Authors Note: Okay, so I know Daniel said something about his grandfather being his only family, but I figured it was his only family that might care about him, so some of Daniels family are in this chapter. Turned out very differently to how it was going to be, but I think I'm happy with it. Had worst night ever do just glad it turned out good. Makes me happy. And poor Vala, I love this chapter, especially the end. It should be noted that very large chunks are taken from and epsiode of Third Rock From The Sun, so not alot of the plot for this chapter can be taken credit as mine. So read and hope you enjoy, hopefully nice little Danny, Vala chappy for you.

Disclaimer: I do not own StarGate Sg-1 or its characters or anything else you recognise from the show. I do not own Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Scrubs, Gilmore Girls, Third Rock From The Sun, Dark Angel and any other TV shows that many of the quotes/lines/story concepts have been taken from.

Friendly Links and Family Ties

Chapter Five: Weddings and Cough Syrip.

It wasn't like Daniel hadn't expected any of it to happen. As soon as he stepped through the gate, that day, and saw the all to familiar site of traders, buyers, thieves, liars and leather, he knew there was going to be some drama that involved Vala. As usual, he was right.

He wasn't too angry with her, well at least not after he found out who Axel was. After he had left the tent to her hunt her down some clothes he had quietly told Sam and asked her to keep her company till he got back. He wasn't sure if she wanted the company or not, but he was certain she could use it. Once he had found her some suitable clothes (leather of course) and she was fully clothed and ready to head back to earth, he had told her the good news. Or rather, Cameron had. Unable to contain his excitement any longer he had practically shouted at her. In there haste to leave, Axel and his two thugs, Snap and Bevan, had left behind all of there belongings. Which meant the box full of weapons, the books (much to Daniel's delight, as they were quite fascinating) and, most importantly, the two ZPM's, which were, in fact, very real.

Despite their rather large collection of goodies, Daniel couldn't help but notice that Vala had been very quite. He would have thought that she of all people would have been ecstatic at having pulled a fast one on old Axel, especially concidering he did it to her first.

But Daniel also couldn't help but wonder why Axel had knocked Vala out. What was so important that he would leave behind all of his most prized items? It didn't make any sense. Knocking Vala out, making a run for it, leaving everything behind. Maybe there was something Vala hadn't told him. The thought had, of course, crossed his mind to the point where it was driving him crazy, but he didnt want to bring it up around her as she was being more quiet then was usual without his accusations. She had even been sleeping in her own appartment, on her own ... no calls, no coming around to his place for food.

After a week of it, Daniel decided to attempt to cheer his friend up. Knowing how excited she had been when he had mentioned it a while back, he decided to take her to get her drivers license. Just the mention of where they were going had made her happier then Daniel had seen her in days. But, of course, when they got there she had to make a scene. They had been waiting in line with everyone else when Vala had asked him quietly, "why is it taking so long?"

"Because we have to wait with everyone else Vala." He had pointed towards the sign at the front of the line which read, 'wait behind yellow line'. Watching her as she took in the sign, then the yellow line, then the fact that they were all waiting behind the yellow line, he should have known that she would make a scene.

"So that line on the ground keeps everyone in check?" she had said, hardly believeing what she was saying. "Oh wait ... I get ...," he had watched her again as she looked around the room suspiciously. "There's like some, flesh eating laser that goes off when you cross, right?"

Daniel hadn't laughed, he had simply rolled his eyes at her childish imagination. Then one of the ladies in her booth had called out "Next," and as the man behind the yellow line stepped over it to approuch the lady, a very horrified cry had sounded out behind him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Daniel had, had to stop Vala from running toward the startled man. Naturally security had been very alarmed at her shouts and had asked them to leave. All Daniel had done was give her one of his "what were you thinking!" looks as she tried to justify.

"Well, how was I supposed to know she switched the lasers off when she calls you up? Must admit Daniel, the people on your planet are alot smarter then I gave them credit for."

