Title: Three Months

Author: BkWurm1

Pairing: Daniel/ Vala (Stargate Sg-1) (Only D/V, no other pairings)

Rating: PG

Timeline: Sometime after Continuum but during the Stargate Universe (brief mention)

Summary: With time running out and the risk of being stranded off planet for the next three months, Daniel grapples with his growing feelings for Vala and how they affect the choices he makes.

Keeping his back to the DHL, Daniel dropped into a crouch, pulled his pistol from the holster and in the fading blue twilight, scanned the silhouetted tree line. He heard another loud snap and rotated his aim twenty degrees to the south. Vala was right; something was out there.

During the thirty-minute trek back from the village, she repeatedly insisted she heard something, but each time SG-1 stopped to investigate, the sounds also stopped.

"Princess, you're just jumpy," Mitchell had accused as they walked along the path leading to the gate, "from all the tall tales the local's were spreading about the big bad wolf pack patrolling these here wicked woods."

Vala opened her mouth to protest, but Teal'c spoke first. "The beasts described were not strictly canine in nature. Even so, according to the people of Naturine, only those traveling alone have anything to fear from the creatures."

Vala looked insulted. "Afraid of them?" She put her hands on her hips. "As if a basic pack of four-legged predators could get under my skin." She stared her team down. "I am not imagining anything. I feel eyes boring into the back of my head, eyes with intelligence behind them." Mitchell rolled his eyes and Teal'c said nothing. Vala's shoulders slumped and she turned to her remaining teammate.

She turned her imploring, grey eyes on him. "Daniel, all I'm asking is for a quick five minute grid search so we can deal with the culprit and be on our way." She beseeched him to back her up.

He hadn't known what to say. His gut told him to listen to her; she didn't fool around on a mission (well, not when it mattered), but just at that moment he wasn't certain he could trust his gut around Vala. The light from the second rising moon on P2X-411 made her skin look luminous and transformed her eyes into the kind of mysterious pools in which poets got lost. Worse yet, while she waited for his reply, she started nervously gnawing on the lush fullness of her red, lower lip and Daniel felt an all too familiar, punched in the stomach sensation that left him confused and cranky.

He brusquely shrugged off her instincts. "Vala, we don't have time for any more of your pointless delays."

Even as the words flew from his mouth, he knew he was being too harsh. Vala didn't flinch, but before she dropped her gaze and mutely resumed walking, he caught a brief flash of her confused hurt. Daniel clenched his fists and tried to ignore his guilt in putting it there. If she'd argued or called him an oaf, he could pretend she was upset because she didn't get her way, but her quiet acquiescence spoke loudly of only one thing, her disappointment in him. Who knew silent Vala would be the most annoying kind?

He stifled an escaping sigh. He wasn't being fair and he knew it. He had put that look on her face too many times lately. What the hell was wrong with him? He wished he could take it back. If only they had more time. That's what he needed to get his mind back in order. Instead, he justified his silence because of the ticking clock.

Sam wasn't along on this off world adventure to explain the astrophysical effects of planetary alignment, competing magnetic fields and the gravitational pull of P2X-411's paired moons in conjunction with the local spike in solar activity, but really, the details didn't matter, just the bottom line. They had less than half an hour before gate travel in or out of Naturine ceased for the next ninety days.

After Daniel discovered their seven-day cushion was suddenly gone, he discretely made their rushed goodbyes to the village elders gathered near the meeting hill. Most of the villagers were outside, dressed warmly for the crisp fall evening and already gathering around fires to sing, dance, tell stories and sample the abundance the summer had produced. This year the village celebrated more than just a plentiful fall harvest.

The Ori and their followers had been gone for more than a year and the last of the Baal's had been executed a month ago, but they still had the Lucian Alliance as a growing threat. Though their fleet had been hit hard while the Ori were still in power and new ships took time to build, they still found ways to spread their influence. A week ago, the SGC learned the Alliance had gated in a small army to Naturine.

In what was becoming a familiar refrain, the mafia of the Milky Way demanded that either the village hand over a heavy tithe of this year's crops and agree to grow the highly addictive Kasa next spring or they would burn the village to the ground now. Stargate Command offered a solution to the villagers' dilemma. SG-1 neutralized the immediate threat and the people of Naturine eagerly agreed to a treaty turning the long abandoned naquadah mines over to the SGC in exchange for continued support against the Alliance.

When Daniel explained the need for their sudden departure, the town council asked that the team leave quietly, so as not to disturb the festive mood. Teal'c returned to the cottage the team had been sharing to assist Mitchell in packing ore samples from the mines while Daniel ran back to extricate Vala from a throng of fascinated children. Her harrowing - and often dubious - tales of adventure and daring entranced the older youths. The younger ones already were happily enthralled by her sparkling smile, not to mention the actual sparkling trinkets she'd gifted to them.

Earlier this afternoon before their abrupt change in schedule, Daniel had followed the sun's rays as they caught and refracted off all those shiny rhinestones adoring the barrettes and badges Vala had given away and he found himself standing on the edge of Vala's spirited group. Drawn by the open animation on her face, he'd crept closer, but stayed out of sight.

