BF Chapter 8 - Convalescing
Title: Being Found
Author: Milena D.
Rating: T+ for now
Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure, etc. Daniel/Vala all the way ;)
SPOILERS: Up to Prometheus Unbound which is the 12th episode of Season 8, I believe. And although I’m not using any parts of Seasons 9 or 10 yet, I am taking the creative liberty of bringing the team together to include Daniel, Teal’c, Sam, Cameron, Dr. Lam and General Landry. Jack will be making an appearance too! ^_~
Summary: What if Daniel and Vala had been reunited soon after Prometheus Unbound, before any of Season 9?
Author’s Note: Please read the note at the bottom later and think on it seriously! And thanks to everyone who reviewed!!!
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything pertaining to the show Stargate SG-1, just my plot.
Chapter 1: Someone's Knockin'
Chapter 2: Run, Run Away, Little Girl
Chapter 3: Fly, Little Bird
Chapter 4: Everything Burns
Chapter 5: Enter Opposition
Chapter 6: Enter Alliance
Chapter 7: Resting & Flying
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Chapter 8: Convalescing
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
“Jack!” Vala’s excited voice greeted and Daniel wondered idly when his good friend would be leaving the base as he shut the door.
“Madame, I believe you ordered room service.” Jack said, dropping a tray beside her bed and another on Daniel’s desk.
“I called Cameron.” Daniel noted.
“Yeah, I know, I caught him in the hallway, gave him the night off.” Jack replied easily.
“You’re an angel of mercy, has anyone ever told you that?” she said, gleefully spooning up some soup as he plopped down in Daniel’s comfy chair. Daniel perched himself on the edge of his desk and picked up the coffee Jack had brought him.
“Angel of mercy? I think that’s a new one.” he answered with a quirked eyebrow.
“Well, I’ve always been uniquely creative you know.” she answered with a wink that warped the sentence into something Daniel wasn’t comfortably with. The General, though, seemed nonplussed.
“Oh, I have no trouble believing that.” he said with a smirk.
“So Jack, have you managed to contact President Hayes yet?” Daniel interrupted.
“Yeah, I got through to him.” he said, dropping his smirk, and Vala brought the spoon slowly back to the bowl, her gaze shifting nervously between the two men.
“And? What did he say?” she pressed Jack anxiously. He took a deep breath and held it in. Daniel knew what Jack was doing, having been subjected to his unique sense of humour for almost a decade, but Vala was working herself into a nervous ball of tension.
“Jack.” Quit messing with her.
“Daniel.” As if I would do such a thing.
“Jack.” Daniel ground out and Jack turned back to Vala with a smile.
“You’re in the clear.” he told her and she heaved a heady sigh before taking a carrot out of her stew and chucking it at his head.
“You’re horrible!” she glared at him and Daniel tried to suppress his laughter as the carrot stuck in Jack’s hair before slowly slithering down his forehead.
“Okay, I probably deserved that.” Jack conceded, picking the vegetable off his face and throwing it out.
“You definitely deserved that and if I wasn’t so hungry you’d have the entirety of this bowl’s content dripping from your head.” she glared but smiled when she caught Daniel’s amused glance. Jack pushed the chair away from the bed a bit, just in case, and continued to relay the President’s message.
“There’s just one catch.” he said. “I’m sure you won’t mind it too much though.”
“Do I have to marry into your people for citizenship because I really have no problem with that.” she said shooting Daniel a saucy wink and enjoyed watching him choke on his coffee.
“No, nothing quite so…entertaining.” he said winning back their attention “President Hayes has read the mission reports concerning your little adventure on the Prometheus and is quite content to forget the whole thing in exchange for your services.” That just brought a multitude of images to their minds.
“What does the good President have in mind? I’m very skilled in many areas.” she said with a smirk and Daniel shot her a disapproving look.
“Basically, the President would like you to escape from the base as many times as you can.” he elaborated and Daniel protested.
“What? She’ll do no such thing! Look what escaping has gotten her and now that she’s even more injured she shouldn’t be thinking about moving at all, let alone escaping! And if he’s granting her clemency what possible reason would she have to escape?”
