Elemental
Sometimes she felt like they were fire and water. Two completely different entities incapable of being together in any sort of comfortable way. They were such a contrast to one another, and at times there wasn't the slightest hint that they could fit together at all.
Her persistence would lick at him like flames. Attitude scorched and stubbornness burned. She was heat embodied. The fires of the universe converged inside, and the only way to ease the pressure was to lash out, hot and untamable.
His indifference crashed against her like waves. Superiority flooded and intellect drowned. He was as cold as the dark depths of the blackest sea. Water poured in from every possible angle - he could only find release by breaking free of inadequate shores, never solid and always suffocating.
She yelled through the heat only she could feel.
He bit back, his words icy and slick.
She screamed fire, her words burning holes within his frozen soul.
He snapped like a sudden thunderstorm, words like 'host' and 'harlot' falling around her like raindrops.
She withdrew a moment from the sting, then the blazing inferno took hold once more. Something ancient that had never known the wrath of the flames for centuries crashed to the floor in her eruption, followed by the volcanic flow of loaded words. Wife, Coward, and a name he held so dear are amongst them.
The surge broke free of its boundaries as he flew within inches of her face. Things poured from his cold lips that could never be returned to the way they had been. It seemed to last forever, but as quick as it had started, the sudden rush settled. The fight was gone, the powerful fury still bubbling beneath the surface.
He brushed past her, not waiting for the aftermath of the damage he'd caused.
And the doused flames broke free of the murky depths. She screamed once more over the roar within to his quickly retreating form, unphased by the look he shot her as the elevator doors closed before him.
------
Vala walked the lonely corridors back to their quarters slowly. Arms wrapped tight around her slightly trembling form, she stared on ahead as the heat within finally fell away.
The fire was gone - leaving her once more as ashes in its wake.
This fight had been bad, and now she hadn't seen Daniel for what was going on four hours. They had both said things - horrible things - and Vala felt that this time they wouldn't be able to put the burned and water-logged pieces back together again.
Through the clash of them, that connection might have finally eroded away. Vala swallowed. Maybe he wasn't coming back - not as her Daniel. And if he did, maybe she wouldn't be there, as his Vala or otherwise.
She reached the door to their room, and opened it slowly. Walking in, she found she didn't have the strength to go much farther. Vala closed the door, and slowly slid down the wall beside it. A shiver passed through her body and she sighed.
The fire always left her cold.
Eyes the color of a gloomy, rain-threatened day scanned the space before her. Where would she even begin to pull back from what was 'theirs' and make it 'hers'? The room that had once been Daniel's alone was now mixed and matched with both his things and her stuff.
Bed sheets they had bought together, made their own that first night they had gotten them. They held the memory of her tears and his, the laughs they shared together in the comfort of each other, the love that had strengthened through so many obstacles. They didn't even have a side distinct to themselves. They shared the bed. Whatever side felt just right for him one evening didn't suit her the next, and they'd use the other. Their pillows were constantly swapping from one side to the other.
His shirts that she always ended up wearing.
Her little stuffed animal that he always cuddled close when she wasn't able to be with him. He said it smelled like her.
She read his books and he enjoyed her magazines.
Vala's eyes landed on her brush and the box that held her hair accessories. The little barrettes and clips she adored, which had Daniel constantly getting her more. She remembered the night when Daniel had let Vala do his hair. They had both been overly exhausted, which always leads to extreme silliness between them. In a crazy fit of giggles, Vala had given Daniel the hair do of the century. It was another tender moment that was held within these walls.
Vala sighed, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. Even 'her' moments and memories had become 'theirs.' Daniel was always in her thoughts, his name constantly falling from her lips when he wasn't around. The memories she held dear were the ones with them together.
She couldn't understand how something so beautifully unstoppable could fall apart at the seams because of their own faults, their own insecurities and weaknesses.
Ironic how when anyone fought against their love, they came together and fought back. But when it came down to them being on different sides with one another, their love was more fragile than a withering rose. The fire would burn the rose, then the water would sweep away the ashes.
When they fought, it was a game of chance - their love being the stakes.
-----
Vala sat there for a long time, not knowing how quickly, or slowly, time was passing her by. When the greatest thing she had in the world hung in the balance by a thread, time seemed less than important.
The quiet click of the door opening brought her back to reality. She glanced at the clock on the end table nearest to her. Eight hours since she'd sat down, twelve since Daniel had stormed off. This fight was breaking all sorts of personal records.
"Vala?" His voice was quiet, controlled. It was relieving to know he was coming back as her Daniel, and not as the cold man with the heart of a black ocean that had left her earlier. Still Vala didn't answer for a reason she couldn't understand. She heard the door open a little more, and his shadow fell across her resting place.
She stared straight ahead at their bed as he quietly slid down the wall beside her. His shoulder touched hers. She felt his eyes upon her, and still refused to be the one to give in.
Even after everything that had happened, the fire wouldn't relinquish its hold on her. She wouldn't let him win.
Daniel looked at her for a long moment. She was still angry...He wasn't. He leaned his lips down to place a surrendering kiss on her shoulder, then laid his head down. "I was terrified you'd be gone." He whispered, relieved and yet terrified that Vala still might leave.
Vala sighed. The fire within receded immediately at the tone of Daniel's voice. "I was terrified you wouldn't come back." She finally whispered, reaching down to grasp his hand tightly, reassuringly.
"Guess we were both wrong." Daniel sighed.
Vala knew that was as close as they were going to get to discussing what had happened. It worked for her. They were both wrong. His water cancelled out her fire, and vice versa. No longer on opposite sides of the line, but once again walking it together.
Daniel understood this as well. He moved his head up to place a suggestive kiss on her pulse point.
Vala gasped, and quickly turned to capture his mouth in a desperate kiss. Daniel returned the force in kind, his hands pulling her over to straddle his lap. That task finished, they snaked their way up her hips. Vala tore her mouth away from Daniel's, pulling a strangled 'ah' from his lips. Hers immediately found refuge sucking on his neck, her hands cupping where his neck met his head.
"Twelve hours..." He gasped with pleasure, beginning to pull her shirt up. "...sucks when all you wanna do is..." Vala pulled her mouth away from him to lift her arms up as he tore the shirt off. She looked down at him, both of them panting. Daniel leaned in and kissed her stomach softly. "Kiss and..." He moved up to take her lips passionately, then pushed her up with him so they were both standing. Vala pushed him back against the wall hard. He pulled his lips away with a groan. "Make love."
Vala grinned and yanked his black t-shirt out of his pants, eliciting another lustful groan from him. "Isn't it..." She captured his mouth again, pulling him deeper into the room by his belt. When she couldn't take it anymore, Vala started to unfasten the damned thing.
"Makeup?" She finished as she fiddled with the belt. Finally unclasping it, she pulled it through the loops with impatience, dropping it to the floor.
"Who cares?" Daniel breathed, picking her up and carrying her the rest of the way to the bed.
Sometimes she felt like they were fire and water. Two elements never meant to be put together, for the combined power would crush any love out of both of them. But most of the time she knew they were both neither fire nor water, but something else entirely. Something dark and mystic, yet gentle and heartwarming. They were flame and wave, heat and chill, smoke and mist.
They were a part of each other, coming together...
As one.
A/N: The idea came to me yesterday when i was feeling a bit angsty, and despite my down mood I just had to get this out. Unlike Daniel and Vala, though, there's nothing to make my problem go away. On that note, I'm gonna try and keep writing, but it's hard when my thoughts are focused elsewhere. So don't be surprised if a lot of the stuff I do in the coming future is angst. Reviews are LVOE!