With This Kiss
By: BkWurm1
CATEGORY: Angst, Romance
WARNINGS: None
CHAPTER 1
Referring recollection angel Vala felt her heart speed up. She could not see him yet, but just the sound of his voice coming around the corner had her tense with anticipation and dread. She swallowed and briefly closed her eyes, searching for her years of experience with deception. Act normal. Smile. Flirt. Keep moving. Whatever it took. Don’t let him see you break.
Daniel was engrossed in the instructions he was giving a junior scientist on how the tablets from their last mission were to be cleansed. Maybe he wouldn’t notice her. Just don’t look into my eyes; I’m not very good at hiding this kind of emotion.
Daniel was fifteen feet away when he glanced up and saw her. He stopped mid-sentence and stiffened ever so slightly, his stride hesitating. She hated how obvious Daniel’s desire to avoid her had become. He resumed his instructions and they just exchanged nods as they passed in the hall, each avoiding the other’s eyes.
It was back. That dull pain under her heart. It wasn’t fair. She hadn’t done anything wrong. They were colleagues and yes, even friends and it seemed that Daniel was becoming more open to her, more relaxed. She would have sworn he was even pleased to see her when she walked through the door. She went to sleep at night happy, had wonderful dreams in which he starred, and then in the morning, she would bound out of bed eager to start her day, eager to learn of new things, see new places, and of course, see Daniel.
Then just a week ago, she walked through the door of the briefing room and their eyes met. His smile deepened and something sweet twisted next to her heart. She beamed back at him and then it happened. His eyes darted away. His face fell and a scowl appeared. He glanced back at her and it was as if he saw a stranger. Confused, Vala actually looked over her shoulder to see if someone was behind her. There was no one else.
She went to Daniel and asked him what was wrong. He just looked at her with such disappointment and said there was nothing wrong. He turned away and opened his briefing packet, burying his head in the pages of information for tomorrow’s mission. Before she could say anything more, General Landry came in and took his seat at the head of the table. The meeting started.
She took her seat and waited through the interminable discussion of ancient artifacts that could possibly be at their alpha site. All in all, Daniel’s repeated forays into ancient history prolonged the explanations and instructions by at least an hour. He never looked at her the whole time. When the meeting finally concluded, Vala waited until the others left and attempted to speak to him again.
“Daniel, wait, please. Tell me what’s wrong.” Vala tried to help Daniel stack his books, but he just brushed her hands away.
“I told you, nothing is wrong.” Daniel gathered up his pile of reference books and maps and turned to leave.
Following him to the door, Vala clutched his shoulder, “Stop, something is wrong. Daniel, I know you,”
Daniel froze in place, started shaking his head, and in a show of unprecedented temper, threw the books to the floor. Startled, Vala jumped back, speechless.
He wheeled back around to face her. Daniel kept shaking his head. His eyes narrowed and his lips compressed in a grim line. In a low, deliberate voice, edged with a growl, he said, “No, you don’t. You don’t know me. We barely talk. We don’t spend time together outside of work. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you and that is all there is to it.” He waved his arms, dismissing further arguments, and bent down to retrieve his books.
Vala was confused and hurt, “Daniel, I don’t understand. What did I do?”
Daniel sighed and looked up. Sounding very weary he said, “Nothing. Nothing has changed. We just work together.” He stood up and left without a glance back.
Vala found herself trembling and on the verge of tears. She desperately fled to her room, overwhelming grateful no one stopped to speak to her. She fumbled with her key card, not able to still her shaking hands. Finally, she was able to push open the door and fling herself on the bed. She wrapped her arms around a pillow and buried her face into it, muffling the first sob, and then the long keening wail that followed. Hot tears drenched the pillowcase and even as her weeping raged on, she railed against her actions
She did not cry. Crying was a luxury her life couldn’t allow. Crying never fixed the problem, never paid the creditors, never changed fate’s mind. It was a waste of time and a sure sign of weakness to her enemies. Life was hard and tears only ruined your make up.
However, since returning to the SGC, she hadn’t needed to be so guarded. Each night she slept on the base, not with one eye open, but secure in her physical safety. She was trusted, (well mostly), had real friends who looked out for her, believed in her. She had goals and a position on a team that proved she belonged. Most of all, she had hope. A kind of hope that allowed her to wish and dream and plan for something glorious. Maybe she did deserve that kind of happiness; maybe she did not.
She cursed herself the fool. Silly, juvenile fantasies that Vala thought she had given up with a long ago fiancé. She punched the pillow she clutched. Why had she even entertained the thought that someone like Daniel would want to be with her? Even her own father believed she was better suited to life as a Goa’uld host. Her stepmother insisted no one but the gods could control her. Her whole village was certain something was still intrinsically wrong with her once freed from Qe’tesh. Vala only knew then that she didn’t belong anywhere, with anyone. She embraced the freedom that brought, her own rules, her own agenda, with no emotional ties to bring pain or frustration.
For ten years, she lived life on her own terms, hardening her heart to what she could not have and just pursuing the bright, the gilded, and the sparkling things that could still make her heart trip from their beauty. Then she stumbled across a group of people unlike any she knew before. There was something so very…hopeful…about them. A strength relying on trust and not fear. A man shackled, yet not beaten. She sought them out, not able to resist being around that again. Yesterday, she would have said she had become a part of them.
What had changed so drastically since yesterday? Yesterday she and Daniel were friends. She was not fantasizing. She could think of nothing that could have changed their relationship. She felt a spark of hope. Vala rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. If she had done nothing different and Daniel had gone from friend to stranger, maybe if she just acted as if nothing was different, Daniel would go back to being friend. Exhausted, she fell into a deep dreamless slumber.
The next day Vala put her plan into action. Maintaining her outwardly cheerful façade was more difficult than she expected. Daniel still would not look her in the eyes and only spoke to her when it was directly mission related. He never lost his temper, never even got annoyed when she stacked his tablets in the wrong order. He was completely polite and impersonal. By the end of the day she felt tense and brittle, ready to shatter and break her mask of complacency. By sheer will, she held back. She acted normal, smiling and flirting with the team. Nothing has changed, she told herself.
That night, back on the base, she could not sleep. She just kept reliving the icy pain Daniel delivered just by treating her as a stranger.