Jack and Vala let him rant, though Vala couldn’t help but hold the same objections. She’d just returned here and was getting comfortable after two weeks of chronic stress and turmoil. She didn’t feel like leaving again, not yet anyway. Daniel finally ran out of steam and they both looked at him.
“You done?” Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.
“For now.” Daniel frowned.
“Good.” Jack faced Vala again and decided play-time was over. “The President would like you to help with our security modifications. It’s obviously appalling that an alien, especially a wounded one, managed to escape our confines twice and actually leave the grounds once. So, once you’re sufficiently healed, he’d like you to run through the base and spot all the soft spots so that we can fix ‘em up.”
“Well, I can certainly do that.” Vala said with a pleased smile.
“Splendid. Fantastic.” Jack said and stole one of the cherry tomatoes on her plate.
“Not until she’s healed though, completely healed.” came the stern voice behind him and Vala felt her body grow warm at Daniel’s protective tone. Jack turned to him, rolling his eyes with annoyance.
“Yes, mother hen, not until your little chick is all better.”
His comment was studiously ignored as Daniel brooded apprehensively over his coffee.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Several days had passed and Daniel was still working out of Vala’s room. After Jack had left on Monday evening, Vala had fallen quickly into sleep, putting an end to their night. Daniel had been relieved at being saved from any more potentially deep conversations but he’d also been a bit disappointed at not being able to ask his other questions about the memory boxes and the journal. Since she was alive and able to claim them back, he didn’t really have the right to look through them anymore, but he was tempted, very tempted. He wanted to see that little girl again, see what other memories had been worth keeping. They were important clues to unraveling the enticing woman’s personality and his conscience wouldn’t even let him take a peek. He supposed he should probably bring them to her as well, they were still in his desk drawer in his office.
He’d worked his usual hours after she’d fallen asleep, translating well into the early hours of the morning and had relinquished his shift to the minimally armed female guard that they had agreed would relieve Daniel for sleep. He’d been hesitant to leave, images of her waking up terrified haunted him, but his exhaustion had won out and he’d left knowing he’d be called if there was any problem. The night had passed surprisingly well, and Vala had been up and chatting happily with her guard when he’d arrived with breakfast. The smile she’d given him as he walked through her door had delighted him, until he realized it probably had more to do with the tray he was carrying than with his actual presence.
Jack had never been too far but the guys had also all taken turns visiting. Cameron had shown up and proceeded to rib Daniel about his omittance of events in his reports. Vala had joyfully joined in until Daniel had looked truly annoyed, at which point she seemed to switch teams and threw every flirtation she had within her at the unsuspecting Colonel. He hadn’t lasted a half hour under her come-ons before escaping the room quickly to avoid further lascivious comments. Sam had been given up an afternoon of work to sit with Vala as the alien had posed question after question about American culture that Daniel apparently wasn’t qualified to answer. If any of the topics of conversation involved the Victoria’s Secret or Cosmopolitan magazines that had been present upon Daniel’s return, he was glad to have been kicked out.
Teal’c had left to visit his son almost as soon as all off-world missions had been halted and had only returned that morning. He’d headed to Vala’s room as soon as he’d unpacked and had proceeded to stave off her boredom with board games. Scrabble had been interesting as Vala insisted on various spellings for alien words, teasingly claiming superior knowledge on Goa’uld vocabulary since she’d been a host and he’d just been a lowly Jaffa. Monopoly had been next and Vala somehow managed to take control of the board in under forty minutes. Teal’c left late in the afternoon, trusting his copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Being American in her amazed hands and she’d been surprisingly quiet, content to learn about the new culture she was thrown into while Daniel kept working at his desk.
Dr. Lam was in and out of the room everyday and it was no surprise when she knocked on the doorframe just after Teal’c had left them.
“Carolyn!” Vala exclaimed with enthusiasm, marking the page she’d been reading in Teal’c’s book before putting it aside.
“Vala, Dr. Jackson.” she greeted back.