After that Vala had seemed a little more perky. It didn't go unnoticed to him, however, that she seemed to be fidgeting alot with her arm. Unusual, yes, he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, or a weird habit he hadn't noticed her pick up untill now, but he doubted it. At first he thought that maybe she'd hurt it when they were off-world, as he distinctly remembered her quickly moving her arm out of his line of vision when they were in the tent. But Dr. Lam had given her a clean bill of health.

He admited he needed to sit her down and sort a few things out with her, get a few explanations, but at the moment he had a few other things to worry about. He had finally been approuched about moving his work over to Atlantis. Which meant that he could be getting his dream much sooner then he ever thought. But he was getting ahead of himself, his first concern was how he was going to get out of his obnoxious cousins' wedding.

Daniel hadn't seen his cousin in years, probably not since he was a teenager, but in the mail this morning he had recieved an invite to his wedding, with an end note saying, "would really love to see you there."

Personally, Daniel would rather eat rat poison then have to see his cousin again. Perhaps he could make up some excuse, work related.

With excuses running through his head, a heap of heavy books from Axel's stash under his arm and a hot cup of coffee in his free hand, Daniel made his way to his office for some peace and quiet. He half expected Cameron to be in there again, pestering him to play another game of basketball with him, or Teal'c (who had come back for the week to give them all his update on the Jaffa), eager to watch more Star Trek with him. But the room was empty. Hardly able to believe his luck Daniel made his way over to his desk, smiling to himself.

Just when he was about to place his coffee down, followed by his books, a dark-haired figure popped up from under his desk. Latching onto his coffee for dear life, his books fell to the ground with the loudest thud he had ever heard. Vala was looking at him, completly startled, as though she was wondering what on earth he was doing there. She had a blanket wrapped around her head as she continued to stare at him sleepily.

"What are you doing under my desk?" Daniel asked, once again trying to keep his temper in check. He was just glad that she hadn't spilt his coffee.

"Sleeping," she muttered through a yawn.

"Why?" He placed his coffee on the desk and crossed his arms.

"Why? Because the top of your desk is hard and cold." She stood up slowly, stretching as she did so. Then she reached for Daniel's coffee and took a huge sip. He quickly snatched it back off her, taking extra care not to spill any of the contents.

"You do have a bed at home, don't you?" he said bitterly as he moved the coffee well away from her wondering hands.

"Yes, but I was just trying to get in a few extra hours before I had to get started on work again." Daniel had to admit, she looked exhausted.

"You've been having trouble sleeping?" he asked, but she ignored him as she begun searching his floor for something. She surfaced after a few moments of looking, waving a piece of paper around in front of him.

"Who's Peter - and - Debbie?" she read out slowly.

Daniel snatched the paper off her as quickly as he could. "Nobody important!" he said quickly as he stuffed the invitation away in his drawer.

"So, these, people just randomly invited you to their wedding then?" She raised her eyebrows at him and he knew what would be coming next. "Can I come?"

"No!" Daniel spat out quickly, excusing the question and clearly wanting to talk about something else.

"Oh come on, Daniel. We haven't done anything fun for months. How often do you get to see old friends?" she leaned over on his desk, her blanket now down around her shoulders as she flailed around.

"He's not an old friend, he's a relative ... and if I can find away out of going then I will." She looked slightly disappointed, but he knew she wasn't going to give in that easily.

"Daniel, if he's family, you really shouldn't miss something like this. It's a very important event."

"Yes, for people that you actually like. But for someone that you don't particularly get along with, it's a pointless event and a waste of a perfectly good day." Daniel was rasing his voice now. He had to admit, voicing his thoughts about the whole invitation was helping. "Why would you want to go anyway? I'm sure you've been to hundreds of weddings before. More then half, I'm sure, would have been your own."

"But I've never been to one on earth before, Daniel. And I've been cramped up in this place for so long and then I've been moved out and we never do anything fun and this would be such an experience. Oh, and if you take me you'll know you'll have fun, I can even steal something from your relative if you'd like, just to make it clear that you weren't having a good time and -"

"ALRIGHT YOU CAN GO!" Daniel shouted, getting a headache from all of her fast talking excuses.

