Daniel and Vala charged down the hallway, each feeling panicked and worried about what their friends were facing alone. Both felt intensely guilty with the sudden knowledge that Cam and Teal'c were in the middle of a fire-fight while they had been back at the Stargate, making out like a couple of teenagers.
As they ran, Daniel cursed himself for letting Vala entice him with their second kiss. In the back of his mind, he'd been worried that their friends might encounter trouble. Now he felt like a fool. In spite of the fact that he had kissed Vala in the first place, the circumstances of their second kiss had been decidedly different.
For her part, Vala felt simply miserable. Not only was she more nervous and uncertain than ever before about what Daniel thought of her or how he felt for her, but now she was worried that she had made matters worse by she kissing him as she had. A quick glance over to look at his face seemed to confirm her suspicions. He looked absolutely furious.
The two came running out of the hallway at full speed, their P-90s at the ready. Both were immediately relieved to see that not only were Cam and Teal'c alright, but the two of them had managed to get some kind of control over...something.
Daniel and Vala came to a sudden stop and looked around with disbelief to see a small crowd of people kneeling in the center of the large, expansive room while iron gates sealed every exit. The archaeologist asked with a panicked and confused voice, "What...the hell happened?!"
Glancing back at them for a brief moment, Mitchell answered sarcastically, "We had a little misunderstanding."
"Yeah, I can see that!" Daniel answered, looking about incredulously.
"Might have been easier to just pose as party guests," Vala deadpanned with a lifted eyebrow, her frustration at the way things ended between her and Daniel seeping through into her words.
Mitchell glanced back at her words, eyeing the two with an annoyed expression. "What the hell took you two so long?" he asked sharply.
"We, uhm," Daniel hesitated, flushing red at the question. Vala cleared her throat and looked away with an embarrassed expression, refusing to meet the Colonel's piercing stare. "We got held up," the archaeologist said weakly after failing to come up with a reasonable explanation.
"Uhuh," Cam said in annoyance, adding in an irritable voice, "Jackson, wipe the lipstick off your mouth." Teal'c glanced over at the two and glared at them, then resumed watching the hostages.
The archaeologist blushed even more at the Colonel's words and wiped his mouth with the cuff of his sleeve. Vala flushed to the tips of her ears, looking like she was ready to crawl under a rock. She chose to stay silent for once, continuing to avoid Mitchell's gaze.
Cam watched the two blushing teammates for a moment, then looked back at their captives. After surveying the hostages, he then explained, "They thought we were rebels."
Daniel raised his eyebrows at the Colonel's words, looking more worried than before. "What does that mean?" he asked with a tense voice.
"I don't know," Mitchell answered as he looked nervously around the room, trying to keep an eye on the various people they'd taken hostage. "I didn't get a chance to ask a lot of questions."
Vala looked about with a confused expression. She asked hesitantly, "Why are all the outer doors sealed off?"
Mitchell glanced back at her question. He paused, then looked over at a nearby display with shattered glass around it, gesturing towards it with his P-90 and saying, "One of their guys shot that case. He must have triggered a lock down." He paused for a moment before adding, "And for the moment, it would be good if it stayed that way."
Daniel sighed wearily, "Wonderful."
Cam looked back directly at Vala, saying, "See what you can do."
Nodding as she glanced about anxiously, she then looked back at the Colonel, meeting his stern gaze somewhat sheepishly. She still felt rather embarrassed, and she could still feel her cheeks and ears flushed red. Thankfully, the change in focus to their situation helped to alleviate the stress. "Okay," was her quick answer as she put her P-90 aside and started to walk back deeper into the large chamber, looking around for some sort of access panel.
Walking off, Vala suddenly heard a commotion behind her as one of the hostages spoke up. Slowing in her step, she glanced over her shoulder, concerned. She immediately saw that the boys had things under control, so she turned her attention away again and continued to wander through the room.
