so_out_of_ideas (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
so_out_of_ideas) wrote2006-06-23 12:54 pm
so_out_of_ideas) wrote2006-06-23 12:54 pm
Entry tags:
...the pollen count wasn't so insane...
Perhaps this is another reason I love Daniel so much? lol. A character with insane allergies who still manages to get the girl...you gotta love it.
Anyway, this will be another big update, since I haven't posted all week except for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
obiwanstillness award banners.
And now...my own private ficathon...
My goodness, I can't believe Vala's actually been RESCUED!!! Yes, that's right...rescued. I know it's been a long time coming, and I especially want to thank everyone who's been hanging in there with me from the beginning of Rediscovered Hearts. The series isn't over...no one knows yet why it's even called Rediscovered Hearts...but it surely has been a harrowing adventure for Daniel and Vala so far.
I had to go back and check something in an earlier installment this week and happened to have a tab open toscifi_five and clicked on the link to the story there. Turns out I had messed up the link, so I proceeded to go to a few other comms and check links there. I'd done the same thing two weeks in a row on EVERY comm I'd posted the stories too. Ack, talk about feeling like an idiot. I'm hoping that the fact that I didn't get any comments on the messed up entries saying, "Uh...wrong link, Dar..." or anything like that just means that, given how long the series has gotten, people are just kinda behind and not that I've made that mistake often enough to have killed interest in the story.
It did also occur to me that the story has gotten decidedly UN-fluffy, and even though that was half on purpose, I know that the fluff series I wrote in this same AU got a lot of positive feedback. I've also had a few people ask for more D/V fluff and humorlately, and while I still envision RH as much more serious than Fire and Water, I OBVIOUSLY have no objection to Daniel/Vala fluff...and one of the biggest appeals of the ship is the humor aspect with all their snarking. I totally see that as continuing even in this story where they've been married for a few years and all. I mean, it's what makes Daniel's relationship with Vala unique in comparison with other love interests he's had over the course of SG-1's running.
So, I think now that she's back, there will be room for some fun. C'mon, Vala's PREGNANT, and the baby's Daniel's...the potential for humor is huge.
I've got 4 stories total here. What Happens Next is far longer than any other fic I've posted here before. It wasn't done intentionally, really; it just took me that long to go from the opening to a place where it made sense for Jack to say the line that got the last challenge word in. The only thing I'd planned in the whole story was that one line, actually, and it turned out there was only one place it would fit.
Lots of people helped with these... Thanks go to Sarah, Tim, Tammy,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jades_icons rants_by_james nerca_beyul, and stargatefangurl for beta, general sounding-boardness, or both.
__EDIT__ Thanks, James, for pointing out that "Water" was talking to Cameron... oy.
The Beginning of the End and The End of the Beginning were written for this week'ssg_challenges so I guess it was fortunate that the preceeding story ran as long as it did, otherwise they wouldn't have worked.
Fatherhood Bites was done for the Father's Day challenge and really, really takes the series back to the fluff/humor roots of Fire and Water so, I expect some squeeing and rofling.
Anyway, shutting up now.
Title: What Happens Next?
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: AU "We'd like General O'Neill to lead this mission, sir..."
Rating: PG
Length: 4300 words
Category: angst, drama, romance
Pairing:Daniel/Vala implied; Sam/Jack
A/N Rediscovered Hearts Part 24. Begins directly after Bottom Line. Written forscifi_five
What Happens Next?
Cameron's low whistle echoed through the vast cavern on P7X-377. "Guess y'all weren't kiddin' 'bout how big this place was," he commented as he led Teal'c and Nick across the walkway toward the Crystal Skull."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow pointedly, and Cam turned toward him, shrugging. "What? Oh. Right. You never kid."
"Indeed not," Teal'c agreed. Cam only sighed as they reached the pedestal and gestured to Nick, who took a deep breath and stepped toward it, bending over the Skull. He peered into the eyes intently for several moments, and a lightshow of yellow neutrino sparks began to emanate from it, swirling around them.
"Whoa!" Cam exclaimed as it completely enveloped them. A few moments later, the phenomenon faded, almost anticlimactically, and he looked around in confusion. "All right…what happens next?"
"Now we must wait for…" Nick started.
"Kind of have a feeling you're about to say, 'the giant aliens…'" Cam interrupted.
The cavern began to rumble and shake, filling with mist, out of which came an ethereal white figure who intoned in Mayan, "Oo ya wolin wolin we tayil."
"Actually, I was about to say Quetzalcoatl," Nick smiled before he craned his neck to look at the giant and return the ritual greeting. "We are enemies of the Goa'uld!"
"Then you are welcome here," Quetzalcoatl finished, then lowered his head toward the humans. "I greet you, Nicholas Ballard. We of the Heand had not expected you to return again."
Nick nodded, stepping closer, and pursed his lips, considering his words carefully. "Greetings, Quetzalcoatl," he replied. "You're right; my last message to you said I had decided to stay on earth with the grandson I told you about. But now, I've brought these friends of his to ask for help on Daniel's behalf."
The giant's expression became clearly startled. "Of what help can we be to the son of your daughter?" he asked.
"Daniel's wife, Vala, is being held prisoner," Nick explained. "The place she's being kept is virtually impregnable, and the people of the Tau'ri have no means of rescuing her."
Quetzalcoatl nodded understanding, but gave a troubled sigh. "You know that the Heand are a peaceful race," he said. "We protect ourselves from the Goa'uld with the use of our phase shift devices like the Skull--"
"Don't think that's gonna be a problem for ya anymore," Cam interrupted, stepping up beside Nick and raising his hand in greeting. "'Scuse me, hi. Cam Mitchell, howya doin'?"
The giant's eyebrows rose in even greater surprise, but he nodded toward Cam and offered what Nick had explained as a common greeting among the people of their world. "It…is my pleasure to meet you."
"Yeah, same here," Cam nodded absently. "Look, Nick couldn't have known this while he was hanging out with you folks, but the Goa'uld have been defeated. I know how impossible that probably sounds, but Daniel Jackson was instrumental in how it all went down. Since you guys have this whole enemy of my enemy concept down, I figure you'd wanna lend the guy a hand with his old lady in trouble."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow again. "I do not believe ValaJackson to be old, ColonelMitchell."
"No, it's…" Cam started to say, then rolled his eyes. "I'll explain it to ya later."
"The Goa'uld defeated?" Quetzalcoatl asked, looking back at Nick.
"So Daniel told me himself," the old man nodded.
"Listen, I'm sure he'd be happy to give you a play by play of the whole thing later, too," Cam broke in again. "Right now, he's a little preoccupied, and we're short on time."
"All we ask of the Heand is to borrow your phase shift technology so that a team can use it to slip inside our enemy's fortress unseen and rescue Vala," Nick explained with a note of entreaty in his voice. "It may well be the only way to save her."
Quetzalcoatl nodded slowly and fell silent, seeming to ponder the situation for a long time. "The Heand do have devices similar to the Skull and its pedestal. Arm or neckbands with stones which can be inserted to trigger the phase shift. Our technology is, however, designed for beings of our size. It may take several days to adapt the devices for use by such diminutive creatures as the Tau'ri. You three may remain until then."
***
"I'm sorry, Jack," Daniel said as the group plodded out of the hearing room. His tone was strained and weary with the sustained effort of enduring several hours of testimony, followed by another hour of private negotiations.
"It's all right, Daniel," Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and didn't look up. "You did your best."
"No, I mean I'm sorry. For the way I talked to you; of course I'm sorry about the hearing, too--whoa…" he raised a hand to his forehead as the room began to spin.
"You ok, Daniel?" Sam asked as she and Jack moved to support him.
"Need to sit down?" Jack prompted, guiding them toward a nearby bench.
"I'm fine," Daniel started to say, but his knees buckled and he found himself suddenly clinging to Jack, who would have lost his balance if not for Sam bracing them both from behind. "Oookay….sitting down then."
"All right," Jack said as he and Sam helped their friend down on the bench. "Let's get you back to the infirmary."
"I believe I may be of assistance," spoke up Thor.
"That's what I had in--" began Jack when Daniel, Thor, and General Hammond all abruptly vanished again. "--mind. Gotta love when he does that," he shook his head, turning to look at Sam as he took Daniel's place on the bench.
She bit her lip and nodded, but didn't answer right away, knowing that the casual cynicism masked a tumult of conflicting emotion. Despite her testimony and Daniel's most passionate and skillful arguments on Jack's behalf, the best they'd been able to manage was to convince the Air Force to offer him voluntary retirement in lieu of court martial. "So, what happens next?" she asked finally.
"I could fight it," he said softly.
"Do you want to?" Sam asked hesitantly, unsure what she wanted the answer to be.
He hung his head, weighing his response for a long time before he looked up at her again. "I don't know," he confessed.
Sam frowned sympathetically and slid down on the bench beside him. "I think," she began, drawing a breath as she became aware of his thigh next to hers, not touching but so close that she could feel the tantalizing warmth of it. Her pulse quickened, and she steeled herself against a cascade of responses that she had never quite been able to train her body to ignore. "I think you're really angry right now."
"Angry?" Jack nodded. "Yeah. But this pencil pushing deal isn't working…"
"Sir, what we do is too important," she protested.
"What you do is important," he corrected, glancing back at the closed door they'd just exited. "What I do obviously isn't. I haven't felt like I was doing anything important in five years. Not until this."
"Sir--" she started, breaking off when he raised his hand to her cheek.
"I shoulda been banging down the president's door the way Vala was mine," he said in a near-whisper. "The Pentagon was willing to let all of you stay there--die there. Took Vala to remind me that's not what I signed up for."
