Chapter Thirty-Six

This was awkward.

"So, what the doc say?" Jack asked in an attempt to break the ice.

Daniel narrowed his eyes at the General. "Same as the last I retook human form," he knew he was being snarky – if not unreasonable – but he wasn't over the fact that Jack let Vala fall into the hands of Ba'al.

He didn't feel guilty when Jack lowered his eyes and his face fell – well, maybe a smidge. "Daniel – "

"You let her go, Jack," he interrupted before his friend could defend himself again. "You knew she thought I was dead. You knew she was grieving, and you still let her go!"

"I tried to talk her out of it, but you know better than anyone how impossible that is!" Jack snapped. "With or without her, SG-3 would've gotten caught, but the difference is, with her there, she was able to negotiate and send them back."

"At the expense of her own life!"

"Like any one of us wouldn't have done the same!" Jack pinned him with a knowing stare. "We both know that we would have if we had been in her place, so don't pretend otherwise. She reacted like one of us because she is one of us! Just like you inspired her to be!"

Daniel's shoulders slumped and his anger for Jack began to dissipate. The General was right, and he wished there wasn't any truth to it – not that it would change anything. He had no doubt that Vala would have done the same even if she hadn't spent the last several months with the SGC – not if it meant she could save innocent lives from the Goa'uld. It came from her warped sense of guilt for what Qetesh did during her reign in Vala's body and her need to make up for those lives lost.

He didn't inspire her – she already had it in her – but what he did do was believe in her, and that is all it took for that side to come out. She was an incredible woman, and he'd be damned if he lost someone else he cared for to the Goa'uld.

"Do we have any idea where she is?" he asked once he had calmed down.

Judging by his expression, Jack didn't have good news. "Teal'c and Bra'tac are doing what they can on gaining intel, but nothing yet."

"That's it? That's all we're doing?"

"What do you suggest we do?" Jack asked in a challenging way.

Daniel knew he was being unreasonable… but it was Vala! "I don't know!" he confessed, feeling worried, frustrated, anxious, and more. "I can't just sit here and do nothing!"

"You cannot help," a nameless woman told him in a disapproving manner. "You know the rules."

"I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Daniel said as he watched anxiously as several Jaffa dragged an unconscious Vala into a cell. "Not when I have the ability to help her!"

"You cannot. You accepted the terms we laid out in order to help you ascend," the woman continued. She had a very high and mighty attitude, and he narrowed his eyes at the brown-haired woman. "You cannot interfere. You agreed to retake human form after ascension, but instead of doing so immediately, you help your friends – yes, I saw – and now you will not because the woman you love is in trouble."

Daniel flinched. "She's my friend," he corrected.

The woman snorted and it caused him to raise his brows. He didn't think the Ancients resorted to such sounds.

"Just because I care about her doesn't mean I'm in love with her," he argued. After Oma pointed out he cared, he thought long and hard on it before he realized she was right, but he wouldn't call himself in love with her – yet.

"It doesn't matter what you feel. The fact remains the same – you cannot help her."

"But – "

"Ganos is right," another voice broke in.

Daniel had known he was there but hadn't paid attention since he seemed to be an observer. The last person he expected to run into in Ascended Land was Sha're's son, and as much as he wanted to spend time with Shifu, things kept popping up. First, he had to slow down and stop the self-destruction at the SGC since he knew Anubis had disappeared the second after he activated it. Then it came to his knowledge that Vala was somehow a prisoner of Ba'al's and the bastard appeared to be torturing her – but not in the same way he had done to Jack. He didn't know the end goal, but he did know he had to get her out of there!

He had been about to when the woman – Ganos – had stopped him, and he now had a feeling that his second time among the ascended was about to end in the same way.

"Shifu," he started but didn't continue. He felt almost…betrayed in a way.

The adult version of the boy he once knew came to stand in front of him. "I am sorry," he said earnestly before glancing behind him at Ganos. "I will see to it that he does not interfere and returns to his plane of existence."

Ganos narrowed her eyes at the other being before she was satisfied. "See that you do." She disappeared a second later.

"Shifu – "

"Trust me," the man begged quietly, and Daniel stayed silent. "Oma was the only mother I knew. She has taught me well."

"What the hell does that mean?" he hissed.

But Shifu ignored his question. "Do you remember the planet's symbols?" he asked instead.