The week went on. On mission days, she acted like nothing was different. On the days in between, she eventually realized he was avoiding her. Their paths did not cross and the door to his office was always locked. She could have bypassed it, but at least now, she was still on the same team as Daniel. If she broke into his office, would she lose her position in SG1? She didn’t want to take the chance.
After her third sleepless night, she went to the infirmary and got some sleeping pills. She wouldn’t risk lives by being exhausted on mission. She got the rest she needed, but hated how the pills completely knocked her out. She did not even dream.
The trip through the gate was without incident and they got back late in the evening, just a few hours earlier. She had eaten, showered, and tried to fall asleep without the aid of the sleeping pills, but could not. She was facing the facts that pretending nothing was different wasn’t fixing anything. She changed into workout clothes, headed to the gym, and that is when she passed Daniel in the hallway.
Instead of running on the treadmill, Vala spent a few hours pummeling the different punching bags available. Her anger and hurt was a motivated trainer. Her hands were sore and her muscle aching before she stopped. This time, after a hot shower, she felt asleep instantly and she dreamed.
It was that dream again. Even in her slumbering state, she recognized the irony of working herself into exhaustion to escape thinking about Daniel only to have the Daniel dream. The content of the dream constantly changed, but the startling lucidity of it combined with the familiar garden made Vala recognize it immediately. She had experienced this series of dreams every night over the past month, up until last week when she stopped sleeping. Her heart ached with the memories of them.
They were simple dreams and yet so very complicated. Vale would find herself walking alone through the garden paths. So large, the garden might have been likened to a park, complete with bridges leaping the babbling brooks. She would walk the garden alone, waiting until he found her. Sometimes he found her right away. Other times she wondered if she strolled the paths for hours.
In her earliest Daniel dreams, they would run into each other and Vala would flirt and tease while Daniel would explore the garden and try to learn its secrets. Invariably, in an effort to get his attention, Vala would pepper him with questions. Some he would answer, some he would ignore. Then one time, goaded by his lack of response, Vala broke the awareness barrier and shouted at Daniel, “Dammit, answer the question. This is a dream. Why won’t you just talk to me?”
Daniel stopped his examination of a granite-like pedestal, stood up, brushed off his hands and knees and said, “Your right, this is a dream.” Winding his arms around her, he captured her mouth in a soul-searing kiss. When it ended, Vala woke up.
The next night, she waited hours before Daniel arrived. When she saw him coming around the corner, she ran to him and leaped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. She whispered intimately in his ear, “Where were you? I missed you.”
Daniel buried his face in her neck and inhaled her sweetly exotic scent. “I was working late.” Vala stroked her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and he felt the tense muscles loosen. He groaned and confessed, “I was an idiot.” He cradled her face in his hands and nibbled on her lower lips before deepening the kiss. He traced the contours of her lips and then sought entry. He heard Vala lightly whimper.
Vala felt her head spinning as the kiss stretched on. When they broke apart for air, she woke up gasping and found her pulse still racing. She spent that day obsessively starring at Daniel’s mouth. That night the dream came again.
CHAPTER 2
That night the dream came again.
Once again she was walking the path of the garden and vividly aware of the sweet scent on the breeze lightly wafting over flower beds. Daniel, when prodded, had been surprisingly adept at identifying the plants with the brighter and showier blooms. The luxuriant bush before her had deep crimson blossoms and a sweet, heady aroma. Roses, Daniel called them roses.
She stopped to enjoy their lush fragrance. To bring the flower closer, she grasped the stem, but cried out in pain when something sharp pierced her thumb. Before she could react further, Daniel was at her side and reaching for her offended hand.
“Let me see.” Using both hands to cradle hers, he gently examined her thumb.
“Daniel,” she said, sounding mildly offended, “the plant bit me.”
Daniel laughed softly and explained, “It was just a thorn.”
Their heads were bowed closely together. One of his hands held hers as his thumb skimmed over her knuckles and the other gently circled her wrist, tracing light patterns on the sensitive skin he found. Vala shivered. “Is it poisonous?” She asked in an unsteady voice.
Daniel shook his head, “No, it’s just a scratch,” and lifting her hand to his lips, placed a tender kiss on the pad of her thumb.
Vala stared, mesmerized by his gentle ministrations. Something stirred deep inside, something more profound than lust, something that left her breathless and thoroughly disconcerted. She closed her eyes and swallowed. This is just a dream, she reminded herself and sought to mask the sound of her heavily beating heart by complaining aloud, “It’s not fair that anything that beautiful should be so much trouble.”
“I think you just might have a lot in common with rose bushes.”
Each word he spoke sent little puffs of air to caress her cheeks and she felt the timbre of his voice resonating in her chest. Unable to look away from his eyes, she stammered, “Wha…what do you mean?”
Daniel continued to hold her hand in his. “I mean that you are beautiful, inside and out.” He flattened her palm over his heart using one hand, while he traced the contour of her face with the other. He raised one eyebrow and smirked, “I also mean that you are well able to defend yourself.”
Vala instantly thought of their first encounter and subsequent battle on board the Prometheus. She blushed and looked down and then felt the blush deepen due to her embarrassment because she was blushing. She couldn’t remember the last occasion it had happened.
Daniel placed a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face so she was once more gazing directly into his eyes and whispered, “And finally, I mean that I find the blossom well worth the risk of thorns.”
If her heart hadn’t fallen all the way before, it willingly completed the journey now. With its descent, Vala gave a piece of her soul. She gasped, knowing never again could she live strictly for herself and knowing, dream or not, there was no way to get it back. Fear constricted her heart. How would she satisfy this longing for the same gift from Daniel? How would she survive the coming pain if she didn’t get it?
Her whole life was based on hiding behind an image, shielding the most vulnerable core from the countless casual cruelties inflicted by those claiming to care. She felt exposed, out of control, and frightened by how deeply she needed what was offered in Daniel’s warm gaze. He shifted his mouth closer to hers, her heart tripped and sped up, but she pushed back from his embrace, fighting her complete surrender.
“Wait, Daniel,” she begged, her breath coming in broken gasps, holding a hand up to hold him at bay.
A furrow creased his brow and he looked confused. At his sides, his hands flexed repeatedly, like he was fighting the urge to reach for her again. He tilted his head and asked, “What’s wrong?” He suddenly appeared as vulnerable as she felt.
