Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Dr. Daniel Jackson yawned as he emerged from his room and headed for the kitchen.
Coffee.
Then, he'd get back to work on deciphering what he could from the archived images of the Asgard database.
He scratched at an itch on his chest when something rustled behind him. What on earth?
Visions of waiting for Osiris to come and probe his brain flashed through his mind, and he grabbed the nearest weapon he could find: a broom.
He frowned. That was definitely going to strike fear into the heart of whomever had seen fit to invade his guest room.
He tiptoed to the door with the same stealth he relied on in the field, wishing that he had at least some of the backup he could usually count on in situations like this.
He pressed the door open with one hand, the broom raised as he tried to get a glimpse of what was inside. Only—
He dropped his defensive stance. "Vala?"
"Oh, Daniel. It's about time." The alien perched atop a pyramid of cardboard boxes which had, for some reason, been shaped into a sort of shipping throne. She gave him less than a cursory glance before she returned her attention to the clipboard in her hands, clicking the ballpoint pen with annoying frequency.
"What the hell are you doing in my house?"
She looked up as if his tone surprised her. "You said we were working from home."
He shook his head, bewildered. "No. I said I was working from home. You're furloughed."
He waved at the boxes. "And what is all this? I could have sworn that yesterday, there was just a bed, a dresser, and a few knick knacks in here."
She shook her head as she descended her throne. "Oh, please, I've been stashing these things in here for weeks now."
Only as she made her way back to the floor did he catch the word on most of the boxes. Cottonelle.
He rubbed his eyes, the beginning of a migraine brewing behind his eyes, as understanding dawned. "Oh, don't tell me—"
She scurried behind him as he went to the kitchen and started brewing the strongest coffee he had. "I know what you're thinking, Daniel—"
He shook his head, simultaneously astounded and unsurprised by this turn of events. Of course, Vala would think that a global pandemic would be an entrepreneurial opportunity. He should have seen this coming. "I sincerely doubt that."
"—but I'm going to pay you back every penny."
He looked up. "Wait, what? Pay me back?"
She grinned at him, so pleased with herself as she made her last point. "With interest."
Daniel's hands shook as he reached out for her and then away from her, almost afraid of what he would do when he caught hold of her. "Will you please explain what goes on in that thick skull of yours? What in the name of all things holy made you think this was a good idea?"
Her lips parted in shock. "Daniel, it's not like this is illegal."
He laughed at the ridiculousness of his life. "Yes, Vala, it is. If you're doing what I think you're planning on doing—selling these items at a profit—it's called price-gouging, and it's not only illegal, it's unethical. How—how—how we could have spent the last twelve years working on this, and this is still your default—"
She stepped away from him. "I thought you'd be proud of me. I didn't steal these, Daniel. I paid for them, and when there's a shortage—"
"Vala, you created the shortage. You and people like you—"
She dropped her clipboard to the side as all the levity drained from her face.
"I told you that you'd need to stay on the base, Vala. I said that if you stayed on the base, then you'd be fine. As it is, we're stuck in quarantine together. I can't send you back to the base, and I can't—"
He pressed a hand to his forehead. "Just—"
She wiped at her eye as she slipped back into the guest room and closed the door.
The coffee dripped into the carafe as Daniel sighed. It was going to be a long lockdown.
"You're kidding."
Daniel took another gulp of coffee. "I wish I was, but there I am thinking I'm getting attacked in my own home by some alien, and Vala's sitting on top of at least fifty cartons of toilet paper."
Sam's blue eyes sparkled with residual amusement as she pounded dough on the kitchen island. "You have to admire her resourcefulness."
Daniel peered into the video link. "Are you baking bread?"
Sam punched the dough again. "I can only practice the cello for so many hours a day before Jack complains that something's dying, so I thought I'd try this out, too. What do you think?"
He pointed to a smudge of something against her nose. "I think you've got a little flour. . ."
She wiped at the wrong side. "Did I get it?"
He shook his head. "Other side?"
She smeared dough across her cheek, laughing when she caught her mistake. "Okay, so maybe I'm not quite as graceful at this as I am at backing up the base mainframe."
Daniel smiled. "You look happy."
