Chapter Seven

Vala had grown up in a very traditional village, and stoning was still the preferred method of execution.

It was rarely used, thankfully-she only remembered one such punishment being meted out when she was a little girl. Her mother had hurried her home from the town square, not wanting her to witness it.

She'd certainly never expected to be on the receiving end of the barbaric practice. Especially for crimes she'd had no say in committing.

Nalini Mal Doran wasn't there to shuffle her away this time, and Vala missed her fiercely. But oh! There were two familiar faces in the crowd! They loved her…they'd never allow…

"Mother, please! Help me! Don't let them do this. Tell them I'm not Qetesh!"

Vala watched in horror as Mahlon-Mahlon, the man she'd been pledged to marry, the man she'd believed would always protect and defend her-picked up the first rock and hurled it in her direction.

It caught her at the ribcage, and she gasped in pain. She was never sure if it was the physical blow or the shock of betrayal that hurt more. "Mother! Please! Stop them!"

Daniel didn't bring work home as a rule. He wasn't even sure what had made him grab this particular artifact on his way out the door. Just one of those weird impulses that can't be explained.

He arrived home, and Vala and Adria were already there. He vaguely remembered Adria had planned to come to dinner. He set the artifact down on the mantle so that he could join the two women in the kitchen. He'd take it to his spare-room office later.

But he never made it to the kitchen. Vala entered the room, looking dazed and somewhat shell-shocked. "Vala? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," she answered automatically, sounding light years away from fine.

Adria followed her. "I'm sorry, Vala. I shouldn't have asked you that. I had no right."

"It's fine," Vala said again.

"Clearly it isn't. And…I know the answer, really. I just hoped…"

Daniel frowned. "Hoped what? Asked what? Just what did you do or say to her?"

"Daniel, it's fine ." Vala was starting to recover, starting to sound more like herself. "It just…caught me off guard."

He wanted to scream. " What did?"

Adria's gaze flicked from Vala to Daniel. "I asked Vala about a time that is still rather painful for her. For both of us, but especially for her. It wasn't fair of me to do that. And I'm sorry."

Vala drew a deep breath. "No, I think…I think it's good you did." She met her stepmother's gaze. "The answer is, 'I don't know.' It didn't exactly go so well when I tried it."

Adria visibly flinched. "I know. I regret that every day."

"So do I," Vala said quietly.

The words met their mark, and Adria's head dropped forward. "I understand," she said, her voice hoarse.

Daniel watched the exchange with increasing confusion and concern. He would ask again just what the hell was going on, but he didn't think they'd answer him this time either.

A rather painful time…something niggled at his brain. He'd honestly almost forgotten about it; it had all been so long ago. And he'd been so annoyed with Vala, who'd disrupted all his plans and chained herself to him and then blatantly offered herself up on a platter because she was bored .

But now…

"In fact I was engaged, then I was taken as a host and even though the Tok'ra eventually freed me, the damage was already done. And once you have been spat on, and stoned...by the people of your own village...well…"

And he'd felt guilty, and he'd sympathized, until he'd caught sight of her face and asked incredulously, "Are you messing with me?"

And now, now he knew Vala well enough and had known her long enough to recognize her response exactly for what it was. She'd never actually called the story false, never admitted that she was messing with him. She'd let slip more than she'd meant to, and then she took advantage of the very convenient out he'd given her.

Yeah, he could see it clearly now. But he hadn't seen it then. Then he'd dismissed the whole thing and never thought of it again.

But now…

He looked at his wife and her stepmother and a horrible, sickening thought occurred to him. Stoned. By the people of her own village. Did that mean…? "Were you there?" He could hear how icy cold his voice had gone. "When she was stoned? You were there, weren't you?"

Adria's mouth was trembling, but she lifted her chin proudly and met his gaze, a move so reminiscent of Vala that his heart clenched. "Yes."

Daniel's hands balled into fists. "How dare you stand by and watch that? Did you even try to help?"

"I didn't. In fact-"

"Daniel, it's fine. It's not much different than when Tomin left me chained to the ara, is it? And it's all in the past now anyway," Vala said.

"I suppose it is pretty similar." His tone remained unchanged-still in arctic-circle territory. "But here's the thing. I know you forgave Tomin for leaving you there. I never have."

Vala tilted her head, puzzled. "Whyever not?"

"Why not ? Are you kidding me? Vala, you could have died! Both times! I'm not inclined to forgive either of them for that!" His gaze met Adria's. "I don't think I want you in my house."

