Moments
By: Thalion pip
CATEGORY: Missing Scene
SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 10 from “Company of Thieves” through “The Shroud”
WARNINGS: None
AUTHOR’S NOTES: This is a continuation of Numbers, both are pretty much on the same theme. Also, Three has a borrowed line it in, if you catch it you watch good tv; and if you don't, it wasn't meant as hommage to you for guiding me through almost changing to a PLSC major and swearing off Stargate, Daniel Jackson, and writing for the rest of my life while I became a lawyer. (Isn't life fun?) And there are two drabbles for Shroud, it was a ruddy brilliant episode, I couldn't help myself.
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://thalion-pip.livejournal.com
Five
(Company of Thieves)
The lad stood partway in front of her with his hand
annoyingly close to a sidearm. Vala had obviously picked the outfit for the
good Doctor, probably as his punishment for thinking she needed the protection
of his proximity.
She had him well trained. Too many of the up and coming thieves these days came
in with guns blazing, which made them more than likely to get shot. Vala
usually went for shock and awe (both parts usually involving her cleavage,) and
her boy seemed to fancy the same route. Though Borzin was willing to law 20 to
one odds that Daniel Jackson didn’t realize just how many women stared at him
on the way in, all do to what was probably Vala’s favorite new piece of
clothing.
“Borzin, you slimy two-faced grease peddler. Come on, give us a hug.”
Vala leapt into his arms with more camradarie than he ever expected out of her,
and all to pacify the displeased member of SG-1 following her. That was odd.
From what the Alliance had told him, Vala was simply contract labor for the
Tau’ri, and it was Trickery 101 that you always made the situation worse than
it appeared so when you fixed it you were all the more spectacular. She wasn’t
soaking Jackson for all he was worth, and that was cause for concern.
“And what poor loser have you conned into your company this time?”
“Oh, this is my apprentice, Seamus.” Vala shot an expectant grin back at
Jackson, and that was all Borzin needed to know.
“You must be learning a great deal.”
“More than I’d like to.”
“Actually, I only took him on as part of a bet. He’s mentally disabled.”
Dear goodness, there was banter. This wasn’t just a mark. She wasn’t simply
attracted to her boss and trying to worm her way into the good graces of the
Tau’ri for better pay, she actually liked this boy. There was affection in
their fight, something well worn and comfortable, with nothing left to prove
and bearing all the strength of something ages old.
And Jackson still had his hand on that gun.
“Don’t trust her. She will sell you out for a bad lunch first chance she gets.”
Jackson smiled. This sweet, naieve, Tau’ri warrior just smiled and said, “I
know.” Apparently Vala had pulled such a switch on him before, or maybe the
smile he bore was because she hadn’t. That would have to make Daniel Jackson
the first man she’d never double-crossed.
Vala darling, you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. Thieves do not
develop emotional attachments to heroes. She knew better than that.
Her smile was genuine and sweet, the kind he didn’t believe Vala could have
after all she’d seen as she said, “He likes me, isn’t that cute?” They both
grinned at each other, with a strange mix of sarcasm and glee.
Jackson’s hand was still on that gun, and she didn’t seem to mind at all.
Four
(The Quest: Part 1)
Teal’c told her once that we only dislike that in others
that which we dislike in ourselves. She found that rather sound piece of
counsel easier to ignore when Teal’c’s bass wasn’t sounding its truth to her,
but now she couldn’t help but agree with him.
Adria was manipulative, with no respect for life or free will, and after a
decade of witnessing life wrenched from her grasp and granted to Qetesh, there
was nothing in this galaxy she prized more than choice.
There was a moment in her past when two courses laid before Vala Mal Doran, and
she had picked a life much different than the hatred that fueled Adria.
Self-pity and rage could only carry you so far, and they were never good colors
for Vala.
Adria had invaded Vala’s mind when they were trapped on that ship with her
above Dakara. Back when Adria thought that her mother could be coerced into
Origin. She played on Vala’s fear of being trapped, and tried to drive her into
one tighter than Adria could ever see.
