Fic Update: A Gift From Above - Chapter 3
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: Okay, interest in BF and OLAH seem to have died down and I just realized with MUCH remorse and mortification that I haven’t updated this fic in...well near forever so let’s see how this update takes...
Author’s Note #2: Huge thanks to Susan for beta’ing this!
Disclaimer: I own the plot, unoriginal as it may be Don’t own the characters.
Chapter 1: Emptiness
Chapter 2: Friendship
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Chapter 3: Turbulence
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Daniel let out an exhausted sigh as he sunk into the strange mattress of his temporary room. Chief Elom had made good on his promise to introduce them to the villagers and by the end of the night, SG-1 felt as though their hands had been shook by ever single inhabitant of this little planet. The banquet had allowed them to sit but not to rest. They’d been dispersed into the crowd at the table to further mingle with the villagers and mingle they had, to the point where Daniel felt he’d barely had time to eat anything he had talked so much. It had been particularly uncomfortable when Siremi had shown up. She avoided them like the plague and when she was forced into interacting with them she was distant, overly polite, and would never meet their eyes. The children had been allowed to join the festivities but were segregated from the adults with older children to watch over them. Daniel had only briefly spotted a few he recognized but his eyes lingered on the little girl who’d entertained them earlier, Nejaya. She hadn’t even looked their way but simply watching her play with the others had somehow revived his weary spirits at least for a short while.
For a moment, Daniel contemplated sleeping in his BDU’s and boots but his common sense won out and he pushed himself upright with a groan. As he bent over to untie his shoe laces, a familiar tickle rose from his throat and he erupted in a series of coughs. He had talked himself raw this evening and now he was feeling it. Hopefully tomorrow he’d have laryngitis and the others would have to take over the proceedings with the council. He sighed again. No, he couldn’t do that to them. They always counted on him for the peace talks. Served him right for getting so good at it. He figured he should probably get something to drink from the kitchen, he was sure no one would mind. Retying his laces, Daniel made it to his door just in time to hear a squeal reverberate through very thin walls of the house.
“Mama!” A little girl shrieked with delight, no doubt one of the young children Siremi kept. It was rather late in the night to be picking up their child but who was he to judge. Daniel stayed by the door, deciding to wait until the mother and daughter left before getting his drink, he really didn’t feel like another introduction...or getting caught alone with Siremi and her new personality.
“Hello, gorgeous.” A painfully familiar voice replied. For an excrutiatingly long moment, Daniel’s heart was torn between believing he’d heard the voice in real time and choosing the more likely probability that one of the guys was playing the DVD he’d brought. Almost in tandem, three doors down the hall opened and his hand moved quickly to the doorknob to open his own.
“Did you guys hear-” Cam started in a rush, his eyes shifting between them.
“Yeah, was anyone playing-” Sam interrupted him and their simultaneous negative reply interrupted her. “So...”
For long, uncertain moments, they stood there unsure of how to proceed. As they heard the murmur of more conversation downstairs, the silent decision was made. Their hearts in their throats but their rationality keeping them quiet, the four members of SG-1 all but flew down the wooden stairs. As they approached the kitchen door, they slowed their steps, Cam given them hand signals like it was just another mission. It made sense, four people barging into their hosts’ kitchen in the dead of night would probably not be wise. But Daniel’s hands were shaking from the revival of the hope he thought he’d buried long ago. They slowly made their way into the last stretch and paused to hear the voices beyond.
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“Mama!” Her young daughter cried upon seeing her.
“Hello, gorgeous.” The exhausted woman greeted warmly, stooping down to pick Nejaya up and she ran towards her. She hugged the small girl’s body to her own and peppered her face and hair with exaggerated kisses causing her to giggle. “How have you been?”
“Good.” Nejaya replied, still laughing.
“Have you been behaving yourself?” She asked, directing her question more to the woman whose care in which she’d entrusted her daughter while she’d accompanied the village hunting party.
“Almost an angel, as always.” Siremi replied, a true smile gracing her face for the first time in hours.
“Almost?” Vala mock-gasped, turning her daughter in her arms to face her. “Almost??” She asked again, poking Nejaya’s sides to tickle her. The little girl shrieked in her mother’s arms and struggled to get away from the attack.
“Shh, darling, you’ll wake the whole house up.” Vala chuckled, ceasing her tickling and straightening the girl in her arms. “Now tell me what you’ve done to deserve such a demotion in reputation.”