Sam felt her throat constrict and forced back sudden tears. "Retiring won't change that. It won't help anyone--"
"Except me," Jack replied, leaning toward her mouth
Sam wanted to pull back, conscious of Martouf and Jade watching nearby, but she found herself leaning into him, felt the hot pressure of his mouth on hers and finally forgot anything but her own response.
Martouf, looking on with Jade, felt his stomach clench and quickly looked away. He sighed a little in resignation and turned to walk further up the hall. He knew he couldn't go far, though, and stopped as he rounded the next corner, leaning against the wall to wait.
//What are you doing?// Simone demanded when Jade didn't follow.
What? her host asked.
//Follow him!// the symbiote told her.
It looks like he wants to be alone, Jade protested.
//I don't care what it looks like. He wants you to follow him,// insisted Simone.
Are you in his head now, too? Jade asked pointedly.
//I don't have to be…just go after him, Jade. Trust me,// Simone replied.
Right, Jade sighed, but decided that following Martouf would be a better option than watching General O'Neill and Colonel Carter. As quietly as she could, she slipped off after him and found him leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, arms folded across his chest.
She took a nervous breath and opened her mouth, then abruptly closed it again, realizing that she had no idea what to say. He smiled, though, and opened his eyes to look at her.
"You still have feelings for Colonel Carter," she said, only half a question.
"Not really, no," he replied. "In the end, her feelings for General O'Neill made me realize that we weren't going to make each other happy. It took some time, but I accepted that. I care for her, yes, but not in the way you mean. It is…difficult, though, to see them together. In a sense, it reminds me of two lost relationships."
"Jolinar," Jade nodded slowly, resting a hand on his arm.
Martouf smiled again and covered the hand with his own. "Was there…" he hesitated as their eyes met. "…is there…someone?"
"There was," Jade said with a slight smile in return. "Not now. His name was Connor, but things ended poorly when I became host to Simone."
"I'm sorry," Martouf said sincerely
Jade's smile widened, but before she could say more, Simone commented dryly that it was for the best in any case. She didn’t quite manage not to laugh, and Martouf's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Simone says she thinks it was a good thing," she explained.
"So does Lantesh," Martouf grinned.
***
Carolyn knocked lightly on the side of his office door, and her father looked up, setting down his pen. "Just letting you know that Daniel's back," she said from the doorway.
"I just got a message from George Hammond," Landry nodded. "Daniel all right?"
"As well as can be expected," Carolyn replied. "From what he said before he fell asleep, the hearing didn't go well."
"George told me," Landry sighed. "But it could've been worse. Jack knew there would be repercussions…"
"You can't actually agree with what they're doing!" her eyes narrowed angrily.
"I didn't say that, did I?" he asked pointedly.
Carolyn ran a hand tiredly through her hair. "No. No, I guess you didn't," she admitted.
Landry frowned worriedly at her. "You look exhausted. When's the last time you slept?"
"Listen, don't tell me to go home and get some rest," she protested automatically. "I've got severely wounded patients in the infirmary…"
"I was just gonna ask if you wanted to sack out in here on the couch for a few hours," he sighed.
Carolyn froze mid-sentence, her mouth hanging open. "Oh," she said finally, her gaze shifting almost involuntarily toward the invitingly soft brown leather couch. She hesitated for a moment, then pushed herself off the doorframe and walked inside. "Well, thanks, Dad," she said as she made her way over to it and sank onto the cushions.
Landry nodded, then gestured at the stack of paperwork on his desk. "I've got some catching up to do. Just--ignore me."
"Ignore you," she repeated, propping up her feet and settling back with her hands behind her head. "Right."
She closed her eyes determinedly and he worked in silence for several minutes, but finally she opened her eyes again and turned to the desk with a sigh. "I can hear your pen scratching," she said.
"Sorry," he looked up at her and set the pen down, reaching inside his desk drawer for a Bic.
"Any word from Cameron and Teal'c?" she asked.
"Not yet," he replied.
"So, what happens next?" she wanted to know.
"Hard to say until we hear from them, at least," answered Landry.
Carolyn let out a loud breath in frustration. "It's horrible to feel so helpless," she declared. "I don't blame General O'Neill. Or Daniel for that matter, even though as a doctor I could kill him…" she trailed off, yawning behind her hand.
"I know," he smiled a little as he went back to work.
Carolyn's eyelids began to droop closed and she mumbled, "Y'know, when I was a kid, I kinda thought you could do anything."
Landry raised his head, startled, but she was deep asleep already. He let the pen drop and settled his chin in his hand, staring at her for several moments. Then, he slowly pushed back his chair and walked over to the couch. Finally though, he slipped off his uniform jacket and covered her with it, leaving a kiss on her forehead before he straightened again.
As he did, a familiar claxon sounded and Walter Harriman's voice came over the PA with, "Unscheduled offworld activation!"
Landry hissed and ran out to the Control Room, shouting, "Walter, shut that alarm off!"
"Yessir," the tech said quickly. "Sorry, sir."
"What is it now?" Landry asked.
"Looks like we're receiving a message from Colonel Mitchell, sir," Walter replied, gesturing at the video relay screen while Cam's grainy image came into view.
"Colonel, how things going with the Heand?" he asked.
"Not too good, sir," Mitchell reported. "Quetzalcoatl did agree to lend us their technology, but the Heand scientists are having a bit more trouble than he thought with adapting it for critters our size. We could use Colonel Carter on this one."
"Understood," Landry nodded. "I'll have her report to you on P7X-377 as soon as she's back from Washington."
"Thank you, sir. Any word on that, General."
"In fact there has been," Landry replied. "Not anything you'll want to hear, I'm afraid."
Mitchell caught his upper lip in his teeth to restrain the reply he really wanted to make and glanced down at the cavern floor. "Roger that, sir. Mitchell out."
***
"I don't like it," Alek told Brannen flatly as Vala and the two mercenaries tramped through the preserve toward Alek's ship. "Employing Alliance ships in a blockade to protect your personal conquest. How long do you think you can keep it up anyway?"
"Until I don't need to anymore," Brannen replied diffidently.
Alek rolled his eyes, having expected an answer like that, but said nothing. He didn't fear Brannen the way most of their contemporaries seemed to these days, however, he had a distaste for the kind of verbal jousting Brannen enjoyed, especially with a man who could slip so suddenly and completely from amiability to murderous rage.
"If it bothers you so much, you could lodge a protest," Brannen shrugged.
I might if it would do any good, Alek thought. Despite its being technically still a confederation, both men knew that the Lucian Alliance was becoming more and more the dictatorship that Brannen wanted. There were others, even in the blockade above the planet, who felt as Alek did, but no one would challenge Brannen openly. He had gained much of his power through blackmail, though how he had gained his information in the first place was only half understood. Alek, however, had his own method in mind for dealing with Brannen. How it played out, of course, would depend on what happened next with Vala and the Tau'ri, but one way or another, Daegar's time was coming.
They were reaching the ship now, and the group paused while Alek reached into his vest pocket for the remote that turned off the security systems and opened the hatch, then clambered up the ramp. Once inside, Vala leaned against the wall by the hatch and shifted uncomfortably, aware that the dress she was wearing was already becoming snug around her midriff. She doubted that Brannen would have noticed; in fact, he probably wouldn't suspect anything for at least another month, but the very idea of being trapped here when she started to become visibly pregnant chilled her.
"It's this way," Alek said, gesturing Brannen through the inner doorway and into the short corridor that led into his cargo hold.
"Don't go anywhere," he turned to Vala with a wink.
"I wouldn't dream of it," she replied, folding her arms across her chest. As they walked off, though, she couldn't help but let her eyes drift speculatively over the ship. It looked to be about 33 meters, more easily handled with a two person crew, but nothing she couldn't manage alone, and it was fairly heavily shielded. From the outside, she had seen that the cockpit was forward facing, similar to an Al'kesh. A loading ramp unfolded from either side of the ship when the hatches opened. Now she could make out that crew and passenger accommodations branched from the sides through short, elliptical corridors. Propulsion drives be would located at the rear of the ship, and she'd have to have a good look at those before making a move, but overall it looked promising. There seemed to be a ring-shaped hatch can be opened in the central portion of the ship's flooring, though what it was for she couldn't yet guess.
Although she couldn't quite believe that she trusted them so implicitly, Vala had never doubted SG-1's promise to return. Still, there could be no harm in helping things along, and she had never been one to sit idly by and wait for rescue. Brannen had no idea yet that she could remove the bracelets binding them, and she wanted to keep it that way until her plan included a means of slipping past the blockade. She'd heard rumors that Alek had included a package of surprises in the ship's design that were rather similar to those that her old friend Kias had made on a certain cargo ship she'd once borrowed, and that would help, but she'd have to be sure. Which meant she needed a way back here alone…
the interior of Alek's ship done byrants_by_james+
***
Three days after General O'Neill's hearing, Martouf paused in the doorway of the dimly lit commissary, studying the lone figure occupying a table inside. He smiled a little and stepped inside, swallowing a few times to ease the sudden dryness in his mouth as he walked up to her.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked quietly. "I thought you would be."
Jade felt her face flush at the sound of his voice and was suddenly glad the lights were low. "I tried earlier," she said. "I could not keep my eyes closed."
"It helps not to drink coffee late at night," he said, gesturing at the Styrofoam cup she was rolling between her palms.
"Simone insisted," she chuckled. "Since we were going to be awake anyway, she said we might as well. Dr. Lam gave me coins for it," she added, glancing over at the vending machine by way of explanation.
Martouf made a sour face. "I was able to get used to real coffee eventually, but never the sludge that comes from those machines."
