Author's Note: So...I lied - the last chapter wasn't the end BUT in my defense, I had reviewers asking 'what's next?' So I wrote what's next and have a few more chapters to close out this story.

This was tended to be a one-shot, but man, a few of you are so demanding ;)

Just a warning, the extra chapters I wrote for this story won't be like most of my stories - they'll jump ahead a few months or longer. It's not and wasn't intended to be a full on story.

Hope you all enjoy.

o0o

Nobody Said it'd Be Easy

Nobody ever said relationships were easy; every couple had problems and fought and it was expected for there to be ups and downs when two people entered a relationship…but never in her life had Samantha Carter thought it would be this bad between two of the people she loved the most to be in a relationship.

To be fair, it hadn't been as bad as they all thought it would be, but when things between Daniel and Vala went south, it got explosive, and Sam didn't know much more she could take. It had been like this for almost two weeks; the tension and the hostility between the two was getting in the way of their job, not to mention the team's dynamics and unity. It had never been this bad and she, nor anyone else, knew why or how it had gotten this far. They both had ranted and raved about each other to the remaining members of SG-1 and it didn't seem like that was going to change any time soon.

Especially since Vala just walked into her lab, looking tense and annoyed, and Sam saw where this was going and stiffened, preparing for an uncomfortable conversation. "Don't!" the Colonel snapped before her friend could open her mouth.

"What?" Vala said defensively, "I didn't even say anything."

"But you were going to," Sam deduced, "and I've had it, we all have. No more complaining about Daniel, so unless you're here to help me with the stash of Goa'uld artifacts and devices SG-6 brought back, I don't wanna hear it."

Vala scowled at her. "I can't believe this!" she exclaimed dramatically, "You're taking his side!"

Sam officially reached her breaking point and she could no longer handle the two of them. While they were grown adults, they were acting like children and since they insisted doing so, she would treat them as such.

Sam grabbed Vala's arm and dragged her friend out of the lab and down the hall to Daniel's own office.

Sam noticed he also seemed agitated and annoyed, and she mentally signed and rolled her eyes before shoving Vala into the room – the woman shrieking, "Hey!" as she did.

"Sam, what the hell?" Daniel questioned loudly, scowling at Vala, who returned same look.

"This has gone on long enough!" she scolded like they were five years old, "And it needs to stop now!"

"What has?" he feigned innocence.

Sam crossed her arms and gave him a stern look. "Don't play dumb," she chided, "You know damn well what I'm talking about."

"Enlighten me," he bit out, refusing to cave.

She was going to hit him if he wasn't more careful. "Whatever childish fight you two have going on here needs to stop," she told them, "It's not just effecting you guys anymore, or even the team, it's effecting the entire base, and we're all sick of it. Fix it now."

"Samantha, you don't understand!" Vala interjected.

The Colonel focused on the alien. "Oh, I understand, all right. I understand that Daniel was an ass and probably said some pretty hurtful things, but he's almost always an ass when he's angry and you know how he gets, so not much new there."

"Hey!" Daniel objected loudly and his anger shifted to the woman he thought was his friend.

Sam shifted back to him. "And you, you know perfectly well that Vala's a flirt and it's harmless, not to mention meaningless," she went on without missing a beat, "You know that she loves you and this petty jealously is beneath you. She's reacting to whatever the hell you did in the first place and you're reacting to her reaction and it's now a vicious chain that needs to stop!" she stressed. She took a calming breath before adding, "Figure out however the hell this started and deal with it or so help me I will lock you in a room until you do, is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am," the other two said together, both reacting to her Colonel tone.

Sam gave a short, tight nod before turning and exiting, angrily hitting the button to shut the lab's door.

She let out a frustrated sigh and she walked back to her own lab. This better work, she thought ruefully to herself or else she'd have to make good on her promise and lock them in a room.

o0o

Daniel glared at the door where Sam had just disappeared behind. "She's not bluffing," he stated, "she really will lock us in a room if we don't do what she says and she will make sure even you can't break out of it."

"It astounds me how scary she can get when she wants to," Vala confessed, shuddering for dramatic effect.

"Yeah," he agreed, dragging out the word before sitting up straighter, "So," he began, "you gonna tell why you intentionally tried to antagonize me by outrageously hitting on other men?"

"Wanna tell me why you reacted so viciously?" she shot back, raising an eyebrow challengingly, "Like Sam said, you know that I flirt and that it's completely meaningless and no one takes it seriously."

"So that means I just have to take it?" he questioned, "I'm not allowed to be upset that my girlfriend is doing that?"

"It's never bothered you before!" she argued.

"It's different this time!" he shouted and almost cringed. He didn't want to yell at her, it never did anything other than push them further away from each other – look at where they were now.

"How is it different?"

"You normally do it without even thinking about it; flirting is second nature to you and you've been doing it for so long, you probably don't realize it half the time," he tried to explain, "but this…this time you intentionally did to get a rise out of me. I don't know if you wanted me to be jealous or upset or whatever, but you did it on purpose, and that's how it's different," as he explained it, he realized something and voice it, "What the fuck did I do to prompt you to do that?"