“Dr. Lam, hi, is it time for her check-up?” he asked getting ready to leave the room. She stayed him with a raised hand.
“No, I checked her this morning, everything looked fine.” she said and Vala beamed proudly.
“Coming to free me, Carolyn?” Vala asked expectantly but Dr. Lam shook her head apologetically.
“I told you, you’re not going anywhere until those feet of yours are completely healed, and even then, your shoulder wound is still fresh.” she told her patient and watched Vala sink back into her pillows with a pout. Daniel could sympathize. How many times had he or another member of SG-1 been stuck in the infirmary for weeks, going stir crazy with boredom?
“But,” Carolyn continued hesitantly “I found something that might speed things along.” she said. She reached into her coat pocket and Vala leaned forward with unabashed curiosity, eyes going wide when Carolyn revealed a Goa’uld healing device.
“You have a healing device?” she exclaimed in surprise.
“Apparently.” Dr. Lam said. “Col. Mitchell reminded me when he said what a shame it was that SG-1 hadn’t been able to recover your personal healing device Mr. Salesh had mentioned to us.”
“You’ve been chatting with the nice Colonel, have you?” Vala asked innocently and Dr. Lam quickly handed the device over before she could speak again. Vala held it reverently in her hands before shooting a suspicious look at Daniel.
“You knew you had this all along?” she accused him and he winced, getting up from his chair to lean against his desk.
“Uh, I suppose I did. I’d completely forgotten about it though. We’ve had it for years but it’s just been collecting dust since no one on base can use it. Sam got it to flicker a couple of times but never actually mastered it.” he defended himself although he felt guilty for not having thought of it first.
Vala nodded in understanding and slipped the jewel onto her hand with a smile before Carolyn protested.
“This comes with rules, Vala.” she said sternly and the alien looked at her with a confused frown. “You are to use it only when I am present to monitor your condition. You will stop as soon as I tell you and the device comes back with me after every session. We’ll also be reattaching the heart monitors to supervise your exertion so there’ll be no lying about feeling ‘fine’. Understood?” she asked seriously.
“Doctor, I’ve used technology like this hundreds of times, it’s harmless.” Vala tried to reassure her but Carolyn would have none of it.
“As I’ve told you before, I have no actual experience with the Goa’uld, their technology or the physiology of former hosts. This will be a purely trial-by-trial experiment. There’s no point in healing one foot and having you fall into an exhausted coma for days from overexertion. We have to try to find the balance between your natural healing and the use of the healing device.” Carolyn explained “So, do you agree to my terms?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Vala pursed her lips in mock contemplation for a moment before smiling.
“My dear Carolyn, I agree to your terms and conditions.” she swore solemnly before her eyes lit up “Now, can I start?”
Carolyn allowed herself a small smile and dragged the forgotten heart monitor back to her patient. She attached the electrodes and activated the equipment.
“Your pulse is on the high side but that’s probably because you’re excited.” she noted teasingly as she read the screen.
“Well of course I’m excited, Daniel’s right here isn’t he?” Vala couldn’t help but remark and the monitor skipped a beat when she noticed the rosy hue climbing up the archeologist’s neck.
“We could do this another day if you’re busy.” Dr. Lam smirked at her and Vala whipped her attention back to her friend.
“No, no, I’m ready!” she said enthusiastically and the jewel in her hand began to glow brightly.
Dr. Lam looked wary but stepped closer to the bed to see the technology in action.
“One foot, Vala. We’ll see how fast you recover from the energy drain and then you can work on the other one.” Carolyn warned her.
“Yes, Carolyn, thank you.” she all but dismissed the woman and gleefully took one of her mangled feet out from the blanket, nearly ripped off the bandages and directed the glow over the healing wounds. Vala welcomed the familiar tingle of mending flesh and Carolyn leaned over in wonder as the numerous cuts and scars began to disappear. The scientist inside her tried to rationalize what she was seeing but, to this point, they had no idea what mechanisms were involved in activating the jewel, never mind how the stone could actually heal the human body. She was so deeply intrigued with the process that her mind wandered away from the monitoring devices and she didn’t hear the steady beeping accelerate. Luckily, Daniel noticed and after a few minutes he could see the strain in her face though she tried valiantly to keep it neutral and beads of sweat burst out along her brow.