"Is it possible for a Tok'ra to be addicted to caffeine?" she asked in a playful tone that he recognized as her way of teasing Simone."
"Lantesh doesn't think so," Martouf shook his head, sliding into the chair opposite her. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.
Jade raised an uncomprehending eyebrow. "Pardon me?"
"Oh. My apologies. It's…a Tau'ri expression. A way of asking what's troubling you," he explained.
"I see," she said slowly. "Well…SG-1 returned from P7X-377 a few hours ago. Colonel Carter needs only to make a few modifications to the wrist devices she brought back. After that, they'll be leaving to rescue Dr. Jackson's wife, and the Council has ordered Simone and I to go with them."
"To retrieve the poison," Martouf nodded. "This bothers you?"
"In a way," Jade admitted. "Both Simone and I would like to go back, if only to redeem our past failure. But Vala's life is at risk. Shouldn't she be the mission priority?"
Martouf frowned thoughtfully. "Thousands of Tok'ra lives will be at risk if Brannen is allowed to keep the symbiote poison. Is one human more important than they?"
"No," Jade replied without hesitation. "No, of course not. It only seems that the two situations aren't equal. On the one hand, Vala is in immediate danger. On the other, the Tok'ra face a potential risk, which hasn't increased since we first learned that Brannen had the poison in the first place. Yet if a choice must be made between saving her and completing our mission, Simone and I will be required to choose recovering the poison."
"As SG-1 would be required to choose saving Vala's life," Martouf said, reaching for her hand across the table. He wrapped her fingers in the warmth of his own and drew them to his lips. "Don't fear for Vala, Jade. SG-1 will not leave without her. Let them carry out their mission while you and Simone look to yours."
"Will you and Lantesh come with us, Martouf?" Jade asked.
"Of course."
***
The warm, spicy aroma of fresh pizza drifted over to her from the doorway and Sam felt her stomach rumble. Her mouth watered as she realized she had forgotten to eat again, and she turned toward the smell as someone knocked on the wall just inside her lab.
"Delivery," Jack smiled.
"Hey!" her eyes widened in surprise and she jumped to her feet as he came inside, gingerly sliding the hot box onto the counter before wrapping his arms around her.
"How did you even know we were back?" she asked as her hands slid smoothly over the cool leather of his jacket to lace behind his neck.
"Little bird told me," Jack shrugged.
"A little bird named Landry, huh?" she grinned.
"A little bird named Daniel, actually," he replied, then dipped his head to meet her lips.
She returned the kiss for a moment, then asked softly, "Are you guys ok?"
"Me and Daniel?" Jack shrugged. "We will be. So how's it going?" he asked, gesturing toward her worktable.
"Well, the biggest problem was disabling the safeguard that the Heand use to prevent the technology from working on anyone carrying a live symbiote, but I managed to…"
"Of course you did," Jack interrupted, forestalling a complicated technical explanation that he knew he wouldn't understand with another long kiss. "So…good then?" he asked when their lips parted again.
"I was just finishing," she replied, smiling fondly. She rested a hand on his chest for a few moments, then abruptly pulled back. "I should find Landry--"
"Eat first," Jack said, catching her hand as she started for the door and gently turning her back toward the cooling pizza.
"Sir, I--Jack," she broke off with a wince.
"That's gonna take some getting used to," he allowed, forcing a smile. "Sam, eat. I still outrank you. For the moment, anyway."
"Yes, sir," she replied, swallowing against a bittersweet wash of emotion that tightened her throat. Picking up the first slice, she asked quietly, "Are you sure this is what you want?"
"No," he admitted. "But I'm sure I don't ever want to sit behind a desk at the Pentagon waiting to hear…you know. And before you ask, I'm sure I won't ever regret it."
"Sure?" Sam asked, meeting his eyes again. She still wasn't convinced that his retiring was going to make anything different the next time SG-1 found themselves in this type of situation. Unless of course he intended to rush off with Vala to rescue them without even trying to go through the proper channels, and somehow that didn't seem like Jack O'Neill…or did it?
"I said I was sure, didn't I, Carter?" he asked, though his tone was gentle, not at all the pointed one he would normally use for a question like that. He reached out to brush her cheek with a knuckle, then let his hand drop away. "C'mon, eat. Everybody's in the infirmary with Daniel."
Sam nodded and hurriedly gulped down the pizza, then followed him out to the infirmary. The group now included both Jade and Martouf, which somehow didn't surprise her. She smiled a greeting as she and Jack walked over to Daniel's bed and Landry turned to them.
"News, Colonel?" he asked her.
"They're finished, sir," she replied. "I have six working models…"
"Six?" both Landry and Daniel said as Dr. Lam quietly got up and began preparing a syringe.
"Teal'c, Carter, and I discussed this on the planet, General," Cam spoke up. "We'd like General O'Neill to lead this mission."
Jack's eyebrows rose, and Landry smiled a little, looking from one to the other. Jack's retirement wasn't official yet--wouldn't be for a few weeks at least. He knew of several other regulations he would technically be breaking under the circumstances, but Mitchell and Carter knew them as well.
"You ok with that, Daniel?" he asked, turning back to the archaeologist and holding his gaze while Carolyn approached.
"Absolutely," he nodded, then his eyes bulged and he spun to face Carolyn as the needle sank into his arm. "Ow??????"
"Just relax, Daniel," she said calmly, offering no apology.
"Whaddaya--whaddaya mean, relax?" he demanded, blinking in an effort to clear his suddenly blurred vision. "Whaddid you do to me?"
"Just a sedative," Carolyn replied in the same even tone. "You'll wake up in a few hours."
"I can't--I have to go with them…" he slurred, sinking back on the pillows.
"And I had a feeling that Martouf would want to come along," Sam finished as Daniel's eyes slid closed.
The Tok'ra looked momentarily surprised and offered her a faint smile, and Landry gave a nod. "Then you have a go, SG-1," he said, then added half seriously, "Try to get her home before he wakes up."
+Okay, originally it was an RP concept ship, but it was for my character, I'm lazy, and James' model was still around.
Title:Beginning of the End
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: AU "Vala!" Jack shouted, diving forward to grab at her disappearing arm....
Rating: PG
Length: 1000 words
Category: angst, drama, romance
Pairing:Daniel/Vala implied
A/N Rediscovered Hearts Part 25. Begins directly after What Happens Next? Written forsg_challenges
Beginning of the End
Alek's ship glided gracefully to a landing outside the Dekara temple and he took a breath. He hated to admit being nervous, but the dryness of his mouth and suddenly increased heart rate couldn't be denied. He slowly walked out of the cockpit and opened the hatch, trying to reassure himself that the real reason for his uncertainty had to be the considerable risk he was taking in pursuing this little meeting. Mercenaries weren't accustomed to taking large and essentially unnecessary risks. Vala, though could be extremely convincing when she needed to be.
When he'd discovered her tinkering with his hyper drive engines while he and Brannen were supposed to be hunting in the preserve the day before, it had occurred to him quite quickly that he could justifiably kill her and if his information about the bracelets she and Brannen wore was correct, he would then be rid of Daegar as well. She'd very quickly made him a counterproposal which, at time, had seemed more than agreeable, but as he descended the ramp into the formidable presence of several large, armed and angry looking Jaffa, he abruptly realized that Vala hadn't actually promised anything.
Oh, she's good, he thought as he bowed to the old man who could only be Bra'tac. She's very good.
"Master Bra'tac," he said aloud. "I have a message for you from Vala Mal Doran-Jackson."
***
"Is it true they have a genetic memory?" Brannen asked, twirling the cylindrical silver vial between his fingers. He walked slowly over to the vat Alek had brought him, which was now emptied of water and held only the slithering purplish mass of the live symbiote.
"Yes," Vala replied carefully. She hugged her arms around her torso to suppress a shudder. "But it won't help you. It won't give you what you want."
"All I want is an end to them," Brannen shrugged as he raised his hand to slide the vial into a slot at the top of the enclosure. "Damnable creatures," he muttered half under his breath. "Inestimable lifespans…stealing immortality…no right to exist…"
"For once I agree with you," Vala admitted. A metallic click signaled that the mechanism within had locked on the vial, and Brannen shoved on it with his thumb, shattering the partition that separated the two chemicals and releasing the vapor.
The symbiote's writhing became momentarily frenzied, and Vala had to force herself not to squeeze her eyes shut as it flopped sickeningly about. When it finally grew still, he smiled with satisfaction. "It works," he nodded, sounding slightly surprised.
"Brannen," Vala began, maintaining the same careful tone she'd used earlier. "What are you planning?"
"An end," he replied. "A blessed end, Vala, to Goa'uld and Tok'ra alike. Surely you can't object after what Quetesh did to you?"
"What about the hosts?" Vala asked. "Innocent human hosts…"
"Innocent like you were?" Brannen's lips twisted into a cruel smile and she grit her teeth against the retort she would have liked to make.
The pound of running feet in the hall made both their eyes widen, and he raced to open the door, thrusting his head out into the hallway where one of his lieutenants skidded to a halt in front of him.
"Brannen, the Stargate just activated but the men report nothing came through," he said a bit breathlessly.
"Double the detail on every entrance to the compound," Brannen ordered.
Daniel, you delicious genius, Vala thought, but her elation was short lived as Brannen spun to face her again, slamming shut the door.
"What are they doing?" he demanded.
"I haven't a clue," she replied honestly, taking a step back. "Really, Brannen, I don't…"
***
"Creepy," Cam said with a grimace as he followed Jack directly though one of the guards.