Her gaze quickly made its way to the back of the room where she caught a glimpse of what looked like an electrical box. Her pace quickened as she walked over to where it hung on the wall, removing her backpack as she drew near. With an expert eye she studied the layout of the conduits and the exterior of the box itself, depositing her backpack on the floor as she contemplated what to do.
Vala hesitated for a moment, looking over the exterior of the enclosure with a final cautious glance. She then reached out and quickly opened the front access panel. A quiet sigh escaped her as no obvious alarm or booby trap went off. While she really didn't expect any, given the apparent nature of the cabinet and the fact that this was a museum, she'd learned long ago that there could always be another surprise waiting around the corner.
With the panel open, she inspected the interior. As she had anticipated, it was a breaker box of some sort, arrayed with various switches. To her satisfaction, she also saw a small electronic control panel and what looked like a data port.
Bending down she opened her backpack, reached in and pulled out the tablet PC she carried with her. As she started to rifle through her bag for the cable she would need, her mind started to wander to the situation between her and Daniel. She really didn't want to think about that right now, but it was hard to forget about him while she kept hearing his voice off in the distance. She could hear the man speaking as he and Cam talked with the hostage that was addressing them. To her endless frustration, the sound of the archaeologist's voice kept evoking memories of the feel of his touch, the warmth of his body against hers, the taste of his lips on hers.
She gritted her teeth in frustration, trying very hard to push thoughts of him to the back of he mind, at the same time wondering why she was having such a hard time finding the cable in her backpack. It shouldn't be something so easily missed. While she hastily searched, her disbelief over the fact that he had kissed her in the first place washed over her anew. It was still astounding to her. What finally made him do that? Moreover, why did he seem to change his mind about everything five minutes later?
Sighing, her hand finally closed around what she was looking for and she stood up, trying to focus on her task. She lifted the tablet and set it down on the open panel door, using it like a small table. As she wired up the computer, her mind drifted again, this time remembering her disastrous attempt to apologize to him last night. The tension and discomfort from what she had said washed over her once more, making her cheeks flush a little. Why did she ever say so much to him? She still didn't know.
Again, she forced the matter from her mind as she tried to concentrate on the task at hand. She had just finished the delicate task of connecting the individual wires from the special adapter cable created by Sam to the alien data port. Standing up straight, she surveyed her work critically, wiggling her fingers. She wondered with a little bit of worry if powering up the PC would show her what she wanted to see or if throwing the switch would "let the magic smoke out".
Vala grinned as she remembered the first time she had heard Carter use the phrase, it was right after the blonde-haired woman had fried a particularly expensive gadget in her lab. While the raven-haired woman found the Tau'ri's word play annoying most of the time, that particular phrase had struck a chord.
Drawing in a deep breath, she pressed the power button on the computer and watched as it came to life, showing a schematic of the building. For the first time since Daniel ended their last kiss, a smile crossed Vala's lips. She immediately started to manipulate the computer, quickly navigating her way through the security program she found, looking for a way to keep things locked down.
A familiar, comfortable feeling started to settle over Vala as she went about the familiar task of wresting control away from another's effort to secure something. The feeling of accomplishment she got as she bent the system to her will helped to mute the bitter disappointment and emptiness she had felt since Daniel had pulled away from her.
It wasn't to last, however. In very little time at all, she had managed to gain complete control over the computer program that controlled the building's security. She was confident that no one from the outside would be able to open things up again, at least not without considerable effort. It wasn't surprising to her, though. Given that this was just a museum, she didn't expect to find any great challenge here.
With the job done and a void where her attention had been focused, her emotions came flooding in around her yet again, memories of Daniel's closeness and her feelings for him threatening to drown her. She drew in a deep breath and sighed heavily as she again felt the pain from the uncertainty he had left her with.
What made it worse was the awful, sickening feeling she had been carrying in the pit of her stomach since they realized that Cam and Teal'c had been in trouble while they were back at the Stargate, kissing so passionately. While she had so casually shrugged any embarrassment from being caught in their first kiss, she now felt incredibly guilty and worried about what the other two thought of her.