Daniel knew to which planet he was referring to. "Of course I do, but wha–"

"Be happy, husband of my mother."

There was a blinding flash of light, and he was suddenly in Jack's office – naked.

"Daniel!" Jack's voice snapped and he felt a slight sting on his cheek.

"Oh my God," Daniel mumbled as it all came back to him.

He already remembered the stuff about Anubis, but Shifu must have suppressed his memories about Vala until they could be triggered – which the ascended being knew they would. He really was a product of Oma's teachings. Maybe not exactly since Daniel was able to recall the information he so desperately needed, but he wasn't complaining.

"What?" Jack asked right away. "What's wrong?"

"Sir, what happened? Is he okay?" Sam joined them in the hallway with a medical team not far behind.

Daniel waved off the medical personnel and stood with the help of Jack. "I'm fine. It's nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing," Jack disagreed. "Maybe we should have the good doc take another look."

"Jack, we don't have time for this!" he snapped impatiently. Vala needed their help now. Who knew what Ba'al was doing to her.

"You just collapsed!" Jack kindly pointed out. "Not to mention coming back from the dead – again!"

"Vala doesn't have time!" he rephrased. That made everyone shut up. "I know where she is. I remembered!"

"You knew where she was but didn't do anything to get her out?" Sam asked in anger, and he didn't blame her.

"I tried, but the others stopped me," he said as sincerely as he could. "I was all but forced to retake human form, but one of them suppressed my memories like Oma did the last time – he must've set up a trigger or something because I just remembered the conversation and where she is. Now, are we gonna stand here and keep talking or are we gonna go get her back?"

The answer was a no brainer.

o0o

Vala had no idea how long it had been since she was brought here. She wouldn't be surprised if someone said years, nor would she be if they said hours. Ba'al had an unnatural talent for chemical compounds and thoroughly enjoyed making others suffer from his concoctions. Chemist, she mused to herself. It was a Tau'ri term for someone who dabbled in a similar fashion if she recalled correctly. Whatever it was called, he was bloody good at it, and it had her in a constant state of confusion.

She wasn't sure what his end goal was, but she knew the current one was to break down her defenses all the way to the emotional level. Whatever he had given her this time was causing hallucinations upon hallucinations and she couldn't tell what was real anymore and what wasn't. It was a bloody nightmare. The only defense she had was cowering in the corner with her head buried into her legs, doing her best to ignore the people in front of her and the voices that accompanied it.

It was mostly of people whom Qetesh killed during her time in Vala's body, and they were often pleading for their lives, for mercy – but worst of it, were their screams of agony when Qetesh took pleasure in their slow deaths. She had to give it to him, Ba'al certainly knew what would be most effective on her. He couldn't take credit for what she was seeing, but she had a strong suspicion he knew this would be the result.

Fucking bastard.

She buried her ears further into her arms to block off the noise. The voices were slowly starting to calm, but she still could hear commotion and chaos coming from somewhere and she didn't even want to think what was up next. She cringed as she heard rushed footsteps, but she wasn't sure where they were coming from, and she didn't want to know if they were real or not. As the cell's door rattled, she squeezed her eyes tighter. She must be back on her planet – when they first captured her after Qetesh's death.

"Vala!"

She stiffened at the voice – a familiar one at that. Ooh, Ba'al was good. She hadn't anticipated on this scenario and didn't know how to combat it. The scary thing was, she didn't know if she actually wanted to.

The hallucination became very real when she felt his presence and even his touch – bloody hell, she could even smell him. That familiar smell of old books, coffee, and whatever hygiene products he used oddly made one intoxicating scent that was Daniel Jackson. Maybe it felt more real because she cared for this individual more than she had for anyone else in her life. It was so unfair that he had been taken and was now dead.

"Vala, are you okay?" she felt the hallucination brush away her hair before lifting her face.

She didn't want to look, but she missed him so much, and couldn't help it. She wanted to see him and when she did, she smiled ruefully. "Ba'al has really outdone himself this time."

The imposter frowned. "What did he do to you?" Funny, he sounded just like how she imagined he'd react.

Of course he is. He's a hallucination of your own making, she chided to herself. "I've missed you," she confessed softly. What did she have to lose?

That beautiful smile of his came out. "I missed you too," he matched her tone. "We need to get you out of here."