Daniel had gotten good at reading Vala Mal Doran's facial expression over the last couple of years, even more so since they started dating, and watching her now and as she tried to hide it from him, he knew he hit the mark. The thing was, he couldn't figure out how he did this or what he could've possibly done to start all of it.

When she refused to answer, instead shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, he tried again, but this, more softly. "Vala, what did I do?"

She caved. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Daniel, you didn't do anything," she mumbled.

"I must've," he argued gently, "or else you wouldn't have reacted like this and we wouldn't be here. Tell me, please."

She hesitated for a second. "The way –" she started then stopped, pausing again, before gingerly containing, "The way you talked with her was so…loving, and I don't I've ever heard you sound like that with someone; I guess it made me…jealous."

He shook his head, trying to understand what she was saying, but no dice. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Vala glared at him. "You know very well what I'm talking about," she told him, voice laced with pain.

"I literally don't," he shot back, "Vala, what are you talking about?" he asked again, completely baffled.

"Sarah," she blurted out, "I overheard you talking with her last week."

Daniel gaped at her, utterly befuddled by her. "This is about Sarah?" he asked incredulously.

"Your ex-fiancée, yes," she retorted heatedly

"What about her?" he questioned further, "I honestly have no idea what I said that would set you off like this."

"It wasn't what you said!" she exclaimed, "It was the way you said it, the way you talked with her."

"And what way did I talk with her?"

"Lovingly," she declared, "tenderly, softly, and so many other adjectives, and it hurt that you were talking to her like that. I've never heard you speak to me like that."

"Because you're not suicidal!" he snapped.

That stunned Vala into silence...at least for a moment. "What?" she whispered and started to feel dread spread through her.

"Sarah's...she's not as strong and resilient as you. Her time as a host really fucked her up," he confided, "After over four years of being free, she's finally starting to function again. She was a shell of a person up until a few months ago. She reached out for help and just talking to her, I was concerned what she may do. She's my friend and I care about her, and while I certainly don't love her in that way, that doesn't mean I want her to die. The Goa'uld don't get to have that kind of power anymore."

She was quiet for a few minutes and he waited patiently for her to speak.

"Is Sarah okay?" she gingerly inquired.

"Yeah," he mumbled, "I finally convinced her to call her therapist, but I was genuinely worried for her there and I would've done whatever it took to talk her down."

"Good," she murmured, "Gods, I feel like the world's most horrible person, not to mention a colossal bitch."

"There are worse, trust me," he teased lightly before he became more solemn, "Vala, what's going on? Why would you react that way? You know I love you, so how could you ever think otherwise."

In all his years he had known her, he could count the number of times on one hand when she was embarrassed. That count was still one hand even now, but there was something else in her expression aside from mere embarrassment, and he wanted to know what it was.

"Talk to me," he pleaded softly.

She hesitated again before speaking. "I know I'm fairly intelligent but I'll never be your equal in all of this," she waved her hand around his office, "I see how you are when you're able to talk with someone about dead civilization and other cultures and I know I'll never be excited like that."

When she didn't continue, he frowned. "So?" he questioned, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Vala sighed. "Daniel, I don't doubt your love for me," she told him, "but I do doubt if I'll ever be enough. I can't be your equal when it comes to your work, and I guess...I worry that I won't be enough for you...that you'll find someone who is."

"Someone like Sarah," he sighed and shuffled closer to her, "You don't have to worry about that. We didn't work for a reason. I was too absorbed in my work and she could never pull me out but you...you always pull me out and with you, I don't fight it...much. I never made her or anyone else a priority but I do with you and it's not even hard; it's just natural. Vala, you're more than enough and always have been. If you were doubting that and feeling like you were a placeholder, why didn't you just talk to me about it? Why did you have to lash out?"

She sniffed lightly and avoided eye contact. "I don't know how to…express it, my feelings and such. I never have. I don't know why your conversation with her set me off, but I guess I'm just so used to having every good thing ripped away from me that I assumed you would be too and I was just waiting for that to happen."

"And you thought me talking with my ex was the other shoe dropping," he theorized and knew he was right by the expression on her face. His fingers found her chin and gently tilted her head so he could meet her eyes. "That's never gonna happen, okay? You're stuck with me and nothing's gonna change that."

"Even when I'm an unstable emotional wreck?"

Daniel cracked a smile. "Even then," he assured her, "Vala, I love you, and I always will."

Vala wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. "I love you, too," she mumbled, "and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be irrational and petty, but I haven't wanted something like the way I want you, nor have I loved someone like I do you."

"It's gonna get better," he promised, leaning his forehead against the top of her head, "Nobody said it'd be easy, and we knew that; we just gotta keep working at it and we'll make it."

"We'll make it," she repeated, "I'll do better with my insecurities," she promised.

"And I'll try not to overreact and lash out," he pulled away to meet her eyes, "See, progress. We got this."

"We got this," she echoed, smiling at him.