Sorry this took so long. First, the last chapter of my Dukes of Hazzard fic took too long to finish. Then, I got distracted with other things. Then, I had technical difficulties. Then I was VERY busy for a week with RL. THEN, I left my notebook with everything written in it at church.

But it's here now.

And it's my only major project now. Which hopefully means updates will be quicker.

Especially

Oh, this had been one a hell of a week.

Through testing, it'd been determined that the maximum range that Daniel and Vala could have for any length of time was a mere forty feet. If it was pushed any further, both began to feel dizzy, then disoriented and finally, after about twenty minutes, both fainted simultaneously.

That irked Daniel to no end, but greatly pleased Vala.

"We're inseparable, darling," she'd said with a grin.

The glee had only grown when she realized—and pointed out—that their previous sleeping arrangements would no longer work. The forty feet the bond allowed didn't cover the space between Daniel's quarters and the area of the infirmary where Vala had been staying. And there were no available quarters that close to the infirmary, and Vala was unable to stay by herself in her condition.

And so it happened that they wound up having to share a room.

At Daniel's absolute demand, the room's queen sized bed was exchanged for a pair of twin-sized ones. Not that it made all that much difference. On the morning after the two had been first forced together, Daniel appeared exhausted, as though he had slept little or none.

Which didn't surprise anyone. Especially Marla.

She, having been around Vala for the past three weeks, had seen firsthand how the lack of sleep was making the archeologist even more irritable than he already was with Vala. She found it entertaining most of the time, but after the day she was forced to pick her "new team," Marla had a very short temper and found Daniel and Vala's constant bickering extremely irritating.

----

For reasons Marla never voiced, Lieutenant Colonel Kylie Skinner, Lieutenant James Oliander and Doctor Randy Thrace all annoyed her. They were all top of the class sort of folks, and in Marla's opinion, the best of the best among the personnel files Landry had given her. Even so, the two Air Force officers and the physicist irritated her. The "new SG-6" knew that she disliked them, but none of them asked why, never even mentioning her snappish mood and temperament with them. Whether they had it figured out or not, Marla didn't care.

They knew they were detested by their CO, and not for their personal selves.

During their first meeting, Marla didn't even bother faking a smile, but shook their hands with a completely straight face. Her grip was firm, and she measured the firmness of Skinner, Oliander and Thrace's grasps as well.

None of theirs were as tight as hers, but they were all solid enough.

Skinner and Oliander, being experience Air Force officers, kept their mouths mostly shut during the meeting. However, Doctor Thrace ventured into words at shaking Marla's hand.

"It will be a pleasure serving with you, Colonel Jameson," he said. "I've heard a lot about you."

Marla raised an eyebrow, and Skinner glared at the scientist. Her stare clearly told Thrace to keep his comments to himself, or he would likely find himself in pain.

"Wish I could say the same," Marla murmured to herself, moving on. To the men and woman, she said, "We have one week until I get my cast off and into physical therapy. Another week after that, and I'll be back on active duty. You three have that first week of training together, and the second to train with me." She sighed inwardly. "Then we're off to save the galaxy repeatedly from really evil bad guys who double-talk way too much. You'll get used to it."

-----

It'd been like this all week. He was getting no work at all done with her sitting around to bother him. And with her thoughts around to annoy the hell out of his brain. But of course, she couldn't go anywhere because of the bond. Daniel started hoping when she picked up one of his books and began reading, staying silent for five minutes.

He hoped in vain.

"Dan-iel!" Vala whined. "Let's go down to the commissary now. I'm hungry."

Daniel groaned. "Vala, we just ate breakfast an hour and a half ago," he responded. "We don't—"

"No. Now."

He could feel across their bond that she wasn't going to give this one up. With a sigh, Daniel got up from his desk and made his way around it to grip the handlebars of Vala's wheelchair. "Fine," he agreed. "We'll go now." He pushed the chair out of the room and into the hall.

"Yay!" Vala said triumphantly. "Thank you, Daniel!"

"You're welcome," he grumbled reflexively.

As Daniel wheeled Vala along down the hallway, towards the commissary, he noted that the corridors were uncommonly empty for this time of day. He paid it no mind, however, and moved on to the commissary anyway. When they came to the doors of the commissary, he noted with a frown that no light was coming through the windows set in the upper part of the doors. Odd, he thought. Curious, he stopped Vala's wheelchair and walked around it to push open the door. He poked his head into the room and for a moment, just stared.

There was absolute darkness beyond the door, where a usually well-lit room should have been.