Nejaya stayed quiet, choosing to play with the ends of her mother’s long black hair instead of answering.
“She was speaking to people she shouldn’t have.” Siremi informed her friend, seriousness taking over her voice and expression. Vala looked at her questioningly, instinctively tightening her grip on the daughter who could have been taken away by strangers. “The Tau’ri came today.”
“What?” Vala exclaimed, her eyes widening. “They’re a day early!”
“I know.” Siremi said, grabbing Nejaya’s bags from the staircase and putting in a few items that had been left out.
“We were supposed to be far away from here by the time they came.” Vala rambled nervously, shifting Nejaya onto her hip to help Siremi with the bags.
“I know, dear.” Her old friend said sympathetically. “And you’ll not like the rest.”
“What?” Vala asked slowly. She had a feeling Siremi would be right.
“They were SG-1, mama.” Nejaya piped up helpfully from her side. Vala immediately felt lightheaded. Her arms lost all strength and she immediately set her daughter on the floor before she dropped her.
“They were who?” Vala whispered, her heard thudding in her ears. Siremi pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and guided her to it.
“SG-1, Vala. They’re here instead of SG-13.” Siremi told her softly. She had not been looking forward to this conversation.
“They’re...here.” Vala echoed, pointing dumbly down at the tabletop. Both her friend and daughter nodded. “And she was...you were talking to them?” She asked Nejaya worriedly. The small girl knew she was in trouble and preferred to stay quiet.
“I got her out of here as soon as I found her. They probably just thought she was one of mine. You know they all look so much alike.” Siremi tried to reassure her.
Vala looked at her daughter, her head almost in a fog. She ran her fingers through her soft, black hair and passed her thumb over her rounded cheeks. Those eyes though, those blue eyes weren’t anything like Siremi’s or Elom’s.
“We have to get out of here.” Vala declared abruptly. She hurriedly gathered the toys on the table, pulling out the ones that didn’t belong to them.
“Mama?” Nejaya’s tiny voice called to her, worried by her mother’s distress. Vala stopped her frantic motions and plastered a warm smile on her face.
“Naya, darling,” she began softly, using her daughter’s nickname to put her at ease, “go say goodnight to Uncle Elom, okay? We’re going on our trip a little sooner than planned.”
Nejaya caught on to the rushed mood and hurried out of the kitchen to find her surrogate uncle but her haste made her unable to stop when she ran into someone in the hallway. Looking up, her eyes widened significantly as she found someone she had been forbidden to talk to.
“Hey, kid.” The man said awkwardly.
With her mother right in the next room and seemingly panicking, she found the urge to behave much easier to follow this time. Nejaya turned on her heels and ran back into the kitchen as though the Goa’uld themselves were on her heels.
“Woah, where’re you goin’?” He called after her but she didn’t look back.
She didn’t slow down as she reached the women in the kitchen and her momentum plowed her into her mother’s legs.
“Mama, they’re here.” She said, looking up as she hugged her mother’s hips. The fear in her mother’s eyes just then terrified her.
Sure enough, not a moment after Nejaya ran into her, four people she now considered strangers walked in and her body betrayed her completely. As her eyes passed them over in a rapid scan, she could feel a traitorous joy as she found the familiar faces that had once meant so much to her. But she hated them, she’d rid herself from any lingering sadness when thinking of them, they’d betrayed her! She tore her eyes away from them and assumed an expression of hardened dignity as she stuffed her daughter’s things in her bag and zipped it up to leave. She swung it over her shoulder and turned around, the air around her thick with determination.
“Thank you, Siremi, we’ll see you when we get back.” Vala said, securing her eyes on her friend’s to avoid the others. “Nejaya say goodbye to your aunt.”
“Goodbye.” She said softly, her attention not as easily detracted from SG-1.
“Goodnight, Naya, Vala.” Siremi greeted warmly, trying to end this situation as easily as possible. SG-1 had other things in mind. They had stood in stunned silence, simply watching the woman they’d feared dead or at least lost to them forever as she puttered around the kitchen, a miniature version of herself following her every move. They had so much to say, they wanted to rush up to her and make sure she was real, but the reaction she’d had to them reminded them that she hadn’t spent years missing them. They had never known the details of her altered memories but the point had been to make her want to leave the SGC and there was really only one reason she would go.
Now though, as the woman they’d lost made her way to the door to leave them again, something powerful bubbled up in Daniel and he quickly moved to block the way.
