Chapter 5

When Daniel awoke it was already twilight, and the cave was lit by a large, fluorescent lamp.

Vala was sitting up, propped against her rucksack, half heartedly picking at some type of sandwich. Her eyes brightened when she saw him move. "Daniel!" Beginning to wriggle across the ground towards him, she managed to ensnare herself in the IV tubing, to which she was still attached. She glared at it, and started tugging.

"Stop!" Daniel carefully extricated her from the tangle of plastic. He smiled and pinched her chin gently. "How are you feeling now?"

"Fine." Vala handed him the last half of the sandwich. "This is vile though. The cheese has gone all bendy. I don't even know if it still is cheese. It cheese meant to be orange? I'd much rather have had one of those chocolate deserts but Carolyn said I had to have something savoury first. She's already told me off once, did you know? I'd only just woken up and she told me off! I think that's quite unreasonable, don't you? I mean, she hadn't seen me for two days, and the first thing she did was chastise me! And Cameron was no help – he just sat there listening. I thought a team leader was supposed to defend his team members. I heard…."

"Perhaps he was pretty angry at you too?" Daniel interrupted, screwing his eyes up and trying to drown out his team mate's diatribe. "I mean, I guess if I knew that one team mate had carelessly made themselves ill, so another team mate could, let's say, get more water, then perhaps I'd feel pretty cross too."

Vala clamped her mouth shut. Pushing away from Daniel, she frowned and put her nose in the air. "Thank you for your support, darling," she added sarcastically.

The archaeologist sighed. He wouldn't have described his feelings as anger towards her, just shock when he realized how Vala had given up most of her own water for him. And now she was upset. But that was something else that she probably wouldn't admit to.

"Come here." Tugging at her arm, Daniel 'ouched' as he caught his bad ankle against the floor.

"How does it feel?" Vala forgot that she was angry and hurt and looked straight into his eyes, biting her lip.

Daniel swallowed suddenly, heart doing odd little somersaults inside his chest. She still looked beautiful, even sweaty and covered in sand, with her hair all matted and sticking up. Every day it seemed, he was starting to see more and more the real beauty of the person inside Vala.

Something had shifted between them, while they'd been stuck on this god awful planet. Vala had shown, yet again, how brave and quick-thinking she really was.

And Daniel – there was a feeling beginning to rear it's head inside his own soul – a sensation that he hadn't felt since Sha're had died. And Vala would have died for him, without even thinking twice.

The archaeologist felt truly humbled. "Um – it's better," he managed to get out, unable to look away from her mouth for some reason, which curved into a tiny smile. "The ankle. It's -uh - it's not broken."

Vala nodded, shy suddenly, and ducked her head.

"Thank you for looking after me," Daniel added, sincerely. "Really. I might not still be here, if it wasn't for you."

"Ah, pffft!" Vala waved a two handed flap, and tried not to look as if she was pleased. "Anyone could have done it."

"Yes, but it wasn't anyone who did it. It was you." Daniel took hold of her hand which had the IV still in situ, thinking that she might not waggle that one about at much as the other. "Thank you."

It was Vala's turn to swallow now. She was unsure whether to extricate her hand, which felt very comfortable in Daniel's, or to take hold of his other one. His eyes were boring into her own – those gorgeous, clear, summer sky blue eyes. Without realising it her lips parted slightly.

Okay, that's my cue, thought the archaeologist. It's now or never. Then he leaned forward, slipped his free hand up behind her neck, and kissed her softly and sweetly. He didn't care that he wasn't hidden by the night anymore.

Vala needed no second chances. She leaned in to the kiss, half climbing into Daniel's lap, wrapping her arms around him and returning the embrace with considerable fervour. How long the two of them would have been stuck together, smooching like teenagers, is unsure.

Mitchell's arrival on the scene, and his – "Aw, come on! Get a room, you two!" – was what broke them apart eventually.

Vala stayed tucked up in between Daniel's legs, grinning idiotically. Her beloved held her close against himself, a similar dopey smile on his own face.

"I hope that you two haven't spent the whole time that you've been here making out!" Mitchell, only half joking, threw a bottle of water at Daniel.

"No," Vala took the bottle and swigged from it. "I was being a nurse. I like being a nurse. Perhaps I'll help Carolyn in the infirmary sometime."

"God help us all!" Mitchell said, frankly, then winked. "Only teasing, Princess."

"How did you find us?" she asked, after she'd sent a healthy glare in her CO's direction.

"Well," Mitchell sat down on the sandy, pebbly floor beside them. "When you two didn't follow us back or return overnight, General Landry sent a MALP through, to see if we could make out what had happened."

