Hi ya'll. :) I'll be typing the next chapter of "Left Behind" next, so you can look for that. I hope you like this second chapter of this story, and please let me know what ya think. Thanks:)

Chapter 2

Vala clung to Daniel, glowering at the approaching prior. "What was that for!" she yelled angrily.

The prior stopped just short of them and answered calmly. "I could not allow either of you to escape."

"Then why didn't you hurt me too?" she scowled.

"I knew that you would be concerned for him and not go on without him." Great. Now these guys were reading minds too.

Daniel, still leaning on her, twisted a bit to have a better view of the prior. Even through the pain on his face, he was glaring too, in-between gasps. Vala made sure to keep the folded-up back part of his jacket pressed against the wound there. He grunted in protest, but she ignored it. She was not going to let him bleed to death. But he was already fading fast. More and more of his weight was pressing on her shoulder.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

The prior looked about to answer, but by now the shell-shocked guards were snapping out of their stupor. One of them took a step forward. The knife holster on his belt was empty, and those of the others all contained a blade like the one on the ground next to Daniel. Apparently the prior had borrowed it.

The young man stammered. "P-prior, those long daggers…we only use them for hunting. They're coated in a poison from a local plant that--"

The prior held up a hand, and the man dropped silent. "I know. I also know that the poison usually kills animals, and can often do the same to men. I knew that before I used it to stop him."

Vala felt her chest tighten. "What…?" Daniel's face took on an alarmed expression. Had the effects of the bracelets worn off enough? Or would she die with him if he died…? No. He wasn't going to die.

Then the prior continued. "But it will not kill him. I will make sure of that. He does not need to die now; he and his friends need another object lesson in the power and wrath of the Ori. I will alter the make-up of the substance."

"Nothing can do anything to him if he dies of blood loss and trauma!" Vala cried. She knew priors could heal with their staffs--even bring people back to life. Maybe it was the power of the Ori, but if she didn't get him to use it Daniel was going to die in her arms right here. And she might go with him.

"I know that as well," the prior said more quickly than usual. For a prior, it was the equivalent of a snap. Then he tilted his staff toward them slightly, and the blue globe at the top began to glow.

Daniel hissed, and under her fingers and his jacket she could feel the wound in back shrinking. In seconds it was gone completely. The blue glow lingered for another few seconds, and the wound in front shrunk and stopped bleeding, but did not disappear. Then the staff went dark again.

"What are you doing? Finish," Vala insisted.

"I have done what I said I would do, and have healed him enough to ensure that he will not die."

Daniel, able to breath again now, tried to sit up, but grimaced and dropped back against her shoulder. "Yeah, great, thanks," he said sarcastically. Vala just glared. She was grateful that Daniel wouldn't die--and neither would she--but she wasn't going to let him know it. Especially since he'd also done something to the poison that had been in that dagger that didn't sound good…

"And what did you do?" she demanded.

He looked at her. "I altered the poison. It will not kill him, but it will have effect for several days."

"'Have effect'?" Vala echoed.

"What the heck…is that supposed to mean?" Daniel glared.

The prior didn't answer, but turned away from them toward the guards. "Put them back into the enclosure. It is the will of the Ori that you hold them here until further notice."

The guards all nodded deeply, almost bowing, and the oldest of them answered. "Yes, prior. We will do as you say."

"Wait a minute…what did you come out here for in the first place?" Vala questioned. The prior turned back to them.

"I knew when I set foot on this world earlier this day that you were here--and your other friends as well. I also knew that you still did not follow the Ori. Perhaps now you will, when you feel their wrath." Then the prior turned and started back down the path toward the village.

"W-well what's that's supposed to mean?" she said worriedly. But the prior didn't hear her, and kept walking.

Daniel tried to sit up again and failed, letting out a small cry. Vala caught him when he slumped back again. "I guess…we'll find out," he sighed.

The guards hurried over as the prior left, and two of them grabbed Daniel and pulled him up and away from Vala before she could protest. He shouted when they jerked him up so quickly, and she shot to her feet in anger.

"Hey!" But then they grabbed her too, and dragged both of them back to the pen. Daniel they were dragging because he couldn't walk, and Vala because she was struggling so hard. But they still got both of them inside.

The two of them pulling Daniel just dropped him. He shouted in pain and curled up, arms going around his middle protectively, and Vala could feel her blood boiling.

"Easy! You idiots!" They shoved her in, and once she had enough footing to turn she swung back around, but they managed to slam to door in her face before she could get back to it. She pounded on the wood.

"Hey! You're going to pay for this! And I don't care if that sounds cliché; you're still going to get it, prior, you hear me!!"

"Vala…"

She stopped and turned. Daniel was still on the ground, half curled on his left side and clutching his half open jacket over the remaining stab wound. "Just stop…no need to make them…any angrier," he grimaced.

Vala sighed and pulled away from the door. She went over and sat down beside him. "Are you all right?"

"I'll live, Vala, now could you….help me get something tied around this wound?"

She blinked at him in mock astonishment. "You're asking me for help?"

He rolled his eyes. "I would do it myself if one of my hands wasn't out of commission…and you know it."

"Fine, fine, calm down. What do you want me to do?"

Daniel seemed to think about that for a moment, then held up the hand that had her scarf tied around it. The length of the scarf wrapped so many times around the hand made it look like a ball.

"There's a lot of material here…I don't actually need most of it."

She shrugged, grabbed the hand and carefully started undoing the knots. When she had that done, she ripped it off at one point, leaving just enough stay around his hand and be re-tied. It didn't matter if it was torn; she would never have been able to get the bloodstains out of it anyway.

