Thursday, November 26, 2020
Daniel sighed as he picked up the turkey and cranberry wrap from the mess hall at the SGC. As if it wasn't depressing enough to be here instead of at someone's house, like last year when Jack had invited the original bachelors of SG-1 to join him at the cabin for the holidays because Sam was on the Hammond, there were only half the number of tables as normal, and even then, the number of chairs had been reduced to accommodate social distancing requirements.
He also got nothing but prepackaged, sealed food. Like this wrap and a jello cup with something supposedly like strawberry cheesecake inside.
Not that he was holding his breath.
He sank into one of the chairs of the nearly empty mess hall. He should probably just take this to his lab. At least then he could keep working.
He sighed as he opened the package with his wrap in it.
Happy Thanksgiving.
He sneezed, instinctively ducking his head into the crook of his arm, despite the mask that covered his face.
One of the airmen who'd just walked into the room looked at him with suspicion. Daniel grimaced. "It's just allergies. I swear."
He felt like he was back on one of those primitive planets from the first few years. Looking for his sweetheart. Explaining his sneezes. Working through the night to try to avoid facing the darkness that might swallow him whole if he wasn't careful.
"Jackson."
Daniel turned with a sigh. "Mitchell."
Mitchell's tone wasn't as sharp as it might have been without his mask, the fabric muffling his voice's natural resonance.
"What are you doing here?"
Daniel glared at Mitchell as he sat down at the opposite end of a long, rectangular table. "Why? Because Vala's officially been declared MIA?"
So much for never leaving anyone behind. The bitterness in the thought made the thought of food unappealing, and Daniel set aside his wrap.
"First of all, Jackson, those decisions aren't up to me. So, if you're looking for someone to blame, aim higher. Second, I didn't mean here on the base. I meant here in the cafeteria. There's a thing going on in the gate room. Socially distanced and everything."
Daniel's conscience pricked. "Sorry, but I'm not exactly in a holiday mood right now."
Mitchell nodded as he turned one of the chairs backward and straddled it. "You know, I haven't given up, right? I just don't know where else to look."
Daniel's expression hardened. "I know."
Mitchell looked at his fingers. "I wasn't there the first time around. You know, when you were looking for your wife."
Daniel let his gaze drift over to the Colonel as if warning him to tread lightly.
"Must have been hard."
Daniel's throat thickened, but he didn't indulge in the emotion. "Your point?"
"We thought Vala was gone once, and she came back. No reason to give up hope just yet."
Daniel picked at his food. "Yeah, last time she came back, she brought a new enemy with her."
Mitchell shrugged. "Would you really care as long as she came back?"
There was a long moment of silence. Daniel remembered just how they'd come to meet the Ori. Could hear the screams as Vala was burned alive. Tenderly removed the shackles from her wrists as he held the remnant of her body. The confusion, the relief when the prior had restored her and she'd gasped back to life in his arms.
They had defeated the Ori. Him and her. Sure, the rest of the team had helped—had been invaluable, actually—but it had been their personal crusade. His to protect the innocent and continue the journey he'd started at Kheb. Hers to shield the galaxy from her own daughter's tyrannical rule.
Daniel's jaw tensed. "No."
Mitchell was quiet for a minute. "Look, Jackson, I've talked to Landry. Asked that when we get a vaccine available, if SG-1 can go look for her. Out in the field. We'd have to quarantine at the Alpha Site, and that would be our base of operations for the foreseeable future, but Landry gave it preliminary approval."
Daniel blinked at Mitchell. They'd been friends a long time, but in some ways, this was the first time Daniel felt the camaraderie which he'd felt with Jack back at the beginning. "Thank you."
"Teal'c said he'd join us there, too. I didn't ask Sam because—well, you know."
The statement hung on the air, and Daniel grimaced. Even if all was well, she wouldn't have been able to go with them. Maybe from time to time, she might have transported them to a planet without a gate, but other than that. "How's she doing?"
Mitchell sighed. "There's talk around the watercooler that Landry's looking for a more permanent replacement for the Hammond."
Something about the way Mitchell said that made Daniel's instincts flare up. Something more than just knowing that Sam's condition must be pretty awful if she was willing to suggest to Landry that he should replace her permanently. "You think he's going to ask you?"
Mitchell got up from his chair, spinning the chair back around to face the table. Clearly, he was through with this line of discussion. "Look, Jackson, I can't do anything if they change my orders. Hopefully, if we're out in the field, they won't even try."