"Daniel wasn't kidding when he said this was disconcerting," observed Sam
The group had gone entirely unseen from the Stargate to one of the tunnel entrances Jade knew just inside the protective force field Brannen used to keep his game--and other things-- inside the preserve. Coming out in a storage room about three levels up, they found the hall congested with heavily armed mercenaries.
"He's probably holding Vala in his private quarters," Jade said, fighting the urge to whisper. "In the tower."
"Tower?" Jack repeated. "Of course. Insane guy with an impregnable fortress…where else would he hold a hostage but in a tower? All right," he sighed, looking at back at Jade. "You know your way around this place. Lead the way."
Without the necessity of avoiding Brannen's guards, they made their way rather quickly to the tower, where familiar voices could clearly be heard inside. Jack and Cam pushed past the Tok'ra and barreled through the door, flanked by Teal'c and Sam, but they were met with the sight of an apparently empty room.
"The balcony!" Sam cried, spinning toward the direction of Vala's voice. The team raced outside, but froze at a silent signal from Jack. Vala and Brannen were faced off by the safety rail, and she'd just delivered a hard kick to his knee. Both staggered back a bit in pain, but Brannen managed to keep his knife in hand.
"Have you lost your mind?" Vala shouted. "If you stab me, we'll both die!"
Brannen seemed not to hear, his face red with rage, and he advanced on her again. She narrowly avoided a swipe from his blade, and Jack grabbed the Heand crystal from his breast pocket, rushing to intercept her attacker before he could take another swing.
"All right, now!" he ordered, slamming his own crystal into the slot in his wristband.
The swirl of neutrinos caught Brannen's attention as SG-1 came back into phase with weapons raised. Vala took advantage of his distraction and made a grab for his wrist, but a familiar noise sounded as they began to struggle for it, and several Al'kesh screamed down out of the sky, firing on the fortress.
A shot impacted with the side of the tower, and the whole balcony shook. Vala grabbed the rail to steady herself, but Brannen was thrown off balance, and both tumbled sideways over it.
"Vala!" Jack shouted, diving forward to grab at her disappearing arm.
Title:The End of the Beginning
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: AU ""Aw, Jackson, you so owe me for this..."
Rating: PG
Length: 812 words
Category: angst, drama, romance
Pairing:Daniel/Vala
A/N Rediscovered Hearts Part 26. Begins directly after What Happens Next? Written forsg_challenges
The End of the Beginning
Jack's fingers closed around her wrist and Vala reached frantically upward, clutching his arm with her other hand. Brannen's weight as the big man clung to her waist made her body feel as if it would rip apart. He continued to struggle, apparently now determined to pull them both to their deaths, and she kicked instinctively, trying to jar him loose while Bra'tac's ships continued to fire on the building.
"Don't!" warned Jack through teeth clenched with the effort of holding her. "You gotta get the bracelet off!"
"Well, I'm slipping!" Vala yelled back. "Do something!"
"I’m trying to!" Jack replied, looking over his shoulder toward the rest of the team. "Mitchell! Help me! Teal'c, get on the radio and tell Bra'tac to cease fire before he knocks them off!"
"I am attempting to do so presently, O'Neill," Teal'c replied as Cam scrambled forward to grab Vala's arms.
The beginning of her pregnant belly, though, was making Brannen's grip impossibly awkward and his arms began to slip. As Jack and Cam hauled her backwards, Brannen slid lower, until his arms were wrapped around her knees, and Vala screamed in pain.
"Don't let go!" Jack told her urgently. "Vala--don't--let go!"
Without having to be told, Sam hurried over as well and knelt opposite Cameron, working with deft fingers to access the control crystal that would release the Goa'uld bracelet from Vala's wrist. As Jack and Cameron managed to drag her back onto the balcony though, Brannen finally slipped. Vala screamed again, then her body went completely limp and unresponsive.
"C'mon, Carter, get it off her!" Jack barked.
"I am, sir," replied Sam without looking up.
A second later, the crystal activated and the bracelet slid off, but Vala didn't move. Across her still body, Cameron's gaze met Jack's. The young CO's eyes slid closed, and he shook his head in disbelief.
"Aw, Jackson, you so owe me for this," he sighed as Jack began resuscitation. He didn't hesitate, though, and crawled over to her head. Her eyes flew open as he bent toward her lips, and he let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, hello…" Vala smiled.
"Thank God," Cam sighed again, sitting back on his heels.
Vala smirked and sat up. "Well, it's nice to see you, too, Mitchell," she said teasingly, before Jack and Sam both wrapped their arms around her.
"Are you all right?" Sam asked against her shoulder.
She nodded, returning the hug tightly for a moment, until Jack pulled away and looked toward the door. "Carter…?" he asked slowly. "Where the hell are the Tok'ra?"
***
"Where exactly are we going?" Martouf asked as he followed Jade down the long stone corridor.
"We'd finally been able to figure out where Brannen kept his real records," Jade explained, "but we hadn't been able to access them because he was watching us too closely by then. I have the system passcodes, so retrieving the information we need shouldn't take long."
She led him to the locked door of the records room and they stepped through it, waiting until they were safely inside before turning off the Heand armbands. Jade made her way over to the computer and pulled back the chair, leaning over the console. A few moments later, though, she let out a hiss of frustration.
"Martouf, the system's been wiped," she said, hanging her head in defeat. "It's not here."
***
Daniel's breath caught in his throat as the 'Gate opened. She came through first, and despite Dr. Lam's restraining hand on his shoulder, he pushed himself out of the infirmary wheelchair and ran up the ramp to meet her.
Her arms slid around his neck, and he pulled her against him, heedless of the stitches or the pain of contact. Their lips met with passionate desperation, and he felt her beginning to shake. He held her tighter, let his mouth slide gently off hers to press against her forehead, and closed his eyes against his own tears.
"Brannen said he'd killed you," she half-whispered, her fingers slipping back over his neck to caress the sides of his face.
"He didn't," Daniel whispered against the softness of her skin, then pulled reluctantly back and cupped her face in his hands. "Did he hurt you?"
"No," Vala promised quietly.
Daniel stared searchingly at her for a moment, then finally nodded acceptance. Drawing her back into his arms, he held her silently for a long time, then slowly led her down onto to the 'Gate room floor, followed by the grinning members of SG-1, Bra'tac, and the Tok'ra.
"It is indeed a pleasure to see you reunited with your old lady, DanielJackson," Teal'c said as they reached the end of the ramp.
"Yeah…" Daniel started to smile, then he blinked in surprise and turned to face his friend. "My-my what?"
"His what?" Vala demanded.
Title:Fatherhood Bites
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: AU "All I want is pancakes and ice cream!"
Rating: PG
Length: 390 words
Category: humor, fluff
Pairing:Daniel/Vala
A/N Rediscovered Hearts Part 27. Guessing a few weeks after The End of the Beginning Written forsg_challenges
Fatherhood Bites
He felt her stirring beside him and instantly woke, shifting in the gray pre-dawn chill to wrap his arms around her. She settled back down against him, resting her head on his shoulder, and Daniel shivered pleasantly at the warmth of her breath on his neck. Vala's hand smoothed gently over his bare side, automatically avoiding the stitches that covered his torso now.
"Daniel," she wet her lips thoughtfully. "Do you know what I'd really love right now?"
"Mmmm," he smiled, shaking his head playfully. "What's that?"
Vala dipped her head to touch her lips against his shoulder and let them linger there for a moment, then slowly moved up to leave a soft kiss, all too briefly on his mouth. "Pancakes," she whispered.
Daniel blinked. "Pancakes?"
Vala nodded seriously. "And ice cream. We still have ice cream left, don't we?"
"Are you nuts?" Daniel cried, pulling away.
Vala's eyes widened and she stared at him with a wounded expression. She said nothing for a long moment, then rolled over and struggled to sit up. "No," she replied in a trembling tone. "I'm not nuts, Daniel, I'm pregnant."
Daniel winced and sat up as well, suddenly and acutely conscious of his own impending fatherhood. Gently, he wrapped an arm around her, leaning his chin over her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he murmured sincerely.
"It's bad enough I'm getting fat," Vala complained. "None of my clothes fit, I'm never comfortable…my body's doing all these strange things…all I want is pancakes and ice cream and you call me nuts!"
Daniel closed his eyes, repressing a weary sigh, and kissed her temple. "I guess I'm the biggest jerk in the world," he said as he pulled back the covers. "Would breakfast in bed help?"
"I suppose," Vala allowed stiffly.
"Here," he said, gently guiding her back onto the pillows as he climbed out of bed. "You--you just go back to sleep. I'll get it."
Vala sniffled, but obediently closed her eyes, listening as his bare feet padded out of the room. She didn't open them again until his footfalls had descended the stairs and faded toward the kitchen. Then though, she gave a contented sigh and sat up again, leaning across the bed to rest her head on the warmth of his abandoned pillow, a broad smirk playing on her lips.
Oy...
Note to self: Never write this much fic in one week. Anyway, so now I've just got an assortment of random personal type crap. Quiz stolen fromnerca_beyul and was tagged for the old "explain your username meme by aruna7
Ok, I'm going to explain my username, but given how long it is, I'm not tagging anyone because I'd end up tagging half my flist and I'm lazy, so if anyone wants to do it, go right ahead.
Well, for as long as I can remember, my online identity has been "Lionchilde", a tribute to Aslan, who long, long, long before the Disney movie was even a thought, had a profound impact on me. Then a friend asked me for help coming up with a name for his blog, and every name I came up with over an ENTIRE night, he didn't like, or it was taken, or both. So, finally, I went, "Call it So_Out_Of_Ideas." which he actually liked, but then he randomly came up with something himself, and said I should use the ideas thing. I, of course, replied, "I can't! I'm Lion! Everybody knows I'm Lion!" and he was like, "Yeah, that would be the point. I dare you." So... my lj name was born. That's it, really. *shrug*
Anyway, this will be another big update, since I haven't posted all week except for the
obiwanstillness award banners.And now...my own private ficathon...
