Chapter Fifteen

The plan had been to stay away, put some distance between her and Daniel, physically and emotionally, but as always, she was a glutton for punishment and couldn't keep away – a downside of love, she supposed. Vala told herself that it was okay now that she wasn't planning on sticking around after this mess with the Ori was over and might as well indulge now while she could. Besides, Samantha had practically barged into her room and told her it was turn to sit with Daniel – it was what they did as a team. Before she could argue that she wasn't an actual member of SG-1, Sam had already composed a response.

"Cam has already told you you're a part of this team, so I'm not going to repeat what he said," she told Vala, "but what I will say is that Daniel would be there if it was you, no matter what, and he deserves the same, especially after everything you two have been through together."

"Samantha, he wouldn't want me there."

Sam gave her a small smile. "That's where you're wrong," she refuted, "I've known Daniel for ten years now, he's my brother, and I know for a fact that he would – you should be there."

Vala wanted to argue but knew the Colonel was right, and finally admitted to herself that she wanted to be. "What abou – "

"Alora will be having quality time with her Auntie Sam," Sam interjected before Vala could finish her excuse, and held out her hands, "Now, give me the baby – I could use a baby fix anyways."

Vala relented and found herself sitting at Daniel's bedside, waiting for Merlin's consciousness to leave completely and for Daniel to wake up. According to Carolyn, he wasn't in a coma, his tests proved that, but he had yet to show any signs of waking. He was fine – just sleeping, and all they could do was wait.

Days apparently…but at least it gave her time to wrestle with her feelings without Daniel seeing right through her and she was able to deal with them and the fact that they wouldn't be reciprocated – it was hard to come to terms with, but she was getting there and that's what mattered.

"I'm going to miss this," she confessed to him quietly, "not sitting by your bedside, waiting for you to wake up or anything, but Earth in general, making a difference with SG-1. I've grown rather fond of your backwater planet and despite some of your questionable leaders, it would've been a nice place to raise Alora…but that's not really an option anymore.

"Most of all, I'm going to miss you," she confessed, "The way you get so excited and passionate about your job, the culture you're studying, your curiosity, your thirst for knowledge, and the way you care about people. You see the good in almost everything. You're not naïve or anything, you see things how they are, but always look for the good and try to do the impossible. You're hopeful and despite the cruel galaxy we live in, you never give up…at least I haven't seen that side of you yet, and I don't want to – I want to remember you like this."

Vala smiled sadly at him, letting out a small sigh, and glanced at her watch – her shift was almost over, and Sam was waiting for her to take Alora off her hands, not that the Colonel minded, but even the great Colonel Carter needed sleep – not that she would take the opportunity to since she had an Ancient written program to go through before inputting into the Odyssey.

"Time to wake up, darling," she told him, "you've been sleeping for three days now. We got some bad guys to take out," she paused and waited for a minute or two but didn't see any change, and she sighed, "Okay, have it your way. I have to leave in a bit, but Teal'c will be here to keep you company."

Daniel's vitals continued to stay steady and showed no signs of fluctuations.

She sighed again and moved from her chair to sit on the edge of his bed. She brushed her hand over his hair lightly. "I'm starting to think the only way you'll wake up is if I kiss you," she quipped, "just like in those fairy tale books you guys gave Alora…although I'm not sure if I should really be reading them to Alora. I don't want her to think it's okay for a perfect stranger to kiss a dead girl while she lays in a glass coffin."

While she continued to point out the various flaws in the fairy tale books she had been given, she failed to notice that his heart rate began to increase or that he began to stir.

" – and don't even get me started on Ariel," she told him, looking around the infirmary, "Catching a glimpse of a stranger from afar and deciding that you madly in love with – "

"Vala, why the hell are you talking about Disney Princesses?" Daniel asked in a groggy voice.

"Daniel!" she exclaimed and jumped up from the bed, "You're awake!"

He winced and shied away from the loud noise. "Headache," he grumbled and brought a hand to his forehead.