"That's fair," Adria said. "But before I go, you should know the whole of it."

"Adria, don't," Vala said. "It doesn't matter anymore. It was all so long ago, and I'm fine now."

"I'm very glad of that. And I'm very aware of how wrong I was. I am truly sorry, Vala. I would not…make the same choice today."

"Thank you," Vala said quietly. "That…helps."

"Does it?" Daniel asked. "Does it really?" And then the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place. Surely not…surely Vala would never even attempt to rebuild a relationship after that . But he had to know. "Did you help them? Were you one of the ones throwing stones?"

Again she met his gaze unflinchingly, even as her eyes filled with tears. "Yes."

A dull roaring filled his ears. "Did you start it?"

"No. Her former fiance started it." There was a brief pause, then Adria expelled a noisy breath. "I was the second one."

Daniel could not remember ever being so blinded with rage. He struck out with his fist, unseeing, and the artifact on the corner of the mantle hit the floor with a crash. "Get out. I can't even look at you right now. Just go, before you're next." He gestured to the shattered pieces on the floor.

"Of course." Adria grabbed her purse.

"I'll drive you, " Vala murmured.

"You will not, " Daniel almost snarled. "Call the woman a cab, or let her walk; I don't care. But you're not taking her anywhere."

"Daniel-"

"I'm serious, Vala. I don't want you near her at the moment."

Vala sighed. "Daniel, I already knew she was there, and that she and Mahlon started it all. Nothing has changed for me. It's not any different from all the other times I've been with her these past few weeks."

"It's different for me," Daniel ground out. "I don't want you to do it right now."

Vala started to argue more, but Adria intervened. "Leave it, Vala. I understand, really. I'm fine with a cab. Stay with your husband. I think he needs you more than I do at the moment. Just phone the cab, and I'll wait outside for it. And again…I'm sorry. For all of this."

"All right," Vala said quietly.

She returned a few minutes later. Daniel grabbed her almost forcefully and pulled her into a fierce embrace. She could feel him shaking as he buried his head in her shoulder. "Darling, it's fine. I'm right here."

"I know," he mumbled. "Just give me a minute, okay?"

"Of course." She eyed the broken pieces on the floor. "I do hope that wasn't anything important."

"Huh? Oh, that. Um, yeah, actually it was. But I don't care."

"Daniel! Will this get you in trouble?"

"Likely, yeah. Again—I don't care."

Vala sighed. "Daniel—"

"Don't. Just don't. I can't listen to you try to justify it or tell me it doesn't matter. It can't be justified, and it sure as hell does matter."

She sighed again. "I wish you could see that it really doesn't."

She felt his fist clench, and suddenly he was punching again. This time an SG-1 team photo hit the floor. It didn't shatter as dramatically as the artifact, but it did crack in multiple places. "Please stop. I told you I don't want to hear it." His words came out through teeth clenched as tightly as his fist.

"I know. But maybe you need to. You don't know what it was like, living under Goa'uld control. I know you defeated the Goa'uld, but you never once had to live under one. Even your time on Abydos was only after you'd killed Ra. You may have gotten a sense of primitive village culture, but you don't know what it was like."

She drew a deep, shuddery breath and held him closer. "You know that after Qetesh, I did whatever it took just to survive. What you don't know is that that's how life was before Qetesh took me as well. Everyone on my planet, everyone on any Goa'uld-controlled world—we were all just trying to survive. Was I devastated to return home once I'd been freed only to discover that I had no home to return to? Yes. Was Mahlon and Adria turning against me a crushing betrayal? Again, yes. Of course. It's what I've been struggling with all these months, trying to work through all that hurt and anger. But Daniel, I do understand it. They had to live in that village. They were just doing what was necessary for survival as well."

"Vala—"

"And on Ver Isca," she continued, as if he hadn't spoken, "yes, Tomin loved me, and yes, he loved Origin more—he was a devoted follower and had been all his life. But even if he hadn't been—he had to live in that village. I saw it in the eyes of some of the others. They didn't care about Origin, and they knew my punishment was wrong. But they had to survive too. It's how life works in most of the galaxy, Daniel-in most of the universe."

She laughed humorlessly. "I know you think you aren't all naive and idealistic anymore, but you're wrong. You know how I know? Because on Ver Eger, when you tried to stop them from burning me, you shouted that they were killing an innocent person. You actually thought that should matter. Whereas I knew it wouldn't."

"I can't forgive her, Vala. Don't ask me to."

"I won't. But can you at least understand why I…why I think I might be able to forgive her?"