Vala moistened her lips and swallowed, searching for an explanation for her unexpected rejection of his offered kiss. Remembered sensations from last night’s and the previous night’s dream flashed through her. Nothing compared to the power of those kisses that marked the ending of her dreams. She seized a hold of a notion. “Daniel, you must know how very much I want you, want to be in your arms this very moment, but we had so very little time together last night. And the night before, everything ended when we kissed. I’m afraid that the kiss somehow triggers an end to our time together.” The more she spoke, the more she believed what she said.
Daniel looked away and squinted in a physical manifestation of his desire to see the situation more clearly. He ran a hand through his hair and raggedly exhaled before he looked back at Vala. His forehead smoothed and he nodded. “You might be right. Why don’t we sit and just talk for awhile.” He smiled and held out his hand. “There’s so much I want to know.”
A little fearful about his possible reaction to her checked past, Vala still could not refuse his invitation. She placed her palm to his and followed wordlessly when he led them past a stone bench, past the fiercely structured confines of the garden plots, and off of the garden path entirely. Had he been leading to the edge of the universe, she would still be willing to follow, but he settled them at the bottom a grassy slope along side of the clear stream snaking through the garden. They sat shoulder to shoulder and for a while just enjoyed the easy silence between them.
Daniel was the first to break the quiet. “So, were you telling me the truth?” He plucked a blade of grass and twirled it between his fingers. “That time when I found you in my bedroom on base.”
Vala saucily raised an eyebrow. “You mean when you so rudely kicked me out?”
Daniel cheekily grinned and added, “Out on your cute little butt.”
“So you noticed?”
“I noticed a lot of things.” His grin faded. “I noticed I hurt your feelings that night. I’m sorry.”
“What’s that saying? Sometimes the truth hurts? That’s one reason why I try to avoid it so much, just on principle.” That statement earned Vala a raised eyebrow. She continued more seriously, “I will have you know that you weren’t entirely correct.”
“No?”
“I may in my colored past have used the promise of sex or the illusion of sex as a means to an end, a way to control the situation. And I’ll admit I do terribly enjoy saying something outrageous just to knock you off your toes.” At his smug smile, she wagged a finger at him and scolded, “There is such a thing as being too calm and too sure of yourself.”
He caught her hand and laced his fingers through hers, but said nothing, just nodded for her to continue.
The heat radiating from his palm was distracting, but she continued. “But, I was not in your bed merely as a way to exercise control.”
“Why were you there?”
“Do you really find it so hard to believe that a woman could find you desirable on your own merits?”
“That’s why you snuck into my bed and ambushed me? Because you couldn’t resist my merits?” Daniel teased.
“While they are numerous, darling,” Vala purred and clucked him under his chin before plucking a small weed and examining it, “I will admit I rather doubted you would take up my offer.”
“If you thought I’d kick you out, why were you there?”
Hesitantly Vala answered, “I was lonely and besides, usually you yelling at me is wildly entertaining on its own.”
Genuinely curious, Daniel asked, “What If I had taken you up on your offer?” The heated look she flashed him was nearly more of an answer than he could take.
“Then we would have had a marvelous night and,” Vala added, “I might have been able to walk away before you got quite so far under my skin. I could have labeled you just another man. Then again, maybe not,” she muttered under her breath, “after all, I had already spent the better part of a year setting up a reason just to find you and your people.”
Vala suddenly realized she was still speaking aloud and cringed. “Can we just pretend I didn’t say that last part?” Mortified, she hid her face in her hands. “See, this is why I do not find confession helpful. Not at all cleansing or whatever or other sort of nonsense the do-gooders are spouting on about. You don’t want to know this.”
“I don’t want to know what? That you came halfway across the galaxy not for a lost treasure, but to see me?”
“Well, eighty percent you, twenty percent the treasure.”
Daniel fell quiet. Vala sat on tenterhooks waiting for his reaction. Finally she could take the suspense no more. “Say something!” She pleaded.
Daniel tossed the blade of grass he was toying with to the ground. He shook his head ruefully. “I’ll probably never admit this again, but I was glad to see you.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “Really? I thought I got it all wrong and you hated me.”
A mischievous sparkle twinkled in the corner of Daniel’s eyes. “Well eighty percent wanted to see you and twenty percent wanted to run the other way.”
“Not the other way around?”
“It flip-flopped some.” Daniel picked up her hand again. “You haven’t answered my question yet. Were you telling me the truth that night? About your village trying to stone you? About the fiancé?”
Vala looked pained. “Mostly. I had been engaged, but I broke it off when I realized he never wanted to do anything but grow old in the village.” She looked into his eyes, hoping to find understanding. “I wanted to see the world. I wanted him to come with, but he made his choice clear.” Vala tilted her head back, stared at the heavens and sighed. “Just before I was to leave, I was offered up as a host by my village. Qe’tesh was agreeable.”
Daniel was both confused and horrified. “What do you mean offered you up?”
Vala glanced at Daniel and could read the pity in his eyes. Pity is not what she wanted. “They came, the Goa’uld, every so often looking for workers or hosts. Usually they sent an envoy with their specifications to the town elders. Sometimes, the elders made it easier for the Jaffe to find what they were looking for. It doesn’t matter anymore; it happened a long time ago.”
“Doesn’t matter how long ago it was, it’s still despicable.”
Daniel’s dark scowl on her behalf made the past more bearable. “I’m inclined to agree with you darling. Still, once I was freed from Qe’tesh, I no longer had the same desire to travel the universe. The simple village life held great appeal.” She frowned and something haunted flitted through her eyes, “The villagers didn’t agree.” She shrugged carelessly. “For the best though, I would have been dreadfully bored.” She flashed Daniel a smile, but it didn’t quite flush out the old ghosts in her eyes.
Daniel scooted closer and put his arm around her shoulder. Vala gratefully leaned into him and with a sigh, put her head on his shoulder. He brushed a kiss against her temple and whispered, “I’m sorry.” Not a declaration of pity, but affirmation that she had not deserved such treatment. A long forgotten pinched place near her heart eased. In some bleak corner of the mind, Vala had harbored doubts, wondering if she was fundamentally lacking.
“Tell me about your wife.”
