LIBERTINES AND LIBERATION

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any Stargate characters, ideas or themes. As a matter of fact, Stargate can have my ideas if they want them (wouldn't that be great). All standard applicable disclaimers apply to this piece. I have tried to source any materials quoted in furtherance of this story.

Spoilers: Probably some for Season 10 and beyond

Summary: Vala and Daniel centered storyline adventure (hopefully); relationship (okay yes); angst (yup); comfort; etc.

Rating: R to NC-17 in some parts.

Author's Note: This is my first Stargate fiction. I have no betas – not even a beta fish – not even sure what a beta is in fact.

This story will have multiple chapters.

I took inspiration from Milena D's Misappropriation of Lives and a short story called Believe by Random. I really wish those two authors would write more on those two story lines.

I hope for a few comments.

False Goddess

In spite of his best efforts, Daniel had drifted off to sleep. He was leaning against a wall in a darkened room, which was illuminated only by the moonlight shining through small window-like openings at the tops of the walls. He was in the main temple on Quotan – a planet that he and the rest of SG-1 had gated to over 24 hours prior. He was exhausted – hadn't allowed himself to sleep in all that time – but he started back awake when he felt the warm goddess who rested in his lap stir. Looking down, he saw that this exotic goddess was exactly where he had positioned her; she was lying across his lap with her head resting against his chest. She was still unconscious and kept upright by Daniel's arms which encircled her near nude torso. Daniel had taken off his jacket to use as a blanket over as much of her body as possible. Examining her face, he thought she looked a bit less pale. Her breathing a bit less shallow and rapid, for which he thanked his higher powers – whoever they may be these days.

An hour ago he thought she was coming to because she had stirred and cried out. His heart leapt in his throat for fear she would give away their position to the zealots that claimed this temple. If they didn't already know their goddess was missing, they would soon. He was hoping that the rest of SG-1 would be able to extract them before that happened.

Daniel lowered his lips closer to the goddess' face and whispered, "Qetesh was too popular for your own good Vala. First Athena kidnapped you and now these temple nut jobs." Daniel let out a breath and wondered if he should risk breaking radio silence. He'd resisted the temptation for the last two hours, ever since he stumbled across his opportunity to free an apparently drugged Vala from the lightly guarded sleeping chamber that was located on the other side of the temple.

Daniel felt Vala's warmth against him. Stay awake, Daniel told himself, stay awake to make sure we get out of here and Vala is alright. Vala, Daniel mused looking down on her pale, beautiful face. Vala had been back from the Ori galaxy for over a year, and Daniel was finding himself increasingly conflicted when it came to her.

They'd been through so much since her return. He'd shared his mind with Merlin and been a prior, together they had been instrumental in the 'death' of Vala's daughter Adria, they'd had to set up an elaborate sting against Vala's father, they'd been stuck on the Odyssey in a time dilation field, and Vala had been kidnapped, well counting this current situation, twice. It hadn't been dull.

He was proud of how she had proven him right when he stuck his neck out and told the SGC they could take a chance on her. She'd not only proven she was trustworthy, she'd also proven she was valuable. She knew the Goa'uld, including the culture, language and technology, and that had proven an asset on a number of occasions. She was familiar with a lot of ancient technology too. She had underworld contacts and skills that had lent them some vital assistance in locating the Odyssey and its crew, including Sam, when it was overpowered by the Lucian Alliance. He remembered how impressed he had been with Vala's ability to handle the technology of the ship in such a pressure situation, including his hovering nervously over her shoulder. He smiled at the recollection of Sam's face, when she told him and the rest of SG-1 about Vala's "outside of the box" repair of the Odyssey's hyperdrive crystal control panel. That repair had been just in the knick of time and helped them escape Ketan's attack.

He smiled thinking about how different she looked now, in this silky, revealing goddess garb with her long hair flowing down her back, she'd been in her BDUs with her dark tresses shoved into her standard pig tails when they had encountered the Qetesh loving temple nuts hours ago.