Adria told Vala that she wasn’t free. She told herself that every morning she
rose and chose to be at the SGC. That she was there because she’d changed, she
wanted to do something better for her life and the galaxy, but that was a lie.
She belonged to a new master now, one who would cage her, keep her hidden under
a mountain while the Ori wanted her honored among the stars.
Vala was lashed to him, just as she’d been to Qetesh. She wanted to rupture the
event horizon and never be held again, but something bound her to that place.
So long as Daniel Jackson was there she would never breath independence again.
It was a lie. Vala knew it for what it was, manipulation worthy of her mother
‘s younger years. It was her choice to rise there every morning, and bed down
every night. Her choice to change her life and be something more than the agony
the Ori used her to create.
It was a terror Vala dealt with; that she would be tamed, be domesticated, and
lose that fire she loved most about herself. But that stopped being her fear a
long time ago. This was her path, and this is where she wanted to be.
This was home, and she made her own fate.
Three
(The Quest: Part 2)
That’s why the IOA wanted a new SG-1. 10 years of mission
reports were steeped in rebellion and for one brief, shining moment they were about
to be scattered across the stars. But that beautiful plan came crashing down
the moment Vala Mal Doran stepped through the Stargate.
With one breath she had Daniel Jackson hog-tied at the SGC, and from there it
was only a matter of time. Teal’c came to Jackson’s side the moment someone
whispered he might be in a bad way, and General O’Neill had Sam on a plane
before she got the chance to work up a proper worry.
They were all kin, and not those siblings that fight over Granny’s pearls, they
were the kind that you call to help you drag a body across the living room
floor. Mitchell got to be the overachieving baby brother, and Vala was the
troublemaking sister, but they were family now too.
He knew it was going to kill her, just like it was killing him to watch Jackson
trading in his head for an upgrade of the drastic variety. He didn’t know if it
was Merlin or Jackson that brushed Vala’s cheek like that, tender and slow, but
he wanted to drop that man like a bag of dirt.
She cared about him, that was the danger of being SG-1, the danger of being
family, and she hadn’t had family in a long time; and this was no beginner’s
course.
He had to walk away from her after he spoke the words that would keep her put.
She didn’t want to cry, didn’t want to admit that it was bleeding her dry to
want him to live so bad she could feel it down the soul she’d forgotten she
had.
That’s what family did to you.
Two
(The Shroud)
“In our time together, I’ve really come to see in you what
draws Mother’s affection.”
And with one phrase all of Merlin’s meticulously crafted walls came down, and
Daniel Jackson’s soul was laid bare.
“Affecto-what?”
Merlin threw Dr. Jackson’s mind back into the corner where he could be
protected, but it was too late. She felt that rush of truth breath life back
into his being at that thought, and it could not be undone.
“It’s very important to me that we save her together.”
Merlin threw up what walls he could to deceive her, make Adria believe the
longing Dr. Jackson felt at Vala’s name was for her child.
“Oh, of course.”
He was weak for her. These young were still commandeered by emotion, a reckless
trait his people long ago attempted to abandon.
He had kept Jackson away from the surface, and his tumult of feelings at bay (a
task made easier by Jackson’s life of self-restraint.) But still, his fire
tumbled beneath the surface, threatening to loose itself and destroy them both.
Passion still plagued this child, stirred by the mention of a name, the breath
of a possibility.
She accepted the lie, but Jackson wasn’t there.
One
(The Shroud)
She didn’t trust him, and he didn’t deserve her trust like
that, not today.
It wasn’t Merlin, Daniel could’ve stopped him, but duty took his heart. Could
she see the pain in his eyes, or taste the infection in his lips?
Somehow, in that way only Vala felt him, she already knew.
Guilt lacerated his soul, but worst of all, it didn’t seem to hurt her.
** The End **
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