“Vala.” he warned softly.
“I’m almost done.” she whispered and Dr. Lam took in the monitors.
“Vala, stop now, you’re pushing yourself too hard.” she ordered.
“You promised, one foot, I’m almost done.” she pleaded and Carolyn wanted to give in to her friend but her rational mind refused. She grabbed Vala’s wrist gently and slipped off the jewel. Her patient didn’t even have the strength to stop her and she cursed herself for neglecting the monitors. It wouldn’t happen again.
She pocketed the jewel and watched Dr. Jackson coax Vala into relaxing. He was supporting her back with one hand and pushed on her good shoulder to have her lie down.
“I’ll be fine in a few hours, Daniel.” she told him.
“I’m sure you will.” he humored her.
“I just need to sleep maybe, oh and some food, you know, for strength and all that.” she hinted shamelessly. “Oh but be sure not to get any of that colourful hardened lubricant.” she said with distaste and Carolyn turned her perturbed gaze to Daniel.
“She means Jell-o.” he told her but she still looked disturbed.
“It’s unnatural, Carolyn.” Vala informed her friend sleepily.
“What’s unnatural is how you can eat such vast quantities of food and not gain a pound.” Daniel remarked and Vala pouted.
“Carolyn told me I had to eat a lot, to build strength and such.” she defended and Carolyn nodded in support.
“I’m sure.” he said with amusement but she didn’t see his smile behind her closed lids.
“What exactly are you insinuating, Dr. Jackson? Are you calling me a pig?” she asked softly but as dangerously as she could and Carolyn pressed her lips together to try to prevent her smile.
“Oink, oink, Vala.” he teased her and her closed eyes narrowed.
“Carolyn, make a note. When I awaken, Daniel must be eliminated as soon as possible, okay?” she mumbled.
“Duly noted, Vala, not to worry.” Carolyn replied solemnly shooting laughing eyes at Daniel.
“Good. I’m glad the universality of female loyalty is not lost on your strange little planet.” Vala whispered and the heart monitor held a slow and steady beat.
Carolyn left the room and Daniel found himself loitering near Vala’s bed instead of returning to his work. He used his thumb to make sure her brow was devoid of the small beads of sweat that had appeared during her healing before tucking the sheets around her. He moved to the end of her bed where her healed foot dangled off the bed. He pressed a finger along the newly smooth skin of her sole and yanked his hand away quickly as her foot twitched and her brow furrowed in sleep. He waited until she’d settled again to gently move her leg back into the middle of the bed and fold the blanket back into the bed corners. Only when he was satisfied there was nothing else out of place did he return to his desk to continue his translations.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
As it turns out, Vala hadn’t been fine when she’d awoken a few hours later. She’d had enough energy to eat her jell-o-free supper and had returned quickly into Morpheus’s embrace. It wasn’t until the next afternoon that Carolyn succumbed to Vala’s pleas to try again and by the end of the day, Vala had two fully healed feet but very little energy with which to use them.
“Daniel.”
He looked up from his cross-referencing to see her playful eyes twinkling at him.
“Yes?” he asked suspiciously.
“Daniel, my feet are all better.” she said, picking at the linens of her bed and he smiled.
“Yes, I knew that. I was there when they got all better.” he told her as he returned to his books.
“Well, I just thought it merited repeating since this is such a monumental step in my recovery.” he nodded at her dramatics “I can be mobile now, I can walk, I can dance.” she said the last word with deliberate emphasis.
“You want to go dancing.” Daniel intoned with disbelief, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
“Darling you read my mind! When’s good for you? My schedule is very flexible.” she grinned at him and he sighed.
“Vala, you can barely sit up in bed because of the energy drain of the healing devices and your right arm has to stay immobile until you can heal your shoulder. You’re not in any shape to go dancing.” he told her and she huffed.
