Possession

By Onyx-dreams

I do not own Stargate SG-1, nor its characters but I'd be more than happy to make off with Ben Browder or Michael Shanks (especially Michael Shanks).

I fell in love with StarGate SG-1 too much to not attempt to write a story about it, not to mention falling in absolute love with Vala MalDoran and the Daniel Jackson interactions. There's just something so balancing between the two opposites that are they. So I'm going to try my hand at a fiction between the two of them. Probably won't end well but that won't stop me from trying. It's going to be a bit OOC, because I want to attempt to show just how far a smitten Jackson will go to save the insufferable woman he refuses to admit he loves.

Daniel Jackson paced around his office in, not in a panic really, but out of a feeling of total loss of control of the situation. It didn't help that there was the emptiness in his office that hadn't been present for the past few years. A lack of sound, the lack of a shining, happy presence that was always determined to live life to its fullest. The vacancy was deafening to Daniel. He couldn't believe it…he couldn't comprehend it…and to make himself feel worse, he had been horrible to her before she disappeared, and he had the gall to be pissed up until they had found the blood on the ground, thinking she had wandered off for no reason…

The guilt was almost eating him alive, and now the screaming silence was joining in… He turned as he passed by his desk and slammed his fist down with all his strength, sending a couple papers floating into the air, and causing a poorly stacked pile of books to go toppling to the floor. It was all he could do to hold the tears back.

A cough alerted him to a presence of someone at the door to his office. Daniel took a shaky breath to compose himself before turning to find a frowning Cam.

"Man, I know it must be worst of all for you. Out of all the people on this base, she spent almost every minute of her time with you, but beating up furniture sure ain't gonna bring her back to us."

"I know, I know. I just can't believe it. We let her take her watch so the rest of us could sleep, and she ends up getting taken away, by who knows who to who knows where. The Lucian Alliance, if they got her hands on her…"

Cam shifted uncomfortably as Daniel took another shaky breath to compose himself. "Maybe if I hadn't said some of the things I said to her before, she wouldn't have wandered so far during her shift…maybe we would have heard something to go and save her."

"Can't change the past my man. What's done is done and is water under the bridge my gramma used to say. However, you know General Landry is making sure every team that is getting sent off world is being told to keep an ear and an eye out for our Princess."

Daniel frowned in annoyance. "That's not good enough. We should be searching for her. We should be out there scouring every shit hole we know is scummy enough to have taken her from us."

"Our hands are bound by IOA man. She was an alien. Without any diplomatic ties that would be of any use to us in our explorations. They don't care and would be pissed if we spared the man power to go looking for her."

Daniel grabbed a book and slung it across the room, though nowhere near Cam, though the team leader still flinched.

"And that is what is damn wrong!" Daniel shouted. "She was one of us! She's put her life in danger so many times without even being asked to! All for the safety of our world! We've even given her papers and American citizenship!"

Cam frowned. "It's all wrong man, but the reality is that the Galaxy is big, far too big for us to go running our asses off trying to play heroes, when all it really is, is a bad search for needle in star system. We don't know who took her or to where and we have no leads. The most we can do is hope that some of our moles in the Lucian Alliance will get a wiff of our wily, bad behaved Princess. She's bound to draw attention wherever she goes and you know that Daniel. Let's go eat. Teal'c and Sam are worried about you and are waiting in the mess."

Cam stepped out of the way to let Daniel though, not wanting to get bulldozed by the angry archeologist. The real question though was if Daniel was more angry at himself or at the bastards who took the glue of their team away.

A week earlier:

A sigh.

He pointedly ignored the noise that was becoming more frequent with every minute that passed by while he took in Ancient writing.

Another sigh.

His eyebrow twitched a little bit, and he noticed that Teal'c, who wasn't far off, began to slowly drift out of the immediate area, knowing exactly what was about to happen. This rubbed Jackson's patience a little shorter. Some friend.

