Falling
By: sorrel_rowan
CATEGORY: General, Humor
SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 10 “Unending”
WARNINGS: None
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Thanks to Stef and KathPup, who beta’d this. Some predictable, hopefully fun, fluff. And Chasing Liberty mild line theft at one point.
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://www.fanfiction.net/~sorrelrowan
"Before I go away again, there’s something I’d like you
to hear,
Somebody loves you, and I know who it is.
The million dollar answer, if you’re up for the quiz."
- Malcolm Middleton, Somebody Loves You
"Why do I have to keep watching him?" Vala had asked when they’d camped out the night before. "I’m not complaining, but neither of you ever go with him."
"He’s right here," came the mumbled reply from the fireside.
"Then he should learn not to speak with his mouth full," Vala retorted.
"Something I should know about, Muscles?" Vala asked with a grin, turning to face Teal’c, standing on sentry duty behind them.
He looked at
* * * *
As Daniel walked further into the forest, Vala raised an eyebrow and looked at Teal’c. Teal’c merely inclined his head and walked in the opposite direction.
Sighing and following, not really minding that Teal’c had just designated her Daniel’s chaperone, Vala stepped through the undergrowth and jogged to catch up. Daniel answered her, "Hey!" with a quick, distracted smile and a vague almost-wave. Vala smiled and bit back a laugh. According to the UAV, there was an underground temple of … Mayan? Incan? … Vala privately admitted that she’d perhaps stopped listening. But he talks really, really fast.
"Vala?"
She clicked the radio. "Here."
"You’re with Jackson, right?"
"Correct," she replied. "He is currently…hunting through foliage for rocks."
"Keep an eye out,
"Hey!" came the slightly indignant shout from
ahead. Vala heard the radio click. "This is
Vala saw Daniel stand up about ten feet ahead, meeting his eyes as the radio clicked again and the only sound was Cam sniggering. Vala fought to suppress a smile as Daniel rolled his eyes.
"He might just have left it on after you radioed," Vala remarked. Daniel looked at her, smiling slightly. She nodded, "Or he could simply be the eternal child he is."
Daniel grinned and went back to his scanner, muttering, "One to talk."
Vala, now standing beside him, lightly smacked his arm.
"Well, come on," he defended, "You voted for the Lion King against Dancer In The Dark."
"Yes," Vala shot back, "Because it’s cheerful. Do you know how that film ends, Daniel?"
"They sing a song?"
"Dancer in the Dark."
"No," Daniel admitted. As Vala opened her mouth, he cut in, "And don’t tell me!"
Vala grinned and went back to scanning the perimeter. After a moment, she remarked, "Disney is really quite tasteful, you know. From the research I’ve done, they reference a lot of mythology and classics of your culture."
She could see him grin. "Yes, but they do it badly and miss out all the really good bits."
"Such as?" Vala asked, intrigued.
"The Lion King is basically a play-"
"Hamlet, I know."
"-but with lions."
"I’m failing to see your point."
"They miss out all the death, tragedy and suicide."
Vala raised an eyebrow. "Considering it is a cartoon aimed at children, I can see why." She paused contemplatively. "But it may have livened up that terrible song if Nala had thrown herself in the waterfall, rather than just sailing down it on that overgrown leaf. Besides, they killed Mufasa! The last time they did something like that was Bambi."
"How many of them have you watched?" Daniel asked incredulously.
"I refuse to answer that because you’ll mock me,"
Vala rejoined, sticking her tongue out and walking on. "Chop, chop, Daniel!
They fell into silence and a rhythm as Daniel walked ahead, scanning for the temple, and Vala watched out for dangerous things Daniel wouldn’t notice, the scanner in his hand taking up all his attention.
"Daniel?" Vala asked, pausing.
He stopped and turned. "What is it?"
"Stand very still."
He looked puzzled, but did as he was told. Vala took a breath and firmly tapped her heel against the ground, finding it to be quite a bit more solid than she expected. She looked at Daniel. He checked the scanner.
"I think the temple would be deeper than your heel finding it," Daniel answered, but didn’t move.
"Then how do explain the hollow sound?"
Vala looked around slowly, holding up a hand to silence Daniel when he asked what she was doing. Eventually, she pointed at the base of a nearby tree. "You see it?"
Daniel squinted, took off his glasses and cleaned them, then looked again. "Rope around the base, which leads up to…that branch."
"That would make the centre of the trap somewhere between us," Vala reasoned, "So if we jump into that thicket-"
Daniel looked between Vala and the thicket she meant. "That’s about six feet. Think we can do it?"
She paused, then tugged off her pack, swinging it from one side to the other and testing the weight. "I think so."
He grinned and unhooked his own pack. "On three?"