Her features softened as she rinsed her fingers in the sink. "I am happy, Daniel. Don't get me wrong, I miss a lot of things about non-Quarantine life, and I'm going to be pretty disappointed if I have to get back on the ship and I don't get to enjoy a weekend or two at the cabin, but it could be a lot worse for me."
He knew what she wasn't saying. What she wouldn't say out of respect for the team dynamic or out of some weird tradition of staying silent on the subject. She was happy because she got to spend quarantine with Jack. No pesky regulations or professionalism standing between them, just a sense of rightness at being home with the person you were born to love.
He envied them that.
Sam seemed to sense his thoughts. "How about you?"
The archaeologist remembered the alien in his guest room. "It's like one step forward, two steps back with her. I just don't know how much longer I can handle it."
Sam arched an eyebrow. "I think she's made a lot more progress than you're giving her credit for. I mean, as much as I disagree with the concept of price-gouging, it's an improvement on the scams her father tried to pull while he was here, and it sounds like she really didn't know it was illegal. Maybe it's just cultural differences this time."
"Hey, I don't use physics against you. No fair using anthropology against me."
There was some sort of clatter at the same moment an annoyed "Oh, for the love of—Carter!" echoed against the tablet's speakers.
Sam grimaced. "I should really see what that's about. Talk soon?"
He nodded. "Say hi to Jack for me."
"Will do. Tell Vala—never mind, I'll text her. Bye."
Sam waved as she turned the video off and exited the meeting room.
Daniel felt a strange letdown as he set his phone on the kitchen counter and put his coffee mug in the sink.
He supposed he could just pretend that the scene with Vala hadn't happened and get right to work. On the other hand, there was no urgency to his project. It was just the most portable thing he could actually do at home.
Well, either that or film the latest installment of the stargate introduction films.
He looked back at the guest room door. Sam was right. Though she hadn't said it, he had been too hard on Vala, and if they were going to be roommates, no matter how unwilling, for the next couple of weeks, they should probably at least make nice.
He knocked on the door. "Vala?"
There was no answer, and he hesitated before opening the door. The last thing he wanted was to walk in on her undressing and have her throw that in his face as some kind of evidence that he found her desirable.
Not that she wasn't attractive. He just needed something more than a one-night stand, or whatever twisted idea of a happily ever after she seemed to believe in.
He turned the handle of the door, his eyes firmly shut as he walked in. "Vala, I think we need to talk."
A breeze circled through the room and toward the door. A breeze that smelled suspiciously of his neighbor's lilac bush. His eyes flashed open and he locked his vision on the open window.
She was gone.
It was eerie parking in a nearly vacant lot outside Cheyenne Mountain. Getting stopped for the first time in more than twenty years, his temperature taken, his name compared to the list of approved personnel as he stood six feet back from the masked SFs who guarded the entrance.
"Hey, guys. Yeah, he's fine."
Daniel looked up to find Mitchell, half-expecting him to have tapped one of the SFs on the shoulder, but instead he stood further down the hallway, waving, with a mask firmly affixed to his face and gloves on his hands.
This was too weird.
The SFs made him sign in at the front as if he was a visitor and put on a flimsy paper mask before they let him pass. It felt weird, but he guessed it was one way they were trying to make sure they could track him down if someone inside Cheyenne Mountain happened to become infected.
That was a chilling thought.
He groaned as his glasses fogged up almost the moment he put the darn mask on. Oh, this was going to be fun.
"What are you doing here? I thought SG-1 was on stand-down."
Mitchell walked a few steps ahead of him, speaking over his shoulder when he got a chance. "The team leaders are rotating through shifts. Even though we're not doing full missions right now, we're trying to keep in touch with our allies. We also have to be on call in case Dr. Lam finds something in our medical records that shows any promise to a cure or a vaccine for this virus, and needs to take a medical team off-world to collect blood samples. We also all become essential if something goes haywire and the Lucian Alliance ramps things up."
Daniel sighed. "That would be—"
He hesitated, wondering what he really thought about the idea of needing to get back in the field.
Mitchell looked over his shoulder at him, with a look that seemed surprised at Daniel's hesitation. "Bad, Jackson. That would be bad."