"Sorry," she said, lowering her voice, and hesitated before asking, "How are you feeling...aside from the headache?"

"If you're asking if I still have another consciousness in my brain then the answer is no," he responded in a gravelly tone, still trying to get his bearings, and dropped his hand, "What happened? I don't remember much after I completed phase two."

Vala gave him a small smile. "I'll tell you about it later," she promised, "Right now, I should go get Carolyn."

Before she could move a step, he grasped her wrist, and she gave him an inquisitive look. "Did I complete the weapon?"

She nodded. "You did," she assured him, "You even gave Sam a way to dial the Supergate using a ZPM and the Odyssey. She's been working on it ever since and when you're recovered, we'll head there."

Daniel frowned at her. "How long have I been out?" he asked and released her wrist.

"Just over three days," she answered quietly.

His brows furrowed. "Please tell me you haven't been here the whole time," he said, his eyes shifting around them, "Where's Alora?"

She smiled wryly. "Don't worry, I haven't. We've been all taking turns," she told him, "although I'm glad to know that the thought of me staying at your bedside appalls you."

He rolled his eyes at her. "That's not what I meant, and you know it," he said, "I was just worried that you'd stretch yourself too thin, what with Alora and me. Where is she, by the way?"

"Samantha has her," she replied, "and sitting at your bedside, bored out of my skull, is hardly stretching myself too thin."

"Nobody made you," he retorted.

Vala didn't mention that Sam actually had pushed her into it the first time…but she had volunteered after that. "True," she murmured, "but I was worried…we all were."

Daniel softened a little. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't, you were just being you," she remarked, "but it's not me you owe the apology to. Your friends were very concerned about you, General O'Neill even stopped by. I think he's still here actually…"

He gave her a peculiar look. "Why wouldn't I owe you an apology as well?" he asked curiously, "If you were worried like others were, you should get one too."

"They're your friends, your family," she told him gently, "I'm not…I don't count."

He looked at her incredulously. "Vala, that's n– "

"Daniel Jackson, you have awoken," Teal'c observed as he came up to the pair, "You appear to be well."

"Hey Teal'c," Daniel greeted and waved.

Vala took the opportunity to slip away. "I'm going to tell Carolyn that you're awake."

Daniel tried to grab her again but missed. "Vala, we're n– "

"I have to relieve Samantha," she interjected, "Besides, Alora will be hungry soon. I'll see you later, darling."

She didn't give him another chance to stop her and quickly departed.

o0o

"So, this is where you've been hiding," Daniel remarked as he walked into one of the science labs the next day.

Surprised by the interruption and broken silence, Vala jumped in her seat before she spun the stool in the direction of the door. "Carolyn released you," she observed, "and for the record, I haven't been hiding."

"What else would you call it?" he challenged, stepping further into the lab and went straight for Alora in the baby bouncer. "Hey there, sweetheart," he said lovingly to the infant and allowed her to grab his finger, "Miss me?"

Vala couldn't help but smile at the scene the two of them made and had to force herself to look away before he caught her staring. "I call it helping Dr. Lee," she retorted and gestured to the Goa'uld looking device on the desk.

Daniel glanced over at the device and tilted his head as he studied it. "What is it?" he asked, "And why did he ask you to take a look? He's head of R&D at the SGC but generally asks Sam to take a look when he's stumped on something."

She set down the tool she was using and eyed him. "So I'm not capable or smart enough?" she questioned, feigning offense.

"Don't!" he almost snapped, "Don't start that – you know that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I just…" he trailed off, trying to compose a reply, "I just wasn't aware that you and Dr. Lee were friendly."

The way he said it sounded weird to her and if she didn't know better, she would've assumed that his tone contained a hint of jealousy. "We're not," she told him, "not really, at least, but Samantha's busy working on dialing the Supergate and a team brought this device back and he asked me to take a look since he couldn't figure it out and I have experience with Goa'uld technology…among other things."

"Right," he said slowly and gave her a sheepish smile, "Sorry. And I really didn't mean for it to come out like that. I was just…surprised."