It was hard for Daniel to reconcile the quirky woman he spent hours with in his lab at the SGC to this still beauty that lay in his arms -- a beauty that had once attracted the unwanted attentions of the now dead, Qetesh, who had forced Vala into years of hellish service as host to a Goa'uld who had been a sex goddess.

Daniel let his mind recall his initial annoyance with Vala spending so much time in his lab. He had merely tolerated her presence because he had no choice, they were linked by the Goa'uld bracelets, but now he found Vala's presence comforting in spite of her annoying, loud music or the argument d' jour. He had come to rely on her assistance with trickier translations of Goa'uld, and had recently discovered that her travels had left her with basic understandings of several other languages and dialects. She had a facility for picking up culture and dialects that was probably born of her love of a good treasure hunt.

So Daniel had started giving Vala assignments on his projects. He'd expected her to whine that she was bored, and blow off his work, but she hadn't. She'd done what he asked of her, given him her work and a fresh cup of coffee and asked "what next". So he'd given her another assignment. And after a few such assignments, he'd started spending time giving her little primers that increased her usefulness in his lab. And if he were honest, he had to admit he enjoyed teaching her new things. If he were honest, he enjoyed her company, she reminded him of the best of having Jack around. She could lighten an atmosphere with a joke and had perfected her ability to tease him in a way he found both amusing and irritating.

Off world, he found that she was charming. Many of the native populations they came across on new planets, whether they were simple farmers or societies with some technological advancement, warmed to her almost immediately. People liked her, or thought her beauty was a testament to their gods, or simply laughed at her bright smiles and silly eyebrows when she moved one independently of the other. Hell he wasn't sure why any of that should surprise him. Vala had started off their relationship stealing his ship, taking him hostage and stranding his friends, now, at his own insistence he noted, she was a permanent member of SG-1. Daniel had to admit that all of Vala's changes this past year had unsettled him.

Daniel gathered Vala a little closer into his arms as he felt the start of a shiver pass through her body. His brow furrowed at his response to the feel of Vala's body in his arms. Lately he had drifted into thoughts about Vala that were decidedly not in the friend and coworker category. And holding her in his arms wasn't helping him with that right now.

In his weaker moments, he replayed their kisses on the Prometheus, remembering the weight of her body on top of him and the lush, silky feel of her lips on his. If he were completely honest with himself, he had to admit that on one recent late night he had found himself reliving carrying Vala unconscious to the Prometheus Brig and striping off every last stitch of clothing she had on.

In his fantasy, he hadn't rushed through the task and quickly dressed her in a boring SGC uniform. Instead, he had slowly dressed Vala in silky, revealing lingerie (something he knows she owns because she told him when she was flirting with him before she disappeared into the Ori galaxy). Then, he peeled the lingerie slowly back off her body in order to run his tongue over her breasts and down her stomach and . . . .

Daniel looked down at Vala, and let himself think about how good she felt, his eyes glazed momentarily imagining Vala's legs spread in invitation and the wet, tight, silky feel entering her must be. Daniel felt himself harden, before he admonished himself to stop. Where was this coming from? You're sitting here with your unconscious friend and COWORKER on your lap and you're getting hard.

Right or wrong, he felt irritated with Vala for invading his solitary sex life with "real time" images from the Prometheus, not to mention her little seduction attempt when they were linked by the bracelets, let alone her current state of goddess undress and position in his arms (well that really isn't her fault he conceded). His fantasy life had taken on a whole new context because he suspected he could make it real if he wanted to. Except, he also knew he couldn't really rely on Vala on a personal level now could he? She could fly the coop at any time and was a confirmed flirt and tease, wasn't she?

Better think about something else, like what you've come up with on Quotan, Daniel admonished silently. When he wasn't focused on fighting the Ori, which was most of the time, Daniel had devoted quite a bit of time to researching the information Athena had gathered surrounding the Clava Thessara Infinitas. It was all he focused on when Vala had been kidnapped on Earth by Athena; he had hoped the research might give them a lead to Vala's whereabouts. Once they had raided the Trust safe houses and come up empty, Daniel kept going with the research because he found it comforting, it was a way not to give up hope of seeing Vala again. He had originally thought the Clava Thessara Infinitas, or Key to Infinite Treasure, was an elaborate myth. But Athena's research had been impressive and he now thought there was a possibility that it was real.