"I can?" she said excitedly, throwing her blanket off her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor. "Wait a minute, I can go ... but are you coming as well?" she stared at him suspiciously.

"I'm going as well Vala!" he said bluntly as he shut his eyes in frustration. She gave him a huge smile before grabbing her blanket from the floor and skipping out of his room.

He didn't know why, but he had a very bad feeling about this.

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Vala had been looking forward to nothing but Daniel's relatives' wedding for days. She was finally going to get away from work and home life and do something fun. She had always been curious as to what an Earth wedding would be like.

There was one small set back though, as the wedding day came closer and closer, she got sicker and sicker. It was nothing too serious, bit of light headedness, stuffy nose that would run, uncontrollably, every so often, puffy eyes and a sore throat. Not sure if it was a deadly Earth virus or not, she asked Teal'c, knowing for certain he wouldn't go running off to Daniel and blurting out that she was too sick to go to the wedding. There was no way she was going to let a little thing like this stop her from going.

"It seems you are suffering from the 'common cold' Vala Mal Doran," Teal'c said with a kind smile and a tilt of his head. "With rest and light medication, you should be well within a few days."

"Hmmm, a few days is no good for me. Anything they have here that can speed up the healing process?" she said, hoping that they might have had a gou'ld healing device lying around somewhere. A few days wasn't good enough for her, especially when the wedding was tomorrow.

Teal'c looked as though he was deep in thought. Then he raised his eyebrow and said, "there is something that O'Neill gave me when I was ill. I do believe it accelerated my healing process."

"What is it? And where can I get some?" Vala shouted excitedly at him.

"It is called cough syrip and I may still have some left over." Vala hugged a very taken a back Teal'c after he promised to deliver the medication to her before the wedding tomorrow.

When Vala got back to her place she was so excited she picked out her outfit straight away. Sam had noticed Vala's excitement and had leant her several dresses, shoes and bags to pick from, the day before. Vala was very grateful as most of her things were in the process of still being unpacked.

She was just deciding how she should wear her hair so you could still see her earings when she was hit by a sudden dizzy spell. Leaning on her bed post to regain her balance, Vala took a few quick breaths in attept to recover. This was very unusual, she was never sick. Even when everyone else around her had become sick, she had always remained the healthy one. She didn't like being sick, but she assured herself that with an early nights sleep she would feal terrfic. So ignoring the queasy fealing in her stomache, she took out the red pen that was on her desk and marked the last day off her calender. The next day was circled and labelled 'Wedding date with Daniel'.

Sam picked Vala up in the morning to take her to work. Despite her excitement, she was a little concerned. She had not felt better in the morning like she had hopped, she felt even worse. Her head was spinning and she had spent half the morning with her head in the toilet. Not wanting Sam to pick up on this she simply put on a brave face, remembering that she would only have to put up with work for 8 hours before she got to go to the wedding.

As soon as she arrived at the SGC, Vala quickly located Teal'c. As promised, Teal'c had a large bottle, full of cough syrip. She took it from him gratefully as her head gave another violent spin and she clutched at the nearest table for support. She felt Teal'c grab her roughly, trying to hold her up.

"Are you alright Vala Mal Doran?" he asked concerned.

The dizziness left as quickly as it had washed over her and she brushed him off with a smile and a shrug. Teal'c let go, just as Daniel entered the hallway they were in. Vala, not wanting him to see her looking a little under the weather, quickly hid the medicine bottle behind her back and sprung back into her cheery self.

"Mornin' Vala," he said casually, noticing her bouncing around and rolling his eyes.

"GOOD morning Daniel," she chimmed happily. "I'm fine thanks, terrific, never felt better. How are you?"

Daniel looked at her suspiciously. "Right ... well, about tonight." She nodded enthusiastically. "Pick you up, round 7? That alright?"

"Fantastic, terrific, good time, you pick it out yourself?" she was still smiling cheekily at him as he shook his head and passed them by. Vala was pleased he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Satisfied that he was far out of site, she took a swig of the cough syrip, that was still concealed behind her back.