My goodness, I can't believe Vala's actually been RESCUED!!! Yes, that's right...rescued. I know it's been a long time coming, and I especially want to thank everyone who's been hanging in there with me from the beginning of Rediscovered Hearts. The series isn't over...no one knows yet why it's even called Rediscovered Hearts...but it surely has been a harrowing adventure for Daniel and Vala so far.
I had to go back and check something in an earlier installment this week and happened to have a tab open to
scifi_five and clicked on the link to the story there. Turns out I had messed up the link, so I proceeded to go to a few other comms and check links there. I'd done the same thing two weeks in a row on EVERY comm I'd posted the stories too. Ack, talk about feeling like an idiot. I'm hoping that the fact that I didn't get any comments on the messed up entries saying, "Uh...wrong link, Dar..." or anything like that just means that, given how long the series has gotten, people are just kinda behind and not that I've made that mistake often enough to have killed interest in the story.It did also occur to me that the story has gotten decidedly UN-fluffy, and even though that was half on purpose, I know that the fluff series I wrote in this same AU got a lot of positive feedback. I've also had a few people ask for more D/V fluff and humorlately, and while I still envision RH as much more serious than Fire and Water, I OBVIOUSLY have no objection to Daniel/Vala fluff...and one of the biggest appeals of the ship is the humor aspect with all their snarking. I totally see that as continuing even in this story where they've been married for a few years and all. I mean, it's what makes Daniel's relationship with Vala unique in comparison with other love interests he's had over the course of SG-1's running.
So, I think now that she's back, there will be room for some fun. C'mon, Vala's PREGNANT, and the baby's Daniel's...the potential for humor is huge.
I've got 4 stories total here. What Happens Next is far longer than any other fic I've posted here before. It wasn't done intentionally, really; it just took me that long to go from the opening to a place where it made sense for Jack to say the line that got the last challenge word in. The only thing I'd planned in the whole story was that one line, actually, and it turned out there was only one place it would fit.
Lots of people helped with these... Thanks go to Sarah, Tim, Tammy,
jades_icons rants_by_james nerca_beyul, and stargatefangurl for beta, general sounding-boardness, or both.__EDIT__ Thanks, James, for pointing out that "Water" was talking to Cameron... oy.
The Beginning of the End and The End of the Beginning were written for this week's
sg_challenges so I guess it was fortunate that the preceeding story ran as long as it did, otherwise they wouldn't have worked. Fatherhood Bites was done for the Father's Day challenge and really, really takes the series back to the fluff/humor roots of Fire and Water so, I expect some squeeing and rofling.
Anyway, shutting up now.
Title: What Happens Next?
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: AU "We'd like General O'Neill to lead this mission, sir..."
Rating: PG
Length: 4300 words
Category: angst, drama, romance
Pairing:Daniel/Vala implied; Sam/Jack
A/N Rediscovered Hearts Part 24. Begins directly after Bottom Line. Written for
scifi_fiveCameron's low whistle echoed through the vast cavern on P7X-377. "Guess y'all weren't kiddin' 'bout how big this place was," he commented as he led Teal'c and Nick across the walkway toward the Crystal Skull."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow pointedly, and Cam turned toward him, shrugging. "What? Oh. Right. You never kid."
"Indeed not," Teal'c agreed. Cam only sighed as they reached the pedestal and gestured to Nick, who took a deep breath and stepped toward it, bending over the Skull. He peered into the eyes intently for several moments, and a lightshow of yellow neutrino sparks began to emanate from it, swirling around them.
"Whoa!" Cam exclaimed as it completely enveloped them. A few moments later, the phenomenon faded, almost anticlimactically, and he looked around in confusion. "All right…what happens next?"
"Now we must wait for…" Nick started.
"Kind of have a feeling you're about to say, 'the giant aliens…'" Cam interrupted.
The cavern began to rumble and shake, filling with mist, out of which came an ethereal white figure who intoned in Mayan, "Oo ya wolin wolin we tayil."
"Actually, I was about to say Quetzalcoatl," Nick smiled before he craned his neck to look at the giant and return the ritual greeting. "We are enemies of the Goa'uld!"
"Then you are welcome here," Quetzalcoatl finished, then lowered his head toward the humans. "I greet you, Nicholas Ballard. We of the Heand had not expected you to return again."
Nick nodded, stepping closer, and pursed his lips, considering his words carefully. "Greetings, Quetzalcoatl," he replied. "You're right; my last message to you said I had decided to stay on earth with the grandson I told you about. But now, I've brought these friends of his to ask for help on Daniel's behalf."
The giant's expression became clearly startled. "Of what help can we be to the son of your daughter?" he asked.
"Daniel's wife, Vala, is being held prisoner," Nick explained. "The place she's being kept is virtually impregnable, and the people of the Tau'ri have no means of rescuing her."
Quetzalcoatl nodded understanding, but gave a troubled sigh. "You know that the Heand are a peaceful race," he said. "We protect ourselves from the Goa'uld with the use of our phase shift devices like the Skull--"
"Don't think that's gonna be a problem for ya anymore," Cam interrupted, stepping up beside Nick and raising his hand in greeting. "'Scuse me, hi. Cam Mitchell, howya doin'?"
The giant's eyebrows rose in even greater surprise, but he nodded toward Cam and offered what Nick had explained as a common greeting among the people of their world. "It…is my pleasure to meet you."
"Yeah, same here," Cam nodded absently. "Look, Nick couldn't have known this while he was hanging out with you folks, but the Goa'uld have been defeated. I know how impossible that probably sounds, but Daniel Jackson was instrumental in how it all went down. Since you guys have this whole enemy of my enemy concept down, I figure you'd wanna lend the guy a hand with his old lady in trouble."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow again. "I do not believe ValaJackson to be old, ColonelMitchell."
"No, it's…" Cam started to say, then rolled his eyes. "I'll explain it to ya later."
"The Goa'uld defeated?" Quetzalcoatl asked, looking back at Nick.
"So Daniel told me himself," the old man nodded.
"Listen, I'm sure he'd be happy to give you a play by play of the whole thing later, too," Cam broke in again. "Right now, he's a little preoccupied, and we're short on time."
"All we ask of the Heand is to borrow your phase shift technology so that a team can use it to slip inside our enemy's fortress unseen and rescue Vala," Nick explained with a note of entreaty in his voice. "It may well be the only way to save her."
Quetzalcoatl nodded slowly and fell silent, seeming to ponder the situation for a long time. "The Heand do have devices similar to the Skull and its pedestal. Arm or neckbands with stones which can be inserted to trigger the phase shift. Our technology is, however, designed for beings of our size. It may take several days to adapt the devices for use by such diminutive creatures as the Tau'ri. You three may remain until then."
***
"I'm sorry, Jack," Daniel said as the group plodded out of the hearing room. His tone was strained and weary with the sustained effort of enduring several hours of testimony, followed by another hour of private negotiations.
"It's all right, Daniel," Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and didn't look up. "You did your best."
"No, I mean I'm sorry. For the way I talked to you; of course I'm sorry about the hearing, too--whoa…" he raised a hand to his forehead as the room began to spin.
"You ok, Daniel?" Sam asked as she and Jack moved to support him.
"Need to sit down?" Jack prompted, guiding them toward a nearby bench.
"I'm fine," Daniel started to say, but his knees buckled and he found himself suddenly clinging to Jack, who would have lost his balance if not for Sam bracing them both from behind. "Oookay….sitting down then."
"All right," Jack said as he and Sam helped their friend down on the bench. "Let's get you back to the infirmary."
"I believe I may be of assistance," spoke up Thor.
"That's what I had in--" began Jack when Daniel, Thor, and General Hammond all abruptly vanished again. "--mind. Gotta love when he does that," he shook his head, turning to look at Sam as he took Daniel's place on the bench.
She bit her lip and nodded, but didn't answer right away, knowing that the casual cynicism masked a tumult of conflicting emotion. Despite her testimony and Daniel's most passionate and skillful arguments on Jack's behalf, the best they'd been able to manage was to convince the Air Force to offer him voluntary retirement in lieu of court martial. "So, what happens next?" she asked finally.
"I could fight it," he said softly.
"Do you want to?" Sam asked hesitantly, unsure what she wanted the answer to be.
He hung his head, weighing his response for a long time before he looked up at her again. "I don't know," he confessed.
Sam frowned sympathetically and slid down on the bench beside him. "I think," she began, drawing a breath as she became aware of his thigh next to hers, not touching but so close that she could feel the tantalizing warmth of it. Her pulse quickened, and she steeled herself against a cascade of responses that she had never quite been able to train her body to ignore. "I think you're really angry right now."
"Angry?" Jack nodded. "Yeah. But this pencil pushing deal isn't working…"
"Sir, what we do is too important," she protested.
"What you do is important," he corrected, glancing back at the closed door they'd just exited. "What I do obviously isn't. I haven't felt like I was doing anything important in five years. Not until this."
"Sir--" she started, breaking off when he raised his hand to her cheek.
"I shoulda been banging down the president's door the way Vala was mine," he said in a near-whisper. "The Pentagon was willing to let all of you stay there--die there. Took Vala to remind me that's not what I signed up for."
Sam felt her throat constrict and forced back sudden tears. "Retiring won't change that. It won't help anyone--"
"Except me," Jack replied, leaning toward her mouth
Sam wanted to pull back, conscious of Martouf and Jade watching nearby, but she found herself leaning into him, felt the hot pressure of his mouth on hers and finally forgot anything but her own response.
