When All is in Ashes
By: AngelQueen
CATEGORY: Friendship, UST
WARNINGS: None
SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 10 up through “Dominion”.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: RL is and has been a bitch lately, but if I don’t get this out of my head, I may go completely nuts. Unbetaed, so all mistakes are mine.
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://angelqueen04.livejournal.com/
“Okay, that wasn’t
part of the plan.”
Vala debates making a comment about Daniel’s plans never going according to
plan, but shrugs it off. She has no further use for these people, any of them.
It’s her own fault, really. She should have learned her lesson the year before,
when Samantha returned from Area 51. These people only use others for as long
as they need them, then the moment things start to go bad, there’s talk of
incarceration. Vala’s surprised that it’s never come up with Teal’c.
Straightening her shoulders and refusing to look at any of them, even as she
can feel their eyes on her, Vala walks steadily down the steps from the Gate to
the DHD. She studies it for a moment, and then begins to push the symbols.
“Vala, wait!”
Of course, she thinks, he would be
the first to speak up. The Tau’ri have always been under the assumption that
Daniel has some kind of hold on her, one that can make her listen and be a good
girl when they need her to be. Vala sneers to herself and steadfastly ignores
him.
But of course, Daniel Jackson isn’t one to be ignored. He moves closer and
grabs her wrist, stopping her just before she touches the fourth constellation
on the dialing device. “Vala,” he says, his voice so gentle, so kind. “Stop.”
It’s too much. The disaster with Reynolds’ team, the guilt, the IOA, them not
believing her, his own silence,
Adria. It’s just too much. Viciously, she pulls her arm back and shoves him
bodily away from her so hard he stumbles. Something inside of Vala cringes when
she sees the look of wounded shock on his face, but she refuses to consider it.
Instead, she just hisses at him, “Don’t touch
me.” She widens her glare to the others, who are also looking at her with
something akin to surprise. “All of you. Stay. Away. From. Me.” She turns back
to the DHD and touches the fifth, sixth, seve-
Strong, dark-skinned arms wrap around her and pull her back. Immediately she
begins to wriggle as hard as she can, trying to work her way loose. “Let go of
me this instant,” she shouts.
Then she sees the syringe in Samantha’s hand, and the regretful look on her
face. “I’m sorry, Vala,” she says, “but it’s for your own good.”
Hah, as if she is going to believe that?
She isn’t likely to believe any of them if they tell her that the stars came
out at night. When Sam moves closer, Vala throws her torso’s weight back
against Teal’c and kicks out with her legs, keeping the other woman from
getting near enough to inject whatever the contents of that syringe are.
“Stay away from me,” she yells, increasing her efforts at trying to get loose.
“Let go, you ha’shak!”
Other hands grip her legs, and the combined strength of Teal’c, Mitchell, and
three Marines is enough to keep her still for Sam to move in again. Just as she
feels the sedative take hold, Vala sees Daniel appear in front of her and feels
his hand brush her wild hair from her face.
“It’ll all be over soon, Vala. I promise.”
* * * *
When Vala awakes, she remembers immediately what happens, despite the low,
steady throb in her head from the sedative. She blinks her eyes slowly and
looks around.
They’ve put her in one of the smaller rooms, not the one that has been hers
since she first came back here. And she’s not alone. Daniel sits in a chair to
her right, staring directly at her.
“Hello, Vala.”
He must be hoping for a pleasant exchange. Well, she thinks, hopes are made to
be dashed. She glares at him and pushes the blanket off her body. As she throws
her legs over the opposite side of the bed, Vala hears him stand up as well. He
says her name again, a note of pleading entering his voice, but she’s in no
mood to listen to him.
Of all of them, it was his disloyalty that had hurt the most. She had always
believed in him, even when he bore the pockmarks of an Ori Prior and even
General O’Neill doubted him.
But now all of that is meaningless. And Vala is angry. She keeps her back to
him, feeling the rage build and refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing
what hurt he has inflicted.
“Vala, please, listen to me. This is all apart of the plan.”
He’s babbling about a plan again? A plan to what, she wonders. See how low they
can bring her? How horrible they can make her feel?
Her fists are shaking and her eyes land on the vase of flowers on the
nightstand next to the bed. Before she’s even completely aware of it, her hands
have grasped that vase and it goes flying behind her.
She’s so upset at the moment that her aim is terrible, but it flies close
enough to Daniel’s head that he shrinks in the opposite direction. He stares at
her reproachfully and opens his mouth to speak, but Vala cuts him off.
“How dare you bring me back here! I
want nothing to do with any of you,” she snarls, casting about
for something else to throw at him. She’s started and now she wants to keep
going. Anything to make him hurt as
much as she does.
Then he’s suddenly right in front of her, grasping her arms in a vice-like grip
and his eyes stern. “Listen to me, Vala,” he said forcefully. “I know you’re
upset, and in your mind, you have a right to be, but I need you to listen to
what we have to say.”
“Why?” she demanded, jerking and trying to put some distance between them.
Daniel did not answer her, and just repeated, “I need you to listen to us.”
“Doctor Jackson, is everything all right here?”
Both Vala and Daniel turn to look at the female sergeant who had entered the
room unnoticed. He sighs and takes a step back, saying, “Yes, everything’s
fine. Could you escort Vala to the isolation room, please?”
The woman nods and she stands aside. “Yes, sir. This way, ma’am.”
Vala goes because she knows she has no choice, and it’s better to know how the
guards are stationed in the area so she can plan another escape later. But she
refuses to look back, even when she feels Daniel’s gaze burning into her back.
The trip is short and soon enough, she’s inside the isolation room, which is
bare save for a table, some chairs, and a television set. Vala goes to one of
them and slumps into it. This is going to be far more difficult, she knows.
They’ll be watching her much more closely now.
Soon enough, Daniel enters the room, only this time, Samantha is with him. Vala
struggles not to glare at the other woman. She is no less happy with her, but
right now she senses that losing control again might not be best. Save that for
later.
“This isn’t right you know,” she mutters when they’ve barely even settled in.
“I escaped from this base fair and square. Bringing me back here is tantamount
to kidnapping!”
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