"This is great," she said, turning to Teal'c and waving the bottle around as she took another big sip.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied, a knowing smile spreading across his face as he nodded in agreement.

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Daniel had not been looking forward to the wedding. He couldn't understand how Vala could be so excited, she clearly had never sat through as many as he had. Even Sam seemed to have caught on with Vala's enthusiasm, she took it upon herself to remind Daniel what time it was and what to wear and to be nice and to take a gift. He was starting to think that maybe he should have let her go in his place.

He had expected to be waiting for hours when he pulled up out the front of Vala's appartment block, but she was already waiting there for him. He had to admit, she did look very nice. Wearing a short blue dress and her hair out and curly, Daniel was suddenly glad that she was going with him. The company for one, but it always looked good to have an attractive date, especially when you were going to see a whole heap of relatives who always like to point out how much better they are then you.

Vala jumped into the car quickly, unable to take the smile off her face. Daniel merely shook his head, still not able to understand her excitement.

"Come on Daniel, you've got to admit this is a little exciting," she said, trying to lift his spirits.

"Just wait till we get there," he said, sighing loudly. "When it's all over, you try telling me you actually had a good time."

The car trip felt a lot longer then it should have, especially when Vala kept flicking the radio station over till she found a song she liked. Daniel gave up trying to change it back until she found 'Sexy Back' playing and was beging him to sing along. He quickly changed the station shortly after her rather loud sing-along to the line 'I'll let you whip me if I misbehave".

They arrived early, too early. Everyone was standing outside the church in groups, discussing family matters that Daniel really didn't want to concern himself with. He found himself hurrying Vala along to the church so they could just get inside and sit down before anyone tried to talk to him.

"DANNY!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!! Betty!! Sandra!!! Look, it's little Danny!" Daniel stopped dead in his tracks as Vala turned around curiously.

"Aunt Linda," Daniel said, trying to force a smile. The one person Daniel would have loved to avoid had found him. Daniel's Aunt was a very obnoxious, very large women, who always had, for as long as he could remember, a glass of champagne in her hand. She was his sister's half-sister, so not a full Aunt, who had probably not seen him since his parents funeral.

"Look at you ..." Linda said, looking him up and down. "You're gorgeous!"

She was quickly joined by her two best friends who, apart from the glass of champagne, were the only other things he remembered his Aunt never being without. Betty was as large as Linda and spoke whatever was on her mind, whilst Sandra was a stick thin chain smoker who tended just to stand back and let the others do their thing.

"Oh you grew up well!" Betty added. Moving closer she reached out and gave Daniel's arm a squeeze. Her eyes widened as she gave a very approving, "Uh-huh!"

"And who is this absolute stunner?" Linda gestured towards Vala. One look in her direction and Daniel could tell she was very much enjoying this.

"Vala Mal Doran," Vala said, shaking the fat little hands that were shoved at her.

"So you're finally married then!" Linda said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Daniel opened his mouth to correct her, but Vala grabbed his arm.

"For three years now," she smiled up at him and all Daniel could do was roll his eyes.

"HOW WONDERFUL!!!!!!" Betty squeeled in utter joy.

"Are you harrasing my nephew, Betty?" Daniel spun his head around towards the newcomer. A tall, stately looking man was making his way towards them. This was most definitely the last person Daniel wanted to see. Uncle Wayne, his mothers brother. He was the kind of man that never liked Daniel's father, what was worse, after his mother died, Wayne blamed Daniel's father for dragging her into the whole archeology career which ended up getting her killed. Of course, his father wasn't alive to take the accusations so Daniel had to sit and listen to his Uncle tell him how selfish his father had been.

Betty stuck her nose up and quickly hurried away with Linda and Sandra, who had now lit up a cigarette.

"I never liked that women," Wayne said as he approuched Daniel. He was unpleased to note that his Uncle still towered above him in height. "How you been Daniel? Haven't seen you in years."

"I've been good, real good," Daniel said.

"Great and who's this then?" Wayne asked, turning, as the others did, towards Vala. Vala introduced herself and it didn't go unnoticed by Daniel that he was checking her out with a grin.

