Chapter 2
Vala avoided Daniel for the rest of the day. She wasn't sure how she would handle another run-in with him. But the memory of what she saw stayed with her. It made no sense. What was it that she had seen? She knew that she and Daniel had never kissed like that, and yet the memory felt real. And the headache! Nothing of it lingered, but she could remember the pain vividly. It worried her; not the pain itself, but not knowing its origin. Was there something wrong with her?
She tried to shrug it off and focus on other things. She even visited Sam to offer what little help she could with her new toy, but it didn't help much, and she could tell her presence was annoying the Colonel.
Instead, she sought out Mitchell. He had since finished with his trainees and taken advantage of the evening downtime to go for a run on the treadmill. Vala had little interest in doing another work out, but she had to find something or someone to take her mind off of what had happened earlier, and there were worse things to focus on than Cameron's well-muscled form glistening with sweat.
When she entered the gym, she found him finishing his run. He nodded to her as he slowed to a stop and stepped off the treadmill. "Enjoying your day off?" he asked her.
"Kind of bored, actually," she admitted.
"Well, don't tell Landry that, or we won't get another day off any time soon."
"Don't worry, I won't," she said with a smile. "I was just looking for some company. Have you eaten?"
"Actually, no. Not recently. Let me hit the showers quick, and I'll join you in the mess."
"Great! I'll wait for you there, then." She paused at the door and turned. Mitchell grabbed his blue sweatshirt and pulled his on over a white t-shirt and zipped it halfway. As he turned back to her, she was once again transported to another place.
She was on a ship, coming through a doorway. Her hair was a mess, and she was pulling a sweater down over her tank top. Before her stood a sweaty Cameron Mitchell in a white t-shirt and a blue sweatshirt looking at her, confused. She just smiled back at him. She was happy, very. Something had just happened that made her happy. What was it? She looked back into the room and waved at-
She grunted at the pain that suddenly pressed down on her. She rubbed at her temples and squinted, trying to get her bearings. It took her a minute to realize Mitchell was talking to her.
"Vala? What is it? What's wrong?" He led her to the weight bench and made her sit.
The feeling of the solid bench beneath her steadied her and she managed to look up at her teammate. "I'm alright," she said. And it was mostly true. The pain was almost gone now. She was just struggling to get her bearings, to shake the odd images that she had seen.
"You don't look alright. You look like you've seen a ghost!" Mitchell was looking back and forth between her and the phone by the door, as if trying to decide if he should make the phone call for a med team.
"I promise, Cameron, I'm fine. I've had a headache all day. It just got a little worse."
"Maybe you should see Dr. Lam. She could give you something for it."
"Maybe I will. In the meantime, I may have to cancel our dinner date. I'm not sure I have much of an appetite anymore."
"That's okay. Do you want me to walk you back to your room?"
Vala smiled up at him. He could be such a sweetheart sometimes. "No, thank you. I can make it." To prove it to both him and herself, Vala stood up from the bench and walked a few steps. Her legs were now steady beneath her and she didn't feel wobbly anymore. "See? I'm alright."
Mitchell looked uncertainly at her but, like Daniel, he seemed to accept her word. "Alright. Feel better." He walked out of the gym with her and she could feel him watch her down the hall. It was a feeling she had not quite gotten used to, the feeling of being watched over by her teammates. It made her smile, knowing that they would always be there for her.