Shaken
By: sorrel_rowan
CATEGORY: Drama
WARNINGS: Adult Situations, Torture
SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 10 “Continuum”
AUTHOR’S NOTES: This fic was originally meant to be two different ones…then I realised I was writing the same story twice, and they wanted to be the same one, so I obliged. And also, this was meant to be one of two oneshots. It’s now chapter one of a potential epic. Funny old world sometimes :D
For gioia, who gave it direction and the most ingenious idea for a fic challenge in ages and for Ronja because it was her birthday.
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://www.fanfiction.net/~sorrelrowan
Prologue:
“Get your hands off of
me!”
Teal’c heard Vala’s voice, hearing the almost concealed undertone of fear.
“Oh not likely, you
spineless piece of-”
Usually, when a prisoner’s voice cut out in the middle of a sentence, it meant one of two things and nothing good. Teal’c, sitting against the cell bars, heard her voice hitch and cut out sharply.
“Don’t even try it. Don’t…just…just get that thing away from -”
She wasn’t trying to hide the fear anymore. Teal’c heard a sharply cut off scream and closed his eyes as footsteps came along the corridor.
CHAPTER 1: When the Line Begins to Blur
“I’d travel time and
confess to her,
But I’m afraid she’d
shoot the messenger,
I never had the nerve
to ask,
Has my moment come and
passed?”
- Billy Talent, Surrender
It wasn't as if they'd asked for trouble or anything. No, no... all they'd done was ring aboard a goa'uld mothership, plant a few bombs and then tried to get off again.
It'd worked once.
And maybe, Daniel thought, we should have learnt better than trying to take the second-snake-in-command prisoner. Never works out well.
As before, they were taken prisoner. Except this time, Bra'tac didn't open the door to let them out. And apparently, his vocabulary had already been corrupted by Jack. He'd never have even thought the words 'second-snake-in-command' without that formative influence.
The word 'blinding' still applied, though. Only, it applied to the pain Daniel was trying very hard to distract himself from and not a flash bomb. Pain, applied by way of that glowing stick thing pressed against his side. Apparently no one could help but scream at it, so he duly complied and waited for them to stop so he could refuse to answer their questions again.
It stopped, and Daniel heard two sharp intakes of breath
behind him that he presumed came from Sam and
The stick was taken from his side, and he fell to the floor, his palms hitting the tiles roughly as he took ragged breaths.
A kick sent him sideways, and he was dragged to his feet again. Screwing his eyes shut, he felt the stick hit his side again. The pain forced his eyes open and his by now hoarse voice caught in his throat.
Teal'c held the stick, and Vala draped her arm over his shoulder, head tilted with an enigmatic smile that would have been reassuring were it not for the ice in her eyes.
Daniel let out an explosive breath as the stick fell to Teal'c's side, and felt his heart rate speed up at the sight of Vala's slim hand on his forearm.
"Stop for a moment."
The voice was hers but the intonation utterly wrong. It was an incredibly clichéd metaphor - downright tacky, actually - but Katesh reminded Daniel of a snake. Her movements had a grace, her voice an insidiousness and her expression a neutral chill he could only connect with a reptile about to strike.
And I get to play the trussed up mouse, Daniel thought, watching her saunter to Teal'c's other side and tilt her head to look down at him. This is not a good day.
She squatted, folding her hands on her bent knees. The gesture sent a stab of pain into Daniel's gut that had nothing to do with torture implements.
"If you're bored,
read something," Daniel said through
clenched teeth, staring deliberately at the stone tablet.
"Fine," came the petulant
answer. "I will."
Daniel forced his eyes onto the tablet
and told himself he wasn't struggling
to keep them there when she squatted in front of the book case. It wasn't his
fault she wore leather.
"This host had no memory of you."
She didn't bounce. Daniel, fighting not to focus on Katesh, realised what made her presence so painful. She had the same sex-on-legs-and-I-know-it attitude that Vala had, but none of her innocence or glee. Snake aside, men would follow both around with their mouths hanging open (especially in that leather), but they'd stick around for Vala.
"Well, she wouldn't," he bit off. "I have no idea who your host is and I don't care."
Some things don't change, Daniel thought when she slapped him. And nor do others, he added, even his mental voice sounding as if it came from between clenched teeth as the hand device activated against his forehead.
* * * *
They took him to a cell, his mind somewhere between jello and water. The door closed behind him and he tried to sit up, only to find his limbs were overcooked noodles.
Two soft hands drew him into her lap.
“The last time I did this you were unconscious, you know.”
“Give me a few seconds,” Daniel replied, blinking, “I might get there yet.”
“You aren’t going to throw me off for doing this?” she asked, stroking the back of his head, voice laced with an edge of vulnerability.
Daniel raised a hand, opened his eyes slightly to look at it trembling in the air, and let it fall again.
She laughed, a rich sound that echoed in the dark room.
He leaned back, finding the motion and the sound soothing.
“Go to sleep, my Daniel,” she murmured in his ear.
Daniel could only nod and comply.
* * * *
“This host had no memory of you,” Katesh repeated, lowering her hand to her side.
“Had,” Daniel shot back bitterly, taking deep breaths and
glad that Sam and
She slapped him again, and this time he tasted blood.
“Had,” something stubborn in him made him repeat. She brought up the hand device again, sending threads of blistering pain through his skull.
* * * *
This time Sam and
“You guys-?”
“We’re fine,”
Daniel laughed weakly and leaned his head back. “Vala?”