Daniel met her eyes, starting to swing his pack. "One?"
Vala nodded, "Two?"
They both nodded and swung their packs out to the left, using the extra weight to drag them the extra two feet through the air to crash into the thicket. The trap snapped into place behind them, a yawning pit opening up where they’d been standing, then the rope snapped under only the pressure of its own weight, sealing the trap. Daniel and Vala looked at each other. Vala stood and walked to the base of the tree.
Standing, Daniel brushed himself off and asked, "Rotted through?"
Vala held up the snapped rope in answer.
Daniel laughed and bent to pick up his pack, Vala walked back to the thicket to do the same.
As they stood, the soft ground underneath them gave way and they landed with a thud in an underground chamber.
* * * *
"So…what did you think of the Lion King?"
"It was inferior to Star Wars."
He inclined his head. "Indeed."
"So…"
"I do not believe I enjoyed it as much as Vala Mal Doran."
Teal’c wasn’t so amused. "I do. She insisted I join her in ‘Be Prepared.’"
"Well, we found the temple," Daniel replied.
He couldn’t help it;
There was a rather deep silence.
* * * *
Daniel gestured to Vala, who rolled her eyes and muttered, "Coward."
"It’s more a dirty tunnel leading to the temple," Vala put in. He gestured again and she clicked the radio. "But yes, it does. We have a great excuse."
* * * *
"Oh, I cannot wait to hear this,"
"We’re fine, Cameron," came Vala’s clipped reply. "But it’s damp and smelly, so we might head up into the temple."
"You do that,"
"Will do."
* * * *
"My, my."
Daniel and Vala emerged from the tunnel and into the main temple, Vala raising an eyebrow at the sculptures. She looked at Daniel. "If you’d told me a captive army of naked men was involved, I’d have complained an awful lot less."
Daniel grinned and walked on. "I don’t think even you could get a reaction out of these ones. And you don’t complain much anymore."
"I don’t know," Vala drawled, draping an arm over a statue’s foot. "They haven’t seen daylight or women for a long time."
Daniel shook his head and went into the back room of the temple, coughing at the falling dust when he pushed the straining doors open. Vala swung her P90 to her side and leaned against it beside him.
Taking deep breathes after wedging the door open with a broken piece of leg, Vala mildly remarked, "You know, I think you complimented me. Or am I just suddenly delirious?"
Daniel grinned, running a hand through his hair and watching the dust fall to the floor. "I might have," he admitted.
He waited on the smart retort. It didn’t come. When he looked, he saw her raise her chin a little and smile the same smile she’d had on her face throughout the Lion King.
* * * *
"How far away were they when they ‘found’ this temple?" he asked.
"I believe it would be unwise for Vala Mal Doran and Daniel Jackson to attempt to return to the stargate until morning," Teal’c answered, eyes on the tree line.
"Indeed," Teal’c put in helpfully. "It would likely be unwise to attempt a return voyage until this world is again in daylight."
"Which is what, twenty three hours here?"
Teal’c turned to him, tilting his head.
"As you have said, Colonel Mitchell, it makes sense," Teal’c replied innocently.
"Yeah,"
"I suggest this course of action merely out of concern for Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran’s safety," Teal’c deadpanned, a glint in his eyes and hint of amusement in his otherwise stoic expression.
"Sure you do. But if there’s an opportunity to make
something happen…" Teal’c raised an eyebrow and
"Indeed," Teal’c nodded.
* * * *
"So how long until sunrise here?" Daniel met Vala’s eyes over the small fire they’d started in the middle of the main chamber. "Twenty three hours?"
Vala blinked and raised her eyebrows, clicking her radio. "I’m willing to risk it."
"Just sit tight,"
Vala thought quickly, making her voice rather plaintive. "But what if something tries to kill us?"
Daniel raised an eyebrow at that point, mouthing her words back at her with a sceptical expression.
"It happens quite often," Vala added defensively. "And you’ll be on Earth – warm and showered might I add – while we’re trapped here."
"Vala, that’s lame,"
"I don’t need anyone, never mind Daniel considering he doesn’t notice the ground beneath his feet if there’s a chipped rock nearby, to take care of me, Cameron," Vala shot back hotly.
"Then you’ll be just fine, won’t you?" Without waiting a reply, he tacked on, "We’re headed back to Earth. See you in twenty-three hours. Mitchell out."
"Walked into that one," Daniel remarked as she huffed.
"I know."
"I mean, he was just begging you to get angry."
"I know."
"It’s not like he was being subtle or anything."
"Shut up, Daniel. And it’s Cameron. He doesn’t know how to be subtle."
Daniel looked at his watch. "That’s… twenty two hours and fifty nine minutes to go."
Vala groaned. "I’m going to go crazy – and I’m taking you with me."
