Good Things Come to Those Who Persevere
Tagline: Vala: "a tale of the Vexing (Sexy) Space-Vixen and the Grumpy (yet Attractive) Heroic Historian and their poor innocent bystander-teammates. A tale of – ascended-beings forbid! – feelings." Daniel: "a tale of a pair of idiots." Post-Continuum
Disclaimers: not mine, so MGM's et al, but thank the universe for Prime and fanfiction.
Enjoy ; )
Prologue
"You know, I think I might stay awhile and, um… help him through this."
"Yeah, I thought you might. Have fun."
"Thanks."
"He's in for an interesting afternoon."
"Indeed."
Chapter 1
Daniel did not give Vala's continued stay with the Tok'ra and the former host of Ba'al another thought.
He enjoyed his lunch with the team and Jack, and almost just as much enjoyed the undisturbed quiet of his office as he deep-dived into the latest Alteran text that the Atlantis team had discovered and that Sam had kindly forwarded on to him.
He didn't give her absence another thought – at least not until Cam poked his head in his office and exclaimed, "Geesh! The Doc was right."
Without looking up from the computer screen, he mumbled absentmindedly, "Hmmm…Which 'doc'?"
"Carolyn," Cam replied as he plopped into one of the chairs and spun around in it just like Jack and Vala were forever doing.
Upon completing a full revolution, the colonel continued, "She predicted that without Vala here to irritate the hell out of you, you would get sucked into some Ancient tome and be immersed for days."
At that last bit, his head shot up and he asked in alarm, "Has it been days?"
Not that it would have been unusual for him to have lost track of that much time – rather par for the course, actually – but it was another matter for his brat of a shadow to have been gone so long.
"Ha, no," Cam laughed. "It's only a little after 8, but you might want to consider pacing yourself. There's no need to cram research. With Ba'al gone, we've officially dealt with the last of the Big Bads."
Daniel resisted the superstitious urge to knock on wood and pointedly suggested to his team leader, "You might want to practice what you preach, sir."
Cam gave him a sly grin as he stood up and clapped him on the shoulder, "Oh, I am. I think it's going to take at least 2-3 more business dinners with Dr. Lam to complete the reviews of the new SG trainees' medical and psych evals."
'Sanctus stercore! If Vala was here – '
This thought was cut off by another clap to his shoulder in parting from Cameron, before he exited his office with a self-satisfied smirk.
Daniel tried to return to his copies of the Alteran text, but he was unable to shift his thoughts away from all of Vala's various and possible reactions to this latest romantic development and how he would have to curb her enthusiastic scheming to run interference with 'Daddy General' on their behalf.
Finally, he gave it up as much as a lost cause as trying to convince Jack that sarcasm was not in fact the highest form of wit.
Maybe, if he was lucky, Landry would stay a few extra days bird-watching up at the cabin…
But when had he ever been that lucky?
~S~
He was not, in fact, that lucky, but neither was he (this time) unlucky.
The General had returned as scheduled, but Vala had not.
"So, she's staying?"
Teal'c gave a slight bow in assent, as he reported, "Jedrek informed me that they requested she extend her time with them. Aharon, the former host, is not doing well, and she may be of help."
"Well, I guess, it stands to reason that a thousands-of-years-old man would not be having the most rapid of recoveries…" he mused uncertainly, hoping that his note of disappointment was not too obvious.
If it was, the observant warrior did not comment upon it, only stating, "And it is known how much Vala MalDuran trusts the Tok'ra and their post-extraction recovery methods. She will want to ensure with her own eyes that they do not repeat her history."
"True, true," he agreed, not being able to argue the point.
Not that he wanted to, because none of that really surprised him. Vala, in her own special way, had often equated her rescue by the Tok'ra as having been 'all about the big bang and without any of the aftercare, pillow talk, or cuddling that someone in my condition should have gotten'.
No, he was more surprised that (a) she hadn't grown bored with the tediousness of caretaking, especially after three days of it, and (b) the Tok'ra were not begging to send her back.
That was, perhaps, a bit harsh, but the Tok'ra were a highly ritualistic society and well, Vala was… Vala, and to say that she loved to thumb her nose at rituals and societal norms alike was a vast understatement.
"How long?" he asked curiously, while absent-mindedly wondering if it would be worth creating a small 'work' station for all of her magazines, knick-knacks, and mid-translated Goa'uld texts that littered his lab.
"Do not worry, Daniel Jackson. She only agreed to stay one more week."
'A week? Guess not then.'
And then the first part of the Jaffa's reply hit him.
"Worried?!" he scoffed, "Why would I be worried?"
Teal'c stilled, and for just the briefest (but noticeable) moment, his stoic face went even blanker than normal, before he did yet another slight conceding bow.
"Indeed. I will leave you to your peace and quiet then. Cameron Mitchell has challenged me to another sparring match."
Daniel stared flummoxed after the Jaffa, who seemed to be beating a strategic retreat, and wondered what would have been worse – his friend's patented pointed eyebrow quirk or that enigmatic yet somehow knowing poker face that he had just been subjected to.
Either way, he had no idea what Teal'c had been hinting at.
He wasn't worried for Vala. The woman had proven quite clearly and repeatedly that she knew how to take care of herself.
If anything, he should be worried for the poor former host. He couldn't imagine how her incessant chatter could be considered conducive to healing.
Giving his head a little shake, he turned back to what he had been working on before Teal'c had provided the latest Where-in-the-Galaxy-is-Vala-Mal-Duran update.
It was a fascinating account from the Asgard records of their interactions with the Ancients. Fascinating, in that he could see how their culture influenced each other, at least linguistically.
Less than an hour later, he caught himself glancing up for the who-knows-how-many-times that week to share his latest discovery with the aforementioned absent woman (that it was the Ancients' 'et vita brevior' that pre-dated the Asgardians' 'lífið er of stutt').
And he realized that of all the people he should be worrying for, it should be himself.
He missed her.
'No, couldn't be.'
And yet…
Excluding that first day back, he had found his 'peace and quiet' disquieting.
He, Daniel Jackson, missed vexing Vala Mal Duran.
Ancients help him.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Feedback is welcome ; )
Per Google translator:
- Sanctus stercore = Latin for 'holy shit'
- et vita brevior = Latin for 'life is too short'
- lífið er of stutt = Icelandic for 'life is too short'
Next - Vala's return to S.G.C.