Daniel shook the thoughts from his mind. "Yeah, no, of course. That would be bad."
Mitchell pointed down the hallway. "You'll find her in her quarters, last I checked."
Daniel offered Cameron a grim smile before he continued forward through almost empty corridors to the sad excuse for a home the SGC had offered Vala. He didn't blame her for wanting to escape this single room. Even his small house afforded him that luxury. Besides, then she wouldn't be expected to wear a mask and gloves outside her bedroom.
Stop it. Asking Vala to stay will only encourage her. Besides, you'd kill each other in less than a week. If by some miracle you both survived, she'd never leave. She will have invaded your last remaining stronghold. You're kidding yourself if you think she'll just go back to the SGC when they lift the Stay-at-Home order.
He knocked twice on the door.
"Go away. I'm not hungry."
He leaned against the doorjamb. "Vala, it's me."
She opened the door, her arms crossed. "What do you want?"
"I came to apologize. I was too hard on you."
She lifted her nose in disgust. "Sam tell you that?"
He winced. "Well, yes, but—"
Vala rolled her eyes. "Go home, Daniel. Call Sam up and tell her you've done your bit. You've apologized. Well done, you."
She moved to close the door on him, but he stuck his foot inside the room before she could close it all the way. "No, Vala, she was right. I was too hard on you. You were doing what you thought any good business person would do. You couldn't know that it was illegal."
She blinked away what appeared to be tears as she went back and sat on the bed. Given the fact that she hadn't called for a guard or slammed the door in his face, he assumed he was invited in.
The moment he closed the door, he slipped the mask off his face. It wasn't like they hadn't already exposed each other to their germs in his house this morning.
"Daniel, have I been helpful?"
He blinked as he folded the mask and put it in his pocket. "I'm sorry?"
"I've been here at the SGC for almost twelve years, Daniel. Have I been helpful? Have I been good?"
He didn't quite know how to respond, given that he'd just yelled at her for hoarding toilet paper in his guest room. "For the most part, yeah. You've been helpful. Sure."
"Then why are you working at home, and I got furloughed? I thought I was on SG-1, same as you."
Oh.
He sat on the other side of the bed. "I don't think this was personal, Vala. Teal'c was furloughed so he could go back to the Jaffa Nation while we wait all this out."
Vala turned away from him, letting her hair hide her face from him. "Getting furloughed means I'm non-essential, Daniel. The SGC thinks I'm not essential."
"Is that why you filled my guest room with toilet paper?"
She sniffled.
He stared at her. "Are you crying?"
"Just go away, Daniel."
Something caught in his chest as he heard the hurt in her voice. He walked around to sit beside her on the bed. "Hey."
She pulled away from him.
He crouched to try and catch her eye. "You are essential to the SGC, Vala."
She pressed her face into her hands. "No, I'm not."
He put a hand under her chin. "Vala, please. Look at me."
Her lip trembled as she looked up at him. "Look, I can't do anything about the furlough, but why don't you come and spend quarantine at my house? We'll return the toilet paper, and you can stay in the guest room, okay?"
She studied him, her eyes filled with distrust. "We'd kill each other."
He couldn't help but chuckle alongside her. "Yeah, but—it beats staying in one room on the base, right?"
She looked at her hands, the tears drying on her cheeks. "Before I came here, all I was good at was taking advantage of people. Maybe in the back of my mind, I thought, but—"
He took one of her hands in his. "Look, this whole virus thing is hard, but it will end. I promise."
She wiped the last traces of her tears with her hands. "I'll be okay, Daniel. Really. Sam texted, and we'll have girls' night."
"Vala. . ."
She mustered a smile for him. "If I start going crazy, I'll tell you. Cross my heart."
She drew an X on her chest with her finger.
"You're sure about this?"
She nodded. "Maybe I was just being sensitive about the furlough thing. I mean, after all, my job is more about contacts and less about skills. If we're not going through the Gate, then I am, in fact, unnecessary."
Daniel studied her for any trace that she might not be as okay as she let on. "Then, I guess, I'll go."
She got up and walked him to the door. "Goodbye, Daniel. Thanks for dropping by."
This didn't feel right. "Uh, goodbye, Vala. Take—take care of yourself."
