Update - A Gift From Above - Chapter 6
Title: A Gift from Above
Author: Milena D.
Rating: T for now
Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure, etc. Daniel/Vala all the way ;)
SPOILERS: HUGE SPOILERS FOR DOMINION!!!
Summary: Something went wrong and they’ve paid for it.
Author's Note #1: First thing's first - This fic is COMPLETE but this is not the last chapter. I've decided I can't keep posting fics that aren't finished because inevitably something comes up and all the readers are left with no updates for months (or even years in this case). Over the past two days though, I don't know what's come over me but I'm writing and writing a lot - including the last three chapters of this fic. So it is done (no need to worry anymore!) and I'll be posting them about 2-3 days apart.
Author's Note #2: Related to the above, I just want to apologize to everyone who's been waiting so long for the resolution of this story. I'm sorry I've made you wait so long and I really appreciate you giving this fic (and me) another chance. In a way, I'm kind of glad it's taken me so long to finish it because if I'd forced it back when I just wanted to get it done, I know I wouldn't have ended up something I actually believed in and liked like I have now. That being said, I'm still incredibly sorry. :(
Chapter 1: Emptiness
Chapter 2: Friendship
Chapter 3: Turbulence
Chapter 4: An Accomplice
Chapter 5: Daring
oooooooooooooooooo
Chapter 6: Precipice
oooooooooooooooooo
“You wanna run that by us again there, Jackson?” Cam asked him, his voice at a distinctly higher pitch than usual. The scuffling aside of dirt told Daniel the entire team and some of Elom’s household had also followed their little production all the way to Vala’s house. He let out a shaky breath. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the door Vala and her...her daughter had escaped beyond.
He hadn’t meant to say that.
He really hadn’t meant to say that.
He hadn’t even processed wha-
“Daniel?” Sam. He thought she might have put a hand on his shoulder but he couldn’t quite feel it.
“I...” His head felt numb, his lips lax.
“You...have something you wanna tell us?” Cam continued, standing in front of his team mate. All Daniel could see was a dark shape. He took a halted breath and the world saw fit to right itself to allow him a brief moment of clarity.
“I need to get back to Earth.” His declaration barely louder than a mumble.
“Say what?” Cam uttered disapprovingly. “You’re going to spring something like that on us and just high-tail it back to Earth?”
But Daniel wasn’t listening, he was already backing up and away from them.
“Listen, I just- I’ll be back, don’t let her leave.” He asked of them, hoping they’d trust him despite all appearances that he’d lost his mind. “I gotta go.”
“Wha-” Sam blew a confused breath and let the hand she’d had on him fall slack against her side as her friend sprinted out of sight at break-neck speeds. “This is insane.”
“It is most astounding news.” Teal’c agreed, setting the stalled gears in all of their minds whirring away trying to figure out how they could have missed this. The attraction had been there, sure, but that something like this had actually happened...
“Aunt Siremi!” Nejaya’s small voice came from near the door. She hadn’t been tall enough to see through it so she has pushed a chair in front of the front window. “Can you come? Mama won’t get away from the door.”
Sending an accusing look at the remaining members of SG-1, Siremi gathered her skirt and briskly made her way to the back of the house to access the other door.
“I believe Samantha would be best suited for the first watch.” Teal’c suggested.
“First watch?” The volunteered woman echoed.
“You heard Jackson,” Cam shook his head, “he’ll be right back. We gotta make sure she doesn’t skip town while he’s gone. Teal’c will relieve you in a few hours.”
The Jaffa in question raised an eyebrow at his leader.
“What? You guys are fine in her books, she’s still pissed at me for whatever reason.” Cam defended himself. The others had nothing to say and so, with a wary resolve, Sam slowly made to follow Siremi and the guys went to await Daniel’s return.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Siremi had sat Nejaya down at the table with some of her carved wooden toys and thanked whatever deities that gave her fortitude that children had the most amazing capacity for distraction. The girl’s mother had been led away from the door easily enough and was now sitting restlessly on the couch, her eyes wide, calculating; her right thumb’s nail scratching at its opposite.
“It can’t be possible.” The anxious woman confided to Siremi as she approached with tea that would remain untouched. Siremi said nothing.
“It can’t be possible.” She repeated, just as quietly, as if adding volume to the discussion would lend credence to its content.