He remembered that Vala had paled slightly when he first suggested a mission to Quotan. He thought she might object to the idea given Qetesh's connections to Quotan, said at one time to be inhabited by Qetesh's most devoted worshipers. But Athena's research indicated that the planet had been abandoned by its human slaves and was now uninhabited, largely due to a long standing drought and depletion of the naquedah mines. And Vala never raised any objections. So he had requested that General Landry allow SG-1 to gate to Quotan. As a safeguard, they had used the MALP to conduct scans which all confirmed no life signs.

Almost from the minute SG-1 came through the gate on Quotan, the mission had gone wrong. They had discovered a small band of well armed pilgrims on a journey to the Temples of Qetesh. The pilgrims had been pleasant to Vala, who had stayed uncharacteristically close to Daniel, usually he was running after her to make sure she didn't come to harm. But the pilgrims had moved on soon enough without any indication that they had recognized a connection between Vala and Qetesh. There were certainly enough distinctions, not least of which was that Daniel doubted Qetesh would ever deign to wear pig tails.

SG-1 had spent nearly four hours exploring the areas of the temples most likely to yield further clues to the Clava Thessara Infinitas.

"Vala are you sure you don't recognize any of these rooms?" Daniel recalled asking her.

"No, nothing rings a bell." She had shrugged when he gave her an annoyed look.

"Though I do recall that Qetesh had a fondness for designing her temples on a diagonal," Vala added as an afterthought.

"What do you mean?" Daniel had asked.

"Well, related items in a room would be placed diagonally from each other. So if a room were to have a secret compartment, it would likely be found on a diagonal from the main entrance for instance." Vala explained.

Daniel had just begun to apply this little tidbit of information, and why couldn't Vala have told me that four hours ago, when the pilgrims they had seen earlier entered the temple room they were in with their weapons targeting SG-1. After insisting that SG-1 disarm, two men stepped forward and bowed before Vala. The color drained from Vala's face and she'd told them, "You're making a mistake. I am not who you think I am."

Daniel had tried to put his arm around Vala's waist, but was pushed away by one of the pilgrims. Daniel's stomach turned as he saw the panic in Vala's eyes as the pilgrims refused to believe she was not Qetesh.

"Goddess Qetesh you are bewitched by these heretics," one burley but sincere pilgrim had cried as he bowed and touched Vala's boot.

"You must be purified and then your humble pilgrims can make their offerings so that you may receive them in fertility," another male pilgrim said. Daniel didn't know what receiving pilgrims in fertility meant, but he knew he didn't like the sound of it. And judging from Vala's pallor, she knew exactly what it meant and didn't like the sound of it either.

"You heretics will face the wall," the burley pilgrim who had touched Vala's boot demanded with the butt of his large gun. Daniel had never seen a weapon like the pilgrim's gun before; he suspected it to be an early Goa'uld design.

"Oh this can't be good," Cam had whispered.

"Indeed." Teal'c had replied.

Daniel thought they were going to be shot execution style. But then he'd heard Vala's voice command, "You will not harm them. They are my faithful servants. I will come with you, but you must leave these servants unharmed as they are in my service." When she had her wits about her, Vala was a very convincing faux goddess. Daniel had seen this act of Vala's before. The pilgrims obeyed Vala, but insisted on locking the remaining SG-1 members into a dungeon-like room as a safeguard.

With the guards in place, the team had no choice but to wait until night and attempt an escape.

As night darkened their prison, Daniel smiled and put a skill Vala had recently taught him to use. He picked the lock on the door. He remembered rolling his eyes at Vala when she had bent over his shoe and placed a paper clip on his lace. Daniel, how many times have you been locked up over the years on your little star gating adventures. She'd asked him. I bet it's been quite a lot, you've probably been locked in cages more than I have. It's time you learned to pick a lock properly. I'm going to teach you the way I was taught she had said – no tools because you'll rarely have the proper tool when you need the skill I'm going to show you.

