Stargate
Infinity Series: Reunited Revamped
By GM Grantham
After the events of 'Flesh and Blood', Daniel and Vala share some alone time and discover some very interesting things about one another. Meanwhile, the battle against the Ori continues.
Spoilers for 'Flesh and Blood' through The Quest, Part II
Nothing of Stargate SG-1 is mine…no matter how I wish it was.
This chapter is rated PG-13.
A/N: This story fills in the time between Flesh and Blood, Morpheus, and The Pegasus Project. It also offers a possible explanation as to how Daniel and Vala came across the non-Ancient names of those two planets. And there will be included a celebratory dinner btw. d & v in place of the dinner he promised her. Same idea, different reason ;)
SIX
Meanwhile, on Tiryns, Mother's former guard snapped into position as the gate was reactivated, the gentle kawoosh indicating the successful opening of the wormhole. Weapons at the ready, they stood, waiting for the travelers to emerge.
Not to their surprise, the girl and the Ori Prior stepped through, the gate closing behind them immediately.
"The gate has been reactivated, then," the girl said calmly to no one in particular.
The Prior spared her a glance that, if he were human in any way, would have revealed exasperation. "The Gods are not pleased. We will be punished most severely."
The girl nodded nonchalantly, the news seemingly having no effect on her. "Indeed you will be."
She turned her attention to where she knew the inhabitants were hidden with their weapons at ready.
"I would strongly caution against harming us. It will only make for a long, painful death."
Slowly, the inhabitants removed themselves from their hiding places, their weapons still aimed.
"What became of the strangers who were here when I last visited?"
The villagers looked at one another, brows furrowed but it was Namir who answered.
"Their bodies were never found. An accident claimed their lives though without the bodies we cannot be sure what precisely occurred."
Adria turned to him, her gaze fierce. "You dare to lie to the Orici?"
Before he knew what was happening, he had been robbed of his living breath and lay in a crumpled heap on the ground.
To Adria's chagrin, his spirit exited his body, ascending toward the heavens, and she turned on the Prior.
"Is there naught you can do? With his knowledge, our enemy will surely be at an advantage."
"We have found no force to destroy them as of yet unless they are in human form."
She stood faced with a difficult decision. "Bring them. The Ori will no doubt find use for them."
The Prior nodded, reluctantly following her orders, reactivating the Stargate and leading the peasants through at weapon-point. Some choose to die rather than leave their home. Others were captured alive.
The fury burned inside of her as she watched several more of the spirits ascend, knowing that with each death of its people, the enemy grew more powerful.
That was why she needed Daniel Jackson. He would have discovered the location of the weapon by now and would no doubt be able to lead them right to it.
She smiled devilishly, recalling the barrier she had put on the gate. If any of them had passed through it as she'd planned, she would be able to track their movements through the gate network by their radiation signatures.
The time of liberation was at hand and victory was so close that she could taste it. Once she had killed Jackson of course, after he'd lead her to the weapon, the Ori would modify the weapon to destroy the ascended Ancients.
Without them, there would be no help to stop the spreading of Origin. Even the Tau'ri wouldn't be able to stop them.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Vala, take a look at this."
She leaned over his shoulder and frowned slightly. "It looks like these two could be names of something based on the way they fit into the text around them," she said pointing at two of the words from his notes.
Daniel nodded. "Or someplace, yes; but this right here…" He frowned slightly.
"What is it?"
"I think I've found the key to finding weapon to defeat the Ori, but I'll need to check the Atlantis databanks to be sure."
Her brow furrowed. "Why the Atlantis databanks? Don't you have everything you need here?"
Daniel shook his head. "Like I said, I think I have it; but the information in the Atlantis databanks will confirm it."
She paused and nodded, looking closer at his notes. "Who's this?"
"Morgan La Fey."
Vala frowned. "Who?"
Daniel shook his head. "I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get this information to the General and get him to set us up a ride to Atlantis."
With this, Daniel and Vala departed for Landry's office.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Landry frowned. "Let me see if I understand you, Doctor Jackson. You think that this Morgan whatshername might be the key to defeating the Ori…and you want me to arrange a trip to Atlantis so that you can check their databanks to be sure?"
Daniel nodded. "Yes, sir."
Landry paused. "You can travel with Colonel Mitchell aboard the Odyssey. He and the rest of SG-1 are working on a way to tie up the Ori supergate. From what Colonel Carter's told me, they're going to need the help of someone from Atlantis, a Doctor Rodney McKay."