“Is it less possible than higher beings granting you a child without explanation? Without reason?” Siremi asked with honest curiousity. And it seemed that Vala was also weighing both possibilities.
“Well it’s not as if the Ori asked my permission before they did their routine, and had I not stayed in that village with Tomin or joined him on the crusade I might never have received an explanation. But it’s...I mean...It can’t possibly be...his.”
Even as she spoke the words, however, Vala’s mind was racing back to that time she’d tried to forget, that time she’d been told never really existed. Could she really remember breaking into the storage unit to get the cloaking device? Could she really remember deciding on which planet would serve as her getaway?
She remembered the feelings that had assaulted her mind when her former teammates betrayed her. She could clearly recall the way her heart felt when Daniel had abandoned her and when she looked upon the SGC for the last time before throwing herself into the far reaches of the galaxy. But could she remember coming up with the plan? Etching out the details? Where she’d go and how?
She couldn’t.
ooooooooooooooooooooooo
“How’s Dr. Jackson?” General Landry asked his daughter in the hallway outside the infirmary. The resident archeologist had been flustered and agitated as he crossed the wormhole, to say the least. He had fought the need for the routine check-up after returning from an alien planet but the General would not be moved, not even after being given the news of Vala being alive and well. Landry may, however, have quickened his pace back to the control room to radio the rest of SG-1 and confirm.
“Better than when he came in but I’m pretty sure this newfound zen is a show. He’s wound up pretty tight.” Dr. Lam replied, shrugging her shoulder. The General nodded his head and granted his daughter a small smile before moving past her to reach the bed whose occupant was making an extreme effort to appear calm. So extreme it actually defeated the purpose.
“Dr. Jackson,” he greeted firmly.
“General, hello,” Daniel nodded, turning on the bed to better face the man, “Dr. Lam’s given me a clean bill of health. If you don’t mind I’d like to requisition the memory recall device.”
“Is that why you’re back without the rest of SG-1?” Landry asked, ignoring the request.
“Yes, well it’s not a complicated job, I didn’t see the need for everyone to come back. And I think it’s best Vala stay under watch, we don’t want her giving us the slip again.” The archeologist rushed out.
“Yes, Colonel Mitchell tells me he ordered you back for the device to restore Vala’s memories.” Landry replied wryly, the acknowledgement of Cam’s bullshit cover story obvious. When he continued, though, it was with warmth infusing his voice. “I’m glad you found her. How is she?”
“A mother.” Daniel replied, his eyes somewhat losing their focus on the present situation. Had he stayed in the moment, he would have noticed the stalwart General’s eyebrows lift to never-before-seen heights over progressively narrowing eyes as the man before him’s behaviour suddenly had a cause. Landry had questions. Plenty of questions. Some of them not even questions but fatherly rebukes. But most of all he had the experiences of a man who’d lost too many years with his child.
“The device will be ready in the gate room within the half hour.” He informed Daniel, his voice stern but not unkind. It seemed that was enough to return the good doctor to present circumstances, at least enough to thank the General before he left the room.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo
“Vala?” A soft voice questioned.
Vala and Siremi raised their heads to find Sam lingering awkwardly near the table.
“I’m sorry, the door was open in the back and I didn’t want to interrupt.” Sam explained hesitantly. “Is it...Could I...”
“Stay, Samantha.” Vala said, cutting her off with a small smile. Sam replied with a relieved smile, nodding to Siremi before taking a seat on the sofa on Vala’s other side. For a while, the three women sat in silence, the only noise in the room coming from Nejaya’s wooden horse-like animal walking jerkily across the table.
“Did you know?” Vala finally asked.
“About this?” Sam retorted, lips pursed gently with discomfort. “No.”
“The guys...”
“They didn’t know either.” Sam assured her. “I don’t know if you want to hear this but I think even Daniel didn’t really guess until...well he seemed as surprised as the rest of us.”
“Oh?” Vala returned with sarcasm. “Is he suffering from altered memories too? And here I thought I was special.”
“No,” Sam said with a sad smile, “I just think...I think he never really let himself think of you in terms of the past.
Vala’s expression narrowed with confusion.