He tried to help her up, but she resisted. She wasn't playing into whatever game this was. "I suppose you're here to rescue me?" she said nonchalantly. "Makes sense if you think about it. He would want to know if I could get out with the help of someone and combat any advantages I might find."

Daniel frowned at her again. "What're you talking about?" he asked. His concern was apparent. "Are you feeling okay?"

Vala stroked his cheek like she wanted to do many times. "Do you believe in the afterlife, darling?" Definitely wasn't her Daniel. He didn't pull away or correct her use of 'darling.'

His brows furrowed. "Like heaven and hell?"

She shrugged casually. "Sure, if that's the Tau'ri version."

"Why are you asking? You're not dying – not on my watch."

Vala smiled smally. "Do you think I've done enough to atone for my past wrongdoings?"

"Why?" Geez, he was like a distress call looping over and over.

Her hand moved from his cheek to his hair and ran it through the silky locks. "Because if there is an afterlife, I know you're on the good side of it," she said simply, "and I can only hope I've made up for my past sins so I can make it there too – so I can be with you."

o0o

She didn't think this was real.

"What the fuck did he do with you?" he hissed mainly to himself. If only the Ancients hadn't stopped him. "Vala, I'm not dead. I'm here. I'm real."

Vala smiled sadly at him. "No, you're a hallucination brought on by Ba'al's latest concoction," she explained as if he were a child. "My Daniel is dead."

Daniel sighed in frustration. He couldn't deny her allegations in regards to his death. Ba'al had obviously been drugging her with something and he didn't know how to get her to believe him. "Okay, I did die, but I ascended again before retaking human form to help you. I'm here, Vala."

"No, you're not!" she retorted firmly, and he could tell he had his work cut out for him. "Daniel Jackson died aboard a fucking Replicator ship when we activated the Ancient weapon on Dakara. Nothing you say will make me believe otherwise!"

Wanna bet? He didn't know why he thought it was a good idea or how it would convince her that he was indeed Daniel Jackson, but it was an impulse, and he acted on it. He didn't regret it for a second the moment their lips touched. He sensed her surprise but the feeling of finally kissing Vala Mal Doran overweighed anything else. The feelings he discovered he felt for her during his period of the in-between came flooding back and he poured every ounce of it into his kiss.

She finally got over the shock and eagerly kissed him back – the feeling was incredible, even more so than their first kiss aboard Prometheus. While that one hadn't lacked passion, it didn't involve any other emotion other than lust. But this one, it had it all – lust, desire, passion, and dare he admit it, love. God, why had he fought this? How could he have forgotten what it felt like to love someone? It was exhilarating.

"Daniel, come in," his radio went off, startling the both of them. "Do you have Vala?" Sam asked.

Breathing heavily, he locked eyes with her. "I'm real," he told her again softly. Judging by her dazed but shocked expression, she was starting to believe him. He touched his forehead to hers. "I'm here."

"Daniel?" she whispered before throwing her arms around him and squeezing the life out of him.

He hugged her back just as tightly. "I'm here," he repeated. "I've got you."

Daniel heard the approaching footsteps but had confidence that it was his team – and he was right.

"Next time, answer your radio," Sam told him as she and Teal'c stood in front of the cell door. She wasn't happy with him.

"I was kinda busy," he replied. Yeah, busy kissing the hell out of Vala, the devil in him whispered. He ignored and stood up, taking Vala with him before he scooped her up bride style. "He drugged her with God knows what. We've got to get her back to the SGC."

"Let's go," Sam ordered and wasted no time leading the way out.

It wasn't until they were out of the compound where Vala seemed to come out of the daze she had been in and insisted she be let down. Daniel was reluctant to let her. She was still feeling the effects of whatever drug was in her system, but she argued that it would go faster without him carrying herm and he eventually relented. But he still stayed close and periodically put an arm around her to help with the steep parts.

Their intel on the amount of Jaffa Ba'al had at his disposal was fairly accurate, and the bulk was currently in space fighting off the Rebel Jaffa who had gathered to take out the remaining System Lord. The ships they gained from Anubis came in handy as well. With the Jaffa sent up to the ships and distracted, getting into the facility proved to be much easier, and getting out wasn't a problem.

But what they hadn't counted on was Ba'al sending down a squadron to ensure Vala wouldn't escape. They hadn't been anticipating that squadron catching up to them.

And they certainly hadn't expected one of those Jaffa to shoot Vala in the gut thirty feet from the 'gate.