Author's Note: Another fluffer. Happy Labor Day all. As always, please let me know your thoughts.
o0o
You Are More
Vala preferred when they went to more advanced worlds.
Things were more interesting and there was so much to see. Accommodations were better and there were no silly superstitious leaders or small minded people – for the most part. It also piqued everyone else's interest for various reasons. Samantha always loved looking at the science and seeing how close they were to Earth or how they differed. She usually ended up going home with ideas on how to improve Earth's own advancement. Mitchell and Teal'c liked to see their defenses, whether it was weapons or how they trained their people – always looking to improve the training, strategies, and defenses for Earth. Daniel, well he obviously went for the history of their world out of pure curiosity. And her? It was all about what they had to offer in terms of merchandise. Shallow? Perhaps, but she couldn't pretend to be as interested in what the others liked.
Once the determination was made that they didn't have anything to fear from the Negarans, they split up. In the past, Vala had been forced to go with one of them, mainly Daniel since he had unofficially been designated as her babysitter, but over the last year, they learned to trust her. She wasn't sure when it happened, but she suspected it was around the time she chose them over Adria – during the hunt for the Sangraal. She knew for sure when she tried to kill Adria in an attempt to save Daniel. She generally used free time like this to check out the markets or shopping districts, and that's what she did on Negaris.
The Negarans' shopping district was huge compared to many she had visited. It was similar to many of the Earth Malls she and Samantha frequented, but on a much larger scale. She technically wasn't allowed to bring back merchandise from other worlds, but she always managed to sneak back small trinkets – everyone knew but since they were of little consequence, they never berated her for it. It was usually something in the form of jewelry or hair accessories, and today, she was on the hunt for a hair accessory. She had seen several women wearing a particular one she had taken a fancy to, and she was determined to buy one.
Unfortunately, she wasn't having much luck in the smaller shops, and resigned herself to the fact that she would have to go into one of the bigger and more expensive shops to find it. At this point, she knew it would cost more than she planned, and that Daniel would lecture her for spending so much on a simple hair accessory, but she decided she didn't care.
"Hello, may I help you?" a woman walked up to her the second she stepped in the fancy store. The saleswoman gave her SG-1 uniform a quick glance over, and Vala recognized the familiar look she had. "You are one of the visitors from the other world."
Vala smiled. She didn't think she would ever get used to people's surprise at the fact that life existed outside their planet. "I am," she confirmed. "I'm Vala Mal Doran." She would have held out her hand to shake, but she realized a while back that many planets didn't have the same custom as Earth and stopped offering it altogether.
"I am Asra," the woman smiled back before gesturing her father into the store. "How may I be of service?"
Vala pointed at the woman's head. "I'm looking for that."
Asra touched the sparkly, flower-like clip. "Of course. Let me show where they are," she led Vala further into the building. "We have several colors and designs to choose from."
"Excellent!" Vala grinned in excitement and once she saw the display, she started to debate if she wanted more than one. "Oh boy. Daniel is going to kill me," she mumbled as she fingered a row of shiny clips.
"Who?"
Vala didn't have time to reply. A loud commotion broke out in front of the store and caught her attention. She frowned and, like any member of SG-1, headed straight for it. Before she could even take more than four steps, she heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire. Out of pure instinct, she ducked and reached for her weapon. Her hand balled in frustration – they had surrendered their weapons as a condition set by the Negarans. It was a decision she regretted being in support of. Thankfully, she still had her radio.
"Guys, come in," she said quietly into her radio.
"Vala?" Daniel instantly responded, and by his slightly worried voice, she knew he could tell something was wrong.
She pressed the button on the radio to relay the situation, but more shots were fired and they were closer to her than before. She released the button and sought cover. Her radio soon blew up with questions from all three of her teammates. She gritted her teeth at the noise they made. "Find me!" she hissed into the radio. "And go radio silent before you get me killed."
With her back against a solid display, she took a deep breath before she slowly peeked around it to get a read on the situation. From her position, she could see that it was a male, roughly six feet, caucasian, black hair, but he was a little too far to make out any more identifying features. The most obvious thing about him was the gun. It wasn't some small handgun as she was hoping – it was more similar to their P-90s but larger. He also sealed the entrance, meaning they were trapped.
"Fuck," she whispered, glancing around for something to defend herself with – something that could help her end this situation.
No luck.
