Chapter 6
Daniel sat at the briefing table, fingers anxiously drumming. Vala sat next to him, and though she hadn't stopped smiling, Daniel could tell by her silence that she wasn't quite feeling her normal, perky self.
Sam sat across from them, explaining for what seemed like the fifth time why they couldn't possibly be remembering anything from the other timeline. Frankly, Daniel mostly agreed with her, but hearing Sam explain it again was not as helpful as she seemed to think.
Thankfully, Cam and Teal'c interrupted her explanation as they entered and Cam asked, "So, what's so important that we needed to meet immediately?"
Daniel exchanged looks with Sam and Vala, each of them waiting for one of the other two to respond. Finally, Vala took it upon herself to give a brief explanation. "Daniel and I have been . . . remembering things from the other timeline."
"The other timeline?" Cam said with a raise eyebrow. "You mean, like the timeline we erased?"
"You know, maybe we should just wait for the general," Daniel suggested, not really wanting to rehash all of this multiple times.
"I'm here," Landry said as he entered. "What's going on?"
As the general walked to his seat, Vala launched into her explanation. But as soon as the general was sitting and Daniel got a full view of everyone seated around the table, he felt a sudden ache in his temples. "Oh, no."
Vala stopped talking and turned to him. "Daniel?"
But Daniel barely heard her. In an instant, his head was filled with pain. He couldn't stop himself from crying out. He was vaguely aware of hands on his shoulders and voices calling his name. But he also saw something – it was nothing more than an image that his brain held on to for less than a minute, but he knew what it was. Or at least he knew what Vala believed it was.
As suddenly as it had appeared, the image was gone. His vision swam for a second, and then righted itself. His head didn't recover quite as quickly, but the intense, shooting pain had devolved into a dull ache.
"Okay," Daniel groaned. "That one hurt."
"Daniel? Did you see something?" Vala asked with both concern and confusion on her face.
"Yeah," Daniel answered, his head still buried in his hands.
"Saw something? You mean something from the erased timeline?" Cam asked.
"I told you, we've both been getting these memories, and they're always accompanied by headaches," Vala replied. "That one seemed a little worse than normal, though."
Daniel looked up to find the rest of the table looking at him with various degrees of concern, Vala's being the greatest. "I'm fine. It just took me by surprise."
Both were true. The pain was mostly gone now, and he certainly hadn't been expecting it. The severity of the pain worried him, but he wasn't ready to admit that yet.
"So, what exactly did you see?" the general asked.
"Well, all of you," Daniel said slowly. "We were all sitting around a table on the Odyssey. It looked like we were . . . celebrating?"
"Celebrating," Cam repeated doubtfully.
"Yeah. Christmas, I think. You had mistletoe."
Sam gave Mitchell a sideways glance and chuckled, while Cam screwed up his face. "Are you sure these are . . . memories?"
"I'm not hallucinating, Cam."
"Indeed, he is not, Colonel Mitchell." Everyone turned to look at Teal'c, who had been silent until this point. "I remember that day well."
"Wait, so this actually happened?" Sam said, the smile wiped from her face.
"Sam, I thought you believed us!" Daniel said indignantly.
"Teal'c, you remember this?" Sam said quickly.
"I do, Colonel Carter. We had been locked in the time dilation for approximately six months. Vala Mal Doran was insistent that we needed something to celebrate, to keep our spirits up, and Daniel Jackson suggested Christmas. We ate a large meal and exchanged gifts, and Colonel Mitchell did indeed have mistletoe."
"That does sound like Christmas," Mitchell admitted.
"It sounds like Daniel and Vala are actually having memories from the erased timeline." Sam said. "That shouldn't be happening."
"You keep saying that. Why not?" Vala insisted.
"We erased that timeline. It doesn't exist, so you shouldn't be able to remember it."
"Look, you've done this before, right? Changed the future?" Vala asked.
"Well, it's hard to know for sure, but yes," Sam admitted. "We have gotten messages through the Star Gate that we believe were from an alternate future. But none of us have ever been able to remember those other timelines."
"But this time is different. This time, we have someone who does remember. Someone who lived it." Vala looked pointedly at Teal'c.
"You know, as much as I hate to admit it, Vala has a point," Daniel said. "Did we really erase the timeline if there's someone left who lived it?"
"So, what? You think that it wasn't erased entirely because of Teal'c?" Mitchell asked.
"That's my guess," Vala said.
"Then why are you two the only ones who can remember it? Why aren't the rest of us getting these memories?" the general asked.
"I have a theory about that." Vala smiled.
"Vala, no," Daniel groaned. "Let's not go there."
"Go where, exactly?" Cam demanded.