“I mean, at first we were too busy with trying to find you to talk about you all that much but after we were barred from searching anymore...well Cam was kind of the instigator.” Sam begin, her lips quirked into a mischievous grin. “Whenever there were new recruits or we had to train new teams off-world, inevitably it would come up that SG-1 was the only team ever to have had a space pirate as a member. And Cam would make a huge show of all our missions and your off-team exploits as a kind of initiation rite for the recruits. I guess he figured it was a way for them to get that sense of wonder back after bootcamp, and it was a way for us to keep you with us wherever we went.”
Sam paused then, unknowingly allowing enough time for Vala’s heart to unclench. Vala had been hard on her former team leader since she found out SG-1 was here, more so than with Teal’c or Sam, though in her defense, definitely less than with Daniel. Cameron had been the one she expected and trusted to always keep the team together - the team she’d suddenly found herself excluded from. She had always not-so-subconsciously felt that he could have saved her from her fate of Area 51 if he’d really wanted to. That if he hadn’t succeeded, it meant she didn’t mean enough to the team she loved as she had dared to hope. Daniel’s betrayal had broken her heart and soul but Cam’s had broken her faith, her feeling of belonging.
“Daniel,” Sam continued, “he could never stay around when Cam started in on one of his stories, as much as he might have wanted to. I think, for him, thinking of your past self meant giving up on a future you and he couldn’t do it. He had the recording of you, we watched that with all the time. But...whatever happened between you guys back then,” her eyes flitted away to land on the dark head bent over wooden toys, “I guess he just never let himself think of it. At least not until we had you back, alive, in arm’s reach.”
Vala didn’t say anything. If she swallowed heavily, her present company was kind enough not to comment on it. She could understand what Sam had touched upon. As much as her memories of Daniel before any of this happened filled her with rage, it was mostly only to cover the heartache they brought up first.
“So,” she cleared her water-logged throat, “all of this...my memories, the plan, this...it’s really all true.” Vala’s voice trailed off into a whisper, her desperate eyes seeking the truth in Sam’s.
“Yes.” Her friend replied just as quietly, her hand reaching out to cover Vala’s; she was trembling slightly and colder than she should be.
“But what about this,” Vala repeated, her head tilting in the direction of her daughter, “how could you not know about...about Daniel and I. And why can’t I even remember that? Surely it couldn’t have been part of the plan, what purpose would that have served?”
“It wasn’t. At least not any plan I was made aware of.” Sam replied quickly, her mind getting into gear to solve the mystery. “The only thing I can think of is that whatever happened between you two - if you really can’t remember a think about it - must have started after you starting thinking about the mission and before it went into action. Since you were the one who came up with the idea, we had to erase back to the day you thought it up.”
“So how long was there between that day and the day her memories were erased?” Siremi asked when Vala seemed lost in thought.
Sam cringed slightly. “We only erased three days, the first two of us all hashing out the details and the third when the General approved the mission. And from what we saw of those three days...you two weren’t really on friendly terms for any of them.”
“What do you mean?” Vala asked long seconds later, her mind still trying to play catch-up.
“I mean, you were yelling at each other every time we saw you. Daniel was against the plan from the start and you were hurt that he wouldn’t back you up. You two were furious with each other.”
Vala gave a short laugh of irony. “So these feelings of betrayal aren’t necessarily all an illusion then. How about that.”
Sam chose not to reply and the room fell into pregnant silence once more.
“I don’t know what to think, Sam.” Vala whispered, her voice just on the edge of breaking. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”
“I know.” Her friend said with all simplicity.
“Is there not a way that her true memories could be restored?” Siremi put forward. “If you have the means to remove her memories, could they not also be restored?”
Vala’s posture straightened but her eyes reflected the conflict of hope and fear within her. Before Sam could reply, there was a heavy but polite knock at the door.
“That’ll be Teal’c.” Sam said, her face apologetic. “He’s um, supposed to relieve me.”
“Relieve you?” Siremi asked, her voice pointed.
“Under surveillance, am I?” Vala chuckled humorlessly, feeling utterly drained.
“We just don’t want to lose you again.” Sam beseeched her understanding.
“So it seems. Well, let him in.” Vala waved her off. With a tight smile, the blonde woman did as she was told.
“It’s a little early for a shift change though, isn’t it?” Vala enquired loudly, unbothered.