He frowned. That was—

Suddenly, the darkness was banished by a bright light that revealed a ton of people, all grinning.

"Surprise!" they yelled in unison.

Daniel could only blink at the group of people standing before him, still grinning, as he was completely and totally speechless. Today was—?

"Happy Birthday, Daniel."

He turned around to see that Vala was grinning too, wrinkling her scared face all the way up to the corners of her gray eyes as she spoke. He found himself smiling back at her as he felt her pride echo into his mind.

"You mean today is my birthday?" he asked.

"Yep," she said shortly. "July 8th."

Daniel's brow creased slightly as he continued to smile. "Huh. I didn't even remember."

"Obviously," Vala responded.

"Well, isn't that just like you. Completely forgetting important dates and all."

Turning at the familiar voice, Daniel was once again surprised. There, smiling just like all of the other people standing around, was his best friend.

"Jack!"

"In the flesh," his friend responded.

Daniel brought him in for a very quick hug, not having seen Jack in several months. "You flew all the way in from Washington?" he asked as they separated. "Just for this little party?"

Jack nodded. "Especially for you. The man who forgot his own birthday."

"Speaking of which, don't forget a certain someone!" Vala practically yelled from behind Daniel.

He quickly whirled around again, remembering that he had indeed forgotten Vala at the door. Gripping the handles of the wheelchair again, he began pushing it across the room, following a few steps behind Jack as the general made his way toward a table atop which sat a plain cake. He offered Vala a short apology.

"You planned all of this?" he asked her.

"I helped, but it was actually Sam who put everything together," Vala responded. "She also helped me pick out your present."

Daniel stopped. "You got me a present?" he asked slowly.

Vala's face broke out into a huge grin. "Of course." She drew a small box wrapped in bright paper from behind her back and proudly handed it to Daniel. "Chosen especially for you." When he just held it in his palm for a moment, she added, "Go ahead! Open it!"

Quickly unwrapping and opening the box, Daniel found a glasses case inside. He opened it too, revealing a nice, but simple pair of spectacles. Definitely his style, too. Greatly surprised, all Daniel could do was stare at them for a long moment.

"To replace the ones I broke," Vala explained. "I'm sorry it took so long."

"Oh, Vala…" Daniel breathed. Removing the old glasses and setting them in the case, Daniel placed the new ones on his face. He found that he could see perfectly through them. He wondered how Vala had gotten a hold of his prescription, but decided not to ask. "Thank you."

Vala beamed. "You're welcome. Happy birthday."

Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "Uh, Vala… Who—?"

"Marla," she answered before he even finished the question. "When we went shopping for my clothes, Sam mentioned your birthday and Marla suggested I get you something. And offered to pay for it."

Daniel's eyebrows rose in surprise as his eyes scanned across the gathered guests for the mentioned colonel. He finally caught sight of her short reddish hair as she moved towards the door.

"Excuse me for a moment," he hastily said, leaving Vala and her wheelchair by the cake table as he hurried towards the disappearing colonel. He knew even without the bond that she was acting disgusted and muttering about being left right after she gave him a present, but he didn't turn around to respond, rushing after Jameson.

Geez, for a woman who just recovered from a sprained ankle, she sure moves fast! Daniel thought, practically running through the crowd of people smiling and telling him "Happy birthday!" to catch up with the colonel.

He finally got close enough to call out her name when he passed outside of the commissary doors and into the empty hallway. "Jameson, wait!" he yelled.

Already halfway down the corridor, the colonel stopped and turned around, raising an eyebrow at him.

For a moment, the words stuck in Daniel's throat. "Uh, thanks, Jameson," he finally said. He paused, then corrected himself. "Marla."

He could practically see her force herself not to snap at the use of her first name, and was surprised when she instead said, "For what?"

"Everything," he immediately answered. Realizing that that probably wasn't the best description he could've given, Daniel added, "For taking care of Vala, and being her friend. And for paying for her clothes and everything. And for paying for my gift." He tapped the side of his new glasses lightly. "Even if Vala didn't say something, I know she's thankful for what you've done."

Jameson opened her mouth, then closed it again. She was quiet for a moment before saying, "I know. And you're both welcome." With that, she turned and walked away down the hall.

Since when does Jameson do things like this? Daniel wondered for a moment. But, after that short lapse, he shook off the thought and returned to his birthday party.

Thank you in advance for reviewing!

By the way, the plot is about to take a major twist in the next couple of chapters. So they'll probably be nice 'n' long