guy out." Vala looked directly into his eyes and caressed his cheek not caring that they had company. "We need to get on with our lives Daniel. I am not about to let someone dictate that. I didn't before you – why should that change?" His blue eyes were a mix of worry, concern and pride. Pride in her. He nodded. She looked to the detective who had once again turned his attention back to the couple. "Paul, I believe that I had an appointment with you to go over aspects of my life. Now would be as good a time as any. I'll join you in the living room in a minute. Daniel, the coffee is on and I believe you have some photos to look at don't you?" He groaned. Vala heard Paul go out of the door and she then kissed Daniel quickly and not so chastely again. "I'll come join you when I'm finished with Paul, Daniel. I want you to look at these and find a timeline or a commentary that may lead us to the person trying to split us up." With that Vala kissed him one last time and left the study. She smiled as she walked out of the study and heard Daniel quietly murmur "Yes boss. Can I have a coffee with that side of bossiness?"