Daniel had fussed at her teaching him to be a criminal, but he let her teach him the skill, and allowed her to supervise as he perfected his new skill. She'd told him with a smile, "I'm glad to be the teacher for a change. I can't have you thinking you know everything." "But won't I know everything after you're done." "Yes" she'd said, "but I intend to go slow."

Once Daniel had freed them, the team had split up to look for Vala. Daniel and Cam were to search for Vala while Sam and Teal'c looked for a way out of the temple. They had agreed to meet in the bushes at the side of the temple, or all else failing, at the Stargate. Not fifteen minutes later, Daniel had come across a large sleeping chamber being guarded by only one pilgrim. There on the bed lay a sleeping Vala dressed as a sex goddess.

The pilgrims had stripped her of her BDUs and dressed her in a gold gown befitting Qetesh. Daniel easily subdued the pilgrim attending Vala. When he tried to awaken Vala, he discovered she was unconscious, probably drugged. He had been unsuccessful in finding any of her SG-1 clothing or gear. So he had gathered her up in his arms and fled the room. He'd tried to make his way back to the designated meeting point, but the pilgrims were posted at the halls and appeared to be performing a ritual in preparation for receiving Qetesh. So Daniel had opted to take refuge with Vala in a small, he hoped hidden, temple room until SG-1 broke radio silence.

When he had placed Vala on the temple floor with his jacket over her, she had shivered so violently, that he was worried she would attract the pilgrims. So he had gathered her onto his lap, holding her to his chest, hoping to warm her. The pilgrims had chosen to cloth Vala in sheer gold cloth sparsely embroidered with a swirling pattern. The gown only minimally covered Vala's breasts, her pink nipples still visible through the bodice. The gown completely disappeared and revealed Vala's naked back, stomach and flat abdomen. Vala's hips and legs were encased in a filmy, see through sheer gold skirt. She wore no shoes, but her ankles were adorned with gold cuffs. They had curled her hair in long flowing curls which had been spread across the pillow when Daniel first saw her. Her eye makeup had the dark lines and character of an ancient Egyptian. They had rouged Vala's lips to a blood red. She looked a rare, pale, and gold dark sleeping beauty.

Right now she looked nothing like the woman who had been asking him at least half a dozen questions a day about Earth, and particularly American, culture. She looked nothing like the woman he teased by rolling his eyes when she came bounding into his office with her latest pop culture discovery. Vala's whole hearted embrace of all things in the popular culture amused, and okay sometimes irritated, Daniel, but he had to admit that they had shown her very little else of their world.

He had recently taken steps to rectify this cultural deficit by giving her a book containing the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh. He had told her the poignant tale of Vincent's life, his slip into insanity, his sacrifice of an ear in the name of love and art, and his death by suicide. Vala's subsequent fierce love of the Van Gogh book with its beautiful prints of his vibrant work had been oddly moving to Daniel. And from that book, he was completely blown away to find that Vala had found the online galleries for the Louvre, the Met and Moma. She'd then declared that Aristide Maillol was her favorite Earth sculptor because he did great butts. He'd had to look up Maillol on his lap top once Vala had gone to bed.

Though he wasn't prepared to admit it, even to himself, some of his favorite times recently involved sitting on his lab couch with Vala watching a DVD on his lap top so that he could answer Vala's questions on the topic d' jour. Watching her enlightenment always made him feel happier, lighter and, okay, left him thinking of the scent of her hair. She had a zeal for life that was fun to be around.