Martouf, looking on with Jade, felt his stomach clench and quickly looked away. He sighed a little in resignation and turned to walk further up the hall. He knew he couldn't go far, though, and stopped as he rounded the next corner, leaning against the wall to wait.
//What are you doing?// Simone demanded when Jade didn't follow.
What? her host asked.
//Follow him!// the symbiote told her.
It looks like he wants to be alone, Jade protested.
//I don't care what it looks like. He wants you to follow him,// insisted Simone.
Are you in his head now, too? Jade asked pointedly.
//I don't have to be…just go after him, Jade. Trust me,// Simone replied.
Right, Jade sighed, but decided that following Martouf would be a better option than watching General O'Neill and Colonel Carter. As quietly as she could, she slipped off after him and found him leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, arms folded across his chest.
She took a nervous breath and opened her mouth, then abruptly closed it again, realizing that she had no idea what to say. He smiled, though, and opened his eyes to look at her.
"You still have feelings for Colonel Carter," she said, only half a question.
"Not really, no," he replied. "In the end, her feelings for General O'Neill made me realize that we weren't going to make each other happy. It took some time, but I accepted that. I care for her, yes, but not in the way you mean. It is…difficult, though, to see them together. In a sense, it reminds me of two lost relationships."
"Jolinar," Jade nodded slowly, resting a hand on his arm.
Martouf smiled again and covered the hand with his own. "Was there…" he hesitated as their eyes met. "…is there…someone?"
"There was," Jade said with a slight smile in return. "Not now. His name was Connor, but things ended poorly when I became host to Simone."
"I'm sorry," Martouf said sincerely
Jade's smile widened, but before she could say more, Simone commented dryly that it was for the best in any case. She didn’t quite manage not to laugh, and Martouf's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Simone says she thinks it was a good thing," she explained.
"So does Lantesh," Martouf grinned.
***
Carolyn knocked lightly on the side of his office door, and her father looked up, setting down his pen. "Just letting you know that Daniel's back," she said from the doorway.
"I just got a message from George Hammond," Landry nodded. "Daniel all right?"
"As well as can be expected," Carolyn replied. "From what he said before he fell asleep, the hearing didn't go well."
"George told me," Landry sighed. "But it could've been worse. Jack knew there would be repercussions…"
"You can't actually agree with what they're doing!" her eyes narrowed angrily.
"I didn't say that, did I?" he asked pointedly.
Carolyn ran a hand tiredly through her hair. "No. No, I guess you didn't," she admitted.
Landry frowned worriedly at her. "You look exhausted. When's the last time you slept?"
"Listen, don't tell me to go home and get some rest," she protested automatically. "I've got severely wounded patients in the infirmary…"
"I was just gonna ask if you wanted to sack out in here on the couch for a few hours," he sighed.
Carolyn froze mid-sentence, her mouth hanging open. "Oh," she said finally, her gaze shifting almost involuntarily toward the invitingly soft brown leather couch. She hesitated for a moment, then pushed herself off the doorframe and walked inside. "Well, thanks, Dad," she said as she made her way over to it and sank onto the cushions.
Landry nodded, then gestured at the stack of paperwork on his desk. "I've got some catching up to do. Just--ignore me."
"Ignore you," she repeated, propping up her feet and settling back with her hands behind her head. "Right."
She closed her eyes determinedly and he worked in silence for several minutes, but finally she opened her eyes again and turned to the desk with a sigh. "I can hear your pen scratching," she said.
"Sorry," he looked up at her and set the pen down, reaching inside his desk drawer for a Bic.
"Any word from Cameron and Teal'c?" she asked.
"Not yet," he replied.
"So, what happens next?" she wanted to know.
"Hard to say until we hear from them, at least," answered Landry.
Carolyn let out a loud breath in frustration. "It's horrible to feel so helpless," she declared. "I don't blame General O'Neill. Or Daniel for that matter, even though as a doctor I could kill him…" she trailed off, yawning behind her hand.
"I know," he smiled a little as he went back to work.
Carolyn's eyelids began to droop closed and she mumbled, "Y'know, when I was a kid, I kinda thought you could do anything."
Landry raised his head, startled, but she was deep asleep already. He let the pen drop and settled his chin in his hand, staring at her for several moments. Then, he slowly pushed back his chair and walked over to the couch. Finally though, he slipped off his uniform jacket and covered her with it, leaving a kiss on her forehead before he straightened again.
As he did, a familiar claxon sounded and Walter Harriman's voice came over the PA with, "Unscheduled offworld activation!"
Landry hissed and ran out to the Control Room, shouting, "Walter, shut that alarm off!"
"Yessir," the tech said quickly. "Sorry, sir."
"What is it now?" Landry asked.
"Looks like we're receiving a message from Colonel Mitchell, sir," Walter replied, gesturing at the video relay screen while Cam's grainy image came into view.
"Colonel, how things going with the Heand?" he asked.
"Not too good, sir," Mitchell reported. "Quetzalcoatl did agree to lend us their technology, but the Heand scientists are having a bit more trouble than he thought with adapting it for critters our size. We could use Colonel Carter on this one."
"Understood," Landry nodded. "I'll have her report to you on P7X-377 as soon as she's back from Washington."
"Thank you, sir. Any word on that, General."
"In fact there has been," Landry replied. "Not anything you'll want to hear, I'm afraid."
Mitchell caught his upper lip in his teeth to restrain the reply he really wanted to make and glanced down at the cavern floor. "Roger that, sir. Mitchell out."
***
"I don't like it," Alek told Brannen flatly as Vala and the two mercenaries tramped through the preserve toward Alek's ship. "Employing Alliance ships in a blockade to protect your personal conquest. How long do you think you can keep it up anyway?"
"Until I don't need to anymore," Brannen replied diffidently.
Alek rolled his eyes, having expected an answer like that, but said nothing. He didn't fear Brannen the way most of their contemporaries seemed to these days, however, he had a distaste for the kind of verbal jousting Brannen enjoyed, especially with a man who could slip so suddenly and completely from amiability to murderous rage.
"If it bothers you so much, you could lodge a protest," Brannen shrugged.
I might if it would do any good, Alek thought. Despite its being technically still a confederation, both men knew that the Lucian Alliance was becoming more and more the dictatorship that Brannen wanted. There were others, even in the blockade above the planet, who felt as Alek did, but no one would challenge Brannen openly. He had gained much of his power through blackmail, though how he had gained his information in the first place was only half understood. Alek, however, had his own method in mind for dealing with Brannen. How it played out, of course, would depend on what happened next with Vala and the Tau'ri, but one way or another, Daegar's time was coming.
They were reaching the ship now, and the group paused while Alek reached into his vest pocket for the remote that turned off the security systems and opened the hatch, then clambered up the ramp. Once inside, Vala leaned against the wall by the hatch and shifted uncomfortably, aware that the dress she was wearing was already becoming snug around her midriff. She doubted that Brannen would have noticed; in fact, he probably wouldn't suspect anything for at least another month, but the very idea of being trapped here when she started to become visibly pregnant chilled her.
"It's this way," Alek said, gesturing Brannen through the inner doorway and into the short corridor that led into his cargo hold.
"Don't go anywhere," he turned to Vala with a wink.
"I wouldn't dream of it," she replied, folding her arms across her chest. As they walked off, though, she couldn't help but let her eyes drift speculatively over the ship. It looked to be about 33 meters, more easily handled with a two person crew, but nothing she couldn't manage alone, and it was fairly heavily shielded. From the outside, she had seen that the cockpit was forward facing, similar to an Al'kesh. A loading ramp unfolded from either side of the ship when the hatches opened. Now she could make out that crew and passenger accommodations branched from the sides through short, elliptical corridors. Propulsion drives be would located at the rear of the ship, and she'd have to have a good look at those before making a move, but overall it looked promising. There seemed to be a ring-shaped hatch can be opened in the central portion of the ship's flooring, though what it was for she couldn't yet guess.
Although she couldn't quite believe that she trusted them so implicitly, Vala had never doubted SG-1's promise to return. Still, there could be no harm in helping things along, and she had never been one to sit idly by and wait for rescue. Brannen had no idea yet that she could remove the bracelets binding them, and she wanted to keep it that way until her plan included a means of slipping past the blockade. She'd heard rumors that Alek had included a package of surprises in the ship's design that were rather similar to those that her old friend Kias had made on a certain cargo ship she'd once borrowed, and that would help, but she'd have to be sure. Which meant she needed a way back here alone…
the interior of Alek's ship done by
rants_by_james+***
Three days after General O'Neill's hearing, Martouf paused in the doorway of the dimly lit commissary, studying the lone figure occupying a table inside. He smiled a little and stepped inside, swallowing a few times to ease the sudden dryness in his mouth as he walked up to her.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked quietly. "I thought you would be."
Jade felt her face flush at the sound of his voice and was suddenly glad the lights were low. "I tried earlier," she said. "I could not keep my eyes closed."
"It helps not to drink coffee late at night," he said, gesturing at the Styrofoam cup she was rolling between her palms.
"Simone insisted," she chuckled. "Since we were going to be awake anyway, she said we might as well. Dr. Lam gave me coins for it," she added, glancing over at the vending machine by way of explanation.
Martouf made a sour face. "I was able to get used to real coffee eventually, but never the sludge that comes from those machines."
"Is it possible for a Tok'ra to be addicted to caffeine?" she asked in a playful tone that he recognized as her way of teasing Simone."
"Lantesh doesn't think so," Martouf shook his head, sliding into the chair opposite her. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.