Daniel was silent for a moment and then with warmth and his fond memories apparent in his voice, began telling her tales of Sha’re. Vala found much of what he told her familiar but marveled how her mind mixed fact with unexpected bits from her fertile imagination. Given his wife as a gift? She still wasn’t going to fall for that one. Once Daniel had revealed Sha’re’s existence, Vala started discreetly asking questions and reading reports. Several soldiers tried selling her the old “Sha’re was a present” story. Like she would believe that! Researching Dr Daniel Jackson had become a hobby of hers, but she enjoyed the conversation her dream generated too much to worry over tomorrow and the need to separate truth from fiction in the waking world.
And so the night continued with the two of them talking, laughing, and sharing history that shaped who they were today. The next morning, Vala woke feeling at peace, as if her constant companion, restlessness, had moved on. The day kept getting better. After the briefing, Daniel seemed more amiable and receptive to her thoughts, ideas and generally more relaxed in her presence. Vala figured not baiting him during briefing must have contributed to his mellow mood.
That pattern repeated the rest of the month. She went to sleep at night happy over a new friendlier relationship with Daniel during the day and then had wonderful dreams at night in which she often felt Daniel was courting her. Courting was a lovely old fashioned phrase that seemed appropriate since her dreams remained as chaste as a chaperoned spinster because any round of passionate kisses always induced a premature end to the dream. Rather than waste such a precious opportunity, they walked through the garden or sat by the waters edge holding hands, sharing secrets or just speaking of what was happening in the waking world.
A week had past since Daniel stopped smiling at her. Seven days of cold indifference and calculated avoidance. This was the first night she had dreamed since Daniel started seeing her as a stranger. Would she be able to find solace in her idyllic dream relationship with Daniel, or would the imitation be too bitter to take, now that reality had so miserably soured? She walked the garden path and waited to find out.
CHAPTER 3
The breeze toyed with her hair, seeking and lifting it carelessly before retreating and returning twice as strong. The garden had changed since her last visit, Vala could sense it, but not entirely understand the cause. The flower beds remained just as neat and tidy as before, but the light was harsher and she squinted against the unexpected glare.
She shivered as the temperature dropped when she came near to the grassy hill by the stream where she and Daniel sat and had talked that first time.
No, Vala reminded herself sternly. That had never happened. She should hardly get upset over a memory of a foolish dream. Still, she easily recalled the warm bond, the roots of deep emotion that found fertile ground in her heart. She sighed and pressed her fingertips to her eyes, unconsciously trying to push back more than just the burning sensation in her eyes. A moment later, she dropped her hands to her sides. Denying her pain, here at the site of so much happiness, seemed pointless.
But just being in the garden seemed pointless too. Why was she even having this dream? Vala decided she must be a bigger fool than she’d realized. She hated the weakness in her that wanted to wallow in pretend, to block memories of the here and now and just absorb the sensation of seeing her heart’s desire smile back at her. Maybe that is why her subconscious brought back the garden. Maybe she needed a chance to say goodbye, or a chance to be the one doing the rejecting. The hot rush of indignation surged through her veins. This time she would push him away, she would reject him.
Vala turned her back on the grassy knoll and strode in the opposite direction, returning to the heart of the garden. She came upon Daniel sitting slumped on one of the granite benches facing the scarlet rose bush. His hung his head low and he clasped his hands together, loosely dangling them off his knees. Vala paused and watched him. He looked so dejected that all her thoughts of revenge disappeared. She knelt next to him and gently smoothed the hair at the side of his down-turned face. “Daniel, are you alright?” Concern made her voice husky.
He turned toward her voice, his eyes widening and the corners of his mouth edging toward a smile. Surprise and pleasure infused his voice and he expressed it simply by saying her name. Then a cold mask slid over his features. She shook her head in denial even as she recognized what the look signified. He jerked back from her touch and pushed her hand away with such force that it knocked her off balance and she landed ungainly on her bottom.
His swift rejection stunned and mortified Vala past the point of rationality, past caring from which Daniel she got answers. Daniel jumped up and peered down at her, furrowing his brow and looking at least slightly chagrined. Vala remained sitting and just demanded an explanation, “Why?”
“What? It was an accident…”
“No, I’m not talking about my little tumble. I’m asking a simple question, why?” Daniel’s continued confusing spurred her irritation. “Come now, do I really have to drag this out? Just tell me why I’ve gone from friend to pariah, from ally to outcast? ”
“It’s not like that. You haven’t gone from friend to pariah.”
Vala would accept nothing but the naked truth, “You’re right. I’ve not gone from friend to pariah. I’ve gone from colleague, to friend, to lover, to unwanted interloper.”
Daniel winced at her use of the word lover and the growing hurt and anger in her voice. “Vala, we’ve never...”
She cut him off, “Don’t you dare say it! I’m not a child and believe me I’m aware just what we have not done, but you can’t hide behind semantics. Yes, this is just a dream and yes out there we never progressed past good friends, but here, dammit; here in the garden you loved me.”
Daniel flinched and jerked back as if she struck him. Before he could recover, she rounded back with another knock-out punch, “And I fell for you. Not just the fantasy, but the whole man. So tell me, just tell me, what did I do to make you hate me?”
Daniel clenched his fists and looked pained. Through gritted teeth he said, “Vala, this isn’t real.”
She spun away from him and threw her hands up in the air, “Of course it’s not real Daniel, but dammed if I’m going to let a bloody little dream get the better of me.” She turned back to Daniel. Her eyes flashed with the promise of violence and this time she let her fists to do the talking. Her punch connected soundly along side his jaw.
His head snapped back and he staggered in surprise. Vala felt cold satisfaction, “Yes, this is much better than talking.” She danced in place, waiting for Daniel to recover and respond.
Daniel dabbed at the cut on his lip and came away with blood. He stared at it in shock. “You hit me!” He looked confused and then disgusted. “This is the most ridiculous dream. The Vala I know is past such petty aggression.”
“Ha!” Vala cried before kicking him in the stomach. Daniel staggered back and clutched his midsection. “As you just recently have pointed out darling, this is a dream. If my dream Daniel is as horrible to me real Daniel, then the only purpose you can possibly serve is as a punching bag.”
Daniel, still doubled over, groaned like he was in a great deal of pain. Vala hardened her heart. In real life never again could she bring herself to hurt Daniel like this, but for now, the opportunity was hers. Still, the longer he stayed bent over, the more concerned she grew until she gave into her worry and approached without caution. When she was within range, he grasped her shoulders, kicked her legs out from under her, and pinned her to the ground, using his weight to keep her from escaping. He blocked a well aimed knee so she mostly caught him in the thigh and captured her wrists before she could maim him in some other manner.
