AN: I know this is short but it finished where it did and there was no point forcing more into it. Probably not going to be anymore up till after the weekend.

Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think.

***

Daniel sat in his barley lit office, thinking about himself and Vala. It always shocked him how little he really knew of the woman he loved.

That had changed somewhat recently but there where still large parts of her past that Vala preferred not to talk about, to him at least. Daniel knew about her meditation sessions with Teal'c and that the two of them shared a special bond. It had never worried him until tonight, when the space between him and Vala seemed to be so vast he would never cross it.

He knew this was partly his fault, he hadn't listened to her properly and had let his anger take control but he knew that some responsibility also fell with Vala. He had often wondered what her life had been like before he met her, wondered what she had done and what she had witnessed, how had she survived and at what cost.

"There's always a price to pay, and it's almost always something you thought you would never be able to give up"

Her words rang in her head. When she had been trying to recover her memories she had told him that. He hadn't understood at the time what exactly she had given up, the price she had to pay. Now he was beginning to.

"Traded for money what some had stolen for free."

And there it was. The price she had paid.

She had told him tonight in that annoying way of hers where she admitted it in a round about way because she could never simply come out and say it. She had too much pride.

He sighed, realising that she had played him earlier on. Yes her anger had been real but she had purposely started the fight with him because it was easier to fight than to sit down and talk.

Daniel let out a humourless chuckle.

That was there problem all along though wasn't it? It was always easier for them to fight than talk; they had done it for years, neither properly listening to the other because they knew that the other wasn't really saying anything.

***

Vala ignored the looks she got when she walked down the corridor towards Daniels office. She was completely focused on finding Daniel and sorting this whole mess out, everything else could be dealt with after.

She found him sitting in his office with only the small table lamp on. He looked over to her standing in the doorway, Teal'c behind her. Vala turned to her friend and with a nod of the head silently told him it was ok to leave them. Teal'c nodded in response and left them too it. Vala didn't bother to turn on the light when she entered the room fully, closing the door behind her. Neither of them said anything as Vala hopped onto the work bench in the middle of the room.

With her arms resting on her thighs, hands clasped together and her head bowed forward Vala eventually spoke.

"We can't keep doing this Daniel." All the fight had gone out of her many hours ago, sitting by a pond with beside the Doctor, now her voice just sounded tired. When she finally looked up at Daniel he could see the real Vala, all her pain, all her emotions, all her years where right there in her eyes. "I can't keep having this same argument with you about my past."

Daniel finally got up and went over to her, placing his hand under her chin he tried to raise her head again but she shied away from him. Trying a different tact he knelt down in front of her putting himself in her eye line.

"I'm sorry, for earlier, I'm sorry. I just… I hate that you had to go through all that." He clasped his hands around hers. "I hate that there's this part of your life you hide from me, that you feel you have to hide from me." He felt her tears drop onto his hands. "I know my reaction today wasn't brilliant but…" He trailed off, unsure what to say next.

"It was my fault too." He could hear the tears. "I have to get used to the whole telling people things thing. It's hard Daniel, before I met you… it was so much easier to not tell anyone anything," She shook her head and let out an aggravated sigh. "I'm not explaining it right; I don't know how to make you understand."

Daniel watched as she shrank further into herself, pulling her hands out from under his.

"The big stuff… after a while it begins to not matter anymore. You build up a defence against it, it's almost like it's happening to someone else, you block it out and you carry on. I spent so long trying to survive that that's all it became, surviving not living, and then you… you came along and made me think I could maybe be something more." She thumped her fists onto his chest. "And I hate you for that sometimes Daniel, I hate you for it!"

She continued to hit him in the chest and he simply let her. When she calmed down enough he picked her up in his arms and carried her over to his desk chair, sitting down with her curled in his lap. Daniel gently stroked her hair to calm her more and eventually lulled her to sleep.