Disclaimer: You know what I own and what I don't. Don't take what's mine, please.
A/N of the Revision: Lol. Sorry, I've been writing too many Jack/Sam things. I totally spaced on who I was describing. If you'll note, Daniel's eyes are now the proper color. I got all these reviews and was going, "What? Where did I write his eyes were brown?" Sorry about that...
A/N: The music they played when Vala's wiping tears off her cheeks inspired me. Hope you enjoy this. The beginning's a bit light, but there's more to it, I promise. It's all the drama you could want from me. Hey, I do too write good angst! I just prefer not to. And yes, I think Vala would talk to Teal'c like this. She knows he'd never tell. And yes, I know Daniel reacts like he did in Unending, but that was kind of the point.
Sountrack to a Heartbreak
"Teal'c!" Vala chased him down the hallway, forcing him to come to a reluctant stop to keep her from knocking herself over on him (well, it wasn't like she had enough mass to knock HIM over).
He turned slowly and raised an eyebrow. "Was there something you wished to inquire of me?"
"Look, I have this thing..." She tugged futilely on his arm, trying to pull him into a side corridor. When he didn't move, she stopped to glare at him. "You know, you could pretend to be normal every once in a while."
He didn't grace this comment with a response, just moved slowly along with her. She knew that on the inside he was laughing at her.
When she was sure they were alone, she dropped his arm and started pacing. "I wanted to ask you something."
"If this pertains to the time which I spent within the time dilation field, you know I will not answer."
"No, it... well, it SORT of has to do with that."
He gave her a look that seemed to say, "Well, get on with it so I can refuse to answer."
"Look, I just... I'm in love with Daniel, alright?"
"I am aware."
She stopped pacing. "You are?"
"Indeed. It is most apparant to everyone, except perhaps DanielJackson."
She sank to the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Everyone?"
"Indeed."
"Well, isn't that just brilliant." She shook her head bitterly. "Now everyone can feel sorry for me because he thinks I flirt with everything in pants, girls included. Now everyone can pity me because he won't trust me as anything more than a teammate, and sometimes not even that."
"I believe DanielJackson is afraid of being hurt again." In a completely uncharacteristic move, Teal'c sat down, cross-legged, in front of Vala.
"I understand that!" she wailed. "I've had a pretty bad life myself, you know. Oh, none of my many significant others ever got posessed by a Goa'uld and then died, but I was a Goa'uld myself, once! And it's not as fun as I might have pretended! I mean, having your personality supressed at someone else's whim is not exactly the most enjoyable thing in the world. I watched myself do things I would never do if I could help it, and I hated myself for it. And look at my father! I had to scam him to keep him from scamming us!"
"He was indeed a most unpleasant person."
A smile danced around the corners of Vala's mouth. "That, my friend, is the understatement of the year." Her mouth went flat again. "I just... He doesn't think I'm capable of feeling any sort of real attachment. He thinks I'll break his heart and move on without caring. How can I make him understand?"
Teal'c stood and reached a hand down to her to help her up. "Perhaps you should repeat to DanielJackson what you have told me." His eyes softened a bit and he smiled at her. "I wish you much happiness in your life, ValaMalDoran, whoever you choose to spend it with."
"Thanks!" She hugged him, hard, pressing her face into his shoulder for a moment before letting go and scampering off down the corridor, presumably in search of the resident linguist.
Teal'c followed at a more leisurely pace. He was never going to understand women. Even after several hundred years, they still made little sense.
"Daniel!" He glanced over his shoulder at her, rolled his eyes, and kept walking. She fell into step beside him.
"What do you want, Vala?"
She stopped in her tracks. "I want you to stop that."
He stopped walking and turned, confused. "Stop what?"
"Stop treating me like I can't possibly want to talk to you for any reason other than that I want something."
"You always want something, though, Vala, so what is it?" He sounded resigned. She took this a a slightly good sign. At least he was reacting.
"Ok, so maybe I do want something. I want you to love me."