She was even more worried about what Daniel thought of her now.
Glancing back over, she saw him talking to the prisoner who had spoken up. She quietly observed the archaeologist from afar as he tried to tell the truth of their situation to the politician.
As she watched, Daniel's passion and earnestness while he spoke were readily apparent, even from this distance. She couldn't clearly hear him, but she saw how animated he became as he tried to convince the man that they really were from another planet. In spite of all her worries, a small grin flitted across her face as she considered the archaeologist thoughtfully. Very quickly the elderly statesman made it clear to Daniel that he didn't believe a word of it. Vala watched Daniel intently, her eyes full of adoration as she saw his crest-fallen disappointment at the other man's disbelief.
In spite of her pain, frustration, and embarrassment, she quickly found she was still so easily captivated by the archaeologist. In a way her attraction to him added to her disappointment, but at the same time helped to alleviated it, reminding her of why she still sought after him. She only hoped that someday her efforts would prove worth the pain and frustration.
Suddenly a stern, militant voice came up over the radio worn by one of the guards they'd captured. Daniel took the radio and answered, listening to the man's words.
Vala furrowed her brow at this and walked back over to rejoin the others, coming to stand beside Teal'c. The Jaffa glanced over at her arrival, nodding slightly at her, though she was too absorbed by Daniel's conversation on the radio to notice.
"Look," Daniel tried to explain to the man on the radio, "there's been a terrible misunderstanding. You see, we're not rebels."
The radio crackled as the man answered, "Then release the hostages."
Daniel let the radio drop a little and looked glanced over to Cam. " That's not a bad idea," he said, looking intrigued at the prospect.
Vala sighed inwardly at the archaeologist's naivete, regarding him fondly in spite of it. "It's a terrible idea," she said gently, shaking her head slightly.
At the sound of her voice, Daniel turned to face her, his expression the very portrait of irritation and annoyance. He slowly walked towards her, watching her with a hard gaze. "Why?" he demanded pointedly in a acrid voice, staring intently into her eyes. She could see he was still upset about what had happened.
In spite of what had passed between them before and how harshly he reacted to her now, Vala found to her own amazement that she considered him with only compassion and tenderness. She of course knew why. Seeing him try to handle this situation reminded her of why she felt so strongly for him, why she was so drawn to him.
In all her life, she had never met a man who viewed life with such idealism and hope. She knew Daniel firmly believed he could make these people believe the truth and he could smooth things over, if only he could get the chance. The man always looked for and expected the good in people.
Sadly, she knew all too well from her own life how far reality typically differed from what Daniel always wanted to see in it.
"It doesn't matter what we say to them," she explained slowly and patiently, looking back into his eyes with a tender, yet strong gaze. "They think we're rebels. We shot a security guard. We took hostages." She paused to emphasize her words. As she spoke, Mitchell slowly came to stand with the other three, watching her thoughtfully."If we let those people go, they're gonna come in here and kill us.
"The lady's making a lot of sense," Mitchell added quietly, looking at Jackson with a dispassionate gaze.
The words only served to infuriate Daniel more. "This is not how you make first contact with people!" he said sharply at the Colonel, barking out the last words in a harsh whisper, his face turning a beet red.
"Not intentionally, no," Cam answered coolly, "But all we gotta do is stall for five-and-a-half hours 'til Landry dials in." He paused, adding, "Then we bolt, and those people can believe what they wanna believe."
"And no one gets hurt," Vala chimed in again, glancing over to Teal'c as she spoke.
The Jaffa stepped closer to the rest, nodding as he answered, "I too believe that to be the best course of action."
Vala nodded along with Teal'c, murmuring softly, "Uh hmm," turning back to watch Daniel with pleading eyes.