“I have not come to relieve Samantha.” Teal’c answered as he appeared through the door. “Daniel Jackson has returned.”
Vala noticed Sam’s shoulders loosening from a previously undetectable state of tension and she furrowed her brow.
“The Doctor had a prior engagement?” She drawled, curiousity well hidden.
“He left for Earth right after...” Sam trailed off, the dramatic moment needing no introduction.
“He has returned with Dr. Lam and the memory device.” Teal’c announced. Not a hair moved in the room, not a speck of dust. Even Nejaya, who had been completely engrossed in ignoring the adults, sensed the shift in mood and sat completely still in her chair.
“We would never force you to do it, Vala.” Sam promised her, feeling the pivotal moment they were living. “But if you can remember a time when you trusted us...if you can hold onto any part of yourself that believes in what we’re trying to tell you...we’re just asking for a chance to set things right. Once you have your memories we can take it from there but at least give us, give yourself, a chance to heal five years of misery and loneliness.”
“Even if I miraculously find out that all that I remember is false and that five years ago you all never betrayed me, those fives years of feelings won’t just slip away.” Vala replied somberly, eyes tracked onto the table.
“No, but at least it’ll mean you won’t carry it for another five.” Sam pressed on, not caring that she was begging. She wanted her friend back. She wanted Vala to smile, her eyes to be light and cheerful, not weighed down with an invisible sadness. And most of all, she wanted the same for the friend who wasn’t with them, the one whose sole representation in the room was a little girl with matching eyes.
As if called by Sam’s thoughts alone, Nejaya pushed herself away from the table and made her way to her mother. She said nothing, she simply sat beside her Aunt Siremi and waited like all the grown-ups were doing. Unable to ignore her daughter, Vala turned her head to give her a smile and in that moment made her decision.
“Let’s hope your mother is part cat, darling.” Vala said, opening her arms to her daughter and rising from the sofa with Nejaya on her hip. “She’s about to risk a life to curiousity.”
Teal’c and Sam led the way back to Elom’s house - a neutral zone - with Siremi standing guard beside her friend and Nejaya drawing imaginary whiskers on her mother’s face.
>>Next: Chapter 7
Author: Milena D.
Rating: T for now
Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure, etc. Daniel/Vala all the way ;)
SPOILERS: HUGE SPOILERS FOR DOMINION!!!
Summary: Something went wrong and they’ve paid for it.
Author's Note #1: First thing's first - This fic is COMPLETE but this is not the last chapter. I've decided I can't keep posting fics that aren't finished because inevitably something comes up and all the readers are left with no updates for months (or even years in this case). Over the past two days though, I don't know what's come over me but I'm writing and writing a lot - including the last three chapters of this fic. So it is done (no need to worry anymore!) and I'll be posting them about 2-3 days apart.
Author's Note #2: Related to the above, I just want to apologize to everyone who's been waiting so long for the resolution of this story. I'm sorry I've made you wait so long and I really appreciate you giving this fic (and me) another chance. In a way, I'm kind of glad it's taken me so long to finish it because if I'd forced it back when I just wanted to get it done, I know I wouldn't have ended up something I actually believed in and liked like I have now. That being said, I'm still incredibly sorry. :(
Chapter 1: Emptiness
Chapter 2: Friendship
Chapter 3: Turbulence
Chapter 4: An Accomplice
Chapter 5: Daring
oooooooooooooooooo
Chapter 6: Precipice
oooooooooooooooooo
“You wanna run that by us again there, Jackson?” Cam asked him, his voice at a distinctly higher pitch than usual. The scuffling aside of dirt told Daniel the entire team and some of Elom’s household had also followed their little production all the way to Vala’s house. He let out a shaky breath. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the door Vala and her...her daughter had escaped beyond.
He hadn’t meant to say that.
He really hadn’t meant to say that.
He hadn’t even processed wha-
“Daniel?” Sam. He thought she might have put a hand on his shoulder but he couldn’t quite feel it.
“I...” His head felt numb, his lips lax.
“You...have something you wanna tell us?” Cam continued, standing in front of his team mate. All Daniel could see was a dark shape. He took a halted breath and the world saw fit to right itself to allow him a brief moment of clarity.
“I need to get back to Earth.” His declaration barely louder than a mumble.
