I had writer's block for months after writing that last chapter, which is why this one is so late and the previous was a lot smaller than the first. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this and happy finale, people. I mean it this time. I think.

The Funeral of Hearts

Romance and Adventure

Rated M

English

Daniel & Vala

Chapter Ten

Daniel moved his arm around her waist, feeling her tense slightly, clearing his throat. "You didn't ruin anything." He relaxed next to her in the narrow bed, the dark making it difficult to make out any objects. Only grey shapes. "Vala?"

"Honest?" She answered him, feeling the blanket being pulled around her more tightly as he settled with her, under the sheets.

"Honest." They fell asleep to the sound of rain outside.

Vala woke to an empty bed, save for herself. She quickly tuned into Daniel in the opposite room, probably busying himself with packing and what they were going to wear for the great escape up the trail to the village Stargate. She pulled down the sleeves of the nightdress which covered the scratches around her wrists and opened the door. A sleepy expression played on her face when she found him doing exactly what she had envisioned.

"Hey, so much for an early start. I thought we were going at dawn? So we would have a better chance of not getting spotted by any nasty little people?" She watched him as he pulled at the toggle of an olive green backpack and stuffed it underneath the wooden dining table. Vala rubbed at her eyes at the day light. At that precise minute, Daniel snagged something from underneath the chair leg, out of her sight.

"Well, I thought about that, I didn't want to wake you and it'd be less suspicions if we went in the day." He filled up a canteen of water and attended to the food cooking on the fireplace, the fire at a low heat. Less smoke that way. After a meal of black tea and oats, Daniel handed Vala a small bag with a satchel strap and a brown, wool cloak. A look of confusion crossed her features.

"It's so we can move faster, there's food, a drink and a weapon if we'll be needing it." Daniel slung the satchel over his own over his change of clothes, shades of green and black so they'd blend into the usual villagers and the wilderness if there would be anybody watching. Vala followed suit after changing into another spare outfit of the previous villager. A long, grey dress stopping at the ankles with a tie at the waist and long sleeves.

With both capes donned and fastened, Daniel bolted the front door and exited out the back with Vala in tow. The two travellers struggled up the muddy trail, to the pass between the trees and grassy plains. Daniel looked back over his shoulder, seeing the kind villager honour his side of the deal and return home. A blurred figure, blending into the thatch-roof door and disappearing beyond. In the distance he could make out the giant, metal ring in the distance.

The air was stale, it must have rained during the night, the earthy path was sodden and there were droplets on the greenery. Vala surveyed the small, tucked away area with a small pond in the forest surrounding the village and Stargate. She dunked her feet in the cold water and swung them happily in the shallow water, clear enough to see the pebbles below. "Want to join me?" She looked over the shoulder, heavy material around her neck as she watched him.

"No, thanks." He shook his head at the second time the siren tried to sing her song.

"Really? You should have bathed last night, too. Smelling a bit ripe." She feigned a grimace which didn't take too much conjuring.

"Charming." He replied, a smile touched his lips.

"You're welcome." She turned back to the water before leaving. After a two hour walk through the gross wilderness, the pair eventually arrived at the DHD. A small ways from the village, the well and Goa'uld vessel a distant sparkle on the horizon. Vala sighed whole heartedly before settling on the ramp at the Stargate. Daniel stayed at the DHD, checking the dialling crystals were indeed intact and quickly punched in the home address. He ran over to Vala who had curled up beneath the ring, pulled her up from the ground as the wormhole opened and burst forth.

"Damn, that was close..." He looked down at her tired face and brushed the fringe from her eyes. He helped her wake and stand before quickly pulling her through the Stargate behind him.

Daniel Jackson rested his head against the cool steel of the elevator wall. His hand staying on the button he'd used on the control panel to get him to the guest rooms floor. The edged key-card dug into his palm and fingers before he pocketed the item and moved away from the door. He'd been lost in his thoughts since exiting the Stargate on the Stargate Command's side. The last time he saw Vala was when they'd taken her from him in the gate room. Sodden clothes leaving a trail down the run-way. He had a minor examination as she had hers – knowing he wasn't the main source of the doctors' attention. After showering and changing into much drier clothes, he'd helped himself to coffee and chose to turn in for the night. She wouldn't be fully conscious yet, anyway. Probably going through a smorgasbord of medical examinations and having sedatives throughout the coming night.

The elevator pinged cheerfully as it opened, dragging him out from underneath a dark cloud of thoughts. "Hey." He looked up to see Vala, dressed in blue hospital garb and key-card in hand. She smiled gently and easily slipped between the grey doors. "Going my way?" Vala pushed the already glowing button and slipped the card in the waist-band of her white pants.

"Hey to you too." He eyed her carefully. White bandages around her wrists and cleaned, healing cuts on her face. He had thought about properly taking care of her injuries back on her home planet. Although only having limited medical supplies and medieval age medicine on the planet wouldn't have sufficed. "Should you be out of bed?"

Vala peered at him, lips pursed in a bemused pout. "Mm, they've got me on antibiotics. Gave me a sedative. They've taken a sample of just about every type amount of fluid from me, too. Now all I want is a good night's sleep." She shrugged and swallowed hard, looking over at him intently. "Are you okay?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He took the replacement key-card from her hip and gave it a quick once over. He knew close to very little about the internal defences of the SGC but he knew getting her a death certificate reprieve would take a lot longer then only twenty four hours. Having been through the same thing only four years prior.