The archaeologist looked at all three of them bitterly, his eyes burning with frustration. "Okay, do you understand how dangerous this could be?" he asked in a more quiet voice, but one laced with tension and bitterness. Vala glanced at Teal'c again, then looked back at Daniel with a reserved expression. "This is an alien culture of which we have no knowledge," he continued, building momentum as he spoke. "We don't know how they're gonna handle a situation like this. We don't know whether they're gonna wait six hours. Once we start posing as kidnappers, there's no turning back. And if we get captured, we are hooped!!" He was nearly shouting at the last, but managed to keep his voice lowered, if only barely.
"Jackson!" Cam answered with a sharp whisper, then continuing with the cooler voice he used from before. "I hear what you're sayin'...but I don't think we have a choice. As far as I can see, these people are not gonna be open to the idea that we are peaceful aliens out on a jolly jaunt just to look around." The Colonel spoke harshly at the end as he tried to explain the reality of their situation.
Daniel closed his eyes at his, sighing heavily as he wrestled with the issue, his emotions written clearly across his face. Vala watched him tenderly, with a sympathetic eye. It was difficult for her to see him suffer through this. She appreciated his viewpoint and so admired his idealism, but knew it was completely unrealistic. As wonderful as his view of people and life would be if it were true, she knew all too well that it was actually rather foolhardy sometimes.
Finally, Daniel sighed. He then looked down and said into his radio, "I can't free them quite yet," looking pained at the words as they left his lips. Vala briefly smiled at his reaction, then glanced down. She drew in a deep breath, knowing that Daniel was right about the risks of this play.
The stern voice came again over the radio, "If this is some kind of mistake, I suggest you release them, now." Vala looked back up to quietly watch Daniel again.
Ignoring the man's words, Daniel answered, "Listen, one of your people has been seriously injured. I suggest you send in medical personnel to take him out of here."
The reply came over the radio, "You've sealed off the museum. How do you expect us to get in?"
Daniel looked at Vala expectantly. At first she met his gaze with confusion, knitting her eyebrows together. Then she realized that he expected her to now have some knowledge of the security system. "Oh, uhm..." she said as she got her wits together. In her head she quickly considered what she'd seen just minutes before.
"Probably best to bring them in through the southerly entrance," she said, looking over he shoulder, thumbing back to where she had accessed the museum's computers. "There's a door down a short corridor on the other side of the bars there. We can let them cut open a hole in the gate. It's a confined enough space that we should be able to keep things under control." Cam raised an eyebrow at her words, and she quickly added, "...relatively, anyway..."
Daniel listened quietly, watching her pensively as she spoke. He hesitated as she finished, his eyes still upon her. Vala looked from Cam to Daniel to find him looking at her. She furrowed her eyebrows in surprise as she looked back at him, perplexed by what he might be thinking.
A moment later, Daniel looked down and keyed up the radio again. "You can come in through the south entrance," he said, releasing the button.
"Three people only," Cam said to Daniel quietly.
The archaeologist quickly keyed up again, "only send three people," he quickly added.
Teal'c spoke up just as Daniel finished. "None should be allowed but medical personnel," he intoned in a low voice.
"And only medical people..." Daniel added hastily, starting to look aggravated. He paused before releasing the button, looking around at his teammates with an irritated, questioning gaze. The three shared amused glances, then shook their heads. Daniel released the button.
The radio was silent for a moment, but then came to life once more. "We would like to send two medical people with one trooper, to ensure their safety," came the stern voice.
At first Daniel looked ready to accept the proposal, but then hesitated. He looked up from the radio at his friends, lifting his eyebrows with an inquisitive expression. The three again shared amused looks, then started to nod together, looking back at the archaeologist.
Daniel smirked wryly at their reactions, regarding his friends with with an annoyed expression. Keying up the radio, he answered, "That's fine." He was about to release the button, when Cam gave him a look. "But no funny business!" he added unconvincingly. Vala and Teal'c shared pained expressions and Cam rolled his eyes.
The archaeologist unkeyed the radio and lowered it from his face, answering his friends' looks with a tense voice. "Well I'm sorry, but this is the first time I've taken hostages, okay?"