"Asra!" the gunman yelled.
Vala frowned but she didn't have time to figure out why and instead searched for the woman in question. She spotted her by the display they had just been at and made a beeline to her. Their location gave them no cover, so she dragged the two of them to a spot with better coverage. They both cringed when more gun fire was let out.
"Asra! I know you are here!"
Vala looked at her and noticed she was on the verge of hyperventilating. "Hey," she whispered and framed the woman's face with her hands. "Just breathe. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
"How?" she screeched in a whisper.
How indeed? She didn't even have a proper weapon at her disposal. "Trust me," if the woman was smart, she wouldn't. "Who is he? Why is he after you?" she asked. She needed more details before she could proceed.
"Namrin," she whispered. "I recently ended our union, and he was against it."
Ex-husband. That's just great. "Is there another exit? A backway out?"
Asra shook her head.
Damn it.
More gun fire. "Asra!" Namrin shouted. "If you don't show yourself, I will start using this on others!" The gun went off again.
Asra whimpered and cowered further into Vala.
Vala sighed. What would SG-1 do? Well, most of them would do a tactical approach, but since she wasn't armed, that wasn't much of an option, leaving only what Daniel would do – talk to him. Her head fell against the cabinet in despair – she was likely going to get them all killed, but what choice did she have. She sighed and sat on the balls of her feet. Before she could rise, Asra grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing?" she hissed.
That was the question of the day. "I'm gonna talk to him?" she phrased it as more of a question than a statement, but before Asra could stop her, she popped up from her hiding spot. "Hello!" she said cheerfully and with a false smile. As expected, he pointed the gun at her and she quickly put her hands up. "I'm not gonna hurt you," she told him calmly. "Why don't you put that down."
His grip wavered, giving her the idea that he was conflicted about actually hurting anyone. "You are one of the visitors from the other world."
She smiled. "I am," she confirmed. "My name is Vala. What's yours?" That's what Daniel did, right? Build a rapport or something?
He hesitated before answering, "Namrin."
"Nice to meet you." It took more control than she assumed to keep her voice steady. What was she doing? She wasn't qualified for this! "Why don't we put the gun down and go somewhere to talk?" she suggested with a light tone.
His grip tightened on the gun. "No," he practically snared.
She grimaced. Obviously the wrong approach. Too hasty. "Okay, that's fine." It really wasn't. "Why don't you tell me what's this about? Maybe I can help."
He scoffed at her. "You would not understand."
Vala raised an eyebrow. "You'd be surprised," she gave him her most sincerest look she could muster. "Try me."
As she suspected, he wasn't taking the breakup with Asra very well, and was deluded enough to believe that he could shoot up her place of work, threaten her and everyone in the store, and somehow win her back.
"I understand, and I know how you feel," she tried to emphasize with him, "but this isn't how you get her back."
"You know nothing!" he sneered at her.
Vala wished that were true. "I do," she argued gently, and gave him a sad smile. "I know a lot about unrequited love."
Namrin appeared intrigued but he tried to hide it – unsuccessfully. "How could you possibly?"
"I know what it's like to love someone who'll never love you back…not in the way you want them to," whether she liked it or not, they both had something in common, and as much as she hated to think about it, let alone talk about it in front of multiple strangers, it seemed to be the only way to reach him. "But that doesn't mean you can take that pain and use it to hurt others. This isn't the right way."
"And why is the right way?" he asked in a mocking tone.
"I'm not sure, but this isn't it," she told him honestly. "I know it's hard, but maybe you need to let her go – move on."
Namrin huffed. "Could you?" he asked a question that she knew he wouldn't like the answer to.
She chuckled bitterly. "I've thought of leaving," she confessed in a small voice. "Staying in the never ending situation is so hard and hurts – it really hurts sometimes," she bit her lip and took a moment to compose herself. "But when I think of leaving, the pain of never seeing him again, working together, or just being a team, would hurt more."
She probably wasn't helping matters. She was supposed to be giving him a reason to surrender, not cling onto the woman who didn't want him. Gods, did that make her pathetic for staying on Earth to be close to Daniel?
Instead of using it against her, Namrin looked genuinely confused. "Why do that to yourself?"