He'd leaned against the roughhewn back wall of a cottage and as the late afternoon light stretched toward the horizon, watched and listened with a smile tugging at his lips. Despite all the darkness Vala had experienced, she somehow managed to retain a child-like sense of wonder and enthusiasm. She was no innocent, nor was she some kind of lobotomized optimist. Actually, she'd proved herself the most pragmatic of his teammates, facing betrayals and immediately grasping painful bottom lines without flinching, and yet she wasn't a cynic and as her friendship with Sam illustrated, when she opened her affection, it came without reserve.

Daniel wasn't ready to admit it aloud, but he envied Sam's easy relationship with Vala. From the beginning, he'd struggled to know how much of Vala's teasing was a wall she hid behind and how much was the truth. Sometimes he felt like he could read her mind, but too often she left him frustrated and clueless. Yet, though it all, he was drawn to her.

Watching her laugh and tease the children of Naturine, he'd lost track of time until the Village Elder's youngest daughter came looking for him. She tugged on his jacket and asked if the high-pitched, birdcall coming again and over from his laptop was important. Beeping, he realized after a moment. She meant the laptop was beeping.

Daniel wasn't sure what it said about his powers of concentration when a ten-year old did a better job of staying focused. As he rushed back to see what could be triggering the alarm, he took consolation in that at least this was a highly motivated ten-year old.

Like many children of the village, Terreine was fascinated with the Stargate. Long before the Lucien Alliance rudely arrived, the people of Naturine had known that the gate was a portal leading to other worlds, but they'd lost knowledge of how to make it function. Part of the treaty with the SGC included access to a safe off world marketplace created on behalf of several worlds.

Terreine begged her father to take her through the gate to the marketplace. Elder Durant agreed on two conditions, that she be good and helpful with their guests and that she stop sneaking off alone even during the day to examine the gate. She protested, but her father was adamant. The pack of local beasts that made the gate the center of their territory was nocturnal by natural, but he was unwilling to allow the risk.

After her deal with her father, she made good on her promise and not only frequently delivered pleasant little gifts like interesting flora, pretty rocks or handfuls of sweetly tart berries, but she also ran their errands and answered their mundane questions with enthusiasm.

Once Daniel followed Terreine back to his squawking laptop, he identified the reason for the alarm, quickly informed Mitchell of their problem, spoke to the Elders, and found Vala before regrouping with the rest of the team. They'd loaded their packs and slipped away in the fast fading light. Five minutes down the path, Vala swung around and scanned the woods. The rest of the team halted with their weapons at the ready. After a minute, she shrugged. "I thought I heard something."

"We probably just spooked this planet's equivalent of a bunny rabbit," Mitchell concluded. "Let's move out."

A few minutes later, she paused again, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head to the side. Daniel touched her arm. "Did you hear something?"

She shook her head, "I don't know, maybe, but I feel like something's out there watching."

"Well, I don't feel anything," Mitchell insisted and they kept going.

The same pattern repeated until they all finally shot down her intuition. During the last leg to the Stargate, Vala said nothing, but Daniel still saw her listening carefully and looking over her shoulder. They'd barely stepped into the clearing around the gate when Daniel heard a branch snap as if beneath the weight of a heavy footfall.

"Okay, this time I heard something."

Mitchell pulled his weapon and slowly turned around in a circle, checking out all the angles. "Let's just dial home and then it won't matter what anyone heard."

Daniel shrugged off his pack and set it at the base of the dialing device while he punched in the address for home. When he heard the rustling of dry leaves in the nearby thicket, followed by more branches breaking just off to the side of the path they'd taken from the village, he stopped dialing and pulled out his weapon. Was something circling around them? A moment later, he clearly heard the steady beat of footsteps rush toward them from another direction. Behind him, Daniel heard the whine of a Zat gun being readied. Crouched down, he steadied his aim and waited for something to burst out of the forest.

Vala called out, "Hold your fire!" At the same time a small body stumbled out of the surrounding forest. Daniel put the safety back on his gun, shoved it into the holster at his hip, and rushed to follow Vala.

Mitchell shined the light from his P-90 in the face of their stalker. Daniel groaned. "Terreine!"

"Crap. Say it ain't so Jackson."

"It is indeed the child known as Terreine."

Vala knelt next to the girl. "Why would you follow us here? Night has fallen. You know it's too dangerous."

Daniel crouched down on her other side. "What about your promise to your father?"

The child quickly shook her head. "I didn't break my promise. I'm not here alone. I came with you."

Vala sighed and pluck off a dry leaf clinging to the girl's brown hair. Terreine looked down and shuffled her feet. "I thought it would be alright as long as I didn't bother you. I know in the evenings you like to take walks with just your people."

"Patrols, those were patrols," Mitchell corrected.

She twisted the fabric of her cloak in her hand. "I overheard that this time you were going to the Stargate. I thought I could follow you without you knowing, that way you could have your alone walk and I could see the Stargate again."

Daniel scrunched his eyes shut and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Did you also overhear the part where we are going home?"

