I opened my eyes when there was no shock, no discomfort. No anything. No voices, even. I sat up and looked around. I was in bed with Daniel of all people. In a hut. I could hear...monkeys and birds
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"Vala, stop kidding around. Go back to..." Sleep. They'd been sleeping, hadn't they? Dreaming.
He remembered too vividly that he'd spent hours looking for Vala. Time was pretty linear. That's how it'd worked out last time. Days in the dream, days outside. Did mere hours in the dream mean days outside, too? Oh god, William. He bolted upright and jumped out of bed, rushing over to where William should have been. Not there. Paradoxically, Daniel started calming down. If William wasn't here, that meant that someone knew they'd been sleeping.
Which left one more problem. He turned slowly to Vala. "Where are we?" The feeling of dread that he'd lost when he figured William must have been safe came back at the realization that Vala still couldn't remember anything.
"Damn it," he swore fiercely. "I was hoping that we could fix this before..." He hadn't really been thinking in terms of a dream before this. There hadn't been time. He woke up and Vala had needed to be found and he'd gone into action mode.
He sucked in a breath. "All right. We've been caught on some island. We've both been here for a while. We don't know where it is or how to get back. Sam's here. And...and you wouldn't remember Jack or Jonas. Damn." She wouldn't remember William either and just how was he going to explain that one?
"You're not making any sense, Daniel," I said, resting my hands on my hips as I stared him down. "What do you mean we've been here for a 'while'? I don't remember any of this. I don't remember..."
I thought hard about what I did remember and it wasn't much. I knew my name. I knew Daniel and Mitchell, Sam and Teal'c. General Hammond. Stargate. Cheyenne mountain. And...and what?
I'm not ashamed to admit I began to panic a bit.
"What have you done to me?!?" I exclaimed, crossing to him and taking hold of his shirt to shake him.
"Anything," he reminded her. "You don't remember anything, which means that even if you were here for years, you wouldn't remember it. You don't remember that I've known you for years. You don't remember..."
He closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face. She didn't remember him, them. She didn't remember William or else her first thought would have been to check on where he was.
"What is going on? You have to tell me, Daniel. Tell me. You're scaring me," I said, pleading with him shamelessly. I didn't care about showing him that I felt vulnerable. I needed to know what he was talking about.
"All right. This place is not...normal. I hesitate to use the word 'magic', but then anything with enough technical superiority can seem like magic. The island does strange things sometimes. In this case, we fell into a dream. It was a dream of back home and the things that had happened. We relived it. You'd already been through that once before and then you regained your memories. That's what was in the process of happening. But we woke up too soon."
It was much too soon and Daniel was afraid that they wouldn't be able to help her retrieve her memories now that they were back. If they even could since the entire situation had been in a dream.
"Magic? Honestly, Daniel, there must be a better explanation than that," I said, on the very edge of panic. "What really happened? Did you drug me and kidnap me? Is this another secret base? Did we have to come here for me to get my memory back? Where's Lam? She'll know..."
Daniel moved forward and rested a hand on her cheek. "Calm down, Vala, please. No one kidnapped you anywhere. I know there must be a better explanation, but I don't have one. None of us knows what this place really is."
Daniel's stomach dropped again. It was like that time loop again, only this time they were back at the beginning. She woke up in bed with him and she couldn't believe anything had happened. Now she couldn't believe that he might be in love with her.
Instead of answering her, he switched topics. "There's something else I haven't told you. You...you have a son. William."
Panic practically consumed me and all I could think of was to run. Run and never look back.
I took another step toward the door.
"The truth makes no sense," I said. "A magic island? No memory? A baby? No. It's too much. I can't even remember yesterday morning but I'm sure I'd remember something as important as a child."
He seemed to know quite a lot, though. Maybe I should trust him, I thought.
"Maybe you will when you see him," Daniel pointed out quietly. "Like you did with me. He'd probably at the children's office if he's not here. Maybe with Sam and Jack. I can go get him or I can bring you to him, which would you prefer?"
He tried not to let it show how much Vala not remembering was breaking his heart and tried instead to be positive. Vala had remembered once. She would do it again and things would be exactly as they had been.
"Bring him here," I said. "I'll wait. I'll...look around. Maybe it will come back?"
I didn't really believe that. Lam had had a device that would have done it but I saw nothing like that here and Daniel hadn't insisted on taking me to any medical facility.
I had an uncomfortable dread settling into the pit of my stomach.
He remembered too vividly that he'd spent hours looking for Vala. Time was pretty linear. That's how it'd worked out last time. Days in the dream, days outside. Did mere hours in the dream mean days outside, too? Oh god, William. He bolted upright and jumped out of bed, rushing over to where William should have been. Not there. Paradoxically, Daniel started calming down. If William wasn't here, that meant that someone knew they'd been sleeping.
Which left one more problem. He turned slowly to Vala. "Where are we?" The feeling of dread that he'd lost when he figured William must have been safe came back at the realization that Vala still couldn't remember anything.
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"Is this part of the process? It can't be. What's going on, Daniel?" I demanded.
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He sucked in a breath. "All right. We've been caught on some island. We've both been here for a while. We don't know where it is or how to get back. Sam's here. And...and you wouldn't remember Jack or Jonas. Damn." She wouldn't remember William either and just how was he going to explain that one?
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I thought hard about what I did remember and it wasn't much. I knew my name. I knew Daniel and Mitchell, Sam and Teal'c. General Hammond. Stargate. Cheyenne mountain. And...and what?
I'm not ashamed to admit I began to panic a bit.
"What have you done to me?!?" I exclaimed, crossing to him and taking hold of his shirt to shake him.
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He closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face. She didn't remember him, them. She didn't remember William or else her first thought would have been to check on where he was.
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It was much too soon and Daniel was afraid that they wouldn't be able to help her retrieve her memories now that they were back. If they even could since the entire situation had been in a dream.
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"Why were you in bed with me?" I asked, tilting my head as I tried to puzzle that out. "Surely we didn't...you and I? Really?"
I didn't think he was like that. Or was he? No. No, I was sure he wasn't.
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Instead of answering her, he switched topics. "There's something else I haven't told you. You...you have a son. William."
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I began to back away, moving toward the door. I didn't care that I was only in what I'd slept in.
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I took another step toward the door.
"The truth makes no sense," I said. "A magic island? No memory? A baby? No. It's too much. I can't even remember yesterday morning but I'm sure I'd remember something as important as a child."
He seemed to know quite a lot, though. Maybe I should trust him, I thought.
"Where is this William?" I said. "Go get him."
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He tried not to let it show how much Vala not remembering was breaking his heart and tried instead to be positive. Vala had remembered once. She would do it again and things would be exactly as they had been.
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I didn't really believe that. Lam had had a device that would have done it but I saw nothing like that here and Daniel hadn't insisted on taking me to any medical facility.
I had an uncomfortable dread settling into the pit of my stomach.
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