And, Daniel knew that the time he spent with Vala was not a one way street when it came to enlightenment on Earth's culture. Vala had recently began adding to Daniel's CD collection and I-pod downloads (he'd thought about yelling at her for using his account, but he was too curious about what she would come up with; and, she'd surprised him she always paid him back for the music she purchased). Her tastes were eclectic, and with no preconceived prejudices, the new music in his office ranged from naïve to sophisticated. While he eschewed her love of pop divas, he had to admit that Colbie Callet had a bluesy voice and, he had been impressed at how much he loved Ali Farka Toure's African jazz. He'd recalled her mysterious little smile when he'd asked her how she had discovered Toure.

So there Daniel sat on the floor with a real live false sex goddess sleeping in his arms, and all he wanted was for his Vala to open her eyes and start annoying him with some ridiculous tangents, snappy retorts and wide grins. Daniel sighed loudly and drifted back to sleep.

Daniel woke up when he felt Vala make a sudden movement against his body. Her movement had been small to start, but she quickly let out a mewling sound and sat up unsteadily, saying, "No!" Daniel looked down at her face and saw her eyes were filled with confusion and terror.

Daniel quickly tightened his hold on Vala. Rocking her slightly, he put his lips near her ear and said, "Vala, wake up, it's Daniel. Shhhh, Vala you're alright, I have you. You have to stay quiet. Shhhhh."

Vala seemed to calm and leaned her head back onto Daniel's chest. "Daniel?"

"Yeah, what happened to you? You've been out cold since I found you three hours ago." Daniel explained, still rocking her.

"Well the last thing I remember was being taken to a bathing chamber, where that group of sex pilgrims and I had a disagreement over whether I was in need of a bath." Vala looked at her bare arms and quipped, "Apparently I lost the argument." The quip was typical Vala, but Daniel felt her body shudder at the thought of these strange men bathing her.

"You don't know what they drugged you with?" Daniel asked absently starting to rub Vala's back, before the feel of her naked skin startled him from the gesture of comfort.

Vala, still too disoriented to notice Daniel's touch on her back, said "I remember one of the men jabbed me with his ring. It hurt." Vala showed Daniel her arm where there was a small puncture wound.

Daniel gave her a minute to come more fully awake. He was still rocking her gently without realizing it.

"Where is everyone else?" Vala asked.

"Not sure." Daniel said and then relayed a brief account of their escape from the pilgrims and his rescue of her from the sleeping chambers. (Vala had smiled like a proud parent when Daniel told her he successively picked the lock of the dungeon door.)

"Daniel." Vala said looking up at him.

"Hmmm," Daniel said absently.

"Not that I'm complaining but why am I sitting in your lap darling?" Vala said softly with a smile.

"You were cold." Daniel sputtered. "You were making so much noise; I thought you were going to bring all those zealots down on our heads!" He continued.

"Well thank you for warming me up." Vala smiled innocently.

"Do you think you can stand up?" Daniel asked, changing the subject.

"I'm a little dizzy, but let's try it and see."

Vala started to rise from Daniel's lap as Daniel supported her weight by placing his hands on her hips. Daniel felt her weight come back against his hands as she fell back. "Dizzy." She said and shivered as Daniel put his arms back around her and pulled her back into his lap. He held her like that for another 10 minutes, before she said, "Let's try again."

This time Daniel stood first and helped her up. Vala leaned against the wall behind them to steady herself. In her effort to stand, Daniel's jacket slipped off Vala and onto the floor. Vala was suddenly cold from the loss of warmth from both Daniel and his jacket, she shivered suddenly intensely aware that she was not in her BDUs. She looked down at the revealing gown designed for Qetesh, the sex goddess, and spun around to Daniel, holding her hands over her breasts, as she came to the realization that Daniel had spent several hours in close proximity with her near nude body.

Daniel looked a bit sheepish as he reached down to pick his jacket up. He held the jacket open so that Vala could put it on. "Yeah, I kinda understand your leather wardrobe now," Daniel joked.

Vala scowled at him, but then she shrugged, "Well it's nothing you haven't seen before (clearly referring to the time he had undressed her on the Prometheus). Qetesh could have designed for Frederick's of Hollywood, couldn't she?" Hitting Daniel in the arm, Vala added, "and my wardrobe is nothing like this Daniel, I have taste!"