“Say what?” Cam uttered disapprovingly. “You’re going to spring something like that on us and just high-tail it back to Earth?”
But Daniel wasn’t listening, he was already backing up and away from them.
“Listen, I just- I’ll be back, don’t let her leave.” He asked of them, hoping they’d trust him despite all appearances that he’d lost his mind. “I gotta go.”
“Wha-” Sam blew a confused breath and let the hand she’d had on him fall slack against her side as her friend sprinted out of sight at break-neck speeds. “This is insane.”
“It is most astounding news.” Teal’c agreed, setting the stalled gears in all of their minds whirring away trying to figure out how they could have missed this. The attraction had been there, sure, but that something like this had actually happened...
“Aunt Siremi!” Nejaya’s small voice came from near the door. She hadn’t been tall enough to see through it so she has pushed a chair in front of the front window. “Can you come? Mama won’t get away from the door.”
Sending an accusing look at the remaining members of SG-1, Siremi gathered her skirt and briskly made her way to the back of the house to access the other door.
“I believe Samantha would be best suited for the first watch.” Teal’c suggested.
“First watch?” The volunteered woman echoed.
“You heard Jackson,” Cam shook his head, “he’ll be right back. We gotta make sure she doesn’t skip town while he’s gone. Teal’c will relieve you in a few hours.”
The Jaffa in question raised an eyebrow at his leader.
“What? You guys are fine in her books, she’s still pissed at me for whatever reason.” Cam defended himself. The others had nothing to say and so, with a wary resolve, Sam slowly made to follow Siremi and the guys went to await Daniel’s return.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Siremi had sat Nejaya down at the table with some of her carved wooden toys and thanked whatever deities that gave her fortitude that children had the most amazing capacity for distraction. The girl’s mother had been led away from the door easily enough and was now sitting restlessly on the couch, her eyes wide, calculating; her right thumb’s nail scratching at its opposite.
“It can’t be possible.” The anxious woman confided to Siremi as she approached with tea that would remain untouched. Siremi said nothing.
“It can’t be possible.” She repeated, just as quietly, as if adding volume to the discussion would lend credence to its content.
“Is it less possible than higher beings granting you a child without explanation? Without reason?” Siremi asked with honest curiousity. And it seemed that Vala was also weighing both possibilities.
“Well it’s not as if the Ori asked my permission before they did their routine, and had I not stayed in that village with Tomin or joined him on the crusade I might never have received an explanation. But it’s...I mean...It can’t possibly be...his.”
Even as she spoke the words, however, Vala’s mind was racing back to that time she’d tried to forget, that time she’d been told never really existed. Could she really remember breaking into the storage unit to get the cloaking device? Could she really remember deciding on which planet would serve as her getaway?
She remembered the feelings that had assaulted her mind when her former teammates betrayed her. She could clearly recall the way her heart felt when Daniel had abandoned her and when she looked upon the SGC for the last time before throwing herself into the far reaches of the galaxy. But could she remember coming up with the plan? Etching out the details? Where she’d go and how?
She couldn’t.
ooooooooooooooooooooooo
“How’s Dr. Jackson?” General Landry asked his daughter in the hallway outside the infirmary. The resident archeologist had been flustered and agitated as he crossed the wormhole, to say the least. He had fought the need for the routine check-up after returning from an alien planet but the General would not be moved, not even after being given the news of Vala being alive and well. Landry may, however, have quickened his pace back to the control room to radio the rest of SG-1 and confirm.
“Better than when he came in but I’m pretty sure this newfound zen is a show. He’s wound up pretty tight.” Dr. Lam replied, shrugging her shoulder. The General nodded his head and granted his daughter a small smile before moving past her to reach the bed whose occupant was making an extreme effort to appear calm. So extreme it actually defeated the purpose.
“Dr. Jackson,” he greeted firmly.
“General, hello,” Daniel nodded, turning on the bed to better face the man, “Dr. Lam’s given me a clean bill of health. If you don’t mind I’d like to requisition the memory recall device.”
“Is that why you’re back without the rest of SG-1?” Landry asked, ignoring the request.
“Yes, well it’s not a complicated job, I didn’t see the need for everyone to come back. And I think it’s best Vala stay under watch, we don’t want her giving us the slip again.” The archeologist rushed out.
