Chapter 2: You're Here Too

##

His arm buzzed painfully with that gnawing, scratching sensation of loss of blood flow. He flexed the arm as he fought to open his eyes. He felt as though he were lying under one of those lead bibs they covered you with at the dentist's office before they went to take x-rays. Daniel flung his arm out haphazardly in hopes of waking it up and wound up knocking the alarm clock off his nightstand. It fell with a noisy clatter to the floor and Daniel let out a sigh as he watched the batteries tumble out.

"Oh, no, Daniel, it's too early to get up," came a familiar whining voice as an arm slinked around his waist. Daniel's eyes widened as Vala's presence in his bed registered.

He sat up and scooted up against the headboard as he came to terms with this new development. "Vala! What the hell are you doing here?"

She frowned and rolled over. For a moment he thought she'd gone back to sleep. "I'll make pancakes if you let me have ten more minutes," she said sleepily. "Teal'c taught me how."

"I'm sure they're excellent," Daniel said not without sarcasm, as he flung the covers off of him. He was confused by just how they'd ended up sharing a bed last night, but then he couldn't exactly put it past her to sneak in without permission. He clenched his jaw irritably as he clumsily searched the floor for a shirt, noticing that as he did so, there was a distinct pain there. Like a toothache, but sharper.

"Vala," he said, frowning. He got only a loud, fake snore in response. Rolling his eyes, he massaged his jaw. It was warm, tender - as though he'd been punched. He'd gotten drunk last night, that was it. Wasted, he figured, as he had absolutely no memory of it. But Daniel didn't do that. And he knew that no matter how drunk he was, he'd never end up in bed with that harpy. Lying so blatantly to himself - he barely flinched at it anymore. Repression was good enough for the Puritans, why not him?

Feeling like an honest to goodness zombie as he trudged into the bathroom, Daniel fumbled for the light switch. He ran a hand over his jaw again, prickly stubble scratching the fleshy part of his palm. His jaw throbbed fantastically now. As he went to the sink, his brow furrowed as he smelled something unpleasant. Offensive even. How long had it been since he'd bothered to really scrub the bathroom? He decided to ignore the smell and leaned in to get a better look at his face - he'd accidentally left his glasses on the nightstand. It was strange that he hadn't picked them up, that was the very first thing he did when he woke up - the fuzzy shadows in his usually empty bedroom unnerved him. Finding Vala had made him temporarily forgetful, he thought.

"What the hell," he said slowly as he finally got a good look at himself. His jaw was swollen purple. As he opened his mouth to test the feeling, his heartbeat quickened. Teeth fell out, dropping bloody into the sink. He tongued his gums helplessly. "Vala! Vala!" It sounded like 'Lala, Lala!"

"I'm right here, what's got your panties in a twist this time, Dr. Jackson?" she said almost sneeringly as she came into the bathroom behind him, ruffling her hair. Through the mirror Daniel saw that she had only a tank top and a pair of his boxers on - the pair covered in Darth Vader helmets that Sam had gotten him for christmas one year as a gag gift.

"What the hell happened last night? Look at my face!" he shouted at her, exclaiming at the mirror, sure that this was all her fault. Unfazed by his outburst, Vala yawned and wrapped her arms around his waist as she looked into the mirror. Daniel, too preoccupied with the holes in his mouth to struggle out of her embrace, put his fingers once more to his mouth as he gaped at the mirror. Another tooth toppled out into the sink.

"To be honest, Daniel, I rather like the stubble. Makes you look like a grown up," Vala offered, kissing his chin gently. He looked at her in horror then. Not her, but the image of her in the mirror. There was a red fissure just above her eyebrow. Blood was dripping down into her eye. As he realized this, panic spread through his body as he broke his gaze from the mirror to Vala, who had dropped to her knees.

"Vala! Vala, what happened!" He cupped her face in his bloodied hands, forcing her to look at him. But it had started to go hazy then. The lights were dimming.

The last thing he heard before it went dark was a whispered "Please get up." But it was so far away…

##

It was the smell that woke him up. It had almost snuck up on him, much like driving past the baking, churning scent of a paper mill might. Daniel's hand went unconsciously to his nose as he tried to sit up without opening his eyes. His head slammed against something solid and he was forced to let his shoulders fall back down. Blinking awake, his vision cleared far more quickly than usual and he was greeted with a buzzing yellow-white light. It was warm and trailed a familiar electric sensation down the small of his back.

"Shit."

He was inside a sarcophagus. He'd been in one half a dozen or more times. Or was this the dream? Was this the dream and was his reality a toothless smile? The memory of Vala's ruptured head was clearer to him now than his broken mouth, but even that was fading. Her pleading voice though - that was still bleeding into his consciousness.

He placed his fingers into the grooves of the interior of the sarcophagus, hoping that this one worked as the others did. The levers were still there, thankfully, but just as he was about to click them forward, something passed over the small window in the lid of the sarcophagus. Daniel's heart skipped a beat and he jerked his hands back down to this chest as he resisted the urge to let out a scream.

It was one of those… things. A Faceless One. But it seemed to be peering at him. Leaning over the sarcophagus and staring at him intently. But there were no eyes, Daniel thought stupidly. It became readily apparent to him where the smell was coming from. They very often smelled like compost. Sam had done the barest of examinations on several of the dead ones - it seemed that the spores induced a sudden hyperactivity in the somatic skin cells, causing them to reproduce at an exceedingly alarming rate. At least that was what was happening on the outside. The internal damage was something else altogether - for one thing, the Faceless Ones no longer required aerobic respiration: their lungs ceased to operate. But Sam was no biologist, anything further would require time and equipment they just hadn't had in the two days they'd been on Veranan.