A louder, longer sigh.

"Oh my god woman! What is wrong with you?"

"I'm bored Daniel! Sitting on this godforsaken planet with nothing to do but sweat while you bury your nose in the dust to read writing that has been sitting around for millions of years and will continue to sit there for millions more! It's not like the silly place is going to up and disappear!"

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to suppress the headache that was steadily getting worse.

"Go find something to do then! Sitting here sighing isn't helping me get my work done any faster. All you're doing is distracting me."

"If I really wanted to distract you I can think of many more fun ways to do it my Daniel then sitting here sweating and sighing. I'm trying to behave but that isn't stopping me from getting bored." Vala frowned and flipped a stray lock of her wild hair out of her face.

"Go take a walk then! Or pester Cam until he gives you something productive to do." Daniel waved his hand in the direction of the StarGate while continuing to concentrate on what appeared to be a history of the planet right up to where the inhabitants mysteriously disappeared.

"You know he's just going to send me right back here right?"

Daniel raged a little in his head but it finally got control of his vocal box and caused him to say something that he immediately regretted. "Because he knows you're damn useless, and annoying. Just like always Vala. You get in the way and you attract trouble! Go away for right now."

He winced a little in his head when he saw the sad look creep across her face. But his pride and desire to finish his translations made him bite back an apology. She'd be back to pester him eventually anyways. She always did. He didn't even look as she stalked off with tears welling in her eyes.

Later that night:

Daniel reached a hand behind his neck as he massaged the complaining muscles there. Staring at the writing higher on the wall took its toll after a while. He sighed and gathered up his notes before he headed off to their little camp near the Stargate. He glanced around to look for Vala, having expected her to return to pester him. To his pleasant surprise she wasn't in the ruins. He shrugged, thinking she must have actually found something to amuse herself back at the campsite.

He trudged into the collection of tents that was their base of operations for their four days here and smiled when he saw Cam attempting to cook a fish over a fire. The man had an absolute hatred for field rations and would take any opportunity to catch the local fauna in order to avoid eating the calorie laden, tasteless food.

"Looks like the intrepid hunter was successful. Fish didn't chase you out of their pond for once?"

Cam turned to scowl at Daniel. "I told you if you EVER mentioned that event out loud I would whoop your ass a new one. Not my fault that no one warned me the fish were as big as a damned horse and were territorial. Lucky you Teal'c and the princess went on a little walk and that Sam went out to grab some more firewood for the night."

"Vala went on a walk?"

Cam looked up from his fish to shrug at Jackson. "She came stomping back about 3 hours ago almost in tears, which I reckon we can thank you for that. Lucky you, Teal'c is all about damage control. Without that man, I'm pretty sure the princess wouldn't stick around you anymore. Speak of the devil, here they come." Cam was looking behind Daniel, and the archeologist turned around to greet his two teammates. The sullen look Vala gave him before angrily pushing past him quickly dried up any hello he was about to give out however. Teal'c's disapproving raised eyebrow didn't help.

A little irritation rose when he suddenly heard Vala chatting happily out of nowhere with Cam. "Oooo! You caught that? When did you go fishing? Me and Muscles were walking next to the lake for a while and we didn't see you. You know, I like a man who can hunt."

Even though Daniel was miffed that he didn't get a hello from Vala, he still had to stifle the laugh at her hunter comment. It wasn't a very good stifle as he turned to see Cam glaring daggers at him. Daniel raised his hands in mock surrender and sat down in the little fire circle they had set up. "You have to admit it was funny."

"Shut up Daniel."

Teal'c wandered off to his tent to do who knows what, and Vala continued to make small talk with Cam while pointedly ignoring Daniel. Thankfully, before Daniel could get too annoyed, Sam came huffing out of the woods with her arms stacked full of heavy branches. Daniel stood and walked over to help the scientist with her burden.