“Dr. Jackson.” Siremi exclaimed from the other side of the room, how dare he act so rudely to the woman he’d hurt.
“Get out of the way.” Vala ground out, looking at a point over his right shoulder.
“I can’t.” He whispered, a shaky smile growing on his face. He was overjoyed at simply having her talk to him.
“Move, Daniel.” She bit at him, staring him down, willing herself not to show any emotion while she read the ones so clear on his face.
“I can’t.” He repeated softly, shaking his head. “I can’t let you leave again, not again.” She almost broke at the pleading tone in his voice...if it hadn’t been for his words...
“As I recall it, nobody let me leave.” She glowered at him, her face aching to morph into a sneer. “I had to escape like a prisoner from my own ho-” Vala cut herself off as she saw Sam, Cam and Teal’c approach them in her periphery. She tightened her hand over Nejaya’s and drew the girl closer to her before sweeping her glare over them.
“Conduct the alliance agreement with the council tomorrow and then leave.” She ordered them, repressed fury evident in her voice. “Don’t ever come back here. You’re not welcome.”
“You’re the one who told them to contact the SGC.” Sam clued in, opting for a neutral topic for her first conversation with her former friend. Vala squared her jaw against the familiar warmth that swept through her at Sam’s joy of discovery.
“The people of this planet need protection from the Goa’uld. They don’t need you, simply your technology which can be passed along by any other team.” Vala dismissed them.
“Listen, you don’t understand.” Cam tried to turn her by placing his hand on her shoulder but she almost violently pushed him off. He backed off with a heavy heart but pushed on. “It was all part of the plan.”
“Plan?” Vala exclaimed incredulously. “Plan!? It was part of a plan to sweep me off to Area 51 for the rest of my life? Adria told me herself that she didn’t send me those dreams so you had no valid reason to think I was a threat to your precious security!”
“THAT was the plan, for you to run into Adria.” Cam replied heatedly.
“Oh, well isn’t that so much better?” Vala returned sarcastically. “Well now that I know you didn’t just throw me away for nothing, that you did it to push me into my dau-” Vala cut herself off again, looking down nervously at Nejaya before continuing with malice, “into Adria’s awaiting clutches, I’m just ever so relieved.”
“We have been looking for you for quite some time.” Teal’c told her, trying to diffuse the situation.
“Oh and don’t I know it.” Vala sneered at him. “It wasn’t enough to ruin my life on Earth but you had to track me down across the galaxy to rub it in? Do you know how difficult it is to be on the run while pregnant?” She ranted against them. She was trying to contain herself, she really was, but she was full of unleashed anger and they were clawing away at her emotional walls.
“Yeah, about that,” Cameron started, looking down at Nejaya with questions in his eyes.
“No! You have no right to ask about her.” Vala snapped at him, pressing Nejaya into her side. “Come to think of it, you have no right to speak to me.”
With that, she fixed her coldest, soul-piercing glare on Daniel and spoke in icy tones.
“Stay away from me, stay away from my daughter, and once your dealings with these people are over with, stay the hell away from my planet.” After a lingering moment to let her seriousness sink in, she pushed her way past his numb form and walked out the door, pulling Nejaya out by the hand. Daniel fought against the crushing feeling of their exchange and looked down just as Nejaya’s clear blue eyes shot a last parting glance at the people who’d upset her mother.
Teal’c moved behind him to properly close the door behind their friend as the cogs in Daniel’s head turned. Then, with a thunderbolt of clarity his mind stumbled upon a way to make the pieces of this situation fit and he felt sick.
“Oh my god.” He mumbled. He had no time to linger on his thoughts though as Siremi’s voice cut through their sadness.
“You should not have done that.” She chastised them, angry with them for having upset one of her closest friends. “She came here to escape you and took a big risk by telling us about you for our protection. If you ever cared about her you would leave her be.”
“We can’t do that.” Sam returned, pleading with her to understand. “We didn’t do anything wrong, she just doesn’t remember it that way.”
“I’ve heard all about what you did to that girl. If it weren’t for my husband, I would throw you out of this house.” Siremi returned sincerely. “Unlike you, I know full well where my loyalties lie.”
“Listen, lady, you don’t know what you think you know.” Cam replied defensively. “As a matter of fact, neither does Vala.”
“What?” Siremi asked, confused by his jumble of words.