Jade raised an uncomprehending eyebrow. "Pardon me?"
"Oh. My apologies. It's…a Tau'ri expression. A way of asking what's troubling you," he explained.
"I see," she said slowly. "Well…SG-1 returned from P7X-377 a few hours ago. Colonel Carter needs only to make a few modifications to the wrist devices she brought back. After that, they'll be leaving to rescue Dr. Jackson's wife, and the Council has ordered Simone and I to go with them."
"To retrieve the poison," Martouf nodded. "This bothers you?"
"In a way," Jade admitted. "Both Simone and I would like to go back, if only to redeem our past failure. But Vala's life is at risk. Shouldn't she be the mission priority?"
Martouf frowned thoughtfully. "Thousands of Tok'ra lives will be at risk if Brannen is allowed to keep the symbiote poison. Is one human more important than they?"
"No," Jade replied without hesitation. "No, of course not. It only seems that the two situations aren't equal. On the one hand, Vala is in immediate danger. On the other, the Tok'ra face a potential risk, which hasn't increased since we first learned that Brannen had the poison in the first place. Yet if a choice must be made between saving her and completing our mission, Simone and I will be required to choose recovering the poison."
"As SG-1 would be required to choose saving Vala's life," Martouf said, reaching for her hand across the table. He wrapped her fingers in the warmth of his own and drew them to his lips. "Don't fear for Vala, Jade. SG-1 will not leave without her. Let them carry out their mission while you and Simone look to yours."
"Will you and Lantesh come with us, Martouf?" Jade asked.
"Of course."
***
The warm, spicy aroma of fresh pizza drifted over to her from the doorway and Sam felt her stomach rumble. Her mouth watered as she realized she had forgotten to eat again, and she turned toward the smell as someone knocked on the wall just inside her lab.
"Delivery," Jack smiled.
"Hey!" her eyes widened in surprise and she jumped to her feet as he came inside, gingerly sliding the hot box onto the counter before wrapping his arms around her.
"How did you even know we were back?" she asked as her hands slid smoothly over the cool leather of his jacket to lace behind his neck.
"Little bird told me," Jack shrugged.
"A little bird named Landry, huh?" she grinned.
"A little bird named Daniel, actually," he replied, then dipped his head to meet her lips.
She returned the kiss for a moment, then asked softly, "Are you guys ok?"
"Me and Daniel?" Jack shrugged. "We will be. So how's it going?" he asked, gesturing toward her worktable.
"Well, the biggest problem was disabling the safeguard that the Heand use to prevent the technology from working on anyone carrying a live symbiote, but I managed to…"
"Of course you did," Jack interrupted, forestalling a complicated technical explanation that he knew he wouldn't understand with another long kiss. "So…good then?" he asked when their lips parted again.
"I was just finishing," she replied, smiling fondly. She rested a hand on his chest for a few moments, then abruptly pulled back. "I should find Landry--"
"Eat first," Jack said, catching her hand as she started for the door and gently turning her back toward the cooling pizza.
"Sir, I--Jack," she broke off with a wince.
"That's gonna take some getting used to," he allowed, forcing a smile. "Sam, eat. I still outrank you. For the moment, anyway."
"Yes, sir," she replied, swallowing against a bittersweet wash of emotion that tightened her throat. Picking up the first slice, she asked quietly, "Are you sure this is what you want?"
"No," he admitted. "But I'm sure I don't ever want to sit behind a desk at the Pentagon waiting to hear…you know. And before you ask, I'm sure I won't ever regret it."
"Sure?" Sam asked, meeting his eyes again. She still wasn't convinced that his retiring was going to make anything different the next time SG-1 found themselves in this type of situation. Unless of course he intended to rush off with Vala to rescue them without even trying to go through the proper channels, and somehow that didn't seem like Jack O'Neill…or did it?
"I said I was sure, didn't I, Carter?" he asked, though his tone was gentle, not at all the pointed one he would normally use for a question like that. He reached out to brush her cheek with a knuckle, then let his hand drop away. "C'mon, eat. Everybody's in the infirmary with Daniel."
Sam nodded and hurriedly gulped down the pizza, then followed him out to the infirmary. The group now included both Jade and Martouf, which somehow didn't surprise her. She smiled a greeting as she and Jack walked over to Daniel's bed and Landry turned to them.
"News, Colonel?" he asked her.
"They're finished, sir," she replied. "I have six working models…"
"Six?" both Landry and Daniel said as Dr. Lam quietly got up and began preparing a syringe.
"Teal'c, Carter, and I discussed this on the planet, General," Cam spoke up. "We'd like General O'Neill to lead this mission."
Jack's eyebrows rose, and Landry smiled a little, looking from one to the other. Jack's retirement wasn't official yet--wouldn't be for a few weeks at least. He knew of several other regulations he would technically be breaking under the circumstances, but Mitchell and Carter knew them as well.
"You ok with that, Daniel?" he asked, turning back to the archaeologist and holding his gaze while Carolyn approached.
"Absolutely," he nodded, then his eyes bulged and he spun to face Carolyn as the needle sank into his arm. "Ow??????"
"Just relax, Daniel," she said calmly, offering no apology.
"Whaddaya--whaddaya mean, relax?" he demanded, blinking in an effort to clear his suddenly blurred vision. "Whaddid you do to me?"
"Just a sedative," Carolyn replied in the same even tone. "You'll wake up in a few hours."
"I can't--I have to go with them…" he slurred, sinking back on the pillows.
"And I had a feeling that Martouf would want to come along," Sam finished as Daniel's eyes slid closed.
The Tok'ra looked momentarily surprised and offered her a faint smile, and Landry gave a nod. "Then you have a go, SG-1," he said, then added half seriously, "Try to get her home before he wakes up."
+Okay, originally it was an RP concept ship, but it was for my character, I'm lazy, and James' model was still around.
Title:Beginning of the End
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: AU "Vala!" Jack shouted, diving forward to grab at her disappearing arm....
Rating: PG
Length: 1000 words
Category: angst, drama, romance
Pairing:Daniel/Vala implied
A/N Rediscovered Hearts Part 25. Begins directly after What Happens Next? Written for
sg_challengesAlek's ship glided gracefully to a landing outside the Dekara temple and he took a breath. He hated to admit being nervous, but the dryness of his mouth and suddenly increased heart rate couldn't be denied. He slowly walked out of the cockpit and opened the hatch, trying to reassure himself that the real reason for his uncertainty had to be the considerable risk he was taking in pursuing this little meeting. Mercenaries weren't accustomed to taking large and essentially unnecessary risks. Vala, though could be extremely convincing when she needed to be.
When he'd discovered her tinkering with his hyper drive engines while he and Brannen were supposed to be hunting in the preserve the day before, it had occurred to him quite quickly that he could justifiably kill her and if his information about the bracelets she and Brannen wore was correct, he would then be rid of Daegar as well. She'd very quickly made him a counterproposal which, at time, had seemed more than agreeable, but as he descended the ramp into the formidable presence of several large, armed and angry looking Jaffa, he abruptly realized that Vala hadn't actually promised anything.
Oh, she's good, he thought as he bowed to the old man who could only be Bra'tac. She's very good.
"Master Bra'tac," he said aloud. "I have a message for you from Vala Mal Doran-Jackson."
***
"Is it true they have a genetic memory?" Brannen asked, twirling the cylindrical silver vial between his fingers. He walked slowly over to the vat Alek had brought him, which was now emptied of water and held only the slithering purplish mass of the live symbiote.
"Yes," Vala replied carefully. She hugged her arms around her torso to suppress a shudder. "But it won't help you. It won't give you what you want."
"All I want is an end to them," Brannen shrugged as he raised his hand to slide the vial into a slot at the top of the enclosure. "Damnable creatures," he muttered half under his breath. "Inestimable lifespans…stealing immortality…no right to exist…"
"For once I agree with you," Vala admitted. A metallic click signaled that the mechanism within had locked on the vial, and Brannen shoved on it with his thumb, shattering the partition that separated the two chemicals and releasing the vapor.
The symbiote's writhing became momentarily frenzied, and Vala had to force herself not to squeeze her eyes shut as it flopped sickeningly about. When it finally grew still, he smiled with satisfaction. "It works," he nodded, sounding slightly surprised.
"Brannen," Vala began, maintaining the same careful tone she'd used earlier. "What are you planning?"
"An end," he replied. "A blessed end, Vala, to Goa'uld and Tok'ra alike. Surely you can't object after what Quetesh did to you?"
"What about the hosts?" Vala asked. "Innocent human hosts…"
"Innocent like you were?" Brannen's lips twisted into a cruel smile and she grit her teeth against the retort she would have liked to make.
The pound of running feet in the hall made both their eyes widen, and he raced to open the door, thrusting his head out into the hallway where one of his lieutenants skidded to a halt in front of him.
"Brannen, the Stargate just activated but the men report nothing came through," he said a bit breathlessly.
"Double the detail on every entrance to the compound," Brannen ordered.
Daniel, you delicious genius, Vala thought, but her elation was short lived as Brannen spun to face her again, slamming shut the door.
"What are they doing?" he demanded.
"I haven't a clue," she replied honestly, taking a step back. "Really, Brannen, I don't…"
***
"Creepy," Cam said with a grimace as he followed Jack directly though one of the guards.
"Daniel wasn't kidding when he said this was disconcerting," observed Sam
The group had gone entirely unseen from the Stargate to one of the tunnel entrances Jade knew just inside the protective force field Brannen used to keep his game--and other things-- inside the preserve. Coming out in a storage room about three levels up, they found the hall congested with heavily armed mercenaries.