His arm lowered a fraction, giving her hope that she was actually helping deescalate the situation. If baring her soul would get him to surrender, it looks like that was her plan of action. "I accepted a long time ago that I was in love with a man who couldn't love me back – someone who was still in love with his dead wife, and that would never change," it hurt to face the reality of that truth, but in a way, it was healthy for her to say it aloud. "It left me with two choices – I could either accept it or leave, which I've already established I couldn't do, so I stayed. I'd rather only be his friend than nothing at all."
Gods, she really was pathetic.
"So," she said cheerfully and clapped her hands together, "here I am, trying to talk you down from doing something you will regret," she met his eyes. "I know how you feel, so that's how I know this isn't the right way to handle it. Give me the gun," she implored and cautiously reached out her hand.
He hesitated and she was worried she tried too soon again, but it looked like she got through to him, for he lowered the gun completely. Vala tried closed the few feet between them to take it, but only a foot away from him, she heard the unmistakable whizzing sound of a bullet flying past her, and the next thing she knew, it struck Namrin and he fell to the floor.
Chaos broke out around her. While people scrambled around her, she stood still and looked down at Namrin's unmoving body. She took a shaky breath and knelt beside him to take his pulse. Nothing.
"Vala!"
She felt her shoulder jerk at someone shaking it. A familiar face came into view. "Hey, you okay?"
"Daniel," she whispered but she doubted he could hear her over the panic in the room.
Daniel's thumb swiped at her cheek and when he pulled back, she noticed the blood on it. "Are you hurt?"
Vala blinked as she forced herself back into reality. She glanced at Namrin. "You didn't have to shoot him," she said in a hard voice. "He was surrendering."
"Hey," he moved her chin so she was looking at him again, "we didn't. In fact, we tried to stop them. You talked him down to where he was no longer a threat, but they wouldn't listen," he gave her a small smile. "You did good, and his death is not your fault."
She stiffened. "You heard?" she forced all emotion out of her voice. "You were here?"
There was something in his expression that she couldn't decipher but she had a feeling she didn't want to or else she'd be completely mortified. "There's an entrance through an underground tunnel that leads to the back of the store," he explained. "We weren't far from here and heard the commotion. The police were nice enough to allow us to tag along."
Oh gods. "H-how long have you been here?" Her nails dug into her palms as she waited for his answer.
Daniel looked like he fought a wince. "Not long after you started up a conversation with him," he admitted with what seemed like reluctance.
That's it. Someone kill her now.
Vala abruptly stood and walked away, ignoring Daniel's order to stop. She spotted Mitchell walking towards her with concern on his face. She gave him a small smile. "I'm fine," she assured him when he was close enough but didn't have any plans to stop walking.
Something Mitchell could clearly see. "Vala –" he started when she was just about in front of him, but she stopped him.
"Don't let him follow me," she begged as she passed him and didn't turn around to see if he would do it.
She knew he would. If Daniel heard, he heard. It wasn't a secret to anyone but Daniel. Even then, she thought it was plain for him to see too, but he never did, and she decided she'd like to keep it that way. Right now, she felt humiliated that he heard her whole pathetic confession and it left her feeling exposed and vulnerable, and she couldn't handle seeing him, let alone talk to him about it. Mitchell would understand and ensure she had the privacy she so desired.
In fact, she had a feeling she'd be avoiding Daniel and possibly the rest of the team for a while.
o0o
He had been in terrifying situations before.
In fact, Daniel could actually state with great confidence that they had been worse than this, but when Vala radioed, he instantly knew something was off and it set him on high alert. Hearing gunshots over the radio sent him into overdrive. Despite being in more dire situations in the past, he couldn't remember feeling more terrified than at that moment.
He reacted instantly. He switched radio channels as it was protocol in situations like this, and hightailed it out of there. It wasn't hard to find the source of the shooting and he was thankful he wasn't too far away – neither were Teal'c or Mitchell. The police had already been on scene and Mitchell was able to talk his way into letting them go along with them to the only entrance point available to them.
They stealthily entered the store with the planet's version of SWAT at the moment where Vala confessed that she thought of leaving Earth because of someone. He felt pure rage flow through him in that instance. He wanted to go and find this guy and beat the shit out of him for putting her through that kind of pain. He was also jealous – not that he would admit it. But then she said she was in love with a guy who still loved his dead wife, and that's when he knew she was talking about him. He watched her, desperate to know more.