Vala heaved and struggled, but remained thoroughly restrained. She was breathing heavily and a corner of her mind was all too aware of all the delicious pressure points from his body to hers. She huffed and attempted to blow an errant strand of hair out of her eyes. “Your Dr Frodo would have a marvelous time with this one.”
Daniel was still gasping, trying to catch his breath and deal with her most recently inflicted pain. “Dr Frodo? What the hell are you talking about?”
“You know, that famous psychiatrist, the one obsessed with mothers, cigars, and all things kinky.”
Daniel shook his head in amusement, a lock of hair slipped down his forehead, partially covering one of his eyes, giving him a rakish look. He smiled, “You mean Freud, Dr Freud. What on earth…or elsewhere,” he added at her pointed look, “does Freud have to do with anything?”
“This dream, I was just wondering what he might have made of it.”
Daniel sighed. “I know I’ve never had any other dream like it.”
Vala smiled indulgently. If her hands had been free she would have patted his cheek. “But darling, you are just a figment of my obviously warped imagination.” Daniel looked like he had something to say, but Vala just kept talking. “I’m not sure what being pinned down helpless says about my subconscious desires.” She winced a little over her choice of words but brazened it out. “Naturally,” she said batting her eyelashes, “under normal circumstances I wouldn’t wonder, but honestly—don’t give me that look—honestly, right now I’m more interested in an explanation, any explanation for your abrupt attitude change.”
Vala frowned and rolled her eyes, “I’m going bonkers trying to figure out why you won’t talk to me anymore.” She grew serious and more introspective. “I must have done something or said something or at least forgot to do or say something. It must be my fault. Daniel wouldn’t act like he has without good reason.”
Daniel tried to get her attention, but she just ignored him, too caught up in her deductive reasoning.
“If I’m the cause, then deep down I must know the answer and this dream presents me with Daniel who in turn should channel my subconscious, but my subconscious isn’t talking. She shook her head despondently. “I just can’t take this anymore.” She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes; it was the only way she could avoid looking at Daniel, they only way to conceal her real anguish.
“Vala,” he entreated. “Vala, look at me,” he demanded gently. She blinked a few times to bat back tears and then faced him again, still frowning.
“Daniel, there is no…”
“Shh,” he whispered and laid a finger across her lips, releasing one of her hands in the process. Vala remained silent, but searched his face for a hint of what was to come. His forehead was creased and his eyes were squinting in the way they did when he was trying to come up with just the right words.
“I hate seeing you like this, so confused, so angry, so hurt. You didn’t do or say anything wrong.” He release her other hand and brushed back her hair. She closed her eyes and for a moment got lost in his tender caress, but this subject was too important not to pursue.
“You’re saying that it is not my fault you’re acting so coldly?” Vala could tell Daniel was about to agree when he closed his eyes, groaned and lowered his forehead to meet hers.
“Actually, how I treat Vala is your fault.” He raised his head again and scowled.
“What? You just said I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You didn’t, I mean Vala didn’t, not Vala in the real world,” he shook his head, frustrated but trying to be clear. He focused his gaze and all his attention on her. “You, you are here in my dreams; you, this unrelenting fantasy come true. You are ruining my life,” he told her helplessly.
Her heart sped up. “What? This doesn’t make sense.” Her eyes begged him to explain.
He cupped her face with one hand, rubbing her cheek with his thumb. “You are everything I have ever been attracted to in Vala, plus so open about you past, so accepting of mine. Someone I know I can trust.” He shook his head but did not remove his hand from her face.
“This can’t be healthy. Hell, I know it is not,” he said continuing to stroke her soft skin. “I can not look at Vala and not think of you. I can’t separate what I feel for you in this absurd dream from reality. In reality I do not know you this well. I thought it was over. The dreams stopped, or at least changed. I hoped life would eventually go back to normal.”
His gaze dropped to her lips as she moistened them. “I hoped,” his voice deepened, “I hoped that one day I wouldn’t see you and desperately desire to kiss you without having to worry about waking up.” He leaned forward the few inches that separated them and sought her lips, but instead found her hand plastered over his mouth.
CHAPTER 4
His gaze dropped to her lips as she moistened them. “I hoped,” his voice deepened, “I hoped that one day I wouldn’t see you and desperately desire to kiss you without having to worry about waking up.” He leaned forward the few inches that separated them and sought her lips, but instead found her hand plastered over his mouth.
“Wait just a minute,” she demanded. “If you kiss me, then this dream is over and we are by no means through with this conversation.” Daniel looked at her quizzically. “There is no way I’m going to fall for such an illogical explanation. You say you fell in love with dream Vala, so you don’t know how to act around the real me?”
Daniel sighed and mumble against her hand, “It’s true.”
“No,” Vala shook her head, sarcasm flavoring her voice. “I don’t think I’ll be believing that. It is a nice boost to the ego, but there is a fatal flaw in your logic. You dream boy, are not having this dream, I am.” She uncovered his mouth and punctuated her remark by tapping him on the nose.
Daniel closed his eyes and sought patience. “Vala, I’m not getting into a ludicrous conversation with some illusory copy that my mind made up to keep me entertained during REM sleep.”
She rolled her eyes. “This is preposterous, I’m the one dreaming. I’ve had this bizarre dream all month. Oh, and as for proof that you are just my imagination, I’m forced to bring up that outlandish tale you tried to make me believe. The one about acquiring a wife without noticing?”
“I told you the truth about Sha’re.”
“Of course dream Daniel would say that.”
“Ask Jack, or I’ll get you the reports, only, damm it. I’m arguing with myself again.” Frustrated, Daniel rolled off Vala onto his back and covered his eyes with the back of his forearm. Vala turned on her side to face him, leaned on her elbow and propped her head on her hand.
“This is a hopeless conversation,” Daniel muttered.
“Yes, I suppose so,” she said contemplatively.
Daniel partially lifted his arm and glanced at Vala. She was frowning and blinking in confusion or deep thought. “What?” He prompted.
“Hmm?”
“What are you thinking now?”
“Just that these dreams have always been rather odd.” She paused and then asked, “Daniel, what did you mean about the dreams changing? You said after you irrationally abandoned our friendship, that the dreams stopped or at least changed.”
Daniel sat up to defend himself. “I wasn’t being irrational…”
Vala interrupted him, waving away his objections. “Just tell me about the dream.”