"He's probably holding Vala in his private quarters," Jade said, fighting the urge to whisper. "In the tower."
"Tower?" Jack repeated. "Of course. Insane guy with an impregnable fortress…where else would he hold a hostage but in a tower? All right," he sighed, looking at back at Jade. "You know your way around this place. Lead the way."
Without the necessity of avoiding Brannen's guards, they made their way rather quickly to the tower, where familiar voices could clearly be heard inside. Jack and Cam pushed past the Tok'ra and barreled through the door, flanked by Teal'c and Sam, but they were met with the sight of an apparently empty room.
"The balcony!" Sam cried, spinning toward the direction of Vala's voice. The team raced outside, but froze at a silent signal from Jack. Vala and Brannen were faced off by the safety rail, and she'd just delivered a hard kick to his knee. Both staggered back a bit in pain, but Brannen managed to keep his knife in hand.
"Have you lost your mind?" Vala shouted. "If you stab me, we'll both die!"
Brannen seemed not to hear, his face red with rage, and he advanced on her again. She narrowly avoided a swipe from his blade, and Jack grabbed the Heand crystal from his breast pocket, rushing to intercept her attacker before he could take another swing.
"All right, now!" he ordered, slamming his own crystal into the slot in his wristband.
The swirl of neutrinos caught Brannen's attention as SG-1 came back into phase with weapons raised. Vala took advantage of his distraction and made a grab for his wrist, but a familiar noise sounded as they began to struggle for it, and several Al'kesh screamed down out of the sky, firing on the fortress.
A shot impacted with the side of the tower, and the whole balcony shook. Vala grabbed the rail to steady herself, but Brannen was thrown off balance, and both tumbled sideways over it.
"Vala!" Jack shouted, diving forward to grab at her disappearing arm.
Title:The End of the Beginning
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: AU ""Aw, Jackson, you so owe me for this..."
Rating: PG
Length: 812 words
Category: angst, drama, romance
Pairing:Daniel/Vala
A/N Rediscovered Hearts Part 26. Begins directly after What Happens Next? Written for
sg_challengesJack's fingers closed around her wrist and Vala reached frantically upward, clutching his arm with her other hand. Brannen's weight as the big man clung to her waist made her body feel as if it would rip apart. He continued to struggle, apparently now determined to pull them both to their deaths, and she kicked instinctively, trying to jar him loose while Bra'tac's ships continued to fire on the building.
"Don't!" warned Jack through teeth clenched with the effort of holding her. "You gotta get the bracelet off!"
"Well, I'm slipping!" Vala yelled back. "Do something!"
"I’m trying to!" Jack replied, looking over his shoulder toward the rest of the team. "Mitchell! Help me! Teal'c, get on the radio and tell Bra'tac to cease fire before he knocks them off!"
"I am attempting to do so presently, O'Neill," Teal'c replied as Cam scrambled forward to grab Vala's arms.
The beginning of her pregnant belly, though, was making Brannen's grip impossibly awkward and his arms began to slip. As Jack and Cam hauled her backwards, Brannen slid lower, until his arms were wrapped around her knees, and Vala screamed in pain.
"Don't let go!" Jack told her urgently. "Vala--don't--let go!"
Without having to be told, Sam hurried over as well and knelt opposite Cameron, working with deft fingers to access the control crystal that would release the Goa'uld bracelet from Vala's wrist. As Jack and Cameron managed to drag her back onto the balcony though, Brannen finally slipped. Vala screamed again, then her body went completely limp and unresponsive.
"C'mon, Carter, get it off her!" Jack barked.
"I am, sir," replied Sam without looking up.
A second later, the crystal activated and the bracelet slid off, but Vala didn't move. Across her still body, Cameron's gaze met Jack's. The young CO's eyes slid closed, and he shook his head in disbelief.
"Aw, Jackson, you so owe me for this," he sighed as Jack began resuscitation. He didn't hesitate, though, and crawled over to her head. Her eyes flew open as he bent toward her lips, and he let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, hello…" Vala smiled.
"Thank God," Cam sighed again, sitting back on his heels.
Vala smirked and sat up. "Well, it's nice to see you, too, Mitchell," she said teasingly, before Jack and Sam both wrapped their arms around her.
"Are you all right?" Sam asked against her shoulder.
She nodded, returning the hug tightly for a moment, until Jack pulled away and looked toward the door. "Carter…?" he asked slowly. "Where the hell are the Tok'ra?"
***
"Where exactly are we going?" Martouf asked as he followed Jade down the long stone corridor.
"We'd finally been able to figure out where Brannen kept his real records," Jade explained, "but we hadn't been able to access them because he was watching us too closely by then. I have the system passcodes, so retrieving the information we need shouldn't take long."
She led him to the locked door of the records room and they stepped through it, waiting until they were safely inside before turning off the Heand armbands. Jade made her way over to the computer and pulled back the chair, leaning over the console. A few moments later, though, she let out a hiss of frustration.
"Martouf, the system's been wiped," she said, hanging her head in defeat. "It's not here."
***
Daniel's breath caught in his throat as the 'Gate opened. She came through first, and despite Dr. Lam's restraining hand on his shoulder, he pushed himself out of the infirmary wheelchair and ran up the ramp to meet her.
Her arms slid around his neck, and he pulled her against him, heedless of the stitches or the pain of contact. Their lips met with passionate desperation, and he felt her beginning to shake. He held her tighter, let his mouth slide gently off hers to press against her forehead, and closed his eyes against his own tears.
"Brannen said he'd killed you," she half-whispered, her fingers slipping back over his neck to caress the sides of his face.
"He didn't," Daniel whispered against the softness of her skin, then pulled reluctantly back and cupped her face in his hands. "Did he hurt you?"
"No," Vala promised quietly.
Daniel stared searchingly at her for a moment, then finally nodded acceptance. Drawing her back into his arms, he held her silently for a long time, then slowly led her down onto to the 'Gate room floor, followed by the grinning members of SG-1, Bra'tac, and the Tok'ra.
"It is indeed a pleasure to see you reunited with your old lady, DanielJackson," Teal'c said as they reached the end of the ramp.
"Yeah…" Daniel started to smile, then he blinked in surprise and turned to face his friend. "My-my what?"
"His what?" Vala demanded.
Title:Fatherhood Bites
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: AU "All I want is pancakes and ice cream!"
Rating: PG
Length: 390 words
Category: humor, fluff
Pairing:Daniel/Vala
A/N Rediscovered Hearts Part 27. Guessing a few weeks after The End of the Beginning Written for
sg_challengesHe felt her stirring beside him and instantly woke, shifting in the gray pre-dawn chill to wrap his arms around her. She settled back down against him, resting her head on his shoulder, and Daniel shivered pleasantly at the warmth of her breath on his neck. Vala's hand smoothed gently over his bare side, automatically avoiding the stitches that covered his torso now.
"Daniel," she wet her lips thoughtfully. "Do you know what I'd really love right now?"
"Mmmm," he smiled, shaking his head playfully. "What's that?"
Vala dipped her head to touch her lips against his shoulder and let them linger there for a moment, then slowly moved up to leave a soft kiss, all too briefly on his mouth. "Pancakes," she whispered.
Daniel blinked. "Pancakes?"
Vala nodded seriously. "And ice cream. We still have ice cream left, don't we?"
"Are you nuts?" Daniel cried, pulling away.
Vala's eyes widened and she stared at him with a wounded expression. She said nothing for a long moment, then rolled over and struggled to sit up. "No," she replied in a trembling tone. "I'm not nuts, Daniel, I'm pregnant."
Daniel winced and sat up as well, suddenly and acutely conscious of his own impending fatherhood. Gently, he wrapped an arm around her, leaning his chin over her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he murmured sincerely.
"It's bad enough I'm getting fat," Vala complained. "None of my clothes fit, I'm never comfortable…my body's doing all these strange things…all I want is pancakes and ice cream and you call me nuts!"
Daniel closed his eyes, repressing a weary sigh, and kissed her temple. "I guess I'm the biggest jerk in the world," he said as he pulled back the covers. "Would breakfast in bed help?"
"I suppose," Vala allowed stiffly.
"Here," he said, gently guiding her back onto the pillows as he climbed out of bed. "You--you just go back to sleep. I'll get it."
Vala sniffled, but obediently closed her eyes, listening as his bare feet padded out of the room. She didn't open them again until his footfalls had descended the stairs and faded toward the kitchen. Then though, she gave a contented sigh and sat up again, leaning across the bed to rest her head on the warmth of his abandoned pillow, a broad smirk playing on her lips.
Oy...
Note to self: Never write this much fic in one week. Anyway, so now I've just got an assortment of random personal type crap. Quiz stolen from
nerca_beyul and was tagged for the old "explain your username meme by aruna7 | You scored as Ronon Dex.
Who would your Stargate: Atlantis boyfriend be? created with QuizFarm.com |
Ok, I'm going to explain my username, but given how long it is, I'm not tagging anyone because I'd end up tagging half my flist and I'm lazy, so if anyone wants to do it, go right ahead.
Well, for as long as I can remember, my online identity has been "Lionchilde", a tribute to Aslan, who long, long, long before the Disney movie was even a thought, had a profound impact on me. Then a friend asked me for help coming up with a name for his blog, and every name I came up with over an ENTIRE night, he didn't like, or it was taken, or both. So, finally, I went, "Call it So_Out_Of_Ideas." which he actually liked, but then he randomly came up with something himself, and said I should use the ideas thing. I, of course, replied, "I can't! I'm Lion! Everybody knows I'm Lion!" and he was like, "Yeah, that would be the point. I dare you." So... my lj name was born. That's it, really. *shrug*