Note: Something a little different for me, and truly a labor of love. Instead of a story of Daniel and Vala "getting together," this will be more of them figuring out how to work through problems and such once they are together. We didn't get to see the fifty years of them figuring things out during "Unending." I start teaching high school literature classes again soon, so updates may be infrequent. But most chapters will be pretty standalone, so no evil cliffies. Mostly this is for me, but hopefully someone out there will also enjoy. First couple of chapters will be set up, then we'll be off. :)

Daniel and Vala's long, winding road to happily ever after

Chapter One

Set shortly after "Unending."

It had started out as just an ordinary pre-mission briefing.

Daniel still wasn't sure how it had ended up with him in the proverbial doghouse.

Or why Vala was apparently holding a grudge from something that had happened over a year ago.

He'd walked into the briefing with his nose buried in a translation he was working on. Nothing out of the usual there. Landry, Mitchell, Sam, and Teal'c were already seated and waiting-also normal. And Vala was nowhere to be seen-definitely normal. She tried, but somehow never quite made it to briefings on time.

But she scurried in mere seconds behind Daniel and plopped into her usual chair. "Sorry, sorry!"

Landry went through the normal preliminaries. Then he turned to Vala. "Ms. Mal Doran. I believe we will need your particular skill set on this mission."

"Oh?" She sat up straighter, clapping her hands together. "What can I do for you?" She lowered her voice. "Do I need to steal something?"

The general chuckled. "No. We just need you to get us a ship. SG-17 has an undercover op coming up, and we need something for them to use while they're getting intel."

Something in Vala's expression froze. She sat silently for a long moment, then spoke in a gravelly tone. "I'm sorry. I can't do that."

Landry's brows furrowed. "I beg your pardon?"

"I can't get you a ship, General. You'll have to figure something else out."

"I see. May I ask why?"

Vala shrugged. "It didn't go so well last time. I'd rather not repeat that particular experience."

"I know we lost that ship and some of our people as well, but that's hardly your fault."

"I am well aware of that," Vala said. She glared at Daniel. "Regardless of what others thought at the time."

Now all eyes were on Daniel. General Landry frowned. "You blamed her for those losses?"

"What? No!"

Vala rolled her eyes. "Daniel, you practically accused me of cheating the SGC! You acted like I'd gotten a crappy ship on purpose and pocketed the extra money!"

Daniel flushed a deep shade of red. He had kind of implied that. At the time it had seemed plausible. "Yeah, well, that ship was a piece of junk."

"Of course it was! If you recall, I told you all that I couldn't get anything decent for what you were giving me. The only reason I was able to get something remotely functional for that pittance was by calling in a couple of favors. And I still had to negotiate like hell and flirt with and charm some rather unpleasant people." She sat back and crossed her arms, her expression stony. "I'm not doing it again. Prices will have only increased since then, and I don't have any favors left to call in. I'm not killing myself trying to get something that halfway flies only to have you make snide remarks and insinuations."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? It seemed to me like you'd been given a generous amount-"

Vala snorted. "Generous, ha! It was insulting. Especially since I'd just been made a full-fledged member of SG-1. I thought that meant you trusted me. I thought being given that task showed you valued the skills I brought to the table. Instead it was like some horrible test, only the test was rigged. No one could've gotten a reasonable ship for that price. And I guarantee you that anyone else trying would've come back with something in far worse condition."

General Landry cleared his throat. "I believe there may have been some missing info in some mission reports. But let's focus on the present. Ms. Mal Doran, if I promise that you will be given access to whatever funds you might need as long as you promise to do your best to get us a fair deal, can you procure us a ship?"

She sighed. "All right. Give me the specifications you need. I'll do some scouting, then come back with a ballfield figure."

"Not alone, you won't," Landry said firmly, ignoring her misspeak. "SG-1 can go with you."

"I'd rather go alone, but if you insist I can't do that, let me take just Samantha and Mitchell. Muscles is too well-known. He might get recognized."

"And me?" Daniel asked "Why am I not going?"

She shot him another nasty look. "I don't want you to."

"Vala, c'mon-"

"Forget it, Daniel," Vala cut him off. "You'd never let me take lead. And I can't properly negotiate if you're arguing with me every step of the way. Samantha and Cameron trust me enough to do what I tell them. You'd just be in the way. "

"Fine." Daniel sank back in his chair, scowling.

"Chin up, sunshine," Mitchell said. "You'll get plenty of uninterrupted work time while we're gone."

"All right then," Landry said. "Dr. Jackson, Teal'c, you're both dismissed. Ms. Mal Doran, I want you to lay out exactly what this reconnaissance trip might look like for you and the colonels."

Muttering under his breath, Daniel got up to leave. Funny, Teal'c didn't look nearly as put out as Daniel felt. As the two exited the conference room and the door shut behind them, Daniel said, "Tell me the truth, Teal'c. Vala and I didn't actually survive fifty years on that ship, did we? We killed each other about three months into it."

Teal'c stared at him for a long moment, then finally said, "The two of you learned much about each other during those years and that understanding helped you both immensely."

Daniel snorted. "Sure. And I'm Santa Claus."

"Ho ho ho," Teal'c said, deadpan.

Apparently Vala was some kind of magician. She took Sam and Mitchell to do some scouting, found an excellent prospect, returned to the SGC to acquire the necessary funds, and then managed to wheedle the seller into a deal that made even the freaking IOA happy.

And SG-17 was thrilled with the ship.

Daniel knew he owed Vala an apology. And he would've given her one, really, but things just got busy. Trying to defeat the Ori was a bit time-consuming.

And he and Vala had returned to their normal bicker and banter, so probably it was fine that the whole apology idea kind of slipped from his mind.

Especially when visions of Merlin started appearing to him, and they definitely had other things to worry about.