“Still with Baal,” Sam replied, pulling her knees up to her chest as he let out a sigh.
“You don’t want to know?”
“I do,” Daniel answered, nodding, “But I think it’s better for my sanity if I don’t.”
* * * *
“I’ve got another
confession to make,
I’m your fool.
Everyone’s got their
chains to break,
Holding you.
Were you born to
resist or be abused?
Is someone taking the
best of you?”
Foo Fighters, Best of You
Daniel cracked an eye open slowly, hearing voices in the corridor outside the cell.
“What, so wrapped up in steel you forgot what’s under your belt?”
He smiled, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Hey, I didn’t kick you that hard and I do need blood flow in that arm, you know!”
The door opened, flooding the dark cell with light and making Daniel wince. He heard a series of footsteps without rhythm accompanied by another, ‘Hey!’ and a string of curses muttered in obscure, obscene Goa’uld before the door slammed shut again.
Vala stumbled across the room, hand lightly meeting Sam’s
for a moment as she walked past with a nod. She raised an eyebrow at the
sleeping
He lightly touched her arm in the dim light. “You okay?”
She nodded without hesitation and with a series of quick, jerky movements he knew better than to trust. Rather than make an issue of the fact that she was shaking violently, Daniel slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her next to him.
“I’m fine,” Vala insisted without pushing him away.
“Sure you are,” Daniel said lightly, “But what if I’m not?”
Vala looked at him suspiciously but didn’t question it further, leaning against his shoulder and letting out a breath.
“Daniel,” Vala’s tone was almost guilty and it was certainly hurried, “No matter what, don’t get confused, and don’t-”
The cell door opened and the same jaffa as before walked in with another, each grabbing an arm of Vala’s and dragging her out of the cell. The jaffa hit Daniel across the face with the back of his fist when he automatically tried to stop him.
“I’m not her!” Vala shouted in the last moments before the door slammed again.
* * * *
The hand device was active against his forehead again, but the part of Daniel’s mind able to think was beginning to become suspicious.
“Val-” he choked out at the first opportunity, and everything went black from another smack across the face.
* * * *
"Didn’t notice it
right away,
Didn’t notice it until it was too late,
Didn’t want to cry out at night,
Didn’t want to stop at mid flight,
I didn't plan for the fall,
When I was running from it all.”
- Shiny Toy Guns, ‘Shaken’
He woke up in his office, lifting his head from his folded arms. “Guessing I have you to blame for the slap, then.”
“Don’t say anything to her about me,” Vala remarked from her position lying stretched out on the desk.
Daniel put a hand on the magazine and flattened it to the desk. She lifted her eyes to his slowly and with an irritated expression.
“You’re sending me messages through the hand device.”
“Well, finally Daniel,” Vala exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “It took you long enough to figure it out. How many degrees, PhDs and languages do you have again?”
“One degree, three PhDs and right now? Not enough languages to swear in,” Daniel deadpanned numbly. He levelled a mildly awestricken, definitely shocked look at her. “You’re from our timeline?”
She grinned and sat up, legs swinging off of the edge of the desk. Nodding, she put a hand on his cheek. “Of course I am, silly.”
“Teal’c?”
Vala looked away and swallowed. “He fought this, Daniel. She killed him and threw him in a sarcophagus.”
“So he’s…”
Vala smiled sadly and wiggled her finger at her temple with a nod, chiming in, “Wonko.”
“At least he doesn’t know what’s happening,” Daniel mused, touching the back of her hand, “Or if he does, he doesn’t care.”
Her smile was a little forced.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really, Daniel,” Vala answered, expression subdued, “I came here for a break.”
He nodded, and they sat in silence for a few moments.
“Vala?” Daniel asked quietly.
“Daniel,” Vala said with a small smile and nod.
He stood up and put two fingers beneath her chin. She met his eyes, her own slightly wider and slightly emptier than they usually were. Daniel ran his thumb across her cheek and kissed her.
“Did you mean to do that?” Vala murmured, eyes still closed and a hand resting on his neck.
Daniel shook his head, brushing his nose against hers and smiling almost against her lips. “Can I do it again?”
Vala didn’t give him time to finish the sentence, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him deeply.
Daniel’s hands found their way to the edge of her t-shirt, hovering a few inches above her belt. Vala put a hand on top of his and met his eyes, “She’ll find me sooner or later, and this will all stop.”
“Then we’d better be quick,” Daniel informed her with a tinge of a wicked smile, eyes on hers and brushing her thick hair back behind her ears.
* * * *
Why do they always do that to me?
Daniel felt
"How are our guests?" A light baritone interjected, Baal coming into Daniel's slowly widening field of vision.
"Passably well. This one appears particularly affected by this host," Katesh replied, and Daniel wished suddenly and harshly that she would use that voice. Hearing Vala's voice and knowing it wasn't her was a constant battle between helpless hope, anger and disappointment. The hand device he could handle. That battle, however, was wearing him down.
Baal turned his queen away from them with a possessive hand on her waist, his eyes lecherously hanging on her chest, then her shoulders and then meeting Daniel's with a smirk.
"It's nothing he hasn't seen before," Baal replied as they walked away, throwing Daniel another look as he pulled Katesh closer to him.
Daniel punched the side of the cell with the side of his fist, opening his clenched hand slowly and wincing at the circles of blood left in his palm. He remembered the feel of Vala’s lips on his, Vala’s arms around him and her body pressed against his, real to them if to no one else.
This time will be different.
To be continued…
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