Daniel grinned and ducked his head. He held out a power bar, watching as she deliberately turned her back to him. He pulled it back slightly, then grinned as she held out a hand.
* * * *
"How long?"
Daniel leaned his head against the wall he was currently examining. "Five minutes past the last time you asked, which makes it two hours and forty five minutes since sundown."
He heard her sigh.
"Why don’t you just get some sleep?"
"Are you trying to make me shut up?"
"Yes."
"Fine. I won’t talk to you."
"Finally," Daniel breathed, then felt a twinge of guilt.
"Well, if that’s how you feel, just leave! Seriously. Just go."
Daniel grinned, watching her make shooing motions. She turned around again sharply. "Why haven’t you left yet?"
Daniel took a deep breath and forced himself not to laugh. "We’re stuck in an underground temple."
"Oh."
* * * *
Daniel hummed quietly, moving around the temple area and making markings on his sketch pad. Vala read a book with a brightly covered front, stubbornly refusing to ask any questions, at all.
Even if curiosity was killing her. She really didn't give a toss if Janey McLaney fell for Marcus Darkly-the-brooding-sensitive-musician at the indie bar. What she wanted to know was what god or creature had thought twelve erotically posed, highly detailed, four metre high carvings were a good theme to go with for interior decor. But she didn't read Ancient Whatever, so that meant asking Daniel, and she didn't feel like doing that either.
She heard a click and leapt for her radio, only to quickly change to embarrassedly grabbing the water bottle when she realised Daniel had activated his dictaphone.
"Construction appears to be of on-site carving, hewn of the stone itself, hence a low-technology society is likely as less labour needed than if all carvings were brought here."
Vala sighed, then paused before ostentatiously turning a page. Daniel usually took his talking notes in short-hand, and didn't speak so loudly, nor repeat what he already knew.
"Deity appears to not be of goa'uld origin - none of the common technological markings or glowing eye motifs. Glowing other parts of anatomy seems to be the suggestion. I'm as yet uncertain to the symbological significance beyond the usual phallic wands and staffs, suggesting power, stamina and girth."
Vala laughed unwillingly before turning to look at Daniel. "So what was his name? And is girth a technical term? Really?"
He smiled a little bashfully. "I don't know yet. About the name, not the girth thing." He looked at her cautiously. "How's your book?"
"Rubbish," Vala answered. "Do you want some coffee?"
He sat down, and they were okay again.
* * * *
"So,"
Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
"Because we are, you know,"
Teal'c inclined his head. "We will return in the morning and find them well."
"Incidentally leaving them for another oh, eighteen
hours with no dvds,"
Walking down the hall,
Vala's voice in the distance. "Oh, come on. I must have gotten together
with someone. Was it you, Muscles?"
"Well, isn't that interesting?"
* * * *
"Vala."
"Hmm?"
"Go sleep. I'll take first watch."
"I'm... fine."
"Sure you are. Go sleep."
"...Fine."
Vala turned, walking towards the sleeping bag. "I appreciate the offer and I'm taking the chance to sleep, okay? I don't need to."
Daniel nodded, knowing she'd been on a recon mission with SG-14 to a planet she knew the six hours before heading out with SG-1 and had been waiting in the gate room for them to arrive. He held back from commenting that if she didn't need to sleep, then it would have taken her longer than seconds to fall asleep, but mainly because no one else was there to hear him and he'd feel odd talking to erotically posed statues.
Used to crumbling statues and ruins, he ignored the first sound. And the second. It was the equivalent of a branch snapping in a forest - it only meant something in films or bad television. Almost ninety-nine times out of a hundred, that tiny little sound was only background noise.
Pausing at the foot of a statue a few hours later, he tilted his head and listened carefully, counting silently. The sounds were getting closer together. There didn't seem to be a pattern, but it was definitely recurring.
Debating with himself, he put a hand on Vala's shoulder and shook her lightly. Eyes opening, she blinked and her hand went to her P90. Daniel shook his head and tapped his ear. Vala's eyes focused somewhere beyond his shoulder as she frowned. Eyes widening suddenly, she let go of the gun and put both hands on Daniel's shoulders, flipping him onto his back and throwing him back, landing six or seven feet to the left of their previous location and beside a heavy stone statue that had fallen.
Vala, who'd fallen on top of Daniel, tilted her head and looked at him. "You heard something?"
"Might have been creaking," Daniel replied with a nod.
"Might have been the statue," Vala responded. "It's been here for centuries, why now?"
Daniel sat up slightly, leaning on his elbows and looking around. "I can't really tell for the dust -" Vala nodded, pursing her lips, "but from the fracture lines, I'd say us opening the door might have triggered it."