"You just have? But thank you." Daniel handed it back to her and he noted more healing cuts and grazes underneath the hem of her clothes. She had probably hid it from him on purpose. Having already told him off for overly 'fussing' when he couldn't find any clothes that were warm enough for the escape he'd planned.

"Are you angling for something?" He gave her a sideways glance

"Possibly." Vala replied, sounding almost sincere. Almost.

Daniel hovered his index finger of the button to his quarters instead the doors opened to the desired previous floor then retracted. He gestured to her, a slight nod of the head and Vala visibly brightened and stepped closer to him, wrapping thin arms around him, bunching her hands in his clothes. Daniel felt her relax against him as he brought his around her, feeling the elevator begin to rise around them. "Damn it, why does it feel as if I'm always loosing you?" Daniel asked, eyeing the elevator's movement on the control panel.

Vala sighed in kind. Being sucked into the Ori galaxy wasn't exactly penned in her diary, neither was being abducted by a former rival of her Goa'uld. "Because... you are?" He was that close, she could smell the shower gel from where she stood. He'd showered. Finally. She pressed her lips together to conceal a smile forming.

"That's a cheery thought." Daniel felt just how thin she had grown over the many weeks. Jutting out vertebra, ribs and shoulder blades as she breathed deeply, feeling himself follow suit. She smelt of nature and a hint antiseptic. He separated from her as the doors rolled open the third time. "I found these on the floor in the house. If you still want them?" Daniel took the dog tags he'd found under the table out his BDU pocket and handed them to her. A hopeful expression crossed her features. He took her hand in his and tugged her towards the opening.

"Oh! I thought I'd lost these. I took them off before going into the village and you know- the inevitable happened." Vala made a snapping mouth motion with her free hand and nodded. "Thank you." She beamed.

"Come on, I've got something else for you." Daniel pulled her into his guest room, vast numbers of text books, notebooks and artefacts blanketed almost every surface excluding the bed. "Ah, I forgot about all this. I had Walter feed my fish, not tidy up. I'd left in a hurry." Daniel swiped several things off the chair and along the table to uncover the wooden top. He reached under the bed and pulled out a cardboard box. "Close your eyes."

She did. Vala heard a shuffle and a scraping sound that would be the lid on the box. She couldn't smell anything nor feel as her hands still held the dog tags and chain which was slowly turning wet with sweat from how long she gripped onto the lost accessory. "Open." Vala heard him say. She inhaled sharply then opened her eyes, a slow smile emerged on her face as she pulled the wooden item.

"Daniel, you kept some of my things?" She sat on the edge of the chair against the table. Vala traced her fingers against the indentations on the jewellery box and pulled some more things from the seeming bottomless pit; several items of clothing and personal effects from her time before joining SG-1. "Yup, if you were alive, I thought it'd be nice to come home to more than me telling you your things are in storage until you get cleared."

"That's sweet of you." She pulled her lip between her teeth and opened the jewellery box just enough to place the tags inside. Before resuming tracing the wooden patterns. Vala looked over to him. "It's late and I'm really tired."

"Why don't you stay here? Your room has- lets say been commandeered by another. For now." He looked her over. She avoided his gaze, feet swinging under the table as she played with her fingers and jewellery box in her lap. "Now I know you're sick. What? No witty come back?" He tutted, mockingly.

"You'd only wish I was still seducing you." She grinned to herself.

"That's better." Daniel turned his back to her and tidied the space at the foot of the bed from clothes and yet more hard-backed books.

Vala replaced her possessions in the box and went over to the bed. Throwing the top sheets off and climbing in, leaving him with the adorable stunned and half a-gape expression on his face in her wake which she had seen many a time in their past. She blinked innocently and patted the sheets. "Come on, I don't bite you know that much."

"No and no?" He exhaled and threw the pile of clothes in the corner of the room, getting in after her and shutting off the light.

She squirmed under the sheets and snuggled closer to him, grabbing a handful of t-shirt. " I don't think you know just how much I've missed you." She mutters into the darkness. Unsure whether it was better to shut her eyes or keep them open as it was that dark. "When you've been alone for that long and you loose your grasp on just about everything."

"Would it help if I said I missed you too?" He reciprocated her actions and looked over to where she'd made herself at home.

"Hmm, I think so." Vala sucked at the inside of her mouth, knowing fine well he did. The man could only hide his emotions so much for so long.

"I just did." Daniel replied. He heard the smile in her voice as well as feel her breath on him.

"Then, say it again." A Cheshire cat grin aimed into the dark.

Daniel inhaled deeply as he pressed his lips to her temple, even in the darkness he whispered to her. "I've missed you, a lot these past several weeks." Too intimate a thing to say out loud, even in the confines of his quarters. "I hunted you down and got you out, just as I promised, surely that proved it doesn't it?" He moved his lips and tip of nose down her face, tracing the lines of her cheeks. The darkness not exactly playing a helping hand. Daniel felt her nod and turn in his arms to move her mouth over his.

Fin?