"Amateur," Vala teased him with a droll voice, a small smile playing upon her lips. Daniel looked at her with a mixture of indignancy and disbelief. Cam and Teal'c glanced over at the woman with flat expressions. She looked at Teal'c, winked, and looked back at Daniel, smiling all the more. Jackson rolled his eyes at her.
Suddenly the radio came to life once more. "Our people will be at the South entrance in ten minutes."
Daniel keyed up, answering, "We'll be waiting." He sighed and looked at his three friends with a faintly bitter gaze, then walked off, heading towards the hallway that Vala had indicated. The raven-haired woman watched him for a few moments, then walked off after him.
"Hey," Mitchell called after her. She paused mid-stride and looked back at him with a questioning expression. "No hanky panky," he told her with an irate voice. The raven-haired woman glared at him with a measure of hostility, then turned away and continued after Daniel.
The Colonel watched the two quietly for a moment, then said quietly to Teal'c. "We'll give 'em a few minutes." The Jaffa nodded wordlessly, and Mitchell added, "Meanwhile, you and I can figure out how we want to play this little release we're about to do." The two wordlessly watched Daniel and Vala from afar for a few more moments.
"Kinda lousy timing for them to finally start figuring things out, huh?" he asked wryly, glancing over at the Jaffa. Teal'c smiled slightly at Mitchell's words, meeting his gaze and nodding.
"Indeed," he answered, pausing for a moment before returning his gaze to the far corner where Daniel and Vala had walked off to. Then he and Cam turned their attention to the hostages and spoke in low tones about how they would handle the upcoming encounter with the forces outside.
Jackson had wandered to the far corner of the room, close to where Vala had deposited her bag and hooked up the computer. He was staring silently at one of the many museum displays, looking over it with crossed arms. His jaw was set firmly, his brow troubled.
Vala approached Daniel hesitantly, watching him with a worried expression as she wondered what she was ever going to say to him. She knew they only had a few minutes to talk, and she wondered what she could ever say to him or expect from him in so short a time. For that matter, she wasn't sure if he would even want to talk to her right now.
"Daniel?" she said cautiously from a few steps away, almost freezing up as he looked back at her and met her eyes with his. He gave her a hard gaze, it looked like he was still angry over what had just happened. As to which part of it was bothering him, she could only guess and worry about. With everything that had happened, she was very nervous about what he was thinking right now.
She swallowed heavily, hesitating before continuing. "Look, I know you're upset that we wouldn't agree to release he hostages, it's just..."
He shook his head at her words, his expression softening. "Vala," he interrupted her with a sigh, "it's okay." Meeting her gaze, he paused, gathering his thoughts. With a weary expression he added, "You were right. As much as I hate to admit it, surrendering the hostages would have been suicide." He looked away, examining the exhibit again.
The raven-haired woman watched him silently for a moment, stepping closer to him. "I'm glad you see it that way, Daniel," she said quietly, hesitating before adding, "but you are still upset about it, aren't you?"
The archaeologist glanced back at her words. He watched her wordlessly, then looked back at the display, which was filled with an array of artifacts from when the Goa'uld ruled the planet. "There was a world we visited not too long ago," he began, speaking while studying the various artifacts. "Our arrival breathed life into a minor religious sect that still believed the Goa'uld that had left them millenia ago were really gods. They took our arrival through the Stargate as a sign their gods were going to return. The sect grew and overthrew the government of one of the world's two superpowers, causing a world-scale war that left millions dead."
Vala blinked in surprise at his words, looking troubled at the tale. Daniel paused for a few moments, then continued, "Now these people think we're some sort of group of rebels. There's no way this is going to end well, Vala," he said with a weary voice. "From here on out, no matter what we do, we've probably screwed things up royally here. Never mind any hope we might have had for good relations with these people." He sighed heavily, looking bitter and disappointed.
