Rounding a corner, Daniel exclaimed;

"Why didn't we call someone?"

"You have a phone?" Vala punched him in the arm. "Why the hell didn't you use it?"

"No, I don't have a phone," he said in a matter of fact voice. "There are phones all over the place. In basically all corridors."

"You know where these are located?" Vala looked at him intently. "Yes, tell me Daniel, why didn't YOU call?"

He muttered something intelligibly. Vala answered by bury one of her heels in the nearest foot she could find that was not her own.

"Ouch! What the hell Vala…" Daniels voice rose a pitch.

"It's not my fault that you're clumsy."

"Clumsy? You stepped on my foot!" Instinctively he tried to reach it with his hand.

"Serves you right, " she muttered.

"Now WHAT! Care to enlighten me why?"

"Not particularly." She sighed deeply and adopted a bored expression. "I have nor the time, nor the inclination."

"For the love of….Just keep on walking!" Daniel took her shoulders in a tight grip and gently pushed her forward.

"There's a phone over there." She made a gesture with her head to indicate its direction. Daniel ignored her.

"WALK"

"What about the phone?"

"NOW!"

"Don't get you panties in a twist. I'm moving! See, one step and then another."

"Congratulation," Daniel added sarcastically, "you have mastered the art of walking."

Two corridors later, Vala concluded: "I think we've been here before."

"No we haven't."

"Well, we all know that a sense in direction is a rare commodity in a man, geographic or, eh otherwise." She looked around. "I'm sure…"

Daniel pushed her forward.

"Hey! Could I finish?"

"Doing what? Walking? By all means, continue."

"How generous of you Daniel. I do hope that applies to all your lady friends. No one like a selfish man."

"Now what?" Daniel was annoyed.

"Nothing." She said innocently. "I'm just saying. It wouldn't kill you to be, eh a bit more considerate."

Daniel grit his teeth. "Right. So, what may I do for you today Vala?"

Smilingly, she answered. "That's the spirit! Had you been this helpful the first time we met I am sure I wouldn't have been so disappointed."

"Disappointed? You kicked me in the nuts!"

"Well, it wasn't as though you were offering to do anything else with them." Offended she added, "…despite my, more than generous offer!"

"I'm not having this conversation with you."

"I think you already are."

"Keep walking!"

"…but I think I saw a phone!"

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"Walk!"

"It's all we do. I want some action! I didn't join the SGC just to be in your 'little' club."

"Then why did you?"

"Isn't that rather self-explanatory?" Vala let her gaze fall to the hook that joined them.

Daniel continued to stare above her shoulder. "No."

"Sometime you're really dense. You know that, don't you Daniel."

"Nope. Sorry. Like you said. To dense."

"I shouldn't have to tell you."

"Why not? I'm not a bloody mind reader!"

Vala muttered. "Like I didn't figure that out during the first two seconds."

Daniel stopped and exhaled loudly. "What do you want from me Vala? This is starting to get quite exhausting."

"I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "Just what every other former Goa'uld Queen with daddy issues want. A nice little ha'tak, some gold trinkets hidden away in a safe place, and enough Goa'uld technology to last a lifetime."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"No, but it is all the answer you're going to get. For now."

"This is ridiculous!"

"I hope you're not referring to me? The you're equally ridiculous." Vala looked up into Daniels face.

"THIS! The entire situation." He shook his head as in disbelief.

"Why?" Vala met his gaze and Daniel rose and eyebrow. "Well, ok. It could perhaps be described as somewhat less than not funny."

"That doesn't make sense." Daniel shook his head.

"To you perhaps, but to everyone else it does. If there's one thing clear, it is that you're not like anyone else."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daniel let his irritation show.

"You know….eh, you're Daniel."

"Right…?"

"Well, there's only one Daniel. You. So…"

"Your point being?"

"That was my…point."

Daniel sighed. Vala leaned closer and whispered in his hear. "Is that your, uhm, point I am feeling?"

A reddish shade spread across his face. He coughed. "I, eh, have my keys in my pockets." Vala gave him her sweetest smile in return and offered no verbal reply, but a condescending pat on his shoulder. Daniel shifted uncomfortably.

At the end of the corridor, Daniel forced them to stop and he looked around thoughtfully.

"Hrm. Now where are we?"

Vala looked at him in surprise. "You don't know where we are? You have been roaming these halls for the past decade and still can't find your way?"

"I have had other things on my mind…"

"You know Daniel, the whole 'I-died-and-became-a-higher-lifeform-then-turend-human-post-Merlin's-consiousness-downloaded-into-my-brain' is starting to get old."

"THAT wasn't what I meant."

"So, what else?"

"What?"

"What's been on your mind?"

"Eh…like, now…there's, you know, this." He refused to meet her eye.

"I can understand that my alluring presence makes you dim-witted. It happens to the best of you." She patted him condescendingly on the shoulder. "But, you see Daniel, you were supposed to steer us in the right direction, to where we might find the appropriate tools to help us, eh, disengage."

"What's your point?"

"My point is that that you've dragged me around without a clear plan on where we're heading."

"I have...a plan."

"Eh, sure you have."

"I do. I have a plan. I know where we're heading."

Vala took another look around and then cracked a sunny smile.

"I'm relieved. And to think that for once, we're on the same page. This is certainly progress Daniel."

"Eh, what?"

"That's my door over there."

"What to you mean?"

"Just what I said. That door over there leads to my quarters." She took a tight grip around his waist.

"Hrm, your door?"

"Oh yes."

"Well…"

"So, this plan of yours, where exactly had you intended it to lead?"

"Somewhere?" He wasn't sure what to say.

"I see." Vala nuzzled closer and Daniel could feel her breath at the base of his throat and he shifted uncomfortably.

"You really should not be doing that…"

"So, do you?"

"What?"

"Want to?"

"…to do what?"

"To boldly go where no Tauri has ever been before?"

He felt as though she had stepped on his other foot and punched him in the gut at the same time. Ha coughed nervously.

"This is not Star Trek."

"But it's a close encounter, of sorts, and in good Kirk spirit you should really not let the alien down."

"I…do I have a choice?" He looked down at the hook.

"Theoretically yes, but technically…no." She followed his gaze and then searched his face.

"Right. So, do you….have a pair of scissors?"

"No."

"A knife?"

"No." She added thoughtfully, "though, not because of a lack of trying."

"Right…"

"Anyhow, I think we'll manage anyway." She gave him a smile that sent shivers down his spine. "Don't forget those keys of yours. I think we're going to need them."

Then she opened the door and Daniel, well, he sighed, steeled himself for what would come, sighed once more and gave in to the inevitably.