Daniel nodded, looking extremely pleased. "Yes, sir. When are we leaving?"
"Tomorrow afternoon, Doctor Jackson. Be ready."
"We will."
Landry raised his eyebrows. "We?"
Daniel sighed. "General, I'd like to bring Vala with me." Before the General could protest, Daniel continued. "She's been helping me with the translations. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to decipher the records in the first place."
Giving in, Landry nodded. "Alright. But you're responsible for making sure that she doesn't cause any more trouble."
"She won't."
"Meet with Colonel Mitchell and share your theory with him. He might have some ideas of his own."
Daniel nodded, leaving the office with Vala behind him, who tossed a grin of thanks to the General before closing the door behind her.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
A knock on the door startled him, causing him to drop the spoon he'd been holding. He hissed softly as a fleck of hot tomato sauce landed on his finger, effectively burning him.
"Ouch!"
He sucked on the burnt finger to remove the offending drop and grabbed an ice cube from the freezer to soothe his injured finger before moving toward the door. When the knocking persisted, he grunted in annoyance.
"I'm coming!"
The moment he opened the door, Vala swept in, nearly knocking him over. Quickly, he dodged out of her way, closing the door behind her.
Vala set her things down and turned toward him, smirking. "Coming already? But Daniel...the night's only just begun."
He let out a sigh, locking the door. "You've only been here two minutes and you're already giving me a headache."
"Two and a half. What did you do to your finger and where are your glasses?"
He slipped his finger into his mouth again until he found an ice pack from the freezer. "I burnt myself and I wear my contacts to cook so my glasses don't get fogged up from the steam."
She frowned. "What are contacts?"
"They help me see better." He reached up, holding one of his eyes open and removed the contact to show it to her.
She grimaced. "You put THAT ON your eye?"
He replaced the contact and blinked a few times before nodding. "They're less obstructive than glasses." Vala was staring and it was beginning to make him nervous. "What?"
She blinked. "You look different without your glasses. Almost as if you were...a different person."
"Civilian clothing does the same for you," he observed, indicating the white, mid-calf length strapless she was wearing with a matching pair of slingbacks.
"Do you like it?"
He looked at her, considering. "In general, it seems like overkill." Vala frowned and he smiled, continuing. "But it looks stunning on you."
She smirked. "I borrowed this dress from Colonel Carter, actually."
Daniel choked on the tomato sauce he'd been taste testing and his eyes widened. "Sam owns something that hot?" he asked hoarsely, pounding his chest.
"She told me a little story about this dress...that she wore this the night that she at last seduced Brigadier General O'Neil."
Daniel grinned wryly. "That explains it."
"So, what are you making?"
He chuckled. "An American favorite...spaghetti."
She moved behind him, trying to look over his shoulder when the tomato sauce popped into her eye. She pulled back, shouting and with tears beginning to run down her cheeks.
"Ow, it hurts! Get it out!"
Daniel lowered her into a chair, holding her still. "Quit thrashing so I can see."
When she tried to open her eye, she was punished by a painful stinging sensation.
"Daniel!"
He bolted toward the sink, wetting a wash cloth and folding it before placing it over her eye. He then removed the sauce pan from the heat, turning off the burner before taking her by the hand and leading her toward the couch.
He laid down, legs apart, and she laid between them, leaning back against him. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. A thought crossed his mind and he chuckled.
Vala pouted. "What?"
"We have a saying...'curiousity killed the cat'."
Vala snorted, annoyed. "It's not funny, Daniel. What if I'm stuck like this?"
Daniel's eyebrows shot up. "I have an eyepatch left over from Halloween."
As much pain as she was in, even Vala smiled as the humorous image of herself walking around with an eyepatch popped into her mind.
"You'll be fine. If not, we'll take you to the emergency room, okay?"
Vala nodded. "If it's still this bad after dinner..."
She turned around in his arms and Daniel kissed her forehead sweetly, then gently brushing his lips over hers.
"Hmm. I think it's feeling better already."
He laughed softly, nuzzling her neck. "They say that high endorphin levels reduce pain. Your body makes its own pain reliever."
Vala smiled. "And I suppose intimate physical contact is what increases these endorphin levels?"
"It's one of the things that does, yes. Smiling and laughing also helps."
