A/N: As of this moment, I'm working on the finale chapter to this story (there will be 29 chapters in total). There will also be a sequel focusing on helping the Daniel clones. However, I need to finish a prior story (The Unending fic I've been writing forever) before I can continue it.

Bring it all Back

Chapter 12

A Glow

"Rodriguez, buddy." He spins around a corner marching down the corridors, trying to knock things off his to-do list, which is more like a to-do novel. Thought that he would throw himself into work after their fight last week but that's not exactly what happened. Instead she threw herself into work, volunteered to accompany the Jacksons in a ruin excavation. It was a weeklong journey that they've prolonged for two more days now and part of his mind thinks that they're just living happy colonial lives in an off-world forest. It's the same part of him that thinks he's a massive idiot for screaming at her and then sending her off with the Jacksons, which two and half years ago would've been her greatest fantasy.

"You just think I can't pull my weight. Is that it?" The kid is determined, that's for sure, but unless he's an archeologist fluent in thirty something languages, or said archaeologist's clone, persistence doesn't usually crack him.

"That is exactly it." He knocks on Communications' door and drops in two thick file folders of his reports from the last month. Vala upsetting planetary natives, Teal'c on the cyclone planet, the Jacksons contaminating half the water supply with some ancient gizmo, Teal'c back to the cyclone planet, Sam requesting to go back to Atlantis again, Teal'c still on the goddam cyclone planet, Vala and the Jacksons prolonging their mission into hippie living, probably somehow contaminating the water supply.

Rodriguez steps in front of him, blocking his way, did he learn that from Vala, from watching her command attention when no one would give it to her. It's how he ended up taking her to his high school reunion, it's how he ended up doing a lot of shit with her that he shouldn't have done and wouldn't have if she wasn't so commanding. So gorgeous. So gone for ten days now. "Look, you don't know if I can do anything because you never let me try."

He's not angry about the fight still. "You're a private, your job isn't to try, it's to do what I say."

Okay, so maybe he's a bit angry about the fight still, mostly because it's been almost two weeks with no contact which means no making up or even talking about it more, it's like a stagnant gross smelling puddle he wakes up to every day and it's just still there. It bugs him because he said a lot of things that were true that she thought were fake and he never justified them. Bugs him because he sort of bulldozed over her response when it wasn't the same or as excited as his.

"Look Man—Sir. Just, put me somewhere else. Somewhere where the action is."

Teal'c picks the perfect moment to round the corner, gear packed on his back ready to head back to Cyclone World for another stint in first-aid response. "Perfect, Teal'c always needs another body to help him sift through rubble, isn't that right Big Guy?"

"Indeed."

"Wait—no I meant—" But he just stops, his complaints just die away and with a reserved huff he walks towards the locker room to get changed.

He nods at Teal'c before continuing on his errand list, getting an update from Lam on the status of SG-3 after their food poisoning and now somehow early symptoms of scurvy. Run down to HR and figure out how many paternity leaves he can actually approve because four in the last year is a little suspicious.

"Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c calls him back before he gets two steps. He drowns the groan and turns back with a stern smile. "I wanted inform you that Vala Mal Doran and Dr. Daniel Jacksons have returned from off-world."

"Perfect." Crosses out 'eat lunch' written in all caps and writes 'debriefing' in instead. It can't take more than an hour.

It takes two hours.

Just two hours of the Jacksons talking about Clava Theresa whatever, something that has long since fallen off his dial since Athena's gone underground and silent for the last few months. But the Wonder Twins are still very much into it, so much into it that they have a PowerPoint presentation that they had to have made off-world and he can just picture them sitting side by side at a fire typing up all the information and critiquing the hell out of each other.

The door creaks open when they're on slide one forty-two out of one seventy-seven and Vala pops in. The Jacksons pause for a second, then roll their eyes, then continue on in their lecture.

"Nice of you to join us, princess." It's the first words he's spoken to her in almost three weeks, the first words since he told her to 'just go' and he definitely could have picked better ones, but a two-hour lecture on rock carvings is bound to get most people a little irritated. "Didn't get the memo about the debriefing that follows ninety-nine percent of off-world missions?"

"If you must know," she stretches out the words like the Jacksons are stretching out this presentation. "I was receiving treatment in the medical bay."

That shuts up. Whatever sarcastic comeback he was going to sling evaporates on the tip of his tongue and suddenly he feels very in tune with Rodriguez. "What?"

"Would you like me to ask Dr. Lam for a note next time?" She still has the smirk and the overdramatic wording.

He forgets about the fight and about the presentation. "You okay?"

"Excuse me." Daniel One waves, his face illuminated by the overhead presentation.

"Look if you two aren't going to take this seriously maybe we should just—"

He stands from the head of the table, trying not to look at her, assess her for injuries. Did she walk with a limp? She might have walked with a limp. "Yeah, Jacksons, just give me the short answer version."

"We have almost undisputable proof that the Clava Thessara Infinatus exists and—"

"Great write up the report and put it on my desk." Then he just leaves because he can't talk to her in front of them. Can barely talk to her at all now, and maybe now he can just fall back into the pile of work he has.

