A/N: Here's my little ship for 'The Powers That Be'. I just had to do the beginning because I loved Daniel's expression when Vala showed up in that outfit. Don't know if I'll do one for 'Crusade'. Please R&R. (You know you want to.)
"I already told you, they won't recognize me dressed like this." Vala said, gesturing to the green BDU's and black top she wore. "Fortunately I left a couple of spare outfits behind." She headed towards a side room.
"What is it with her and her wardrobe?" Mitchell asked.
Daniel followed Vala and said, "Look I think we could probably explain to
them exactly—"
Vala stopped walking and turned to face Daniel interrupting him, "It'll only take a second." She disappeared into the room and Daniel followed her. Vala held out a hand, stopping him. "Hey, can a girl have a little privacy?" she asked, blocking the doorway with her figure.
"No. Besides I think I've seen just about everything there is to see." Daniel replied.
Vala grinned, slightly raising an eyebrow. "Right. Look there's no other way out of this room. I'm just going to change. Be right back." She called out as she entered the room.
Daniel sighed. Sometimes it was just so damn frustrating to have her around. Before he could think about what little number she was slipping into, a man entered the room.
"Hey." Mitchell said, waving.
The man ran out, obviously surprised to see them there. But he was soon back, with a number of other men and they were all armed with staff weapons. Mitchell and Teal'c raised their P90s.
"These are the weapons of our God Qetesh! Who are you?" the man asked.
"Just take it easy." Mitchell said.
"What are you doing here?" the man demanded.
"Ok, time to play diplomat. Feel free to show up any time Vala." Daniel thought while moving forward with his hands raised. "We mean no harm."
The man opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, they saw something behind Daniel, Cameron, and Teal'c that made his eyes go wide. They all dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, heads resting on the ground.
"Ok, that was different." Daniel thought.
"Please. Forgive us. It has been so long we began to fear you would not return." The man said.
Daniel saw Vala as she walked into their line of sight. She was wearing a very Gou'ald-ish outfit. It was tan, almost the same color of her skin, and was very risqué, covering what needed to be covered but hinted at what might be underneath. The skirt was the same color as her top and stopped just above the floor. She also wore matching arm warmers. "Then you are foolish. I would not abandon you. I am your God." She said, her voice sounding like a Gou'ald.
Daniel stood there with his mouth hanging open. His first thought was, "God she looks so hot." His second and third thoughts were, "Where did she get a voice modulator? Why is she pretending to still be a Gou'ald?"
He watched her from a distance. Daniel had never seen so many people get so sick in such a short amount of time. He had also never seen this side of Vala before. "She actually cares about these people." He thought to himself as she used the healing device on the villagers. He smiled to himself as she spoke softly, tenderly caressed their pale faces and held their hands as she healed them. Gone was the 'look-out-for-me-and-only-me' attitude and in its place was actually a caring, loving, and genuine concern for these people. Forget the fact that they had imprisoned her and put her on trial for things she did as (or pretended to be) a Gou'ald. Daniel knew that she felt guilty for the thing she had done when she was a host and therefore felt the need to help them, no matter how much Daniel tried to convince her otherwise.
Vala looked up and spotted Daniel watching her. She motioned to him with her head to come over. He dropped what he was doing and walked over.
"What?" he asked softly.
"This," she said holding up the healing device. "isn't working anymore…I'm sorry." she said, handing it to him, defeat in her voice.
Daniel sighed. This was not the time to give up and let these people die. "You have to keep trying…I mean…at least put on a show keep their hopes up…we know you can do that."
"See this is exactly why I don't even think about trying to help people." Vala said. "I'm terrible at it, because of me…these poor souls are either gonna die horribly or they're gonna give into the Prior in the hopes that he'll heal them."
"That's not because of you!" Daniel snapped quietly. Gone was the tender, caring Vala who had been healing the villagers.
"I can't make them better! And if I hadn't have been so worried about my precious treasure I would never have opened my big fat mouth and we never would have come here." Vala said, trying to make sure that Daniel understood that this was all her fault. Before all this, before she had met Daniel, she would have just grabbed the treasure and left, leaving the people of the village to deal with the Prior by themselves. But after being with Daniel for so long she'd suddenly developed a conscience and was actually starting to care about Daniel. Before she had just wanted to have a good romp and then leave, but now she was thinking about staying, coming up with some reason to hang around and not leave. But she hid those emotions from him; she didn't want him to think that she was going soft.
"Then these people would still have to either convert to Origin or face the consequences. And that's a dilemma the rest of our galaxy is going to have to worry about." Daniel said, trying to convince Vala that none of this was her fault. Before Vala could reply, Dr. Lam came up to them and wanted to talk to Daniel. Daniel handed the healing device back to Vala and left. Try as he might, he would never truly understand Vala. She kept her emotions close to her and never let anyone else see what she was really thinking. Sighing he thought, "I just wish that she would stay longer. That way I can finally tell her how I feel."
"I can't believe that I'm actually starting to fall for him." She thought, watching him walk away. "That hasn't happened since I was engaged." Sighing, she turned and went back to try and heal those who were sick.