“Yes, Colonel Mitchell tells me he ordered you back for the device to restore Vala’s memories.” Landry replied wryly, the acknowledgement of Cam’s bullshit cover story obvious. When he continued, though, it was with warmth infusing his voice. “I’m glad you found her. How is she?”
“A mother.” Daniel replied, his eyes somewhat losing their focus on the present situation. Had he stayed in the moment, he would have noticed the stalwart General’s eyebrows lift to never-before-seen heights over progressively narrowing eyes as the man before him’s behaviour suddenly had a cause. Landry had questions. Plenty of questions. Some of them not even questions but fatherly rebukes. But most of all he had the experiences of a man who’d lost too many years with his child.
“The device will be ready in the gate room within the half hour.” He informed Daniel, his voice stern but not unkind. It seemed that was enough to return the good doctor to present circumstances, at least enough to thank the General before he left the room.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo
“Vala?” A soft voice questioned.
Vala and Siremi raised their heads to find Sam lingering awkwardly near the table.
“I’m sorry, the door was open in the back and I didn’t want to interrupt.” Sam explained hesitantly. “Is it...Could I...”
“Stay, Samantha.” Vala said, cutting her off with a small smile. Sam replied with a relieved smile, nodding to Siremi before taking a seat on the sofa on Vala’s other side. For a while, the three women sat in silence, the only noise in the room coming from Nejaya’s wooden horse-like animal walking jerkily across the table.
“Did you know?” Vala finally asked.
“About this?” Sam retorted, lips pursed gently with discomfort. “No.”
“The guys...”
“They didn’t know either.” Sam assured her. “I don’t know if you want to hear this but I think even Daniel didn’t really guess until...well he seemed as surprised as the rest of us.”
“Oh?” Vala returned with sarcasm. “Is he suffering from altered memories too? And here I thought I was special.”
“No,” Sam said with a sad smile, “I just think...I think he never really let himself think of you in terms of the past.
Vala’s expression narrowed with confusion.
“I mean, at first we were too busy with trying to find you to talk about you all that much but after we were barred from searching anymore...well Cam was kind of the instigator.” Sam begin, her lips quirked into a mischievous grin. “Whenever there were new recruits or we had to train new teams off-world, inevitably it would come up that SG-1 was the only team ever to have had a space pirate as a member. And Cam would make a huge show of all our missions and your off-team exploits as a kind of initiation rite for the recruits. I guess he figured it was a way for them to get that sense of wonder back after bootcamp, and it was a way for us to keep you with us wherever we went.”
Sam paused then, unknowingly allowing enough time for Vala’s heart to unclench. Vala had been hard on her former team leader since she found out SG-1 was here, more so than with Teal’c or Sam, though in her defense, definitely less than with Daniel. Cameron had been the one she expected and trusted to always keep the team together - the team she’d suddenly found herself excluded from. She had always not-so-subconsciously felt that he could have saved her from her fate of Area 51 if he’d really wanted to. That if he hadn’t succeeded, it meant she didn’t mean enough to the team she loved as she had dared to hope. Daniel’s betrayal had broken her heart and soul but Cam’s had broken her faith, her feeling of belonging.
“Daniel,” Sam continued, “he could never stay around when Cam started in on one of his stories, as much as he might have wanted to. I think, for him, thinking of your past self meant giving up on a future you and he couldn’t do it. He had the recording of you, we watched that with all the time. But...whatever happened between you guys back then,” her eyes flitted away to land on the dark head bent over wooden toys, “I guess he just never let himself think of it. At least not until we had you back, alive, in arm’s reach.”
Vala didn’t say anything. If she swallowed heavily, her present company was kind enough not to comment on it. She could understand what Sam had touched upon. As much as her memories of Daniel before any of this happened filled her with rage, it was mostly only to cover the heartache they brought up first.
“So,” she cleared her water-logged throat, “all of this...my memories, the plan, this...it’s really all true.” Vala’s voice trailed off into a whisper, her desperate eyes seeking the truth in Sam’s.
“Yes.” Her friend replied just as quietly, her hand reaching out to cover Vala’s; she was trembling slightly and colder than she should be.
