Chapter Thirty Five

Vala lay in her hospital bed, sleeping soundly as they removed her breathing tubes and took her out of her medically induced coma. The members of SG1 stood around her bedside, waiting with bated breath to see if she would once again start to crash. She stirred slightly, causing them all to straighten. Slowly, her eyes opened and she found herself staring at her teary eyed friends.

"Why so solemn?" She croaked as she tried to find her voice. "Who died?"

Sam laughed softly. "You did, actually."

"Twice," Daniel added.

"I believe you are now tied with Daniel Jackson," Teal'c quipped.

Vala stretched and struggled to sit up. "Well I have to say, I feel pretty good for a corpse. I had the weirdest dreams though. I was on this television program where they take a bunch of strangers and force them into the wild where they have to survive on just their surroundings. I ate bugs." She grimaced. "And then there was this one about Ba'al and him wining and dining me as he tried to make me his queen."

Cam cleared his throat. "Um, that wasn't a dream."

"Which part?" She asked hesitantly.

"The part about Ba'al."

"So no eating bugs then? No slimy little wormy creatures?" She asked and bit her lower lip as though she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Not unless you count the goa'uld he stuck in your head." He shrugged. "But you didn't eat that. At least, we don't think you did."

"Well that's a relief." She gave them a brilliant smile. "So what did I miss? And when do we go back to work? I'm tired of being in bed already."

"Well get used to it," Dr. Lam chimed in from behind them as she made her way over to check Vala's vitals. "You aren't going anywhere anytime soon." She paused as she took her pulse. "I am ordering you to stay here for at least two more days for observation."

"Two more days??" Vala cried out. "That's absurd! I'll go crazy from boredom! Last time I was that bored it wasn't pretty." She turned to Daniel, who gave an agreeing look. "See? He agrees! I think you'll find it to be much more beneficial to my recovery if I am cleared for active duty immediately." She gave Carolyn a pleading look. "Or at least active walking around? I'll settle for not confinement."

"It's observation," Carolyn corrected. "And after that, I am ordering you on at least one week's bed rest with minimal activity. We'll talk about clearing you for active duty after that." She gave Vala a look that told her she meant business before turning to walk away.

"Hey doc," Cam asked. "Are we still operating under the don't ask, don't tell rule you gave us concerning Vala?"

"She just woke up from the medically induced coma we were forced to put her in because her heart kept giving out on her, Cameron," she chided. "I don't think interrogating her now would be a good idea."

"I don't think we're going to be the ones doing the interrogating," he looked to Vala, who gave an eager nod.

Dr. Lam hesitated as she watched her wide eyed patient. "Alright, you can fill her in on the gist of what happened. If I hear of anyone telling her about the things we witnessed on that screen," she warned as she pointed her finger at the members of SG1, "they will have me to answer to. She is still my patient, understood?"

They nodded their consent as Carolyn left to make her rounds.

"So..." Vala asked into the awkward silence. "What did you witness on the screen? You can tell me!" She encouraged.

"Nice try, Vala." Daniel looked around to his team mates. "I don't think any of us want to think about what we saw, let alone talk about it."

She crossed her arms in a huff. "Fine. But could someone at least fill me in on what happened since I, well, died? And maybe tell me what that is?" She pointed to Todd the wraith, who was standing in the observation room above them talking with General Landry and Jon Sheppard.

"Volunteers?" Cam joked as he looked around at his team mates.

"How much do you remember?" Daniel asked as he took a seat at the foot of her bed.

Her forehead crinkled in thought. "Not much, really. Well, not enough to make sense of anyway. Just bits and pieces. Flashes of Qetesh. Some bits that don't make sense. Some bits I'd rather not try to make sense of..." Her eyes seemed to focus elsewhere, brows furrowed in confusion before she gave a visible shudder. "I figure I'll just let you tell me what happened and then block out the rest."

Cam took a seat on the edge of her bed and patted her arm while the others made themselves comfortable around her. "Okay, here's what happened..."