Daniel looked up at Mitchell who seemed to have an uncharacteristically somber look in his eye. "But?"
Mitchell stuffed his hands in the pockets of his BDUs. "If Landry's just going to ask, then I'll tell him I'm not going anywhere until we find Vala. You're not alone in this, Jackson. We're getting her back. Promise."
Daniel's lips lifted mechanically. It sounded so much like what Jack had said after they'd escaped Chulak with Teal'c. That they'd find Sha're. That they'd find Skaara. "Well, if they need test subjects or whatever for this vaccine, tell them I'm game."
Anything to get out there sooner.
Mitchell nodded. "Happy Thanksgiving, Jackson."
Daniel sighed as he looked back down at his pathetic excuse for a Thanksgiving meal. "Happy Thanksgiving, Mitchell."
Daniel had slumped over an ancient textbook in his lab when the phone rang. He groaned, put his glasses back on, then walked over to the corded landline. "Daniel Jackson."
"Happy Thanksgiving, Daniel."
Daniel wiped at his bleary eyes, then squinted at the small clock in the corner of his desktop. "Sam? It's almost midnight in DC. Everything okay?"
The astrophysicist sounded tired but more positive than he'd heard her in the last few weeks. He hoped that was a sign that things were getting back to normal for her. "We're fine. Played games with Cassie and Greg after dinner while the kids watched a movie downstairs."
Daniel tucked the phone in the crook of his neck as he looked at another artifact on his desk. "That's right. I heard Cassie and Greg were heading out there for the holidays. How was that?"
"Wonderful. Exactly what I needed." She sighed. "So, naturally, I feel guilty since so many people are putting off the big family Thanksgivings in order to stay safe."
Daniel put the artifact down. "You didn't have a big family Thanksgiving, Sam. If you had—not to be presumptuous—you would have invited me and Mitchell."
"And Mark and Teal'c and—" Her voice trailed off before she could say Vala's name. "Just everyone."
Daniel took his glasses off again and rubbed at his eyes. "You don't have to do that."
"Do what?"
"Pretend like Vala never existed."
There was a long pause, and even though they weren't on a video call, he could imagine her expression, probably chagrined that he'd caught on. Sam never had much of a poker face. That was probably one of the things he liked best about her. With few exceptions, he knew exactly how she felt about things.
"Well, in that case, how are you?"
He didn't want to answer that question. "How are you? I hear there are rumors Landry's looking for a more permanent replacement for you on the Hammond. That can't be easy."
"Don't change the subject, Daniel. Vala's been gone for a few months now. I know that when Sha're—"
Something snapped inside him, and Daniel slammed one of his books on the lab table in the center of the room. "Would everyone just stop comparing this to Sha're? It's not the same. Sha're was taken. Vala left."
That pressure which had been mounting in his chest all day, that had been closing in on him since Vala had beamed him down to the SGC and taken the Hammond, released immediately. Not unlike the pipes when SG-1 had been imprinted with new identities and then-Jonah had worked with Daniel's Karlan to save the plant from utter destruction.
He breathed heavily, the dam of emotion breaking through. He didn't want to examine why it was so important to delineate between the two women as hard as he had. Maybe it was because Sha're had never come home. Maybe in thinking Vala had left voluntarily, then he could hold out hope she would return voluntarily as well.
"She didn't think she had a choice." Sam's voice was quiet, almost shaky, but the resolve in the voice was firm.
Daniel felt drained. Exhausted. "You weren't there, Sam. She did have a choice. It's not like she hasn't kidnapped me before."
There it was. The thing that bothered him most of all. How she'd left without him. Hadn't trusted him enough to tell him her plan. Had tried to do it on her own.
"She's going to come back, Daniel."
Daniel felt the urge to punch something, to kick something, anything to get that rush of release again. One more way he'd become more like Jack O'Neill as they worked together. Daniel sank into his chair instead. "You can't promise that, Sam. If she doesn't want to be found, she won't be, and you know it."
"Daniel—"
Daniel checked his watch again. They'd been on the phone for almost a half hour. "Sam, you should get some rest. Frankly, so should I."
"She loves you, Daniel. It's a new experience for her, but she loves you."
Daniel let his eyes drift closed as he thought of the woman who had stolen her way into his heart. The woman who had walked out of his life as abruptly as she had come in. "Yeah, well, she has a funny way of showing it."