"Thanks Daniel. The trees around here seem to not drop their branches much. Had to scour quite a bit just for this little pile. Should last us all night as long as we keep the fire small." Sam stopped and sniffed the air a bit then saw that Cam was cooking fresh fish over the fire. "Oh thank god. If I have to eat another Jambalaya MRE again I'll puke." She scurried over and deposited her half of the branches onto the small pile already there while Daniel followed behind her.

Cam greeted Sam with a huge smile on his face and scooted over on his little log to let her sit next to him while she looked hungrily at the meal he was cooking. This effectively cut Vala out of the conversation but for once she didn't seem to upset about it. She listened to Cam and Sam joke and talk with a little smile of contentment on her face.

They all finally dished out the fish evenly amongst the group, Teal'c having come to rejoin the group. The sun was finally dipping below the horizon and the stars were winking into existence one by one. Cam glanced around at his team with a happy look on his face. As much as he hated boring missions, it was nice to have this group of people with him.

"So, who wants first watch tonight?"

Vala raised her hand. "I'll do it. I'm not very tired right now anyways. Goodness knows that I need a good walk alone though before going to bed."

Cam nodded. "Well, wake me up in two hours. I got next shift."

Eventually the rest of the night was portioned out between Sam, Teal'c, and Jackson before they all wandered off to their respective tents.

The last Daniel saw of Vala that night was of the campfire reflecting off the angular planes of her face and the glittering of tears in her eyes.

The next morning:

Daniel awoke to the loud swearing of Cam.

"The damn woman never woke me up! Where the hell is she?"

Something in Daniel's stomach dropped like a rock. For all of Vala's flaws, she never missed her beauty sleep. Though on many missions, unnoticed by other team members, Daniel's tent was always near Vala's and he knew she had night terrors. She never screamed, but her mumbling often became coherent enough to reveal that some things from her past would never stop tormenting her.

Daniel dressed quickly and got out of his tent. He walked over to where Cam was looking bewildered.

"The princess didn't happen to sneak into your tent again did she?" Though Daniel knew that at other times this would be a jab at Vala's infatuation with him, the worry laced in Cam's voice made it infinitely clear that it was a preferable alternative to a missing Vala.

Daniel shook his head. "No. I haven't seen or heard her since going to sleep last night."

"Shit." He looked around and saw Sam with a worried look on her face and Teal'c looking as impassive as ever. "Well let's go look for her. Hopefully all that happened is she sat down and ended up falling asleep. Teal'c go with Jackson and I'll go with Sam. Radio when you find her."

Teal'c stepped up next to Jackson, taking note of the barely restrained worry on his face. "We shall find ValaMalDoran, DanielJackson. She is too much of a 'spitfire' as the Tau'ri say."

Daniel shook his head just slightly, his paranoia at something bad having happened not being soothed. "It's not like Vala to just disappear. Every other time she has ever bothered to not appear when she should is because someone kidnapped her. Almost every time was caused because of my not paying enough attention to her too."

Teal'c could see the frustration in Jackson, the guilt written plainly on his brow and in his blue eyes. Teal'c could think of nothing further to say that might bolster his teammate's confidence so he simply nodded his head and stepped off in the direction opposite of where he saw Cam and Sam walk off to. Daniel reluctantly followed, pulling out his zat and beginning a scan of the forest around him.

A couple hours later, Daniel's worry and guilt slowly changed to frustration and anger. "You know what? I'm betting she's off hiding somewhere snickering to herself at the idea of me scouring the planet for her! That woman…I swear she'll be the end of me…"

Teal'c wisely remained silent, letting his friend vent his worry in his own way. It had been a fruitless couple of hours, following supposed trails that she may have created while wandering around. Even the ex-Jaffa was beginning to feel his worry increase. ValaMalDoran never voluntarily left the group for that long. Her need to socialize would drive her insane if she stayed away.

Teal'c suddenly stiffened and a distracted, ranting Jackson slammed into him from behind. "What the hell Teal'c. Why did you suddenly stop?"