“But what about this,” Vala repeated, her head tilting in the direction of her daughter, “how could you not know about...about Daniel and I. And why can’t I even remember that? Surely it couldn’t have been part of the plan, what purpose would that have served?”
“It wasn’t. At least not any plan I was made aware of.” Sam replied quickly, her mind getting into gear to solve the mystery. “The only thing I can think of is that whatever happened between you two - if you really can’t remember a think about it - must have started after you starting thinking about the mission and before it went into action. Since you were the one who came up with the idea, we had to erase back to the day you thought it up.”
“So how long was there between that day and the day her memories were erased?” Siremi asked when Vala seemed lost in thought.
Sam cringed slightly. “We only erased three days, the first two of us all hashing out the details and the third when the General approved the mission. And from what we saw of those three days...you two weren’t really on friendly terms for any of them.”
“What do you mean?” Vala asked long seconds later, her mind still trying to play catch-up.
“I mean, you were yelling at each other every time we saw you. Daniel was against the plan from the start and you were hurt that he wouldn’t back you up. You two were furious with each other.”
Vala gave a short laugh of irony. “So these feelings of betrayal aren’t necessarily all an illusion then. How about that.”
Sam chose not to reply and the room fell into pregnant silence once more.
“I don’t know what to think, Sam.” Vala whispered, her voice just on the edge of breaking. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”
“I know.” Her friend said with all simplicity.
“Is there not a way that her true memories could be restored?” Siremi put forward. “If you have the means to remove her memories, could they not also be restored?”
Vala’s posture straightened but her eyes reflected the conflict of hope and fear within her. Before Sam could reply, there was a heavy but polite knock at the door.
“That’ll be Teal’c.” Sam said, her face apologetic. “He’s um, supposed to relieve me.”
“Relieve you?” Siremi asked, her voice pointed.
“Under surveillance, am I?” Vala chuckled humorlessly, feeling utterly drained.
“We just don’t want to lose you again.” Sam beseeched her understanding.
“So it seems. Well, let him in.” Vala waved her off. With a tight smile, the blonde woman did as she was told.
“It’s a little early for a shift change though, isn’t it?” Vala enquired loudly, unbothered.
“I have not come to relieve Samantha.” Teal’c answered as he appeared through the door. “Daniel Jackson has returned.”
Vala noticed Sam’s shoulders loosening from a previously undetectable state of tension and she furrowed her brow.
“The Doctor had a prior engagement?” She drawled, curiousity well hidden.
“He left for Earth right after...” Sam trailed off, the dramatic moment needing no introduction.
“He has returned with Dr. Lam and the memory device.” Teal’c announced. Not a hair moved in the room, not a speck of dust. Even Nejaya, who had been completely engrossed in ignoring the adults, sensed the shift in mood and sat completely still in her chair.
“We would never force you to do it, Vala.” Sam promised her, feeling the pivotal moment they were living. “But if you can remember a time when you trusted us...if you can hold onto any part of yourself that believes in what we’re trying to tell you...we’re just asking for a chance to set things right. Once you have your memories we can take it from there but at least give us, give yourself, a chance to heal five years of misery and loneliness.”
“Even if I miraculously find out that all that I remember is false and that five years ago you all never betrayed me, those fives years of feelings won’t just slip away.” Vala replied somberly, eyes tracked onto the table.
“No, but at least it’ll mean you won’t carry it for another five.” Sam pressed on, not caring that she was begging. She wanted her friend back. She wanted Vala to smile, her eyes to be light and cheerful, not weighed down with an invisible sadness. And most of all, she wanted the same for the friend who wasn’t with them, the one whose sole representation in the room was a little girl with matching eyes.
As if called by Sam’s thoughts alone, Nejaya pushed herself away from the table and made her way to her mother. She said nothing, she simply sat beside her Aunt Siremi and waited like all the grown-ups were doing. Unable to ignore her daughter, Vala turned her head to give her a smile and in that moment made her decision.
“Let’s hope your mother is part cat, darling.” Vala said, opening her arms to her daughter and rising from the sofa with Nejaya on her hip. “She’s about to risk a life to curiousity.”
Teal’c and Sam led the way back to Elom’s house - a neutral zone - with Siremi standing guard beside her friend and Nejaya drawing imaginary whiskers on her mother’s face.
>>Next: Chapter 7