"Oh of course you do. Now can we talk about how we're going to get out of here Coco Chanel?" Daniel said in an irritated voice, but he was grinning.

"Should we break radio silence?" Vala suggested.

"Yeah, I've been reluctant because I couldn't move quickly with you drugged and dead weight." Daniel said.

"Well, I'm mobile now." Vala said, "Have you looked for an alternative exit from this room?"

"No, uh, I had my hands full." Daniel looked at her pointedly raising his eyebrows.

"Right. Well the diagonal to the main door would be over there. So maybe we should just give it a try." Vala suggested with a bit of a knowing grin.

Daniel approached the area she had pointed to and felt along the wall. Before too long his hand came across some glyphs.

"There's something here," Daniel said.

"Where?" asked Vala coming over to feel for herself, "you know Daniel, I think I remembered something about this place while I was with the pilgrims."

"What?"

"Well, it's a pattern or a sequence that Qetesh used. I wish I had my boots on. Here, help me with this." Vala reached for Daniel's arm and drew him closer. Then she backed him up for a moment and stood in front of him. She began feeling along the edge where the floor and wall met. Then she looked around at him, "okay, two hard taps with the toe of your boot here" Vala pointed with her toe. Daniel obeyed.

"Now two hard taps there," Vala instructed. Daniel obeyed.

"Okay, now one hard tap over there, and then you and I will quickly push here together. Got that?"

"Uh, huh." Daniel said, "On three; One, two, three." Daniel tapped and they pushed together. Daniel felt the wall give, revealing a large chamber with hallways leading off of it.

"Okay now we're getting somewhere." Daniel whispered excitedly, "hold this open while I grab my gear," he instructed Vala.

Daniel and Vala entered the chamber which was illuminated by the glow of low lights that appeared to be torches. The room appeared to contain a small repository of books and other artifacts. The room also contained a small stash of zats and other technology. Daniel handed Vala one. He put a couple in his pack, and then chose one for himself. "I wish we could test these, but that would probably be too loud." He said.

"Do you recognize any of this stuff?" Daniel asked Vala about the technology. Vala tried to focus on his question, but her head was still fuzzy and she felt dizzy. "Sorry." She said simply. Daniel would have liked to investigate the chamber, but they needed to find the rest of SG-1. As they reached the other side of the chamber, they heard Teal'c, Cam and Sam's voices coming from the other side of a wall.

"Do you think Daniel was recaptured too?" Cam asked.

"Well, it's likely they would have put him in with us if they had him." Sam reasoned.

Daniel and Vala looked at one another. Daniel gestured toward the floor asking her if there was an entrance to the room. Vala shook her head no.

They continued into the hall and the next chamber it lead to.

Vala stopped Daniel and appeared to be listening hard for signs of their teammates. She began feeling along the wall for the marks that would indicate a door. She pointed to Daniel holding up one or two fingers to indicate how many taps he should make. Before he began, Vala leaned up and bent his head so she could whisper in his ear. "Just like before okay." Her breath tickled his ear, and a chill ran down his spine. He nodded yes.

Tap, Tap. Tap, Tap. Tap, and then Vala and Daniel pushed the wall together. The wall gave way, and they were staring into a room where Teal'c, Cam and Sam were sitting on the floor with their hands and feet bound.

"Hey guys!" Daniel whispered.

All three of their teammates turned and smiled.

Daniel's jacket hung open around Vala's scantily clad body. Cam gave her an up-down look and a grin, "Uh, nice outfit Princess, but aren't you cold?"

"Freezing!" Vala said.

Daniel jerked Vala's arm to turn her away from Cam's direction and threaded the jacket zipper together roughly. He jerked the zipper up in a smooth, rough move. The jacket hung loosely and ended right where her bottom met her thighs, which were still quite visible through the sheer fabric.

"Hey Romeo, how about untying us," Cam asked as he smirked at Daniel's protective action.

All the teammates freed, they slipped back through the secret passage.