"Daniel," she said in a tender voice, stepping closer again. "Things are a bit different here, these people don't seem to want to believe that we came from another planet. Nothing's certain yet, it probably won't be as bad as what happened before." Daniel hesitated at her words, then looked back to meet her gaze, listening intently as she spoke. She continued, "No one chose this, there was nothing anyone could have done to make this happen differently. It was just an unfortunate case of one bad circumstance after another. All we can do now is make the best of it and try to get home in one piece."
He continued looking into her eyes as she finished speaking, considering her words silently. She looked back at him steadfastly, her gaze warm and understanding. He then nodded, saying with a sigh, "I know," He smiled weakly at her, adding, "but that doesn't make it any easier for me." There was then silence as each seemed to run out of things to say.
The two watched each other wordlessly until Vala cleared her throat nervously, looking down for a moment. Daniel furrowed his brow, regarding her with a confused and curious expression. The raven-haired woman looked back up at him, watching him apprehensively as she started to say with a hesitant voice, "Daniel, I..." She stopped, apparently overwhelmed by what she was trying to tell him.
Daniel turned to face her, looking concerned at her demeanor. Vala became even more nervous, regarding him sheepishly and fidgeting a little. She looked down and hesitated, then suddenly blurted out the words in a rush. "I just wanted to apologize for back at the Stargate, it was completely inappropriate of me to kiss you when I did, given the circumstances, I..."
"Vala," Daniel said firmly and quietly, interrupting her as an incredulous expression came over his face at her words. Vala snapped her mouth shut as she heard him speak her name, looking up as he walked over to stand close to her. She stared at him with wide, fearful eyes. The archaeologist clenched his jaw at the sight of her emotional countenance, the memories of her apology from last night and the expression her face just before he kissed her in the first place rushing over him.
As he came to stand near her, Vala suddenly found her breath quickening. She felt terrified as she looked up into his gaze. Shaking his head, he said quietly, "Vala, please don't apologize for that." She furrowed her brow at his words, regarding him with a confused expression. He smiled warmly at her reaction, the first genuine smile she'd seen from him since he broke away from her kiss. She gave a weak, small smile in return, but her eyes were still filled with worry.
"I don't want you to apologize for kissing me," he repeated in a soft, gentle voice. "I could have stopped you earlier, but I didn't." Vala blinked in surprise at his point, looking slightly more relaxed as she considered his words. "I chose to kiss you back..."
After a pause, she sighed and replied, "That's sweet of you to say, Daniel, but Cam and Teal'c could have been hurt or worse while we were..." she paused and closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath and then correcting herself, "while I was..." Her voice trailed off, she found she was unable to finish what she was trying to say.
The archaeologist pursed his lips at her words, reached up and touched her cheek. Her eyes flew open at his touch and she found herself looking into his eyes again. "Vala, if one of us was bein irresponsible for that second kiss, then we both were. There's no way it was just your fault alone." She looked like she was considering his point a little. He grinned, adding, "I mean, I seem to recall kissing back...pretty fervently, too." She couldn't help but smile at this, looking down at his words.
"The simple fact is," he said, "neither Cam nor Teal'c were hurt, and for the moment, everything is under control." Vala looked back up at him, continuing to listen. He could see her continuing struggle with her guilt written clearly on her face. "Please, don't feel bad about what happened, okay?" She pursed her lips and sighed in frustration, looking away as she continued to wrestle with her feelings.
Daniel grinned wryly, adding with a playful voice, "what, do I need to remind you again that I kissed you in the first place?"
Vala looked up at him, blushing slightly. She paused as she looked deeply into his eyes, then smirked at his words. After a few moments, she answered "Oh, I remember that quite well, Daniel." She paused, then added mischievously, "and don't you think I'm ever going to let you forget that fact..."
Daniel smiled widely at her reaction, looking back into her eyes with a warm gaze. The return smile that blossomed upon Vala's lips dazzled the archaeologist. The two stared at each other silently, time seeming to slow to a standstill.
"Hey," came Mitchell's voice, suddenly breaking the spell. The two looked over to see the Colonel standing a few feet away. "Let's go. It's showtime."
