In A Kingdom By The Sea
It was one of the easier off world situations. One of the ones where the people welcomed them and even threw a party in their honor.
Vala hasn't had too many of these happier meetings and enjoys it. She dances and drinks and laughs.
But now the party's over and she's glad that she doesn't have to pretend anymore. Looking over at a sleeping Sam, whom she's is sharing a room with, she sighs. She's restless and none of her thoughts will help her sleep. With a deep breath, she quietly moves from the bed, grabs her boots and shrugs on her sweater. Outside the room she pulls her shoes on and heads to the door a little ways down the hall.
Vala stands in front of his door for a couple seconds. She knows he's still awake, but she doesn't know if he's up for company. Biting the bullet and her lip, she knocks.
When Daniel opens the door he is still in his BDU's, sans jacket, his hair is sticking up and he is barefoot.
"Vala? What's up?" His voice is curious, tired and wary.
"I can't sleep. Wanna go for a walk?" She tells him. She wants to tell him that she doesn't to be alone, that her thoughts beat her down like a hammer of pain and regret and that she just needs to be near him, but she can't.
He understands anyway. He looks at her for a second and nods. "Okay, let me just get my shoes on." She watches by the door as he pulls he shoes and jacket on. Part of her wants to go in, but there is an invisible force keeping her stationary at the threshold.
Closing the door behind him, they start to walk towards the gardens that lay behind the residence they are staying at for the night. Vala looks at Daniel, contemplating, and then loops her arm around his. He doesn't pull away and she's ridiculously relieved, she steps closer to his warmth.
In the garden they sit on a bench near a fountain and silently watch the water. They've always found comfort in the silence they can have with each other. In public they bicker and prod at each other, but mostly because it's expected of them. Alone, they have silence. It's the one uncomplicated thing about them, and they both treasure it- silently, even from each other.
Daniel speaks softly, "You okay?"
Vala nods into his shoulder. "It's just thoughts, you know?"
The question is rhetorical but Daniel nods anyway. He does know. For a while only sounds are their breath and the fountain.
Her voice breaks the silence, desperate and suddenly.
"He didn't deserve it. He was a good man, he deserved better than that. He… It shouldn't have been him… it shouldn't have been him…" The words escape from Vala's mouth, rushed and miserable. Daniel just lets them spill over; she's being holding this in for too long. "It should have been me. It should've been me…" At her last words his head snaps to her. There are no tears in her eyes, just a misty layer of regret. She really wishes her words were true. He sighs carefully and wraps his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him.
There is nothing he can really say that will make her feel better, but he tries. "He was a good man and he died proving that. He saved you. He loved you, he died protecting that love, and I can't find a fault in that. I wish it hadn't happen, I wish you weren't hurting so much, but I'm not going to lie and say I'm not glad your alive, because I am. I'm glad you're alive, that you're here." They're not his most eloquent words, but she doesn't want those anyway. All she needs right now is truth, and that he gets that. He gets her.
She doesn't answer him, she doesn't need to, but she buries her head into his shoulder for a second. He won't comment on the wetness he feels on his jacket.
The three moons of the planet are high in the sky, and together, they sit in gentle silence watching them. Daniel's arm holds Vala to his side, and he tilts his head to look at her. Quiet and bathed in the moonlight he can see her; the last time he saw her like this, this open to him, was in the warehouse. She's not at peace but she'll get there. He rests his head against hers, he won't tell her about the promise he made the man that died for her, but he knows he'll keep it. He bends the silence. The words he says should be harder to express, but they come out shockingly easy. He'll worry about that later.
"I love you, you know."
"I know." She replies quietly, and feels him tense.
"This doesn't mean…" he starts, but it doesn't bug or offend her. She knew it was coming. She'll worry about that later.
Cutting him off, she shakes her head and turns to face him. "I know what you meant, darling- friendly love. I promise not to jump you. And I promise to give it a couple of weeks before I try again." She smiles weakly, but affectionately.
Daniel chuckles softly, sometimes it still surprises him how she gets him. Friendly love. It was the easiest way to explain things, but at the same time it didn't explain anything at all.
She nestles her head deeper into his shoulder, "I love you too." The words fall as softly and sure as his did. She can feel his body relax.
"I know." A gentle breeze dances through the garden and his arm tightens around her.
She smiles gently into the night and he can feel it like it was his own.
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A/N: I should really stop writing at 3am… I think the dialogue is so-so, but this scene was just bouncing around my head and it needed to get out. See it's not all about romantic love all the time; sometimes you just love people with wanting to get in the sack with them. I remember a comment someone said on a forum or as their own AN for a fic, which went something like: we didn't need a big shippy scene full of platitudes, but a moment with the two characters that showed how much they truly felt about each other. And that's so true. That's one my favorite things about Daniel and Vala, they don't give each other empty words, and when they have a moment they have a moment.