He was so enthralled at her and the connection she was making with the gunman, he hadn't noticed the police getting in place. When the guy lowered his gun and Vala slowly went forward to take it, he couldn't have been prouder of her. But, for the second time that day, he felt his heart stop at the sound of gunfire. It took him a few seconds to realize she was fine, but even then, he rushed forward with the rest of the police. He had to see for himself that she was okay.
Aside from some shock, she was okay. Seeing the blood spatter from the gunman across her face sent anger through him. They shouldn't have taken the shot with her so close – he heard Mitchell arguing with them but they wouldn't listen. At least she was okay, and that's all that mattered.
Then she realized he heard almost everything and bolted. When trying to go after her, Mitchell stopped him. When he tried to go around the Colonel, Teal'c stepped in to help.
"You knew," he mumbled when he finally figured out why they were stopping him.
Mitchell gave him a sad look. "Everyone knows," he stated. "Everyone but you."
He stumbled back at the accusation. He didn't deny it since it was most likely true. He just blamed himself for never seeing it.
"I need to talk to her," he mumbled and took a step forward only to be pushed back by Mitchell.
Cameron ignored his glare. "Not yet," he said firmly but gently. "Give her some time. Right now, she's embarrassed and not ready to talk. Just wait."
He hated to admit it but the man was right. He sighed in registration but stayed put. He'd talk to her at the 'gate.
o0o
But when it was time to leave, Vala was nowhere to be found. When they finally approached the Stargate, that's when he saw her. She apparently saw them too. She dialed the 'gate and went through it before he could even get to the DHD, despite him calling out for her to wait.
"Like I said, give her time, Jackson," Mitchell reiterated.
But she avoided him once back on base, and it got to the point where he hadn't even seen a glimpse of her for the three days. He couldn't wait anymore. By now, he knew she wasn't on base, and despite how supportive Mitchell was, he'd never allow her to stay with him, leaving only one place she could go – Sam's place. She supplied Vala with a key and instructions on how to properly take care of her home while she was away at Atlantis, and it was the only place Vala could go.
Mind made up, Daniel changed into his civies and left the base.
This had gone long enough.
o0o
"You're avoiding me."
Vala started and nearly fell off the couch. "Bloody hell, Daniel" she put her hand over rapidly beating heart.
Daniel grinned. "You're slipping," he teased and walked further into the room. "Didn't even hear me coming."
"How'd you get in?"
He held up a key. "Hidden key," using Sam's emergency key may be pushing it, but they needed to talk. "Why are you avoiding me?"
Vala hugged her legs to her chest and her eyes went to her knees. "You know why."
He sighed. He wasn't particularly thrilled that he was pushing her, but knowing them and how they were, one of them had to crack first, and it looked like he was the lucky winner. "You're wrong, you know," he told her softly.
Vala snorted softly. "Am I? About what, pray tell." Her hands picked at nonexistent lint on her pants.
Daniel sat on the opposite side of the couch from her. "You are so much more than just my friend."
Surprised, she glanced at him. "What?"
He did his best to ignore her surprise. If he was going to get this out, he had to stay on task and not get sidetracked. "I never allowed myself to consider that I could be more to you," he smiled sadly at the rug below. "It was easier that way – I couldn't get hurt."
Her arms let go of her legs and she sat up straighter. "Daniel," she hesitated and bit her lip. "What're you saying?"
He shifted closer. "I'm always going to love Sha're. She played an important role in my life, but she's gone now," he moved in a little closer and stared at her until she met his gaze, "and you're not. You're here – alive."
Daniel heard her breath catch. "Daniel…" she stopped herself from going further.
It stung that Vala didn't fully believe him, but he couldn't blame her. "I never thought I could get past her death," he smiled sadly at the thought. "But I've recently found myself in a place where I think I can get close to someone like that again. I just never thought in a million years, that person would be you," he winced when she flinched, but he reacted quickly before her mind could race. Cupping her face in his hands, he maintained eye contact and conveyed his next words with as much feeling as felt within him, "But you are, and I'm really hoping I haven't waited too long."
Vala sniffed before she buried her hands in his hair, and brought him closer, resting their foreheads together. "You've always been slow," she teased lighting, forcing a small chuckle from his lips, "but you're worth the wait."
"Thank God," he breathed before kissing her.
Vala would always be so much more than she'd ever know, but he made it his life's mission to show her and remind her of it at every opportunity.
The End.