"That was good timing." Cam said, "The 666 Club has been a bit put out by the disappearance of their goddess. They were getting ready to exercise our demons in the name of their true god. We were hoping you had found her."

"Yup, I found her." Daniel said with a grin, "I would have been here sooner but they drugged her so I had to wait until she woke up so she could remember how to get us out of here. He looked pointedly at Vala."

"Why is it always me that has to plan the exit?" Vala whined, "Oh well, alright one more time." She smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"I think they're might be some rings through there." Vala said. "I might be able to figure out how to ring us to the Stargate."

"Well while you're figuring that out, I saw something in that chamber that might be very interesting." Daniel said.

"Okay, Jackson that will have to wait until we find the rings. Then, if there's time, you and I will take a trip back while Princess, Teal'c and Sam figure out the rings. Agreed?" Cam commanded.

"Makes sense, I guess." Daniel said slightly annoyed at Cam's common sense.

Vala's estimate of where the ring room was located turned out to be correct. She and Sam were soon conferring on the proper configuration of the rings to take them to a location close to the Stargate. Teal'c was posted at the opening of the secret passage so that Daniel and Cam could get through without searching for the patterns on the floor. Daniel had distributed the zats he had located earlier so all were armed.

Daniel and Cam were gone for several minutes. They returned carrying a book and an odd looking device. Cam put the items in his pack. "So we got a ride to the Stargate Princess?"

Vala looked at Sam.

Sam responded, "Yeah, we think so. Vala and I don't agree one hundred percent, but since she has Qetesh's memories, we're going with her idea."

"Okay, as long as you two are happy, we'll give it a go." Cam said.

Vala manipulated the controls and they all stood on the rings. A couple of seconds later, the rings appeared with a hum and they were all transported.

Vala looked over at Sam with a raised eyebrow.

Sam laughed, "Okay Vala I owe you a mochachino."

Vala grinned.

They found themselves outside in a clearing. Vala said, "The gate is that way." She pointed, stepped off the ring platform and headed towards the gate.

Daniel followed Vala. Sam was in the middle and Teal'c and Cam were on the six.

They'd gone about a hundred yards when Daniel saw Vala jump off one foot and wince. He had forgotten that she was barefoot. In the early morning light, he saw that she had cut her foot. Without saying a word, he scooped Vala up and began to carry her towards the gate.

"Thanks," she said giving him an appreciative look.

They were in sight of the Stargate in about ten minutes, and Daniel put Vala down, not bothering to look at his other teammates who he was sure would be smirking at him.

"There's two pilgrims guarding the gate." Cam said. He pointed to Teal'c and himself, and held up his hand for the others to wait.

They didn't know if the zats would be effective, but they tried them anyway. Cam's zat functioned fine, and his pilgrim crumpled to the ground stunned unconscious. Teal'c's zat did not fire. The pilgrim turned and targeted Teal'c with his own weapon. A shot flew by Teal'c's ear nearly blowing it off. Just then, Cam's zat fired again stunning the other pilgrim.

"Thank you Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c said calmly.

They heard Sam dialing the gate behind them. They dialed in the Alpha site, the new standard policy when a team had encountered trouble. The blue shimmering pool appeared and they transmitted their IDC. As they appeared on the other side of the event horizon, they were greeted by armed SGC personnel, who stood down only when assured there was no further threat.

Cam spoke briefly with the gate control room, while the armed soldiers continued to stare at the rest of SG-1 with what Daniel would term "dirty smirks" on their faces. Too late he realized that they were looking at Vala's legs which were clearly visible through the sheer fabric under the bright lights of the gate room. Covered by Daniel's jacket, she looked like a GI on the top, but from the bottom down, she looked like some exotic geisha, complete with gold cuffs on her ankles.

Daniel moved closer to Vala and gave the soldiers a subtle scowl. Vala seemed tired, as the surge of adrenalin was subsiding. She was oblivious to the soldiers' leers, comfortable in the folds of Daniel's large jacket.

Cam walked back in as the Stargate began to spin again. "Let's go home people."