She nibbled his ear. "Right now, I'm experiencing all three."
He shuddered. "So am I," he said softly.
She hesitated. "Daniel?"
"Hmm?"
She paused. "I...I was thinking. There's a new movie out called Pirates of the Carribean: Deadman's Chest that I wanted to see. Maybe we could go...together."
Daniel's eyebrows shot up. "As in...a date?"
Val smiled. "Well, I don't think we could explain this off as two friends/coworkers going to see a potentially romantic movie."
His cheeks flushed slightly. "Uh...yeah."
The two sat in silence for several moments before Daniel cleared his throat. "Vala, I've been thinking...why don't you live here with me?"
Her eyes widened. "Live with you? Here?"
He smiled. "Yeah, why not? Then you could live off base and see more of Earth."
"Would your leaders let me?"
He paused. "I'm sure I could persuade them."
"Oh, I'd love to!"
"But you'll have to be discrete...and you'll need to apply for citizenship."
Vala nodded excitedly. "Of course!"
He laughed, her excitement contagious. "Your eye all better?"
She grinned. "Yes. Now let's eat! I'm starving!"
He got up after her and moved toward the stove to check the pasta. He used a fork to pull out one of the strands and taste it.
"Seems done to me. You want to try it?"
She moved to stand beside him, giving the pot of sauce a wide berth. He removed another strand, blowing gently on it to cool it before offering it to her. She opened her mouth and he slid the strand in with his fingers. Sliding her lips around his fingers, she used her tongue to pull it into her mouth, sending shivers through him and bringing forth images of her tongue on his...
After he pulled his fingers away, she chewed thoughtfully.
"Mmm. Soft yet slightly chewy."
Daniel strained the pasta, creating two servings and then pouring sauce over them, sprinkling each with cheese.
"What's this?" Vala asked, holding up the bottle of wine as he set the plates on the table.
"Wine."
"My God, look at how old this is!"
"Wine gets better with age."
Vala smirked. "I guess men and alcohol have something in common after all. Where'd you get this anyway?"
Daniel flushed, clearing his throat. "An old friend owed me a favor."
Deciding to leave that story for another night, she returned her attention to the bottle. "How do you open this?"
He took the bottle gently from her, using the corkscrew to open the bottle. He poured a little into each glass, offering one to her. He then raised his glass, clearing his throat. "To the beginning of what promises to be a beautiful relationship."
Vala smiled, raising her glass to his, a soft 'clink' resulting. "To us."
He nodded, grinning. "To us."
Both sipped the beverage, Vala's eyes widening slightly as she swallowed. "This is wine?"
"Yes."
"I've never tasted alcohol quite this...sweet before."
He chuckled. "Try the pasta."
She copied the way he spun the strands onto the fork before bringing it to her mouth. The explosion of flavor made her close her eyes and give an 'mmm' of approval.
"This is incredible! You made this?" He nodded. "I had no idea..."
He grinned, looking at his plate. "The boys used to tease me for doing wife's work. The first time I cooked Sha're a meal, she couldn't believe it."
Vala smiled sadly. "I'm sure she grew quite fond of it."
He nodded. "She preferred my cooking to the others."
A tense silence passed between them as they finished their meals quietly.
By the end of the meal, Daniel was significantly more relaxed than usual from all of the wine he'd consumed. Between the two of them, they'd drank the whole bottle though Vala intoxicated wasn't much different than Vala sober. And yet...he almost liked her better this way.
The smell of the wine on her breath combined with the scented candles acted as an aphrodisiac, drawing him further into the clutches of ecstasy as they made sweet love on the couch, a gentle jazz rhythm beating softly in the background.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
After the events of The Pegasus Project…
Carolyn heard a knock at her office door and looked up. "Come in."
She froze when she saw Cam enter, looking slightly nervous.
"Hi."
She smiled slightly. "Hi."
He cleared his throat and closed the door behind him. "Look, Carolyn. I'm sorry. You were…"
"Wrong," she finished for him.
He frowned. "Did you just say…?"
Carolyn nodded. "Yes. I was wrong, Cam. I'm sorry. But I was hurt that you were going to tell my father about us without consulting me."
Cam paused for a moment before nodding. There were a few moments of silence before he let out a strangled laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "That was a lot easier than Jackson made it sound."
Carolyn frowned and Cam, who thought she was going to explode on him again, winced.