“Daniel, darling, I’m not sure you fully appreciate the situation here.” she said in a very restrained voice and slightly wild eyes. “I can’t stay in this room a moment longer. I can’t sit here in this bed another second, do you understand? I’m so on edge that I’m reminiscing to the good old times when I was being tortured on Plitis! I need to be away from here, out from these walls, breathing real air!” she enthused with ever increasing volume and gestures before settling. “There’s no way to express the gratitude I have for everything you and your people have done for me, but I’ve never done well with enclosure and I find it remarkable I’ve lasted the past week without exploding.”
Her eyes begged him to understand but the twinge in his chest was processing other things.
“You want to…leave?” he asked and his heart clenched when she nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes, please! I need to go far, far away. Besides, Jack promised I could, in the woods.” she continued.
“Jack wanted you to stay to help with the security modifications.” Daniel says with confusion and she frowned herself.
“I don’t see why I couldn’t do both.” Vala said slowly, turning in the bed to let her legs dangle to the floor.
“Well I think it would be a bit hard to spot the weaknesses in the SGC from another planet.” he groused and her eyes narrowed.
“Daniel, what are you talking about?” she asked, perplexed.
“What are you talking about? You said you wanted to leave.” he frowned deeply. Her eyes softened as she understood and she pushed herself to the edge of her bed, ready to take her first steps in a week to fix the misunderstanding. He saw her movement and jumped out of his chair to help her, his ire momentarily forgotten.
“I’m not sure you should be trying that. Dr. Lam didn’t clear this.” he admonished though he cupped her elbows to support her. Her fingers curled around his forearms and she flashed him a sweet smile.
“You’re right here, darling, you won’t let any harm come to me.” she said confidently and he felt his throat close up. She edged slowly off the bed, letting her toes touch the cold linoleum before continuing to put her full weight on her feet. He kept his arms tensed under hers at all times, ready to catch her should her legs be too weak to support her but she held her own for now. She didn’t try to walk but standing was a welcome change to the tiresome routine of sitting and lying down. She gave him the widest smile he’d ever seen and he couldn’t help but reciprocate in kind, almost forgetting the fact that she wanted to leave…Earth.
“Daniel,” she said lowly in her smoky voice “I don’t want to leave your quaint little planet, boring as it may be.” she told him with quirked lips and he suddenly noticed their proximity to each other, but didn’t move away.
“But you said-” he was cut off by her fingers squeezing down on his forearms and her shoving at him gently with her weight.
“I said I wanted to go dancing” she reminded him “but you seem to think I’m entirely too sickly to attempt anything so strenuous so I suppose the plans I had for after dancing are out as well.” she mused innocently and his eyes widened dramatically but he didn’t get a chance to speak as she continued. “Just take me away from here Daniel. Anywhere, I don’t care, take me a foot away from the front door if that’s all you’ll grant me but get me out of here!” she pled and he couldn’t find it in him to resist her.
“I’ll talk to Dr. Lam but I’m not sure she’ll sanction that kind of activity so soon. You’ve been healing, actually healing in a bed, for less than a week now.” he warned, not wanting to get her hopes up for nothing.
At her dejected look, he backed her up, lifting her the few inches back onto the bed and briefly touched her chin to make her look at him.
“Hey, get some sleep tonight, okay? I’ll go talk to Dr. Lam and I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.” he said as he helped her back under the covers. “With pancakes.” he promised and she gave a fleeting half-smile. He left the room and headed for the main infirmary to see a certain General’s daughter before stopping in his tracks and heading to the VIP quarters to see another General about some clear blue skies.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Alright now, I need to know how the majority of readers would like to see this fic go. I can either end it as the AU it was started as, or I can weave the story into the canon events of the show and go through the seasons (up to Memento Mori) with the gang as I have established them, thereby turning my little fic into a whopper of a multi-chaptered story.
Please think about it seriously, don’t just say ‘go with canon’ to keep this fic going cuz I’ll most likely do a canon-esque series if I end this fic in AU.
I’m going with majority and I hope there aren’t an even number of reviewers :P
Thanks, always, for reading and reviewing!!
Next - Chapter 9: On the Road to Oz