"I saw it," Vala told him, sadly. "It was all shot to pieces."

"Yep, sure was," Mitchell took a slurp of water from his own bottle. "Gave us quite a shock, watching them blow it up. But then, of course, we knew that that was probably why you guys hadn't made it back to the gate. Bad guys guarding it. We noticed their breathing apparatus as well – thought that was kinda odd. Had to get hold of Carter on the Hammond – which took a day or so – she checked on the Asgard data base – this planet has one weird atmosphere, you know that?"

"You're telling us?" Daniel widened his eyes. "Where do you think we've been, the last few days?"

Mitchell grinned. "Yeah, I guess. Well, anyway, we got ourselves all kitted out in some of the SGC's Haz-Mat gear, hurled a load of explosives through the gate, then came on afterwards." He chuckled. "There weren't many of the guards still standing upright by that time. Some of the villagers were already out to meet us – they'd been completely over-run by the Alliance 'bout a month ago. They couldn't get a message to us, and weren't able to let us know when we all arrived, a few days ago. Women and children were being held hostage and all sorts." His face looked grim, and hard.

Vala leaned forward and rubbed his arm.

Mitchell roused himself, and squeezed her fingers. "Anyway, all the villagers are safe again now. But when we questioned them, nobody had seen you. So we turned on the tracker, and there you two were, hidden away down here. And that's that."

There was silence for a few moments, all three team mates mulling over the last few days.

Teal'c's appearance at the cave entrance distracted them.

"Muscles!" Vala went to move towards him, forgetting again that she was still attached to the drip.

Daniel caught hold of her just in time, before she succeeded in ripping it out of her hand.

"It is good to see you both," Teal'c smiled. "We have been most concerned over your wherabouts these last few days." He seated himself just inside the entrance, hair glistening with raindrops. "Dr Lam informs me that we should prepare to settle down for the night. Captain's Johnson and Treadgold from SG-7 are taking the first watch, although we expect no further incidents."

"Is someone guarding the gate?" Daniel asked.

Mitchell nodded. "SG-3. No-one's getting through it again without our permission!" He bid his team mates goodnight before creeping out of the cave and heading off to radio SG3 and check all was well around the campsite.

It was completely dark outside by now. Teal'c also bid his team mates goodnight and headed off for his own tent.

Vala, for once, sat still and quiet. She'd never belonged to a team where people actually cared if you lived or died. She'd never even belonged to a team. Sure, she'd shacked up with different people over the years, to pull off a multitude of scams and shenanigans, some more successful than others. But those people were just in it to get something out of her – her smuggling skills, or her con-woman act. She'd never been part of a gang where the other members considered your life as being equal to their own.

"Hey," Daniel lifted back a straggly, sandy bunch of hair that had slipped out of her pigtail. "You okay?"

Vala's eyes shone in the light from the lamp as she smiled, making them crinkle at the corners. "I am. I am okay. I think I might always be. If I'm here. Not on this horrid planet obviously, because then I would most definitely not be alright. What I mean is I'll be alright if I'm at the SGC. If I'm with you." She stopped suddenly, breathless, having given too much away.

Daniel, face inscrutable, carefully ran one finger along her jaw line. He felt as if he'd let go of something these past couple of days, something which he'd held on to for a long time. It wasn't good, nor was it bad – it was just something – a nameless emotion, a fear, a way of reacting that he'd slipped into since Sha're had been gone. Who would have thought that the zany alien who drove him to distraction and irritated him beyond measure would also have been the one to make him feel whole again.

"You're a fruitcake!" Daniel told her, pulling her as close to him as was humanly possible, before flicking the 'off' switch on the lamp and plunging the cave into darkness.

Teal'c, passing by outside a few minutes later, pretended that he couldn't hear the soft, gentle sounds of two people who were meant to be together finally getting down to what they should have been doing years ago. He smiled serenely, remembering the Odyssey and a time that nobody else did. It was good to know that events which worked out in one time line also managed to come to fruition in another.

A whispered conversation from inside the cave, followed by a chuckle from Vala interrupted his musings. Teal'c moved away, content.

Gradually the camp settled down for the night. Voices stilled, lights dimmed.

Inside the cave Daniel lay awake for a long time with Vala, asleep, tucked in close against him. He couldn't seem to shift the idiotic grin that spread across his face. Eventually he shifted slightly and turned onto his back.

Vala made a noise like a little mouse and turned over with him, wriggling up close. "Love you Daniel," she muttered, not really awake.

"Love you too," he replied, and gently kissed her dusty, grimy forehead. "And I have done for a long time."

THE END.

Thanks to all of you who stuck with this piece of utter fluffy nonsense!