“It was part of a plan, part of Vala’s plan.” Daniel said determinately, someone would know the truth tonight. “She underwent a process that altered her memories so that when she was found by Adria, the Orici, she wouldn’t be able to see that she was lying to her. Then Vala would unwittingly lead her to the ambush location where we’d capture Adria and bring Vala home.”
“But Vala didn’t make it to the rendez-vous site, Adria had her brought to her ship instead and came to us alone.” Sam filled in the rest as Daniel remained quiet. Siremi looked into their faces and saw honesty but she would not easily be swayed from her hatred of these people, she would not betray Vala.
“And I am simply supposed to believe this story? Vala is supposed to believe it?” She asked them sardonically. “On your word...”
Daniel’s head snapped up and he was renewed with a tentative excitement.
“You don’t have to take our word for it. Take Vala’s.” He told her before rushing out of the room, leaving the rest of them bewildered. It was clear to the team, however, when Daniel came back with his laptop in hand. He set it up on the kitchen table and popped in a DVD he took from his pocket.
“Just watch.” He told Siremi as she sat down in front of the screen.
“Hello, gorgeous.”
The Tarkanan woman was shocked to see Vala speaking to her from the screen. Not so much the fact that she was on the screen but rather the difference between this Vala and the one she knew. This Vala was younger, much more vibrant, and apparently much happier than the one who’d just left her house and it hurt her heart to see how the past years had so affected her.
Siremi and the team watched the vid in its entirety and no one spoke after it ended to give her time to process this new information.
“We never betrayed her.” Daniel finally said, willing her to believe him. “This whole mess was a mistake and we’ve been looking for her for years to try to fix it.” Siremi looked up at him, trying to find a hint of a lie somewhere in any of their eyes. She almost wanted them to be lying because the idea of Vala hurting needlessly for so long made her heart ache. Alas, she had to believe these aliens, though she did so grudgingly.
“I won’t try to stop you from seeing her but I won’t plead with her on your behalf. It’s up to you to convince her.” Siremi declared, seeing a mild hope ghost through their faces. “But you do it privately, especially from Nejaya. I won’t have you distressing her, she’s too young.”
“We do not mean to cause anyone distress.” Teal’c assured her.
“I’m sure you didn’t mean to five years ago either, look how that turned out.” Siremi reminded them darkly. They couldn’t reply to that, she was right.
“Give her the night with her daughter, she’s been away for almost a week.” She ordered them, rising and closing the laptop.
“And we still have the meeting with the council to focus on.” Cam said, bringing their responsibilities back to the forefront of their minds. “We can try again after that.”
“That is a wise idea.” Siremi nodded. “I need to retire for the night. I do need you to know that although I truly hope for this matter to be resolved, you had best be sure you cause those two no further harm than you already have.”
“We won’t.” Daniel said. He couldn’t promise that but it was honestly the last thing he’d ever want to do. Siremi nodded and left for her bedroom with a final greeting of “Goodnight.”
“We should contact the General tomorrow and tell him what’s going on.” Sam said to dispel the solemn silence of the room.
“Yeah, I get the feeling we’re in for a few rough days.” Cam said with an attempt at a wry grin.
“Of course we are.” Daniel said, his stomach churning at the idea of screwing up the next few days. “When have things ever been easy with Vala?”
“We found her.” Cam said, catching on to the simple truth.
“Yeah we did.” Daniel replied, his frown lessening.
“Well then, let’s get our beauty rest, people. We’ve got a princess to bring back to the castle tomorrow.” Cam announced cheerfully.
“It’s a shame we forgot the white horse and armour back on Earth.” Sam deadpanned.
“Careful Rapunzel, we might just use your hair to rope her in.” Cam teased her. “Besides, we don’t need the glitz and glamour, Cyrano here can just serenade her from the window.”
“Are you calling me a skilled charmer or a moderately disfigured man?” Daniel narrowed his eyes at his team leader. Cam laughed and clapped him on the back, pushing him towards the stairs.
“Why do you think I keep calling it ‘beauty sleep’, some of us clearly need it.” He replied with a smirk.
“Says the man who looks enough like me to confuse strangers.” Daniel retorted.
“Ah yes...well I hadn’t thought that one through.” Cam admitted sheepishly. Daniel rolled his eyes as they reached their rooms.
“Goodnight, guys.” He sent them before entering his room. This time, it was with a hopeful heart and a wide smile that he lowered himself onto his mattress. Tomorrow would be a good day no matter what happened, as long as he saw her again. Her and Nejaya.