Gets a good few hours of paperwork done, then glances over the list of planets requesting aid, the ones who are open to interplanetary allies, and the ones that aren't but have a prime location for a defense system.

"Colonel Mitchell?" The office assistant pokes her head through the door, red hair bundled on top of her head and her mouth loudly working on a big piece of gum.

"Yeah?" He doesn't look up from scratching down the names of random planets to give to the research teams to rank.

"Is your name with one L or two?"

"It's with two Ls—" He's about to say her name and he doesn't know it. She's told it to him before and he still doesn't know it. He groans into his palm.

"It's Gloria."

"I know what it is."

"Are you feeling okay, Colonel Mitchell." She sort of saunters into the room and he's seen that walk before, he knows that walk and that walk is definitely not good. "I never see you leave the mountain anymore. You do have a house, right?"

"Just got a lot of work, Gloria." He shoos her away with his hand as she approaches the desk, but it doesn't convince her. She sits on the edge watching him from the side. "You can go, Gloria."

"I just think it's sad that you never get out—"

"I get out," grumbles as he stands and now points her to the door. "But doing this pile of work is a little more important."

"Well if you ever wanted someone to go out with—"

There's a knock at the door and for a second he's grateful until it opens and Vala's there holding out a piece of paper. "Oh." She pauses, her face falls as she understands their stances, and if he didn't know her so well he would've missed it. "I just needed this signed but if you're busy at the moment—"

"He's very busy," Gloria answers, and hops down from the desk. "Isn't that right, Colonel Mitchell?"

"Out. Now." All but shoves her to the door where Vala stands with furrowed eyebrows meaning she's either confused or hurt. Once Gloria's out of the room he slams the door shut. "Sorry about that." Leans into his hand against the door just in case she tries to pop back in. "What did you need."

"Oh Cameron," Vala chuckles at him, pressing by and moving towards his desk. "Isn't she a bit too young for you?"

He's not listening because she's leaning over his desk grabbing one of the heavy metal pens he only uses when he has to look professional. "What?"

"Your office attendant."

"Assistant," corrects, a little of the spirit gone from his voice as he crosses the room. She's scribbling something on the page. "And she's not just mine, she's the office's."

"Of course she is, dear." Drops the pen back to his desk but she when turns to duck back out the door he's standing in her way.

"Want to tell me what I just signed on for?"

"What ever do you mean?"

"You just forged my signature, you want to tell me why?" Sidesteps out of her way, knowing her better than to just burst out of the room. Maybe a few years ago she would've but they've shared too much since then to be that disrespectful.

She sighs, lips in a bit of a pout, and slides the paper over to him, complete with a perfect copy of his signature. "I'm only to be allowed on certain mission over the course of the next two weeks."

"Why?" Skims through the wall of text greeting him. Lam's overly analytical and wordy explanation using scientific terms he has no clue about.

"Well." Plays with her fingers until she walks to his side of the desk, perching at the corner. Just in mid-walk with no effort at all. She does it way better. "On this last mission with the Daniels, I was sort of caught in a cave-in."

"How much caught."

"Oh, all the way."

"Dammit, Vala—" Shoves his chair back to stand up, but she places a hand gently on his shoulder.

"I'm fine, I just got a little scratch when I fell."

"Did you lose consciousness?"

"No, in all the mishaps that have happened it's probably the most benign."

"Then why the mission stipulations."

"That is for the rest of the team." Pops down off the table and clicks his desk lamp off.

Stands now, watching her walk to the door and at first he thinks she's going to play one of those secretive games where she gives him forty percent of the info he needs and he has to fill in the rest of the blanks. But she doesn't, she just stops at the door. "I got my teensy cut by scraping my leg against a rock with some algae on it."

"Okay."

"The Daniels said the algae is a bioluminescent variety, and I took on that property when some of the slime got int through the cut."

"What property?"

Then she flicks off the lights, and stands glowing before him, a light bluish color highlighting her body with darker tints swirling around her arms and cheeks. When he doesn't say anything she just shrugs wearing the same nervous expression she did when she found out about the pollen.

"Are you in any pain?"

"No, just a little blue."

He rolls his eyes, and nervously smacks his hand down on the edge of the desk. "So at night you'd basically give our position away to any enemies or predators."

"That's the gist of it." Stretches her arms out to observe her own glow, blue but somehow warm. Her eyes focus back on his, whites the only part of her voided of blue. "Are you still upset about our squabble?"

Doesn't interrupt her ramble as he steps towards her, watching the reflections of her glow dance against the ground like aquarium water.

"Because I think I was just hungry which would explain a lot and—"

Doesn't tell her how gorgeous she is, how she looks like something unnaturally natural, how she actually looks alien now. Just covers the space between them and stitches the words to her with kisses. She grins against his lips, deepening the kiss, her arm hooking around his neck.

Bows his forehead to hers, his eyes closed against the soft nightlight glow of her skin. "I'm sorry."

"Me too."