"Vala's under the delusion that she and I were . . . a couple . . . in the other timeline." Daniel rolled his eyes. "I keep telling her that there's no way that would happen, but-"
"Vala Mal Doran is correct, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said quietly.
Daniel's and Vala's eyes both snapped in Teal'c's direction. "What?" they said together.
"The two of you were indeed romantically involved while we were on board the Odyssey."
Vala's grin widened, while Daniel groaned and put his head in his hands. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Not that this isn't fascinating," Cam said, with a mix of embarrassment and glee on his face, "but what does that have to do with any of this?"
"It means that Daniel and I have an emotional tie to this other timeline. Something that we had then that we don't have now. Maybe that's why we're remembering, and the rest of you aren't."
"Daniel? What do you think?" Sam asked.
Daniel lifted his head and tried very hard to ignore his burning cheeks. "I don't know. Believe me, I was the first to tell Vala she was wrong, but now," he glanced at Teal'c. "I don't know. I guess it's possible."
"So, what do we do about it?" Mitchell asked after a long pause. "Any suggestions?"
"Actually," Vala said slowly, "I think I have one." Everyone looked at her expectantly, so she continued. "If these memories are caused by emotional responses, why don't we try to trigger one?"
"How exactly do we do that?" Cam asked.
"Well, these memories seem to be induced by the things that we are currently experiencing. The memory Daniel just had was triggered when he saw all of us sitting here together, just like when we were together on the ship. He and I both had one while we were arguing. What if we can create an experience that would trigger a memory?"
"How can we do that? If none of us experienced the other timeline, we can't pinpoint a memory to trigger," Sam pointed out.
"Well, first of all, we do have someone who experienced the other timeline." Vala looked pointedly at Teal'c. "But that doesn't matter. Muscles has already confirmed for us that Daniel and I were . . . involved on the Odyssey. If that's true, than we likely have some emotional memories together. I think the best way to trigger them would be . . . a kiss."
"Please tell me you're joking." Daniel wanted to shrink away to nothing. His team had been there for more than one embarrassing situation, but this was just too much. He still wasn't entirely certain that Teal'c wasn't pulling his leg about him and Vala. It just didn't seem possible that he would even consider-
"It's actually a pretty good idea, Daniel," Sam said, nudging him.
"Sam, please." He looked at her, pleading her to stop.
"Think about it. If it's true, this is probably the best way to trigger an emotional memory."
"Is it such a good idea, though?" Cam asked. "I mean, they've both been having pretty bad headaches along with each memory. We don't know what they are yet. This could hurt them."
"Thank you!" Daniel exclaimed, at this point, glad for any reason to abort this plan.
"I can call in a medical team to standby, if it would make you feel better," the general said. Daniel could have sworn he saw a tiny smile on his face as he said it.
If it was possible to die of embarrassment, Daniel was pretty sure he'd be on the floor right about now. "No, General," he sighed. "I don't think that's necessary."
"So, we're going through with this?" Sam asked.
"Sounds like it," Cam confirmed.
"Do I get a vote?" Daniel asked, holding to one last hope.
"Nope," Vala said, standing up. "Come here, Handsome."
Daniel stood up, rolling his eyes. The two of them stared at each other for a minute while the rest of the team watched awkwardly. "Get on with it," Cam yelled.
Sighing, Daniel leaned in and pecked Vala on the lips. "Alright, no triggered memory. Glad we tried that! Now, what are we-"
"Jackson! Kiss the girl." Daniel turned to argue with him. "That's an order."
He turned back to Vala, who was smiling so wide, Daniel had a feeling her cheeks were sore. Alright, time to get this over with. He leaned in and brought his mouth down to hers.
This time, Vala made sure he wasn't getting away. She grabbed his waist and pulled him closer to her and deepened the kiss. Daniel didn't fight it. In fact, somehow, this didn't feel wrong. It should have. It should have felt completely wrong. But it didn't. Holding Vala, her lips on his, felt right. It felt like this was exactly what he should have been doing. In fact, why hadn't he done this before? Why had he been fighting this for so long? Of course they belonged together. This made sense.
As they pulled apart, Daniel realized his hand was on her face, and he looked at her. This time, he didn't see the conniving con-artist that she used to be. He didn't even see the perky, albeit handsy coworker he had gotten used to working with. He saw the woman he loved. He wasn't sure when his feelings had changed, but he suddenly knew they had. "Vala?" he whispered slowly.
She smiled at him. "Hello, Darling." And everything was right with the world.
Until his head exploded in pain. Daniel fell to his knees, screaming in agony. Somewhere, far away, Sam yelled his name, and he thought he heard Cam yell for Vala. But he didn't know what was happening. All he knew was pain. Until finally, mercifully, the world went dark.