"Might have," Vala repeated with a small smile. "You know, Daniel, all our food, water and bags were below-" she gestured at the statue, "that."
Daniel looked at the statue, tilted his head and grinned. "Oh, dear."
Vala followed his gaze and burst out laughing, putting a hand on his chest to steady herself. "Poor fellow waits hundreds of years to be horizontal and loses something valuable in the process."
"Might shatter his confidence," Daniel put in with the same small smile. He held Vala's eyes for a moment before they both began to laugh uncontrollably.
"That wasn't even very well punned," Vala reprimanded, sitting up and next to him.
"I'm sorry, should I say something about frac-" When Daniel didn't continue, Vala looked at him. "Are you all right? No bones broken?"
Vala nodded. "I'm fine, Daniel. As much as I'd love to be heroic and sprain a wrist for you, I got out of the way in time."
Daniel raised his eyebrow. "Sprain a wrist?"
"Poorly phrased?" Vala answered with a slightly wicked grin as she stood.
"You're trying to mess with my head," Daniel retorted, standing.
"Might be," Vala nodded.
"Might," Daniel drew out the word as he stepped forward to look at the damage to the temple floor, kneeling.
"Mmm-hmm."
Vala kneeled next to him and tilted her head to look at the face of the fallen statue. "You know, it's funny how things look from a different angle. He looked positively ecstatic from up there, but now he just looks a little sad."
Daniel smiled and tentatively reached out a hand, accidentally brushing his fingers against hers as he stood. "It is funny, that."
"Daniel," Vala said firmly, "I have no interest in being a character from one of Earth's poor films designed to divert teenagers from anarchy."
He stood, baffled, until she kissed him, standing on her toes to do it.
"Why-?"
"Well, if films are analogies for life, the universe and everything-"
"That's a science fiction book."
"Shut up, Daniel," Vala answered, standing very close to him and not meeting his eyes, "Then I would rather not wait until- well, an hour and ten minutes into the film would be about fifty or sixty in life terms, and there's also the fact that these films are never very long, teenagers having no attention span-"
Daniel, trying hard not to laugh, watched for an opportunity and wrapped his hands around both of her wrists.
"What're you-"
"You're gesturing, and I'm worried you'll hit me or yourself," Daniel explained, pulling her a little closer.
"Oh," Vala paused, then shrugged, "And well, we know we'll get shot, or blown up, or sent into space someday-"
"What you're trying to say," Daniel interrupted with a smile, "Is that life is too short-"
"-To be not-" Vala paused and spoke slowly, as if trying to puzzle her way through it, "having... what you want."
Daniel nodded. "That's a good point. I'm just thinking that this isn't really a very romantic setting."
"Are you kidding?" Vala grinned, "Those men are clearly not thinking about their tax returns, unless they're very odd."
"Besides," Daniel considered, "It isn't as if we do very well in romantic settings. I take you to a restaurant, you get kidnapped-"
"We go to a nice, cosy little cave, and you're captured," Vala rolled her eyes.
"I thought you brought the ceiling down on us," Daniel frowned.
"Other cave," Vala gestured.
"Oh."
They looked at each other and grinned, Vala leaning her forehead on his chest before meeting his eyes.
Daniel raised an eyebrow and leaned down, stopping just as his nose brushed hers. "You better not be messing with me, you know."
He felt her grin before he heard her voice, speaking primly. "I don't stand up on my tip toes for just anyone, Daniel."
* * * *
"I thought you said there were twelve statues,"
Vala pointed at the remains of the statue that had almost brained them.
"Oh."
They shook their heads.
"Then let's go,"
Vala grinned and bounced to beside him.
"Well..." She drew out the word, smiling in a way
that
"When is…movie night?"
"Tonight."
"Could watch- Wait, huh?"
Vala nodded. "It's at yours. So order pizza early, and don't forget to hold the pineapple on Daniel's-"
Daniel, walking further behind and grinning, caught Teal'c's eye. "Hmm?"
"It is nothing, Daniel Jackson."
"Oh, okay, then."
"You merely seem-" Teal'c inclined his head, "Content."
Daniel grinned and attempted to suppress it, but failed miserably. He laughed as Teal'c rather smugly lifted his head and walked on.
As they approached the stargate, Daniel dialed Earth's address as Vala dropped back. Teal'c looked at her with a raised eyebrow when she firmly prodded him in the arm.
"Can I be of assistance?"
Vala shook her head and grinned. "Just so you know - I got my answer."
Teal'c tilted his head, but she smiled and ducked away, standing at Daniel's side as the gate dialed.
When her hand brushed his, and his twitched before returning to his side and the two shared a smile, Teal'c stood up sharply and blinked. As they returned to Earth, he attempted not to appear too pleased with himself, but suspected that he also failed.
** The End **
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