Daniel opened the door to the general store and released the breath he'd been holding for 18 months. He'd found her. Every door he had opened for the past year and half had led to disappointment. Every lead he had followed had sent him back to Colorado Springs with what felt like the weight of one more brick sitting on his chest. But there she was, standing at the counter of the general store in a very small town in upstate New York, talking to the man behind the counter.

Vala was talking to Roger, the store owner, when she heard the bell over the door ring. She looked over with a smile on her face wondering which of her friends was walking in the door. This town was so small, everyone knew everyone, and were, for the most part, friends.

Daniel and Roger watched as the smile melted off her face and her stance became rigid as she saw who it was. Roger sized up the stranger, tall, good looking, muscular, and had eyes only for Vala. He knew instantly that his supper date tonight was not going to happen. This is who she was running from.

Neither one knew what to say. The whole speech Daniel had prepared and had refined for 18 long months had fled his mind. Vala's "go away, Daniel" rant she had practiced in her mind for just as long had left just as quickly as Daniel's speech had.

They drank in the sight of each other for a long minute. Vala had to close her eyes for a second to regain her wits.

"Roger, I'll be back later for those items on the counter," she smiled an apology at the proprietor and turned for the door.

She stalked past Daniel as she went out the door, doing her best not to brush against him as she did. He followed her out to the sidewalk. "That's my truck, follow me out to my place so we can talk in private," she said, pointing to a bright red truck parked at the curb. "Everyone here knows everyone else and anything we say in town will be regular news by nightfall."

Daniel followed her about 2 miles out of town, down a dirt road to small farmhouse. A dog ran to greet her as she got out of the truck. Vala reached down to give it a big hug and a butt scratch.

Without looking at, or speaking to Daniel, she walked up the porch stairs and opened the front door, it wasn't locked.

This was all so different from her life in Colorado, he thought. She had made a life far removed from him in every way possible. The house and the property were picture postcard quality. She had created a pastoral life that was calm and soothing.

He almost gave up, there was no way he was talking her out of this, he thought. But his heart wouldn't let him, he had to try. He needed her in his life and had spent a year and half of downtime between missions, and all his accrued vacation time looking for her. This week was the last time he had available, and he couldn't waste it.

She motioned for him to sit at the kitchen table as she started a pot of coffee.

"So, I'm guessing your first question is going to be 'Why did you leave without saying goodbye' ," she said, as she poured water in the coffee maker.

"Wow, I don't even get a 'Hi, how are you, it's good to see you again'," Daniel complained.

Vala turned around but didn't approach the table. "Look, I know why you are here, and I wish you weren't," she said, irritated.

"Vala, please sit down at the table with me and let's talk, I'm not here to argue,, he pleaded.

"Why not, that's all we ever do," she stated. There was no anger in her voice, it was just a statement.

"This place is amazing, Vala. Are you happy here?" he asked sincerely. She could see the real question in his face.

"Yes, Daniel, I am. I had lots of money saved up from living for 3 years under a mountain so I bought this place as far away as I could."

"Far away from what," he asked.

"Everything," she answered. "Reminders of my past, war, guns, not being able to tell day from night due to living underground. I have friends here, Daniel. People smile when they see me, I go out to eat with friends, go to movies with friends, I go out on dates, Daniel, real, honest dates, with people who like me."

"Everyone at the SCG likes you, Vala, you never lacked for friends there,, he pointed out.

"Everyone but you,, she said as she turned back to the coffee pot, pouring two cups. She couldn't look at him when she said that. "There are no reminders of you here, Daniel." Except for the smell of coffee. Everywhere you go, someone is drinking coffee and the smell always made her heart hurt. Daniel was never with a cup of coffee, it kept him going, working long into the night and woke him up after too little sleep every morning.

She picked up the cups and took them to the table.

"There are reminders of you all over the SGC,, he said. "Everywhere I look."

"I got tired of fighting all the time, , she said. "Fighting the Goa'uld, fighting the Replicators, fighting the Ori, and in between we'd go back to the SGC and you and I would fight. The difference was we won against all the bad guys, but you and I kept fighting. I finally realized that I was never going to win that one. The wall you'd built around your heart was too thick, too strong, I'd never be able to even crack it. I thought I could stay and be happy with us just being friends, but it hurt too bad, I had to go someplace you weren't. Someplace with no reminders of my life with the SGC, and you."

"I know," he said. "I knew it when I got back from my mission with SG7 and Cam met me in the Gate Room. I could see it on his face. And he still blames me today."

"So, you're here to plead Cam's case, to try and get the old SG1 back together?" She traced the handle of her coffee cup with her finger, knowing that wasn't the reason, but too scared to put a voice to what she hoped he would say.

"I'm here to find a way to keep you in my life," he said, trying to catch her eyes.

"That's not enough for me, you know that," she retorted, her gray eyes firmly held his worried blue ones, looking at him for the first time. "Us existing the same general area doesn't work for me. Friends doesn't work for me. The only thing that will work for me is us 100%, or 0%. I have lived with zero for awhile now and it's been working. The only way you are talking me out of this almost perfect life is a guaranteed 100%."

Daniels's heart dropped and his gut hurt. How could hearing the perfect answer fill him with such dread? He took off his glasses and scrubbed his face. "Could a guarantee of 100% talk you out of this 'almost perfect life'?" he asked. "Would being a military wife be enough for you? Because you know I cold never work in the outside world, being a military contractor is all I can ever be."

"Wife?" She asked.

"Well, wife is 100%, you said anything less was unacceptable. Personally, I'd be perfectly happy to start at 70%, dating, or even 80%, living together, and work my way up to 90%, fiancé." He hoped a bit a levity would break this horrible tension squeezing his torso like a vise.

"I like my farm, Daniel. It's peaceful, quiet. I like my dog, and my chickens. I have garden and I'm eating fresh food, I'm breathing fresh air."

Daniel cut in quickly, before she said something he didn't want to hear. "We can buy a farm outside of Colorado Springs, you don't have to give this life up, if you don't want to." He took some papers of the bag he had set down on the floor, next to the table. "When I finally figured out where you were, and saw the community you were living in, I did some research. There are a couple of small farms for sale less than hour's drive of the mountain. They aren't as picture perfect as this one, but we could work on it, make it that way," He laid out the real estate listings and pictures he had printed out on the table in front of her.

"You were so sure I'd come back with you?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No, I wasn't sure you'd even talk to me. If I was sure, I would have bought this one before I came out," he pointed to the one on the left.

Vala looked at the papers, comparing the two. When she suddenly scooted her chair back and got up, the noise startled Daniel and he looked up at her. Vala wrapped her arms around herself and walked to the living room and looked out the back window at her little property.

Daniel followed her stopping at her side when he noticed her silently crying. He put his hand softly on her elbow, then turned to stand in front of her. "Vala? Talk to me, please."

"Do you love me, Daniel?"

He took a deep, ragged breath, and took her hands, uncrossing her arms so he could wrap his arms around her waist and pull her to him. "Oh, gods, yes. So much it has hurt to breathe for the past year and half." He pulled back from her and started wiping the tears off her face. "Longer than that actually, I was just so scared to be hurt again that I fought against it too hard and too long and I ended up hurting myself. And I hurt you in the process. I'm sorry. I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you I love you and I don't want to live without you."

She burst into hard tears at that point, hugging him back hard. "So, we done fighting?"

He chuckled, "I don't think so. I think harassing each other is our love language."

"So long as you never tell me to go away and bother someone else. That always hurt," she pleaded.

"Never again," he promised. "I never want you to go away again."