"You've done well for yourself then Danny Boy," his Uncle said, giving Vala another once over. Vala looked at Daniel with a raised eyebrow, it was comforting to know that after only knowing him for a few minutes, he could tell that Vala already felt the same way about this man as he did. He hated him. "I must admit, I didn't expect this much from a washed up archaelogist."

Daniel didn't say anything as his Uncle just laughed cruely. It was true, some of his past assumptions had been a little far-fetched, but they have all now been proven to be very true. It was just a shame he wasn't allowed to tell anyone that.

"Excuse me?" Daniel turned to look at Vala who had just spoken up. "What do you mean washed up?"

"Vala, it's alright," Daniel said.

"No Daniel, this man should be thanking you for saving his and everyone elses' life on this planet," Vala said angrily in an undertone. She made to open her mouth again, this time directed at Wayne, but Daniel quickly excused the both of them, from a still chuckling Wayne, and dragged her away.

"What did you do that for? That man was a poor excuse for family and you should have told him that you're out there every day risking your life just to save ungrateful people like him."

"Now do you see why I don't like coming to these family things?" he asked. He wasn't bothered by what his Uncle had said, he always expected it. But what was better, was having someone like Vala there to remind him that what he was doing wasn't pointless and that now, he is something more then just a simple archeologist with wild theories.

Despite Daniel's best efforts to avoid everyone, he couldn't help but be dragged into every group that they passed. Vala was clearly enjoying every minute, meeting all his old friends and nearly all of his so called family and being dragged around inbetween by him wanting to avoid certain people. Even though she was quite cheery when they first arrived, Daniel noticed her getting slower and she even stumbled once when they were just about to enter the church.

"I just have to quickly use the bathroom," she said as she ducked off towards the girls toilets. Daniel saw her get something out of her bag hurridly as she disappeared behind the door.

When she rejoined him several minutes later, the ceremony was about to begin and he was seated, waiting for her. She flopped down in the seat next to him looking far more perky then she had before she left.

"You OKay?" he asked as she looked at him wide-eyed.

"Fine Daniel, never been better," she said quickly and loudly. He let it go for now, but she was definatly acting odd.

By the time the wedding had started, Daniel was so over the whole thing he felt like walking out and going home. Half way through Vala got up to go for another toilet break and he was forced to smile awkwardly at the lady she had nearly knocked over on her way there. When she came back she was very restless. Daniel was beginning to wonder if he gave her too much champagne. They had only had a few glasses, and living off moon shine he doubted it would have any effect on her.

"So ... Daniel ... who makes up these vowels?"

Daniel kept his eyes to the front but whispered an answer. "Some people write them themselves, other times they can just pick some from a list."

"So ... did they write theirs'?" The lady next to Vala put her finger to her mouth and gave a small "Shh!"

Vala looked stunned. She copyed the gesture and made the same noise, "Shhhhh!"

"SHH!" The lady repeated, a little more persistant.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Vala did this last one so loud that Daniel couldn't help but stare at her. She giggled to herself as though it was all hilarius. Daniel was about to say something, something along the lines of how it was inappropriate to talk during weddings, but he realised that for now, he simply didn't care. All he really wanted to do was go back to the SGC and work on some translations, this really wasn't his scene.

"So ... Daniel ... how did these two find each other?" Daniel looked at his spoilt cousin at the altar.

"Well, basically," he thought for a moment. "It was fate. He's rich and she wanted lots of money so she could sit on her arse." Vala looked surprised but smiled fondly at his answer. "I give it a year," he added, keeping the joke.

Vala began to mock cry loudly, making several people turn to look. "That's so beautiful!" she said, still fake crying. "Look at them, they belong together. Do you think they have any idea how ugly their children will be?"

Despite himself, Daniel let out a small laugh. It wasn't loud, but loud enough for the lady next to Vala to go off.

"SHHH!" she said, turning to stare at him.

"Oh you shoosh!!!" Daniel snapped back. Vala, clearly enjoying the whole thing, looked at both of them utterly appalled.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she said.