Daniel flopped back down. “This last week I didn’t have the dream every night and when I did, I was trapped here by myself. I didn’t think you were coming back.”
“Daniel, I haven’t had this dream or any other dream in the last week, not since your asinine assertion that we just worked together.”
He ignored her side comments. “So?”
“I find it rather odd that I’m dreaming you telling me about your dreams.”
Daniel’s exasperation reemerged, “Maybe because I was the one having the dreams and not you.”
“No, I don’t think so. I think there is more to this.” Vala sat up. “Daniel, have you ever heard of anyone having the same dreams?”
Daniel tucked his arms under his head and tapped into his almost endless supply of knowledge. “Well, humans as a people tend to have a number of dreams which almost everyone has dreamed in the same manner, and of which we are accustomed to assume that they have the same significance in the case of every dreamer. There is the late for a test dream, the chase dreams, and the naked in public dream.”
“As interesting as that sounds, I meant having the same dream at the same time, sharing a dream.”
“No,” he shook his head. “Well, some of the more outlandish new age crowd fantasizes about mutual dreams and astral projection. Also there is a tribe on Eirles that commonly supplies all participants of a festival hunt with a vision inducing serum. The result is a kind of communal trance. And then there is the people of Parimay, that’s P39…,” Daniel stopped abruptly.
Dawning comprehension spread across his features. He sat up hastily while his mouth opened and closed in a fish like manner.
“What? What is it about Parimay? Didn’t we visit that planet about five weeks ago?”
Daniel stared straight ahead and answered slowly. “It was after we visited Parimay that I started having these dreams.”
Vala leaned forward, confused about the connection. “Yes, I think that is right. But what does that have to do with anything?”
Daniel swallowed hard before turning to face Vala. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and then a wave of elation swept through him, head to toe. Grinning like a maniac he said, “I tell you in just a minute.” He lunged and pulled Vala forward onto his lap, snaking a hand through the luxuriant hair at the back of her skull.
Without thinking, Vala wrapped her arms around him. “Daniel, what are you doing?”
Still grinning he said, “Shut up and kiss me.” He ignored her half-hearted protest and devoured her with his kiss. The familiar rush of heat, pleasure, and rightness flashed through his blood, just like it had every time they kissed in the garden and if he was being honest, just like the first time their lips met on the Prometheus. On Prometheus, nothing had confused him more and he called her crazy, but now he kissed her like she was the only path to sanity.
Vala groaned and sank deeper into the heady mix of comfort and unadulterated lust that Daniel always inspired. In the back of her mind, she knew that with this kiss, her dream would be come to an end, but conscious thought was beyond her. She gripped his shoulder with one hand and buried the other in his hair, trying to pull him closer, trying to get nearer to the heat and light that blazed within him. Trying to stave off that bitter, desolate moment when she found herself once again alone in her bed.
Vala woke up. She bolted upright, gasping for breath and immediately fighting back tears. Not again. It was just a dream. It never happened. She pulled her knees up close to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and rocked back and forth, trying to keep her heart from breaking.
Bang, bang, bang! Vala froze. BANG, BANG, BANG!!! The thumping on her door grew louder. “Vala, open the door. We need to talk.” It was Daniel. She flew across the room and had her hand on the door handle before caution exerted itself.
She leaned close to the door and without opening it, called to him. “What do you want Daniel?”
“Vala let me in.”
“Why should I?”
“I said I’d explain in just a minute. Please open the door.” The door opened and Daniel immediately noticed the navy blue t-shirt Vala wore provided a nice contrast with her long, pale legs. Her dark hair was loose about her shoulders and mussed from restless sleep. Her pink lips were firmly compressed together, but still, her chin trembled slightly. Her eyes were red rimmed, guarded and yet vulnerable.
Vala waited with her heart pounding, daring to hope and hoping she hadn’t misunderstood the significance of his words. Before he spoke, in the seconds that stretched like eternity, she drank in his presence, noting the crumpled state of his BDU’s and the pink creases on his cheek. He must have fallen asleep at his work table again.
“Vala, I..,” he paused and looked around the corridor. It was just past dawn and already the hallway was beginning to bustle with activity. He noticed several curious glances directed their way. Their little conversation featuring Vala standing half naked in the door was sure to be all over the base by breakfast and Daniel couldn’t care less. “Vala, you and I have an unfinished conversation to complete, but first I want to say good morning.”
Confused, Vala parroted back, “Good morning.”
“No,” Daniel smiled and raised his hands to cup her face, “that’s not how I wanted to say good morning.” He lowered his mouth. Hers parted slightly in surprise. Soft lips, heated breath. Sunshine. Sweetness. Home.
A brief kiss, an easy kiss laced with joyful familiarity. She held onto the front of his black cotton shirt and tried to form a coherent thought. “D...Da...Daniel you...I…,” Vala was distracted from her confused ramblings when Daniel leaned in for a second kiss, just as appealing as the first. They were interrupted by a wolf whistle followed by applause. Daniel and Vala jerked back noticing a crowd had gathered to watch, a crowd that included a slack-jawed Cam Mitchell and an enthusiastically clapping Samantha Carter.
The perpetrator of the
whistle draped his arm proprietarily around Sam’s waist. The General
wagged his scarred eyebrows at the couple and said, “I’m going to guess you
have a theory about all this?” He said gesturing to include himself,
Carter and also
Daniel smiled unashamed. “I do, kind of a work in progress,” he said nodding toward Vala.
Jack held up a hand, “Say no more. Shall we agree to meet for debriefing; I mean a discussion of this theory at ten-hundred hours?”
Daniel nodded again, ushered Vala back into her room and closed the door tightly on the crowd behind them.
Vala cocked her head to the side and looped her arms lightly around Daniel’s neck. “So you have a theory that explains everything?”
Daniel laced his fingers together behind the small of her back. “I believe I do.”
“This theory, it explains some truly spectacular dreams and not to mention, a few very memorable kisses?”
“More than memorable, they were unforgettable kisses. And yes, I have a working theory. It started with you figuring out that we’ve been sharing the same dream.”
“I’m not all that adjusted to the notion. By the time I woke up, I was back to being certain none of it was real, and that you,” Vala was trying to be casual but her voice broke, “that you still hated me.”