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Across town, Vala was making an effort to act like the cheerful mother she usually was for Nejaya but she had a feeling was wasn’t quite succeeding.
“Is this going to be a short sleep?” Her daughter asked her.
“No, darling, we can take our time tomorrow morning, sleep in a little.” Vala assured her, helping her into her bed. “The forest isn’t going anywhere, we’ll have plenty of time for our adventure. Besides, mama is tired from her long trip.”
“Did you catch anything?” Nejaya asked curiously, always excited to hear stories of her mother’s exploits.
“Oh plenty. You’ve never seen such an immense gathering of wild fowl, I bet all the meat could cover the entire village.” Vala exaggerated comically.
“No it wouldn’t!” Her daughter replied laughingly.
“It would so.” Vala returned, sticking out her tongue. “I’m your mother, you’re supposed to believe everything I tell you.” Nejaya had no reply to that but her smile told Vala she wasn’t buying it. Vala pulled the covers out from under her daughter and wrapped her in them snugly before sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“Today must have been pretty confusing for you.” She started, hating to see the smile leave the girl’s face.
“The bad people came instead of the good ones.” Nejaya tried to summarize and Vala winced.
“They’re not...bad...people.” Vala said with much difficulty. While she couldn’t forgive their disloyalty, she knew they were and always would do what they believed was right. “Mama just had a very big fight with them before you were born.”
“Can’t you just apologize?” Her daughter asked her innocently through a yawn.
“I’m not the one who did anything wrong, darling.” Vala tried to explain.
“You made me apologize to Lelia when I broke her doll and I didn’t mean to.” Nejaya pointed out sullenly and Vala snorted.
“Naya, my love, whether you meant to actually break it or not, throwing it into the fire was wrong.” Vala chided her daughter gently. “And I’m afraid it’ll take more than an apology from anyone to fix this fight.”
“You don’t like them anymore?” Her sleepy little girl pressed sadly. Vala brushed Nejaya’s black bangs off her face and tucked her in more as she considered her answer.
“No, I don’t.” She lied with a pathetic attempt at a smile. She bent over and kissed Nejaya’s forehead before getting up again.
“Sweet dreams, Naya.” She murmured, getting a mumbled reply from her daughter as she fell rapidly into sleep. Vala watched her sleep for a few moments before turning off the lamp at her bedside and quietly making her way out the door. She made her way down the hall and into her own empty bedroom where she sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. She hated this feeling.
She’d spent years on this planet, living the simple life, raising Nejaya, becoming part of this community. For years she hadn’t given them more than a few minutes of thought every once in a while. Now they were here, sleeping not a block away, and this torrent of emotion was begging to be released. She had never given herself the time to mourn the loss of her pseudo family and now it was coming to get her. She missed Teal’c and the loyalty she thought would never waiver. He’d been such a calming presence, and usually supported her when it came to Goa’uld matters. It had been something significant to her when she was usually shot down. She missed Cameron with his unyielding enthusiasm. She remembered how he had doggedly followed her when she’d lost her memory at Athena’s hand, and how proud he’d seemed to welcome her into his team when she’d been brought back. She missed Samantha who treated her like a proper girlfriend once she’d warmed up to her. Their shopping trips, their girl’s nights, how she had comforted her after Jacek let her down once again. She’d never had a female friend she could truly trust before, she supposed she never really did.
And Daniel...too much of the whirlwind emotions she felt were incited by the sound of his voice and the look in his eyes. She'd spent years forgetting she ever knew him and now she was assaulted by every moment she'd ever spent with him. A lot of them weren’t pleasant but most of them were. The way he’d tried to be there for her when Adria had caused mixed emotions, the way he’d vouched for her inclusion on the team, the non-date he’d taken her on, the way he’d held her when they’d found her in that warehouse. It had only been her and Nejaya all these years but she’d never ever felt as lonely as she did that moment. If Daniel were to walk into her room right now, she was certain she’d forgive him everything for the chance to just be near him again.
That was why, still dressed in her day clothes, Vala forced herself to lie down on her bed and let her tears overcome her until exhausted finally brought sleep. Tomorrow would come quickly and she and her daughter would be long gone before her former friends could hurt her again.
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Hope you all liked this chapter!! The next chapter is written and beta’d already. It’ll be up in a few days.
Next: Chapter 4
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