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Daniel was hoping to skip out on the recepetion, not wanting to stick around any longer. When they left the wedding they received dirty looks from everyone around them for making such a scene and Vala was behaving so unusually that Daniel wanted to take her home as soon as possible.

After another trip to the toilet by Vala, the two of them sat at a table.

"Well that was fantastic fun Daniel, arn't you glad you brought me with you?" she grinned at him and he sighed loudly. "It's actually not that different from the weddings I've seen. Only, what was with that little girl throwing away flowers? I mean, what was her problem?"

"Let's go," Daniel said as he watched Vala flick ice cubes across the room at his Uncle Wayne. He made to stand.

"You're not leaving are you?" his Aunt Linda asked as she got up to dance with some poor boy who looked about half her age.

"No," Daniel said, sitting down again. He didn't want to leave and for her to cause a fuss. Looked like he was never going to get out of this place. He crossed his arms like an angry child. Turning to ask Vala what he suggested they do he saw her with her head resting against her hand, eyes closed. "Vala? You alright?"

Her eyes sprung open and she came back to life again as she shook off his question. "Fine Daniel, never better."

"Well, I'm not, lets go." He got up again, seeing that there were no pesky aunts in site and made to leave.

"Ohhhh, Daniel ... wait!" Vala called out. Daniel turned to see her stopped dead. She was pointing towards the dance floor. "Just one dance. Please!"

He would have just grabbed her and left, he wasn't much of a dancer, but she was looking at him as though it would mean everything to her. He supposed he owed it to her, the night wasn't nearly as lousy as it could have been if she wasn't there.

"Just one!" he said, regretting it already.

He was an awkward dancer, always had been, but she was good and she led him, as she always seemed to do in any situation. It wasn't a slow dance, but it was still nice. Passing him as she danced with the young boy, his Aunt commented on how lovely they looked. Vala's smile was so full that Daniel would usually have stopped just so she couldn't have that satisfaction, but he let her have this one.

Vala's smile soon fadded though as she stumbled slightly. It was hard for him not to notice as she was so close that she fell into him as she did so. He didn't bother asking her if she was okay this time, she had been acting up all night, he reached out a hand to her forehead and felt her temperature. There was no denying, she was red hot.

"Vala, you're burning up! I'm taking you home." Despite her protests he helped her out into the car and headed back to his place. The whole trip back she slept and Daniel had to admit he was very concerned. How long had she been sick for? He took her back to his place, it was closer and at least that way he could keep an eye on her, save himself from worrying.

"Hmm, you have a lovely place," she said as they entered, even though she'd been there several times before. She made to sit on the lounge but fell flat on her butt as she missjudged where the end was and missed.

"You alright?" he said as he watched her groggily try and stand again. She brushed his hand away and finally stood. Daniel just sighed. "Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"

"Daniel," she said, rather dramatically. "I'm sick!" And with that she moved towards his lounge and collapsed onto it with a heavy sigh.

"Do you realise how dangerous that was, going out when you're like this," Daniel kneeled down beside her as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"But I took medication," she pointed towards her bag. Daniel, taking this as an indication to look through it did so cautiously. Resting on the top was a bottle of cough syrip.

"Vala this stuff is for common colds, I don't think that's what you hav -" but before he could finish he realised that the bottle was completly empty. "Did you drink this whole bottle? Oh you need to lie down."

She giggled at him, "I am lying down, silly." He didn't laugh back, this was very careless of her, what if it had been something more crutial. "Daniel, please ... I might not make it through the night," Vala began, reaching for his hand. "I just have to tell you ... I'm an alien from another planet ... and, I just have to tell you that because I love you!"

With those last words Vala closed her eyes. A little concerned Daniel made sure she was still breathing. Satisfied that she was alive and mearly sleeping, he moved one of the lounge pillows under her head and pushed her hair out of her face. "Whatever you say," he said, shaking his head and smiling despite himself at the whole evening. One thing was for sure, she certainly did know how to make it an interesting night.

end chap 5

AN: Next chapter (although will probably change), ATM cards, Dannys new girl, and off-world trip and planes and road trips and a dodgy bar.