Daniel noticed the Sho'va's hand slowly rise to point a short distance away. As Daniel's gaze followed the pointing finger, he felt his stomach drop even further than it had earlier that morning, and all his frustration and anger were gone only to be replaced with fear.

Laying not even ten feet away were Vala's weapons and some of her blood.

"Oh god…"

Teal'c gave Daniel a sympathetic look. "It appears that ValaMalDoran was attacked and abducted DanielJackson. The foliage in the immediate area shows a fight ensued, but no footprints lead away. They were beamed or ringed out."

Daniel barely heard a word the Jaffa said as he slowly walked to where he saw a small glittering next to her weapon. His hand gingerly reached down to pick up one of Vala's hair barrettes. He palmed it slowly, the small reminder of the woman he had pissed off enough to go wandering alone in the dark without him near to help her. Almost everything bad that had happened to her since she'd been to the SGC had somehow been related to him neglecting her. And now she was gone. Again. His palm squeezed tightly over the barrette as he stood up. When he found her again, he'd never let her out of his sight. She meant too much to the team and to him to suffer another loss of her presence.

The blood reminded him too much of the time she had burned alive in front of him…

Two weeks after present day

General Landry, for the first time in a while, was absolutely speechless. He should have seen this coming. All the signs since the damn woman had charmed her way onto SG-1 were there. The fighting, the subtle glances, the trust they displayed in one another when no one else did…hell, after Vala had proclaimed the date-gone-bad-Vala-with-her-memory-wiped-fiasco…all the signs had been there. And truth be told, the thought didn't bother him as much as it should have. She did something to that man that brought life to him.

But that didn't stop him from being stunned when Daniel Jackson marched into his office in a storm of conviction, proclaiming his resignation from SGC and demanding his right to be gated to a world of his choice.

"You can't be serious Dr. Jackson. She's only been gone 3 weeks. Give it a little more time for word of her to surface."

The archeologist's face was nothing but determination to not be swayed. "Sir, all due respect, but just sitting around and hoping that word of her is going to surface isn't enough. She's a member of SGC and to just give up that quick is an insult to everything she's done for us, all the pain she's gone through BECAUSE of us. I don't care about what the hell IOA says. She's a member of our team, and we NEVER leave a member behind. We should be turning over every Lucian Alliance and god knows what other mole we have in an attempt to get her back. Unless you can swear to me that we're going to start actively looking for her, I'm going to quit the SGC and go looking for her myself. I don't know about you sir, but the hallways have been oddly silent the past few weeks, and I know I'm not the only one noticing it."

General Landry scowled. He knew just how quiet the hallways were. The damn woman would even come barge into his office every so often to annoy him. Sometimes there were genuine visits. She was a very skilled security analyst and would often come up with recommendations that she would pass straight to him. He'd never admit it to anyone, and for some reason she never spoke about it, but he'd taught her how to play chess also. The woman was brilliant. He'd never had such a challenge before. So yes, he knew very well just how quiet and empty the SGC had become. That and Mitchell banging on his door every down day demanding a new mission just to keep his team occupied so something like Daniel resigning wouldn't happen.

He should have sent them on the mission he'd given to SG-7 instead. Too late now.

Landry sighed to himself and his shoulders stooped in resignation. "Alright Dr. Jackson."

Jackson opened his mouth in a rebuttal but quickly realized that there was nothing to rebut. "Sir?"

"I said alright. You're right. The SGC has its hands tied by the IOA. As long as you are a member of the SGC, you can't do anything to bring Ms. MalDoran back. As an independent party seeking her out without any ties, you're free to do what you want. Only problem is you won't have a lot of resources at your disposal."

Landry had to chuckle in his head at just how dumbfounded the normally intelligent archeologist looked right now.

"Sir?"