"You talked to Doctor Jackson about us?"
Cam hesitated for a moment before rushing to explain. "He kinda figured it out, Carolyn. I didn't know what else to do…so when Jackson offered to give me some advice, I took it and…" He paused. "He said I should just let you think it over for a while and that you'd change your mind when you were ready."
Carolyn stared at him. "He said all of that?"
Cam nodded. "That's the gist of it, yeah."
She paused. "While you were stuck on Tiryns, I talked to my father. He wants us to go out to dinner tonight so we can…talk."
Cam's eyes widened. "He…he found out? How?"
Carolyn smiled wryly. "The General has always been too observant for his own good."
"How did he react?"
"He reacted normally."
He frowned. "What exactly do you mean by 'normally'?"
She shrugged. "He wasn't angry. As a matter of fact, he seemed pleased. He thinks very highly of you."
Cam's eyebrows shot up, a look of surprise crossing his features. "He does?"
She nodded. "He said, and I quote 'Colonel Mitchell is one of the most stubborn men I've ever met'."
He chuckled. "And that's what makes you think he thinks highly of me?"
"Coming from my father, that's a very high compliment."
"So…dinner tonight? When?"
Carolyn offered a half-smile. "I knew you'd understand." She paused, and stood, hugging him tightly, burying her face into his shoulder. His arms wrapped around her, his nose in her hair. "I missed you."
Cam smiled. "I missed you, too, honey. I haven't stopped thinking about you since the night you broke it off."
"I should have apologized to you before you went on that mission. I was so afraid that I'd lost you."
Cam sighed. "When we thought we couldn't get back…" He let the sentence trail off, finding it difficult to say exactly what he'd been thinking.
The image of her lifeless body, bleeding from an Ori attack on Earth that couldn't have been stopped because Earth's only hope had been trapped on a desolate planet with no way off, had shaken him to his very core.
He kissed her forehead sweetly, thanking God under his breath for returning him to her.
"I suppose I'll see you later, huh? I'll come by before dinner and we can talk some more, okay?"
She nodded, knowing instinctively that they wouldn't get much talking done at all. She wanted to touch and kiss every inch of him to be sure that he was real and not an illusion from her heartbroken mind. For now, she would have to settle for remembering his sweet scent and how warm he always felt against her.
When he pulled away, she felt cold and empty, watching with pained eyes as he walked toward the door. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks and turned back toward her.
Before she knew that he had even crossed the room, his lips were on hers in one of the hottest, hungriest kisses it had ever been her fortune to be on the receiving end of.
Returning the kiss, she poured every ounce of love into it she could draw from her heart, the comforting feeling of being in his arms again bringing tears of indescribable happiness to her eyes.
The sensations and feelings that the kiss brought forth had Cam groaning into her mouth in ecstasy. He felt his body reacting to her proximity, to the passion as she kissed him back even more hungrily.
"I love you," he whispered as his kisses slowed to sweet, gentle, lingering pecks.
"I love you, too, darling."
Her heart swelled looking into his eyes. She felt as though that single passionate kiss had transformed her from a bitter girl to a fulfilled woman.
Her painful childhood seemed a lifetime ago and was replaced in her heart by the overwhelming love she felt for the man in front of her.
"I'll meet you in the Commissary in a few minutes and I'll tell you all about our last mission, okay?"
She nodded and grinned. "I wouldn't miss it."
Giving her one more peck on the lips, he exited, leaving her standing there grinning like a fool in love.
Author's Note: Hope everyone liked this chappie! Loved writing the Daniel/Vala scenes for this one.
First, I'll acknowledge my list of reviewers as of August 4th, 2006:
-Andrew Joshua Talon (1)
-Blessington (2)
-Britta Gelund (2)
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-Fiara Fantasy (5)
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45reviews total!
I'd especially like to thank the following five people for giving the most reviews of this story thus far: starjems88 (6), Fiara Fantasy (5), StargateAngel101 (5), StargateFan (4), and TubaPrincess (4).
And to my two newest reviewers, scarletwitch0 and SG1 Bauer, thank you for bringing some fresh perspective! In response to scarletwitch0's review, there is still plent of story left to tell. Jack will be making an appearance within the next few chappies. ;)
Next Chappie: Possible appearance by Jack O'Neil, Cam and Carolyn finally talk with Landry about their relationship; SG-1 continues their search for the weapon, and much more!