She shook her head. "I don't understand." Tears welled up in her eyes. "You were going to be with us until the end of the seven day." Something shifted in the woods around them and Terreine jumped and edged closer to Vala.

Mitchell quickly moved his light, scanning the dark forest. For just a second, the beam illuminated a pair of glowing eyes. "Terreine, did anybody else come with you?"

Shaken, she shook her head and whispered. "It's the beasts, they were following me."

Vala stood and took Terreine's hand, keeping her eyes fixed on the shadowed woods. "She is probably right."

"At least they're keeping their distance as advertised."

Terreine nodded solemnly. "They never attack groups, though today my cousin Thom said they do when they are howling."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that. The older boys were just trying to make their stories more frightening." Vala patted the child's hand and turned to Daniel. "What do we do now?"

Mitchell nodded at Teal'c to keep a look out on the unseen creatures they could hear circling them in the forest and stepped closer. "Jackson, I don't suppose we have time to take her back to the village, do we?"

"No." Daniel pulled out the laptop and checked the countdown. "Not even ten minutes before the gate is inoperable for the next three complete lunar cycles."

"Well, with those critters out beating around the bush there's no way we can send her home alone and I'm not leaving someone stuck here for the next three months, so that leaves…," Mitchell trailed off.

"She comes with us," Vala wrapped her arm around Terreine's shoulder.

"Yep, that's about it." Cameron shook his head. "Man, the paperwork is going to be murder. Dial it up Jackson."

"I'm going with you through the gate?" At first, Terreine's eyes lit up with excitement, then she remembered why the team was leaving and her forehead scrunched up and her mouth began to tremble. "Wait. How will I get home if the gate is going to stop working?"

Vala patted her hand. "Only for a few months. Then we can take you home." The girl didn't look reassured; she glanced down the path leading to the village with longing .

Daniel input the last symbols, activated the gate, and began sending the IDC code. The kawoosh of the stabilizing wormhole was almost drowned out by a lonesome cry erupting into the night. Then the entire pack joined in, weaving together a discordant harmony that made the hair on the back of Daniel's neck stand up.

Vala tilted her head. "Well that's creepy."

Daniel nodded. "No kidding, but I'm not sure if the timing is a coincidence. I wonder if they might be responding to the sub-harmonic waves produced by the Stargate."

Terreine started to tremble all over. "They're going to attack. We have to get back to the village."

"No one is going to attack," Vala absently replied. "See - they are already quieting down." Still, they tightened up their group and moved toward the glowing watery pool as one.

On the steps leading up to the gate, Daniel paused. "Wait, we need to leave a message behind for Terreine's parents. Kidnapping isn't the best way to christen the new treaty." Daniel swung his pack off his shoulders, crouched down and started digging in it his for a notebook. "Maybe leave a note of some kind to indicate she's safe."

"Jackson, do we really have time?"

"Only take a minute."

Mitchell rolled his eyes and motioned for Teal'c to go on through. "We're right behind you big guy." Teal'c nodded serenely and stepped through the rippling blue wall.

Daniel quickly scratched out a message and motioned for Terreine to put her name on the paper.

Vala let go of Terreine's hand and nudged her in Daniel's direction, but mid-step the girl froze. The canine chorus began to rise again and this time the choir was noticeably closer. The child's green eyes were wide with fright and her lips quivered in terror. She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her middle. "It isn't safe here. They're howling. This is their territory. We can't be here. Not now. We have to go." Without warning, she turned and leapt off the side of the platform, her cloak billowing behind her as she took off at a dead run down the path before darting into the forest.

"Terreine!" Vala shouted. She dropped her pack, pushed past Mitchell and ran after Terreine, Zat gun in hand.

"Aww crap!" Mitchell kicked at the ground

Daniel watched Vala disappear into the night. He said aloud the one thought going through his mind. "She's never going to make it back in time."

Mitchell kicked at the ground again. "Crap, crap, crappity crap." He stopped swearing and rubbed his face with his hand. "Ok, here's what's going to happen. As commanding officer, I'm not going to leave a member of my team all alone, so I will stay behind as well. Come here and take this pack back with you. Maybe," he muttered under his breath as he loosened the strap around his waist, "sending back the signed treaty and the ore samples will keep Landry from reassigning me to Washington and Destiny's body snatching shore-leave duty."

Daniel wrenched his gaze from the spot where Vala disappeared and looked at SG-1'S current commanding officer. He slowly stood up, his head cocked thoughtfully to one side. "So you're suggesting that you stay, I go back, and for the next three months my last memory is Vala running off alone into the dark, wolf infested, woods…yeah, I don't think so." Acting on instinct, Daniel planted his palms against the middle of Mitchell's chest and shoved hard.

The weight of the rocks in Mitchell's pack pulled him off balance and he toppled backwards through the Stargate. Moments later, the watery blue pool flickered twice and then fizzled out completely. Daniel turned away from the now dark portal and toward the eerie, wolf like howls that continued to echo through the dark, dense woods.

He called out Vala's name and raced down the forest path.