Vala smiled reassuringly at him. "I know you didn't," she said softly before straightening and picking up her abandoned tool and continued her work on the device.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him unbuckle Alora from the contraption. "Where'd you get the bouncer?" he asked her as he settled Alora in his arms, planting a kiss on her head.

"Cameron gave it to me," she replied, not taking her focus off the device, "He went shopping as a distraction after the last mission and ended up buying her a few things."

She noted that he stopped swaying Alora and froze.

"That…was nice of him," he noted but his tone suggested he wasn't too happy about it.

"Yes, it was," she agreed but was confused by his odd behavior. Maybe it was an after effect of the repository and Merlin's consciousness? "What did Carolyn and her tests say? I assume you were cleared based on the fact that she released you."

"You'd assume right," he replied, "Everything came back good and it looks like Merlin really is gone."

Vala turned her head to smile at him. "I'm glad," she said, "You went a little wonko at the end, so it's good to have the boring, stuffy Dr. Jackson back."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Thanks," he said dryly, "But yeah, it's good to only have one set of memories and thoughts in my mind. Separating reality from his memories was…a challenge, and I'm glad it's just me."

"We all are."

She turned back to the Goa'uld device and he stood there awkwardly with Alora. The silence stretched between them, making it feel tense, but she didn't know what to say – she just wanted to work on the device.

"So," Daniel said when he could no longer take it, "what is it, what does it do?" he asked, pointing to the device.

Her gaze didn't leave it. "I'm not entirely sure," she admitted, "I haven't seen it before, but it definitely has naquadah in it, and based on the design inside, I think it might be a weapon of sorts. What kind, I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to have fun finding out." When he didn't say anything, her eyes shifted to him, and she saw him staring at her with a small smile. Feeling self-conscious, she asked, "What?"

Daniel shook his head. "Nothing," he said, "It's just…it's nice to see you like this, interested, engaged, trying to figure out a mystery…like other SGC personnel."

"But I'm not a member of the SGC," she refuted.

"Officially," he corrected, "but it's nice seeing you try…seeing you fit in and finding your place."

Vala didn't try to disagree with him. She did like being helpful and playing with alien technology, but she didn't see a future on Earth and she knew Daniel wouldn't listen to her at the moment, so she let it go for now. Besides, she had a little time before she would leave and wanted to help as much as possible – her way of replaying the SGC for housing and sheltering Alora for the last few months. The Ori or Priors had never once come here in search of her. For all she knew, they probably assumed Alora had died aboard the ship that they destroyed on Chulak the day Alora was born, but even if they didn't, there should be no reason to suspect that Alora was on Earth.

"I like helping," was her reply, "and I should get back to it. Bill wants my preliminary findings in like an hour or so."

"Got it," he nodded and took a step back, "I can take Alora with me to my office so you can focus on that."

She shook her head. "That's okay," she told him, and looked at her watch, "Cameron will be here in a few – he's offered to watch her for an hour or two."

"Oh," he said, disappointed, "I can talk with him and see i– "

"Daniel, it's fine," she interrupted, "Besides, you should take it easy for a little bit."

"I'm fine."

"I know you are," she said placidly, "I also know you won't take it easy and will probably go over what we've learned from Merlin's lab."

"I can still do that with Alora."

"I know," she repeated, "but Cameron wanted to spend time with her and I've already agreed," she told him calmly and got up to take the baby from him, "Now, go over the research we've brought back – I know you're dying to."

He pursed his lips but didn't argue. "Okay," he relented, "but let me know if you change your mind, and let Cameron know I'm available to take her if he needs me to."

"I will," she promised, "Now go – we'll be fine."

Daniel nodded tightly and did as he was told, sparing the two of them another glance before exiting the lab altogether.

o0o

Author's Note: Yes, more of a filler for the most part, but I needed them to spend a little more time together...and possibly give Daniel push.

Picks up more next chapter, so join us then.

Thoughts are always appreciated!