Daniel, winceing, used his left elbow to lever himself up for a moment just a fraction of an inch enough for her to get the rest of the material around him, and arrange it over his shirt, but under his jacket, so it wouldn't be in the way or get caught on something and come off. With his good hand he helped her bunch up some of the front of his t-shirt over the wound and held it there while she tied a knot loosely in the scarf. But she hesiteated before tightening it.

On his back now, Daniel looked up at her and sighed a bit. "Just get it over with. I'll be fine. Just make sure it's tight enough; I could still bleed to death if it's not."

"All right," Vala said finally. "Just don't kill me when this hurts."

"I've resisted killing you until now, Vala. I think I can continue to refrain from doing so for a while longer," he answered dryly.

She rolled her eyes, puffed out a breath, and tightened the knot hard. She didn't want to have to do it again if it wasn't enough the first time.

"AH!" Daniel jerked, his head popping up and then dropping to the ground again. He lay there gasping for a moment, the expression on his face similar to the one he'd made back on the Prometheus several months ago when she'd shot him in the arm--except this time his battered glasses and that funny little partial beard were in the way.

"Daniel?"

"What!"

Another difference was, back then she hadn't particularly cared whether or not he was in pain or not. He'd looked good, and if he wasn't going to give into her feminine wiles, then fighting with him was the next best thing, she had supposed then. But now that was changing. Daniel was hurting, and she felt an ache in her chest at the same time.

Vala swallowed. "Is that good?"

"Yes! I mean…" He paused for a moment to finish catching his breath. "That's fine, thanks…I think."

She nodded in answer and reached over and folded the end of the scarf into a double knot so it wouldn't come undone as easily, then drew her hands back again and just sat there, not sure what to do with herself. It was almost dark now. It would officially be night within the next few minutes, probably. Through the dark gray clouds overhead she could see a star or two peeking out.

"Maybe we should just…get some rest," Daniel suggested quietly. Vala looked back down at him, and we laying quietly, eyes closing and trying to smooth the pain lines from his face.

"Are you sure you'll be all right?"

He sighed. "I'll be fine, Vala."

"But what about what the prior said about there being a poison or something? Have you felt anything different since…?"

"No. Vala, please just go to sleep….Or don't. But be quiet."

Despite the fact that the prior had healed a good deal of the wound, he had still lost a good deal of blood. He was probably exhausted, and still in pain even though he would never admit it. She should let him get some sleep, even if she most likely wasn't going to be able to.

"Fine," she agreed reluctantly. Sulking a bit, she scooted back into the opposite corner, dropped her head back against the wood, and closed her eyes.

Daniel jerked awake when a drop of water got past his glasses and hit him in the eye. He opened both of them, and saw the heavy rain clouds hanging above them in the dark. He couldn't make them out perfectly with the lack of light, but could feel the few beginning rain drops falling. It had cooled off, too, from the warm afternoon.

"Great…" he muttered. He started to try pushing himself up into a sitting position so he could move closer to the wall for at least some protection, but gasping and dropped again in surprise.

Instead of dulling over the hours since he'd been asleep, the pain from the wound was worse now. It felt like it was thudding at least dully through the whole right side of his body, but most of it was in the mid-section. Frowning in confusion, he tried again to move, and found that he could--but it hurt.

Eyes clenched shut and gasping quietly, Daniel pulled himself up, and pushed back into one of the corners opposite the wall the door of the cell was in. Vala was asleep leaning against the wall in the other one of those two corners. The cell wasn't that big, so she was only a few feet away. But she was already in a place where she had as much coverage from the rain as she could get, so there was no need to wake her.

Daniel huddled in his own corner, trying to ignore the pain in his middle and keep warm. Rain still hit him in the face when a breeze found its way down into the enclosure, and it didn't take long for his hair to become thoroughly soaked from the rain falling directly on top of it. His pants and socks inside his boots got wet just as quickly, once the rain picked up, but everything from his waist to his shoulders he managed to keep relatively dry, but that only protected his injury. It wasn't comfortable.

The night went on miserably that way for what felt like hours. Of course it couldn't have been as long as it felt though, because if it had been it would have been morning. Daniel squinted at his waterproof watch in the dark, then remembered the small light it had. He pressed the button on the side, the light came on for a few seconds so he could see the time, and he gathered that was about three in the morning in Colorado back home. This part of this planet was a few hours behind, so...well, there was plenty of night left to go.

The rain and cold did nothing to help him feel better. The strange pain emanating from the wound area in his middle only worsened, leaving him doubled over and letting water run down his back as well.

"Oh, this is just great…"

Daniel glanced over in Vala's direction when she groaned a complaint over the sound of the rain. She was awake now, in her own corner and shivering.

"You can say that again," he muttered.

She probably didn't catch all of it, but it got her attention anyway, and she looked his way. "Are you all right?"

"What kind of question is that??"

Vala rolled her eyes, then glanced around at nothing in particular for a moment. Finally she seemed to decide something, and slid over beside him.

"What are you doing?"

"It's freezing, and I'm wet. So are you. We need to combine body heat," she said shortly, leaning against him.

"Uh huh. No."

"Daniel, all I want to do is sit here."

He rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to refuse again, but his breath caught on a sudden spike of pain. His face twisted in a grimace before it subsided.

"Daniel? Are you all right?"

"What?" he said. He let out the held breath . "Yeah…I'm fine."

"No you're not. I saw that. What's wrong?"

"Nothing--"

"You're recovering from a stab wound."

Daniel closed his eyes. "It's nothing to worry about."

"But--"

"If I let you stay where you are will you shut up?"

He sensed Vala looking at him for a long moment, before her head dropped back against his shoulder. She didn't say anything else, and he didn't, either.

The rain kept falling.