He cracked up. He couldn't help it, really. This was just too ridiculous for words, to have Vala there, telling him this with a completely straight face. God, she must have been taking lessons from Teal'c.
"I'm serious." She closed the distance between them and got in his face. "I'm not trying to get anything out of you, I haven't been drinking, and I want you to love me as much as I love you."
That stopped the laugh.
"Vala..." There was a warning note in his voice. "Don't do this. I'm sick of this sexy teasing flirty thing you do." He pushed gently on her shoulders and she stumbled backwards.
"Daniel..."
"NO! It's my turn!" She turned away from him to hide the hurt, and he ranted at her back. "Do you think it's easy to put up with all of this? You flirting with me, then turning to whoever else is around and doing the same to them?
"I lost my wife, damn it! I finally got to a place where I feel like I might be able to let someone in, let myself risk that again, but never in a million years could I ever think that person would be you! I mean, come on, sure, I'm proud of how you've proven yourself at the SGC, but on a personal level?" He laughed cruelly. "Yeah, right. We're completely wrong for each other, and you know it. Oh, you know it. So sorry that you feel like you want to get into my pants, but you and I both know it's nothing else."
Her brain screamed at her to cut her losses, to run and to hide before anyone could see how vulnerable she was. Before HE could see that she wasn't the strong, perfect person she pretended to be. "All right, then." She was proud of how even her voice was. "I suppose that's all, then."
"Oh, don't fake that you're hurt." He sounded disgusted with her, turning away to lean against a beam on the wall.
"Don't worry, I won't." She hurried down the corridor away from him, leaving him to wonder what exactly had brought this on.
An hour later, she'd cried herself out. She lay on her bed, curled around the box of trinkets her father had given her. Just another symbol of men who didn't love her enough, didn't care enough.
A short knock on the door failed to interest her. "Go away, please." She tacked on the please just in case it was Sam, because one thing she'd learned was that please made polite people accept the sentence better.
The door swung open. "No."
"What do you want, Daniel? Come to kick me some more while I'm down?"
"I wanted to know why you brought that up." He moved to sit down on a chair next to her bed, and it was then that he noticed the tear tracks on her face. "Vala?"
"What?" She buried her face in a pillow and flinched when he reached out a hand. "I was stupid. That's why I brought it up. What more do you want?"
"I want the truth." His hand hovered over the curve of her back, a pained look growing in his eyes as he considered the idea that maybe she'd been serious.
"The truth? I told you the truth. I was stupid. Stupid to think that you'd ever believe me. Stupid to think that you'd ever feel the same way about me as I do about you. Stupid to try to talk to you about something you didn't want to hear." She sat up and hurled the box she was clutching at the wall. "STUPID!" she screamed as it shattered and the jewelry rained to the floor.
"Vala!" Daniel grabbed both her arms before she could throw something else, wrapping her up so that her head was on his shoulder.
"Let me go, Daniel." She sounded tired and resigned, her voice muffled against his neck. "I don't want your pity. I just want you to leave me alone."
"Damn it, Vala, you'd better not be messing with me." He pushed her back until he could see her face. "You'd better not be lying."
"About what? Never wanting to see you again?"
"No." He leaned forward to press a kiss to her lips. "No. About loving me." He kissed her again, until she jerked away with a hurt look.
"Daniel, don't do this to me."
"Do what?"
"Pretend." Even as she resisted, she couldn't help running a hand over his shoulder and chest, a helpless plea for contact. "Hurt me."
"God, Vala, that's the last thing I want to do." He put his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. "You hurt me, don't you get it? When I thought you were just looking for a fling when I wanted more from you, it killed me. So I tried to hurt you back."
"Well, you suceeded."
"I know." He kissed her gently again and sighed. "I'm sorry. God, Vala, I love you. You had so completely better not be messing with me."
She managed a weak smile. "Really? And here I was, thinking that messing with you was the inevitable next step."
He grinned and tackled her to the bed. "Ok, ok, you've got me convinced."