Daniel pulled Vala closer and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so sorry. I was hurtful and behaved stupidly. I never hated you.” He pressed his lips to her hair. “I was just confused and frustrated. I kept thinking that I shouldn’t feel the way I feel toward you. I was afraid that my imagination, some crazy fantasy, would keep me from every really seeing the real you. I was also embarrassed by all the things I wanted to say.”
“And now?” She prompted pulling slightly back from his embrace so she could see his expression.
He smoothed the hair back from her face. “I’m not ashamed. I want you to know, I want the whole base to know how much you mean to me.”
Vala flashed a pert smile, “Good to know, since by now the whole base likely does know.”
“As long as you know.” Daniel stared into her glistening grey eyes. “Vala Mal Doran, you’ve knocked my world upside down from the day I met you. I’d forgotten how to live each day for the mystery and joy it could bring. I was just existing. I’ve found it easier to escape into ancient tablets and manuscripts than risk getting emotionally involved in my own life. I was becoming nothing more than another dusty relic. You make me feel alive. You challenge me, and at times drive me crazy, but I can’t imagine a future that doesn’t include you. I love you, whatever out future brings.”
Tears spilled from her eyes. “Please tell me that this isn’t just another dream. I don’t think I could take the disappointment.” Vala slid a hand down until it rested over his beating heart.
“This isn’t a dream.” He promised softly
“So, you are really here. This is you Daniel?”
A smile blossomed on his face. “Yeah, this is me.” He took her hand and laced their fingers together. “This is us. We are real.”
She looked at their intertwined hands, a symbol of their intertwining lives. She was tangled up in this man, had been since they first met. For ten years, she lived life on her own terms, hardening her heart to what she could not have, depending on no one, and existing completely alone. She tightened her grip on his hand.
“I think,” she confessed, her voice steady and sincere, “I think I need you. No,” she shook her head ruefully, “I know that I need you. I don’t know how it happened. Since my days as Qe’tesh, since the last time I left my village, I made it my top priority not to need anything I couldn’t slip in my pocket and carry with me.”
Daniel smiled at her perplexed confession.
“Something about you won’t let me go and now, I don’t want to go. But I’ll have you know one thing,” Vala continued “, the dreams we shared didn’t make me fall in love with you…”
Scowling, he interrupted, demanded an explanation. “What do you mean you didn’t fall in love with me?”
His fierce frown made Vala laugh. “Darling, I only meant to say the dreams didn’t make me fall in love with you.” She patted him on the cheek. “I was already there.” Daniel turned his head, captured her hand, and pressed a kiss to her palm, stealing her breath. She shivered and tried to finish what she was saying.
“The dreams did make me realize how essential it was to have you in my life. When you turned from me I couldn’t sleep, eat; I wasn’t functioning properly. You’ve become necessary for survival.” Vala paused and added emotionally, “I’ve missed you terribly.”
Daniel kissed her temple, “I missed you too.” Vala sighed, closed her eyes, and nestled closer to his heat. Daniel brushed his lips against her forehead and then dipped lower to anoint each eye. Vala wound her arms around his neck and stretched to meet his mouth when it searched out hers. Daniel kneaded the soft flesh at the small of her back and speared his finger through her hair. They walked of one mind back in her room until Vala’s knees bumped into her bed, still warm and rumpled from when she woke.
She momentarily awoke from the drugging effect of his nearness and touch. “Daniel?”
He rested his forehead against hers. “Yes, Vala?”
“Does this mean we’ve started dating?”
Daniel groaned and then chuckled. “I think we are several stages beyond mere dating.”
“Oh?”
“I’d say we are at the troth plighted stage.”
Vala inhaled sharply and let him feel the bite of her nails, “Be careful of your promises, I’ll hold you to them.”
Daniel gazed down at her fierce, lovely, and hopeful face before bending and sweeping her up off her feet. “You damm well better,” he growled and laid her gently on the bed.
CHAPTER 5
Daniel and Vala arrived at the briefing room just past the appointed time. Between talking with Vala (and then not just talking) Daniel barely had enough time this morning to complete a final translation that provided the last piece of the puzzle. Vala at the last minute slipped down to the commissary for a thermos of coffee. Their morning began rather early and though they both went back to bed for a few hours, neither received any additional rest. She figured if she was craving it, Daniel must be dying for a dose of caffeine.
General Landry sat at his customary position at the head of the table and General O’Neal flanked him at his right hand. Unsurprisingly, Sam was seated by Jack, with Mitchell and Dr. Caroline Lam next in line. Vala set the thermos on the table and then relieved Daniel of a few precariously tilting texts as he attempted to place all the pieces of the presentation down. Daniel smiled his thanks and Vala grinned back.
Landry cleared his throat. “Can we get started Dr Jackson? General O’Neil has been less than forthcoming about the purpose of this little get together, but promised you have an explanation.”
Landry
harrumphed. “This is about dreams? Jack, you beamed into
Dr. Lam blushed and
looked down at the table while
Landry rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked somewhat disturbed. “Should I be hearing this?”
Jack gave him a sympathetic look and went on, “and before you ask I’ve been in Sam’s and vice versa.”
“Hmm, so the emulsion only needs to be applied by one individual,” Daniel mumbled to himself.
“Dr Jackson! I would really appreciate a speedy resolution to this conversation. What’s going on?” Landry demanded.
“Yeah,
General Landry looked back and forth between Jackson and Vala expecting to find their resident archeologist fuming. He did not expect to see the two of them smiling and exchanging a look too intimate for this early in the morning and or in public. “Would someone please explain this?” He begged.
“Sorry sir,” Daniel wiped his smile off his face and got right to the point. “For a little over a month the members of SG1 have been having mutual dreams.” He smiled a bit and added, “Something that I’ve only recently discovered.”
Landry scratched his head. “The team has been having the same dreams?”
“Actually sir,” Sam said, “it has been less like a dream sequence than a succession of visits to the same location with another individual. In my case, every night I found myself and Jac…ah, General O’Neil at his lake cabin. The dreams were very vivid and unlike typical ones, very easy to recall. Though odd, there was nothing threatening or really alarming about them. Then about a week ago, I had a dream in which the dream version of Jac...ah General O’Neil spoke of an upcoming mission. Yesterday, when we returned and received upcoming mission details, well I was already aware of them from my supposed dream conversation. That is when I contacted Jac…ah, General O’Neil.”
Landry thoughtfully rubbed his chin. “Mitchell, you had this mutual dream with Caroline?”