"What do you need to help you get off the ground Jackson? I'm sure I can get a few teams to conveniently 'lose' a few supplies and I think I can arrange for the Tokra to purchase some naqueda for you to use to purchase your own ship. Just note that you owe me for getting this off the ground."

Jackson stood speechless, his mouth literally hanging open in disbelief. Landry gave a visible shrug as if to say 'your loss' before he finally came back to his senses.

"What would I owe you sir? And when can we get the Tokra to make a drop off of the naqueda?"

The glint that entered into Landry's eye scared Daniel a bit, enough to make him take a hesitant step back.

"Dr. Jackson, you owe me and the SGC one Vala MalDoran and you owe her a date and a serious conversation when you get back. I've listened to that woman whine about you enough and I care for her like a daughter now. Some fatherly instinct is starting to kick in. And if you don't do something soon, *I'm* going to kick your ass. I can have arrangements made in about two days. The rest is up to the Tokra to make the drop off then you are on your own until you come back with our Princess."

Daniel gulped. The man was doing the equivalent of cleaning a shotgun on the front porch before his daughter got picked up to go to prom. And he didn't know if he liked the idea of this subtle blessing or if he should just return Vala and run like a bat out of hell back out the gate.

"Yes sir."

"I will notify Mitchell of your resignation. Your little plan to bring her back doesn't leave this room though I'm sure Mitchell will know exactly what you are doing by resigning. You won't have back up Daniel, we aren't required to bring you back if you run into trouble. Though they may go after you anyways because of what you know, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Daniel nodded, his face sobering immediately. "Anything else?"

"Nothing I can think of at the moment Dr. Jackson. You better start packing your things to depart the SGC. You need to make sure that you have as little connection with Earth as possible, so no earth technology, no Earth books, nothing that can trace you back here. It's a danger both to you and to us. Get what you want sent to your apartment and what you want to take with you sorted out."

Daniel nodded his understanding.

"Very well Dr. Jackson. Dismissed."

Landry watched as the archeologist walked out of his office, a slight spring back in his step that hadn't been there for the past few weeks. If there was anyone out there that had the conviction, the determination, and the faith needed to bring Vala back, it was that man that had walked out of his office. Jackson was the reason Vala had come to the SGC in the first place, and it was Jackson that would make sure she would remain. Landry nodded to himself, then sighed as it occurred to him all the paperwork and hoops he would have to jump through to purge Jackson from the SGC vice grip. It was going to be a very long couple of days.

Next Day:

When Landry had come to him about Daniel, Cam wasn't surprised at all. In fact, what he was surprised at was that it had taken this long for Daniel to come to his senses about it and take action.

He stopped in front of Daniels office where he already heard the archeologist packing. He swung in and leaned on the doorway watching as books and artifacts from years and years of collecting got sorted and packed away. Cam would miss the nerdy, yet definitely masculine man that was a part of SG-1 from the very beginning. But Jackson's fretting over Vala was slowly driving him insane and this was one of the few ways SGC could actively search out the space pirate. Cam sighed to himself, alerting Jackson to his presence.

"Hey Mitchell."

"Jackson."

"What brings you here?"

"Got word from Landry about your sudden decision to depart the SGC and Earth."

Cam had to smile at himself as Jackson searched for the correct way to phrase his reason for leaving when it was painfully obvious to his team leader.

"Look, Daniel, buddy. Gramma didn't raise no fool. I know very well why you're high tailin' it out of here. And I respect that. And as much as you don't want to admit it, everyone on base, when they catch wind of you leaving by stargate, will know exactly what you are doing. You have the full support of everyone here. And we even have Teal'c as a possible way to get into contact with you while you are searching the big blue yonder for our Princess. Short of death, no one on this base will breathe a word of your secret mission to rescue Vala. We all miss her. She was probably the sole source of life on this base."

