A/N: Oh man, I'm so sorry for the long delay, this took so much longer than I thought it would! And I'm still working at it! Yes, I know it's been since February; don't judge me! ;-) So much smut to write and only so many hours in a day! Anyhow, it's looking to be about ten more chapters. This first chapter is a little short, and my posting schedule may be a little slower, but I hope to churn out one or two naughty screeds a week.

Previously:

They left the warm cocoon of Daniel's snug home and drove into the harsh sunlight and biting winter cold of the outside world, Vala gazing blankly at the snow piled high to either side of them as they passed down the street. Daniel's supposed love for her was just Transference, she told herself, don't get your hopes up. He went from indifference to hate and now to love? In just seven days?

No, don't get your hopes up, girl. The crash down to Earth will kill you.

o-0-o

Chapter 35: Back to Real Life

Daniel walked into his office, took a look around and sighed, combing a hand through his hair. The place was every bit as bad as he feared.

Stepping carefully around the many boxes and crates that littered his floor, presumably containing artifacts obtained off-world, he reached the mess that was his desk. It looked like a hurricane had struck. Well, a very neat hurricane. There were at least ten reams worth of paperwork there, covering every inch of the desk, but it was all stacked up in discreet if precarious piles. There were too many work-request forms from his colleagues to count, his monitor was festooned with yellow sticky-paper notes asking for just a minute or two of his time as soon as he got in, and his interoffice answering machine blinked red with...127 messages?

Daniel sighed again, but instead of the panic the sight of this mess would have brought just a week ago, he found himself regarding it as a challenge. And instead of swallowing anger, playing the martyr, working until three a.m. for a week straight, letting the resentment fester and boil away in his gut until it erupted in a conversation with a totally separate and innocent person (like, say, the head of the IT department? Oy, he had some fences to mend there), he channeled the frustration into something productive. Namely, a meeting with General Landry. Because while Daniel had no intention of creating trouble just for the sake of it, he was equally through with being taken for granted.

Daniel could see now that Landry had fallen into the habit of letting him take on too much work. The General had inherited the SGC with Daniel already installed in his office, already far down that self-destructive road of working himself to the point of exhaustion. Daniel had felt he needed to prove himself to the new leader, but really, why? What was there to prove? It's not like anyone was going to fire him. Leftover angst from his foster-child years probably, totally inappropriate to a man of Daniel's accomplishments. He honestly doubted the General knew how much he did, but whose fault was that? Partially Landry's, yes, but if Daniel needed him to understand, it was ultimately Daniel's own responsibility to tell him.

So that's what Daniel did.

First he swung by a little office a few doors down and asked a young man named Nyan to join him. While Daniel was titled as the one and only Head of the Anthro-Archeo-Linguistics Department, the way things actually worked it was more of a partnership with Nyan. A refugee from a military planet SG-1 had visited years before, the alien man wasn't officially 'Assistant Head' but as Daniel's research assistant, he actually did more around the SGC than most people realized.

Then, Nyan in tow, Daniel marched down to the General's office and politely and calmly requested an immediate meeting. An hour later the air had been cleared. With Nyan's input a majority of the lesser work had been portioned out to the department staff, and as far as the top level work went, Daniel made it known that he would no longer be available for instant translations. If it was a matter life and death, of course he would make exceptions, but for anything else, he firmly told the General that people would have to get used to delayed gratification.

Landry seemed honestly surprised by the sheer volume of work Daniel had been taking on. Nyan was surprised too, but not by the workload. He had given up trying to convince Daniel to delegate. "What made you finally come to your senses, boss?" he asked.

Daniel ducked his head with a rueful smile. "Well, I've recently reviewed my priorities and come to some new decisions."

"About time." Nyan gave an approving nod.

Back in his office later, Daniel and Nyan tackled the mess, not only the piles left from the preceding week, but the detritus accumulated from several years of taking on more than he could really handle. The first thing Daniel did was scrape off and throw away the post-it notes and delete the phone messages. If anything was really important, people would call back. Then he and Nyan buckled down, working steadily for the next couple days.

These were the two days Vala insisted he and she wait until she would return to his house. He knew she was looking out for him, but really, he knew his own mind. He did now, at least. He wanted her back in what he'd begun to think of as 'their' house as soon as possible.

Vala checked up on him constantly and Daniel quickly grew to depend on her calming presence and intelligent counsel. He understood now that it wasn't a sign of weakness to depend on someone, to lean on someone. Vala wasn't making decisions for him, she wasn't taking anything away from him, but giving to him, she was freely giving him her support. He wasn't alone anymore.

And as much as he used to dread her arrival at his office door, he couldn't wait for it now. Things were so easy between them that he could kick himself for not letting her into his heart earlier. He'd never thought of himself as shy before, but when the two of them were alone and interacting as Dom and sub, shy was the only description, he found himself all but tongue-tied. And he loved it. He thought he would be scared of imminent discovery if anyone overheard them talking, but it only added to the thrill of submitting to Vala's dominance.

Sam, Teal'c and Mitchell dropped by his office a few times, but once burned, twice shy as they say. They seemed so used to his abrasiveness that they didn't know what to make of his peaceful overtures at first. It was several commissary meals before they began to relax around him, giving him sidelong glances and sharing significant looks of surprise amongst themselves that Daniel pretended not to see.

In addition to cleaning up his office, he used those two days to his advantage, cruising the Internet and making some phone calls, arranging a couple surprises for his Domme. He wanted things to be perfect when Vala moved into his house- Their home.

tbc