Chapter Six

Six months ago...

"Like clockwork," Mitchell muttered to himself as he hammered at the same post he had been tending to for the past hour in the market.

"What?" Reynolds asked, wiping the sweat from his brow before picking up a plank of wood and carrying it to the position of the next post of the new stall they were working on.

Mitchell gestured to just a few stalls down with a nod of his head. "Same time every day for the past two weeks, those two run off for a walk."

"Yea, with Vala's little puppy following behind." Reynolds looked around Jackson and Vala. "I don't see Tomas anywhere though."

"Maybe dude has finally realized the same thing I did the minute they met-as long as Jackson is around, no one else stands a chance with Vala."

Reynolds gave his colleague a smirk. "Aww, don't worry, Mitchell. There are plenty of lovely women around here. You'll find one for you."

"Pfftt..." he shook his head. "Chics are the last thing I am worried about right now-and the same should go for you. What we should be worried about is finding a way to fix whatever happened to us and get the hell outta here."

The older man frowned. "What if that isn't possible? We've been here about a month. Maybe we should start thinking about settling in."

Mitchell pointed his hammer at him. "That is crazy talk there! Look, we were part of something big, I just know it. We can't give up on that. We need to figure a way out of this mess so we can get back to doing, well, whatever it was we were doing before we stumbled upon this god awful planet! I'm sure it was more important than hammering a bunch of stupid stalls together."

Reynolds nodded his agreement, taking a swig of his water jug as he leaned on the post Mitchell was working on.

Mitchell watched as Reynolds shifted his weight onto the post, then as it toppled over along with him teammate. "Yea, I wasn't done with that one yet."

They walked in silence down their usual path, the one that leads to the stream just outside of town, for quite awhile. It was a comfortable silence, unlike the awkward ones that often accompanied them along with their usual third wheel, Tomas. Jackson had noticed his absence but wasn't exactly sure how to broach the subject since they were having such a nice time just being together.

"Tomas is under the weather," Vala answered to his unasked question.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied half heartedly, noting how eerily she was always able to read him.

"Don't be." She bit her lower lip lightly, looking a bit guilty. "I might have made sure that he felt under the weather today."

"What?" he asked with a laugh. "You actually poisoned Tomas?"

She shrugged, trying to suppress her smile. "I wanted some privacy, which is clearly an idea Tomas is not familiar with."

Daniel immediately appeared apologetic, stopping in his tracks and looking like he was going to head back. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you wanted to be alone today. I'll go back to the village."

"No, please don't." She looped her arm through his. "What I meant, is that I would like to be alone. With you. It's just that, I like being with you."

He smiled with wonder as he glanced down at her. "Why is that? I just...you could be with anyone in this village. Tomas especially."

She lifted a shoulder. "When I first woke up here, I felt so lost and alone. Then I looked up and you were peering around the curtain at me...and you smiled. And I just felt at peace. I liked how you made me feel."

"Like you were home?" he asked, his blue eyes dancing with understanding.

Vala grinned at him affectionately. "Exactly. I want to know you."

He chuckled. "Difficult, given that we don't really know ourselves right now."

"What do you do with those books you are always reading? The histories?"

He contemplated this as he continued their walk. "Looking for answers, I think."

"To what?"

His shoulders heaved a sigh. "I don't know, but I feel like if I just look hard enough I can figure out what's happened to us. Maybe figure out a way to make things right." He took her silence to mean understanding. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Tat for tat, eh?"

"I think you mean 'tit for tat'," he corrected automatically, "but yes, that is the idea." He paused as she nodded. "Why does Emma keep such a close watch on you?"

Her steps faltered at this and she gently untangled his arm from hers. "Multiple reasons, I believe. She's never really told me, but I have my suspicions." She walked to the edge of the stream, staring out at the reflections of the trees in the water. "It's taken me longer to recover from whatever it is that happens to us when we come through the gate."

He straightened with worry. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, bending down to pick up a pebble and tossing it across the water, watching as it bounced. "I have...nightmares. Only sometimes they happen when I'm not asleep. I think I'm remembering things from before I was here."

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" he asked as he stepped beside her, echoing her motion with a pebble of his own. "Why would Emma feel the need to keep you so close if you're only remembering?"

Vala swallowed hard, trying to fight back tears. "When they found me, she said there was evidence that I had been attacked. She tried telling me that they feared my attackers would come back for me."

"Huh," Jackson mused outloud. "I wonder if that's why she doesn't like us." He noticed her look of confusion and continued. "Mitchell, Reynolds, and I have noticed that Emma treats us differently than the others. Almost like she is angry with us. I thought, at first, that maybe she just didn't trust us since we were new, but we've been here awhile now and nothing has changed. And she gets particularly upset when we are around you. Maybe she thinks we were sent through the gate to come after you." He paled as he realized how true that statement might be.

"No, I think you have that wrong, Jackson." She wiped a stray tear from her eye. "I believed her at first, that they were trying to protect me. But now..." her watery gray eyes looked up to his, "those visions I have, the memories...I think she is afraid of me. Of what I might do to others."

He gently turned her around to face him. "Hey, that is not true at all. I promise you."

She shook her head emphatically. "I heard them talking, Jackson. I didn't come through the gate alone, but yet I was the only other new arrival until you and your friends came through almost a week later from what Emma said. That can only mean one thing. I must have killed the others. After the things I've seen, I don't think killing someone is the worst I am capable of."

He gave her shoulders an urgent squeeze. "I refuse to believe that. There's no evidence, Vala. It's just conjecture. And people don't treat you differently. Word would have gotten around if there were bodies to dispose of when you came through."

"But the memories-" she pressed.

"Could be of really bad movies you saw before your memories were wiped. Or it could be your subconscious mind manifesting your fears about your past in ways you just don't understand." He starting rubbing his hands up and down her arms. "There is no possible way you could hurt anyone. You just don't have it in you."

A few tears spilled over as she looked down to her feet. "You don't know that. Like you said, we hardly know ourselves. We could be completely different people than we were before."

He lifted her chin with the crook of his finger. "I don't believe that either. I believe that at our very cores, we're still the same. We're just missing our experiences. And I think I do know you. I think you are the most mischievous, and the most kind hearted person I know." He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "You've got an excellent sense of humor and an extreme determination that borders on stubborn. You're amazing. No part of you says evil or killer."

She lifted herself to her toes, placing a gentle kiss on his lips. "Thank you, Jackson." She reared her head back as he was about to kiss her again. "Can I call you Jack?"

He grimaced with an immediate, "No." He shook his head. "It just feels...wrong."

She nodded. "Fair enough."

Jackson leaned down to kiss her again, but the sound of a villager calling for Vala made him pull away with a groan.

"Later," she promised with a whisper before running off to meet her search party.

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait for this update. I am trying to finish this story up but the Stargate muse has left me. I have a fairly good idea of where it goes from here, with the action/intensity picking up here soon, so hopefully it will be finished shortly! My muse needs reviews to live though so feel free to review!