Cam noticed that Daniel's eyes were getting misty. He felt bad that of all the people to fall for, Daniel had picked Vala. Yet he didn't feel bad at all. The little time that Vala had spent with him when he had gone to his high school reunion wasn't all that bad minus the bounty hunter fiasco. His parents loved her to pieces, and she'd only known them for a few days. In another life, Cam could easily admit to having been the one to fall for her. But her interests had always been directed at the visibly upset archeologist in front of him. The lucky bastard. It just took losing her for the 4th or 5th time for him to finally come to his senses.

"You'll find her Daniel. I know you blame yourself every time Princess up and disappears underneath our noses, but think about who it took to coax her back every time. She came back after the initial Prometheus incident knowing you to be you. You made a big impact on her. When she lost her memory because of the Trust, the only person she even remotely trusted was you. Something instinctual brought her back to you and she had only a glimpse of you, where I had almost a whole day in captivity. When she lost her memory voluntarily to bring Adria in, you composed her enough to sit and watch the video tape you two had concocted. Look Daniel, whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, you two are the closest thing I've ever seen to destined."

Cam knew he was pressing buttons he shouldn't, but something in him needed to make sure Daniel had the conviction to bring both Vala AND himself back in one piece. He was team leader, and after playing referee to many Daniel and Vala fights he had also picked up the big brother thought process. His family needed protecting, he needed to make sure they would come back safe. He had big O'Neill shoes to fill and he wouldn't be one to lose Jackson. Again. He was quickly catching up to the old general's score of Daniel deaths and he didn't care to lose that bet and find out Daniel's nine lives were clean run out.

The silent tears that were trailing down Jackson's face immediately caused Cam discomfort. But it was discomfort that quickly disappeared when the archeologist looked up with the fire that Cam was hoping to see. "I won't lose her again Cam. I can't lose her again. Every time she disappears I feel like I lose a piece of myself. If I didn't know any better I'd say those damn bracers of hers still have a little influence even after all this time." Daniel forced a laugh through what Cam assumed was initially a sob.

Cam reached over and gave Jackson a reassuring pat on the back, one that for once held no awkwardness. "I believe you Jackson. We all do. And if you ever get into trouble, you know that we will all risk a court martial and permanent ban from Earth to come and get you and the Princess."

Daniel nodded his head, not trusting himself to say anything out loud.

"Best get back to packing sport. You have a long road ahead of you. You know where to find all of us if you need people to talk to." With that Cam turned and left the office, leaving Daniel to his own devices and thoughts. He felt considerably reassured that the Princess was in good hands.

Daniel sat for a couple seconds, regaining control of the emotions Cameron had set in motion. It wasn't fair that one woman could screw him up this much. Dr. Daniel Jackson, one of the most composed people in the world, capsized by a slip of a woman with a treasure fetish and a control complex. He remembered having never been as frustrated as the first time he encountered her on the Prometheus. He had also never, and he would never admit this out loud to anyone, been that turned on by someone with a violence fetish. He secretly held the memory of that very violent kiss followed by a headbutt close to him.

He took a long look around his office. His eyes had caught the glimmer of the barrette he had found where he had lost Vala. He had been warned against bringing anything that hinted at being Tau'ri. But he would hope that hair ornaments were not a strict Tau'ri custom. Because it was the last reminder he had of her left. He gingerly picked it up, contemplating how he could carry it with him in a discrete manner. Sighing for the moment he placed it in his pocket. He had a day left. A day before he got left on a planet with a Tok'ra operative bearing the last of his supplies and his last civilized contact before he went on his wild goose chase across the milky way galaxy. He didn't know what waited for him out there, if he would come back alive, if his friends would ever find out what would have happened to him if he should fail in his search for Vala. Because he knew one thing. He wouldn't come back without her. It'd be with Vala in tow or not at all.

A/N: okay…I know this started out horribly. I have to exercise my writers skills before they come back to me, then my laziness takes over and I can't go back to fix my horrid writing. But it's all nice and warmed up now. Next chapter will start off much better I promise.