Mitchell looked horrified. He sputtered his reply, “No, I didn’t, I mean I didn’t know. I thought, I thought it was just one of those dreams.”
Landry frowned. “What kind of dreams would that be?”
Mitchell’s eyes bulged. “Ah, just the reoccurring kind, sir, at a bowling alley, sir.”
Landry shook his head. His daughter was doing her best not to be noticed and he was pleased to oblige. “Jackson, you and Vala?” Landry asked.
“A garden.”
“And this incident that occurred earlier this morning outside of Ms Mal Doran’s rooms? Did you two finally work past this fight that you’ve been trying to pretend you weren’t having for the past week?”
“I’ll say they did.”
“Jack!” admonished Sam.
Daniel glanced at Vala. She smiled smugly and raised an eyebrow, waiting to hear what he would say. “Let’s just say that the dreams provided an opportunity to enhance our communication skills.” Vala snorted. “Anyway, in the course of last night’s dream, it occurred to Vala that we might be experiencing the same dream.”
“Ok, alright, but how could this have happened?” Landry asked.
Daniel pushed up his glasses. “About five weeks ago the team, minus Teal’c, visited Parimay, that’s P392X42. You might remember the culture on Parimay. They radically kept unmarried persons separate in their society. Men and women under a certain age never even sat in the same room together.”
“Yes, I remember.” Sam interjected. “Until they married or reached a certain age, no women even spoke to a man outside of her family and yet, the women Vala and I spoke to said their culture didn’t believe in arranged marriages.”
“We were told the same
thing from the men. Their scholars gifted us with a few ancient texts they
could no longer translate. Most of it is romantic poems wrapped in tales
of
Landry interrupted, “Yes, yes go on.”
Daniel cleared his throat. “One of the legends spoke of patch of earth where lovers would meet. Or I thought it was a legend. On closer examination this particular story seems more like instructions that end with a recipe to create a balm to allow the recipient to tap into the dreams of another. The other stories, fables, and poems are intended as accounts of these mutually shared dreams. They’re tales of courtships.”
“So the good people of Parimay found a way to spend time with the opposite sex while remaining in completely chaste circumstances.” Landry observed.
Daniel nodded. “The dreams even were rigged to evaporate if the participants crossed the lines of propriety.”
Jack raised an eyebrow, “For example?” Sam rolled her eyes.
“Well passionate kissing, or likely the chemical reaction in the dreamer’s bodies. The change of hormone levels and the increase of heart rate triggered some kind of failsafe and they woke up”
“But,” Vala contributed, “as long as they behaved themselves, they had complete alone time, a chance to talk and interact.” She gazed at Daniel, “A chance to truly get to know one another.”
General Landry once again looked back and forth between Dr Daniel Jackson and Ms Vala Mal Doran. This time he wasn’t seeing flashes of lust leap between them. Oh, the fire was still there, but it was tempered by respect, admiration, and yeah, love. Well, Landry thought, it’s not like he wasn’t expecting them to get here eventually; he just hadn’t thought they’d arrive so soon. He shook his head. Civilians, he thought with a hint of condescension until he intercepted the look that passed between Dr Carter and General O’Neil.
He sighed but comforted himself that technically no regulations were being broken. O’Neil was out of her chain of command; which was good because there was no way he was going to get in the way of something all reports told him was ten years in the making.
He steeled his will and glanced over at Caroline and Mitchell. Thank God! No looks of eternal love there. Both were nervously trying to avoid looking at each other, still obviously in the early stages of attraction. He could ignore that for now.
“So, Dr. Jackson, what do we do now?”
Daniel scrunched up his forehead and rubbed an eyebrow. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Echoed Landry incredulously.
“According to the translation, the effects of the balm will dissipate after about thirty to thirty-five nights of dreaming, so the shared dreaming will just end on its own.”
“Fine, but Caroline, I want you to get a blood sample from everyone, including yourself, for analysis. Mitchell, coordinate with Walter and set up gate time tomorrow for a return visit to P392X42. Daniel, did you figure out how this solution came in contact with our people?”
“The ceremonial washing just before we departed.”
Landry turned to look at Col Mitchell, “You allowed this?”
Vala toyed with a section of her hair, “I thought it odd that they decided to pull ceremonial washing at the end of the visit. Normally that little service pops up right away, but still, it would have been uncommonly rude to refuse.”
Daniel nodded. “I think we will find the shared dreaming was either bestowed on us as a gift or a test. Either way, I believe those in charge on Parimay will be pleased with the success rate of their experiment.”
“I know I am.” All heads turned toward General O’Neil. “What? Am I supposed to pretend that Sam getting anointed with some kind of love potion wasn’t the best thing to happen to me in the past few years? Am I supposed to just ignore Danny here grinning like he discovered the secret to the universe? When you go back to Parimay, send them my thanks. Hell, invite them to my wedding.”
Sam reached for his hand. “Our wedding, sir,” she insisted.
Jack lifted her hand and placed a tender kiss on it. When he looked at Samantha Carter, his face softened with affection. The customary twinkle in his eyes brightened and a satisfied smile settled on his lips.
Daniel stood behind Vala’s chair and placed a hand on her shoulder. Vala reached up and placed her hand over his. Deeply happy that two of his oldest friends had finally found happiness together he simple said, “Congratulations, Sam, Jack.” His emotions were running too close to the surface to say more. Vala added her sincere best wishes too.
Jack’s grin turned mischievous. “So, how long before you two join us in the walk down the matrimonial isle?”
Vala twisted around to look at the man standing behind her. “Daniel, how long is a typical earth engagement?”
Daniel squeezed her shoulder, “As short as we want to make it.” Life at the SCG had impressed upon him the fragility of life. He wasn’t going to waste any more time than he already had.
“Damm,” Jack swore in admiration and amusement. “You work fast.”
Vala preened a little, “Thank you.” She rather liked this General O’Neil; he seemed like a perfect foil for Sam. His lively sense of humor would keep her from becoming to stodgy, while her steady love already seemed to ease some of the long-standing grief that always lingered just behind his smile.
Jack clapped his hands together. “This calls for a celebration. How about lunch? Cake anyone?”
Landry interrupted, “Blood samples taken at the infirmary first, then you can go have lunch.” He shook his head, smiling in spite of himself. “Congratulations to all of you. You are dismissed.”
** The End **
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