Title: The Journey

Summary: Daniel and Vala are on a race against time to save a dying Cameron.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate.

Chapter 7: Wounds

He just held onto her until they fell asleep, hoping that their death would be swift and painless.

Several hours later, Daniel heard an angel calling his name softly. He was amazed that he had actually died and made it to heaven this time. The angel continued to call his name, urging him to open his eyes, but he could not seem to lift open his heavy eyelids.

He felt himself being shaken, gently at first, then with more force.

"Daniel!" The angel was getting more insistent now. The angel with the familiar accented voice.

His eyes slowly opened, and what do you know, he was wrong again. He was not dead, an angel was not calling his name. Vala was kneeling over him shaking him.

"Daniel? Oh, good you are awake." She sat back a bit.

Daniel rubbed his eyes. He thought that they were supposed to die. He didn't understand why he and Vala were still alive.

"Vala? What...?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I woke up a few minutes ago and the wall behind us was open again and we were still alive." She gestured with her hand to the place where the wall once stood.

Daniel groaned and stood up to get dressed. "No poison?"

"I guess not darling, either that or it didn't affect us for some reason."

"Well, we can't turn back. I guess we should try the puzzle again."

Vala nodded. "Okay, so which color now? Blue or green?"

Daniel was still trying to wake up from his deep sleep, memories of the previous night flooded his mind. He knew that Vala would want to discuss what had happened between them. He was just glad that she was keeping quiet about it for the time being.

"I have no idea, go ahead and try one, fifty-fifty chance you will be right."

She looked over at him with uncertainty in her gray eyes. "Just choose one?"

"Yes, it's the only thing we can do."

She swallowed hard before pressing the blue triangle hesitantly.

A tense moment passed while the two of them waited. The wall in front of them shook and then slowly ascended upwards.

Daniel smiled at Vala. "Looks like you choose correctly, let's get out of here."

They gathered their things and headed further down the tunnel. Daniel and Vala traveled in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Although Daniel was very glad that they were both alive and still had a chance to save Cameron, he couldn't help thinking about the possible repercussions of sleeping with Vala. Would they just go on pretending that it never happened? Would she go after another man now that she had gotten what she wanted out of him? Did she want something more out of him? Out of them? And what did he want? He cared for her deeply, but he wasn't sure if he could trust her in a relationship, hell he wasn't sure he could trust himself in a relationship.

A few minutes later, the inevitable happened. "Daniel?"

He knew what was coming. "Yes?"

Vala kept her gaze on the ground. "Umm, I think we have to talk about what happened between us."

Daniel sighed hard, he really wished that she would just forget about it, at least until their journey was complete. "We don't need to discuss it right now, let's just focus on saving Cam."

She stopped suddenly, her head whipped around to face him. "No, we need to talk about it now."

Daniel didn't miss the venom in her words, or the anger glinting in her eyes. He couldn't do it though, he wasn't ready. "I can't have this conversation with you right now okay?"

The angry look grew even more furious, turning Vala's eyes into a fiery maelstrom of fury. She forcefully plopped back down onto the sand. "I'm not going anywhere until we straighten this out."

Daniel tried to pull her up. "Just stop! You are acting like a child, not that that is anything new. We are on working against the clock here, get up now!"

She wrenched her arm away from his. "No! I'm not moving so you better start talking if you want to save Mitchell."

He threw his hands in the air in frustration. She was making him very angry. Fine, he would tell her how it is. "Alright, you win. You want to know what I think about what happened last night?"

She just glared at him so he continued. "I thought we were going to die, so I figured one last romp would be a good way to leave this world. It was just a heat of the moment type of thing, don't read into it."

Vala's anger melted into a look of hurt. He had wounded her deeply.

Daniel wanted to apologize for his lie, he knew that what he said was not true. However, his pride got in the way. Even though he knew that she was hurt by his statement, he let her believe that it was the truth. It was easier that way.

"Oh, well I guess you cleared that up." Vala got back up, keeping her face forward, not even glancing at Daniel.

"Yes, now can we continue?"

As they ventured further into the temple, silence was the only thing that passed between them. Daniel just stared at the endless rows of walls on either side of him and the sandy ground beneath them. His muscles ached, almost as bad as his heart. He was sick of this whole situation, he just wanted to find the damn gem and get the cure for Cam.

Eventually the pair came to the end of the tunnel, they immediately pressed on the wall to look for a hidden door.

Vala's hand found it quickly and the wall fell away to a large room.

Vala entered first, followed by Daniel. "There it is! The Shashana gem!"

Vala pointed to the middle of the room where a very large, beautiful gem sat on a pedestal.

Daniel looked around the room, wary of traps. "Okay, let's be careful here. Who knows what kinds of traps are awaiting us in this room."

They studied the room cautiously, but could find nothing suspicious.

Vala turned to Daniel. "I don't see anything, let's go get it."

Daniel and Vala slowly made their way over to the gem, as Daniel reached for it, he prayed that it wasn't just a hologram.

His hands connected with the cool surface of the gem and he sighed in relief as he placed it carefully in his bag. "Let's get out of here."

Vala nodded as they looked for a way out. Finally finding an exit, they rushed over to it and left the room.

As soon as their feet hit the ground in the new tunnel, a horrible sound filled their ears and the temple began to shake violently.

Vala looked up to see the temple crumbling around them. "Umm, I think we need to hurry."

Daniel grabbed her hand and they ran through the tunnel, narrowly missing being hit by various pieces of stone that were falling all around them.

Finally Daniel saw daylight up ahead, he pulled Vala along faster as they stumbled out of the temple.

They quickly ran away from the collapsing pyramid. They found the path they had previously cut through and took it back.

Halfway back to the stargate, Vala tripped on a vine and fell with a scream.

Daniel stopped to help her up. "Come on." He really needed to get away from that place as soon as possible.

She shook her head and grimaced in pain. "I...I can't. I hurt my ankle!"

Daniel examined her rapidly swelling foot. "Damn, looks like you may have sprained it, I'll have to carry you back."

Vala whimpered as he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to where the stargate was.

He dialed the gate. "I'm sending you back to Earth, I will return to the old lady myself and get the cure for Cameron. Go tell General Landry that we found the gem and that I went to go get the antidote."

"But..."

"No, I can't have you limping around in case something bad happens on the other planet." The wormhole opened in front of them. "Go now, I'll be back as soon as I get the cure."

Vala let go of Daniel's supportive arm and limped her way to the stargate. With one last sad gaze at him, she stepped through the gate.

End of Chapter 7. I hope everyone is enjoying the story. :)

-J