"Right now I can't understand anything. All I'm hearing is that a man ready to pledge his love and faithfulness to you forever and a woman who was supposed to love you unconditionally both threw you under the bus to save their own damn necks."

"There was no bus. It was stones."

He glared, his expression dark, and his hands clenched compulsively at the fabric of her clothing. "Vala. Don't. It isn't funny."

"Sorry."

Daniel could hear that she was.."If they'd just stood there…I'd still hate them, but maybe I could forgive them. Like you said, they had to live there, and I don't know what it was like." He shook his head, and the anger gave way to tears. He pressed his face back to her shoulder. "But to be the ones who started it? Did you ever stop to think that the rest of the village might have welcomed you back if they had done so?"

"Of course I did, Daniel!" Vala snapped out the words, but she too was crying. "That's why…that's why I've never been able to tell you about any of this. Mahlon…I thought…I thought he'd slay dragons for me. He'd tried to save me when Qetesh came, and he and his family both suffered dearly for that. And Adria…" Vala drew a deep breath. "She wasn't my mother. Our relationship was always fraught with arguments and disappointments and misunderstandings." She sent him a small, trembling smile. "But we'd both been hurt and abandoned by Jacek. I did love her, and she did love me. When I named…when I named my daughter, I told her Adria was a strong woman, and that's always been true. Like me, Adria always, always did whatever she had to do to survive."

"I get that, Vala. And I know over the years you've done things you think you can't tell me in the name of survival. And I'll tell you right now I don't care about any of it. Partly because I know who you are now , and partly because those things are why you're standing here in front of me. So help me, that's all I care about." He choked on a sob. "I love you. I love you so much . And it kills me that you're okay with two people who should have loved you just as much throwing you away when it wasn't convenient for them to care about you anymore. It kills me to hear you say that it doesn't matter."

"Oh, Daniel." Vala sighed. "My beautiful, noble idealist. Don't you get it? This is why I hunted down that Ancient map for and linked us together when the kor mak bracelets. I'd never met anyone quite like you, and you intrigued me. Trust me, your kind of love is rare in this galaxy."

"It's not rare," Daniel said stubbornly. "Look at Jack and Sam. And hell, look at platonic love—look at how we love each other as a team. You know Mitchell and Teal'c would fight just as hard for you as I would."

Her expression softened. "I do know that. I love you all more than I could ever properly say. But again, you're all from Earth. You and Sam and Jack and Cameron have never lived under a Goa'uld. You've never even lived under one of the totalitarian regimes I know exist on Earth."

Daniel pinned her with a look. "But Teal'c has. He served under Apophis. He was part of the elite . And he'd die before he betrayed his family or friends."

Vala knew Daniel thought he'd won the argument. "He would," she agreed. "Now. But how many years did he spend unable to do anything? How many atrocities that he committed still haunt him?" She met Daniel's gaze. "And speaking of Muscles, you forgave him for killing Sha're. Surely forgiving Adria has to be easier than that. I'm right here, and I'm fine ."

"Teal'c made a split-second decision in the heat of the moment to save my life. And I would've gladly died for Sha're-no hesitation. But that-that wouldn't have been dying for her in a way that would have saved her. Teal'c did kind of save her-she was freed from Amaunet. But I won't pretend that I didn't have moments where I resented his choice."

"So maybe you just need time."

"No, Vala. There's a hell of a big difference between firing at someone who is actually a threat and deciding to preemptively stone someone just to secure your standing in your village."

Vala sighed. She brushed away Daniel's tears and then her own and kissed him briefly. "All right, darling. I'll drop it for now. Shall we clean up this mess?"

"Not yet." He rested his forehead against hers. "Are you really okay?"

"Yes. Again, I knew it was them, Daniel. Nothing today blindsided me like it did you. I've had years of it eating me up. And now…now I think I can let it go. Adria really is repentant. She's not…I don't think…I can't think of her as my mother again. That was the question you walked in on. I called her Mother that day, when I was begging her to stop them. I'm not so forgiving that I can do that again. But I think…I think I can move on. We can be friends or something at least."

"Okay. I'll try to…let it go too. I can't…I can't come to terms with it. I'm not okay with it. I don't think I'll ever not hate her a bit for it. But I'll try to let it go." He drew a deep breath. "Just promise me something…promise me you won't keep writing off things that hurt you as 'no big deal.' It is a big deal, and it matters."

She kissed him again. "My dear, sweet man. All right. I'll try. Now. About this mess..."