The fleshy mound which once served as its face pressed into the glass for a moment and then pushed itself off, leaving a greasy imprint. Daniel didn't know what the hell he was supposed to do. He could stay in the sarcophagus and risk becoming strung out as well as homicidally apathetic or he could pop out and risk infection.

But some of them were immune, he thought. They hadn't figured out why the infection spread only to some and not all, but SG-1 had spent two days in Haeg without losing their faces. Daniel would like to risk it, but let's face it - Daniel's luck had never been the best.

"Goddamnit!" Daniel said, frustration and fear running through his body as his fists slammed into the lid of the sarcophagus. How long could he stay in there until he started to feel strung out? Couple more hours? He didn't know how long he'd already been in there. He was trying not to let himself worry about the rest of his team. With any luck they'd gotten out through the gate. He'd finished dialing out, hadn't he? The memory wasn't quite coming to him. He just recalled pain. Pain he wasn't altogether unfamiliar with to be perfectly honest.

Trying to reign in his breathing, which was currently gathering on the small glass window, fogging his vision, he swallowed. He needed to diffuse the panic, think clearly. Easier said than done. He just couldn't figure out how he'd gotten into a sarcophagus. He remembered being at the gate, punching in the address, pain (why couldn't he forget that?), and then… darkness. And, subsequently, this stupid, buzzing light. His hands had grown clammy as he groped at his sides. He still had his pants, there should have been a Zat there.

"Right, no Zat, course not," he breathed, clenching his jaw. But then he felt something hard and metal in his palmful: his swiss army knife, complete with a pair of scissors, a toothpick, and slim blade, barely three inches in length. Daniel versus Frankenstein's Monster armed with a glorified butter knife. Jack would just love to see that, he couldn't help but think. Pulling it out, he flipped the blade out anyway, taking what small comfort he could in it.

Though he couldn't be sure, it no longer seemed to be quite as near. The smell wasn't as pervasive. He had wrongly assumed that these stupid sarcophagi were airtight, with its own oxygen supply. At least if it wasn't right next to him, he might be able to jump out of the sarcophagus and make a run for it.

A run for it where though? Where the hell was he? On Veranan? In a Goa'uld ship? They ought to be all either dead or in hiding. But just because he was in a sarcophagus didn't mean he was necessarily on a Goa'uld vessel. He wiped the condensation from his breath off the glass and tried to peer out of his coffin. He saw a dark ceiling and not much else. No gold though, which was fairly telling. Perhaps some alien had simply stolen the sarcophagus. He imagined one of these babies would fetch a pretty penny on the black market. Vala would probably know.

Swallowing hard, Daniel laid as still as possible for a few minutes, straining to hear any movement outside his box. He could hear a shuffling. Like it was dragging something. It's arms, Daniel thought suddenly. He remembered how a few of them, their arms would grow to such disproportionate lengths that they would have to be dragged behind them. The Faceless One continued it's shuffle from right to left for the next half hour.

It's standing guard, Daniel realized. It wasn't so crazy a thought - after all, they'd figured someone was controlling the things. Their hive-like mentality was most likely due to some sort of pulse, a pulse Sam hadn't had time to figure out yet. A beacon, a something. Directing the former humans to what end though? It reeked of Goa'uld experimentation in Daniel's opinion. But none of them wanted to guess that because they wanted to believe they'd taken care of that. They wanted to believe that Ba'al would be the end of it.

The white light continued to buzz with errant consistency as he laid there, unable to move for apprehension. He felt like his brain was frying with each drone of whatever was driving the thing. On its next shuffle away, he decided, he would make a break for it. God, he wished he knew where the door might be, which way he ought to head. No time to think, he just had to act. Act or have his brain boil until he became so tweeked out he couldn't bare to be away from the damn thing. He'd played that game, and he wasn't looking to repeat it.

Swiss army knife still in hand, he slipped his fingers back into the grooves which would open the sarcophagus. He shoved it up and then slid it forward, unsure if he ought to go for quick or quiet. Daniel wasn't sure if those things could hear or if it was by some other sense that they were governed by. A sixth sense. Spidey sense.

Heart beating out a samba behind his ribcage, Daniel sat up straight and allowed himself no more than five seconds to get his bearings. The creature was at the other end of the room, standing there stupidly. Daniel couldn't be sure, but he didn't think it realized he'd opened up his sarcophagus. There was a doorway out into a corridor just ten feet away from the creature. Crates, boxes, and a what looked like a stray stargate crowded the room which must be acting as a cargo bay. The only thing Daniel was certain of now was that he was not on board a Goa'uld ship.

Daniel got out of the sarcophagus as quietly as he could, as fluidly as he could, hoping that postponing any too-quick movements would keep its spidey sense at bay. Briefly surveying the crates which surrounded the area, he toyed with the idea of opening one in hopes of finding some kind of weapon. No, that would be stupid. And far too easy. Getting to his feet, he stumbled slightly on his legs, which were wobbly. He felt a bit like jelly on the whole. He just hoped it hadn't sensed that jerky movement which he'd used to catch himself.

If he ran to the corridor, wouldn't it just chase him through the ship? His best bet was to play for stealth -

Something loud and heavy was being lifted out of place then. The cargo bay doors were opening now and Daniel made a very quick decision to leap behind a stack of crates, tripping over one which was slightly askew as he did so. He clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from swearing. His ankle throbbed sharply as he peered around the boxes. He noticed that everything was a bit blurry, he didn't have his glasses. Still, it wasn't as blurry as it usually was when he went without them. All thanks to the heroin fueled sarcophagus he supposed.

The hangar he found himself in was extremely small, whatever must be waiting on the other side of the doors had to be no bigger than one of the Atlantean puddlejumpers - if that. Pinhole lights began to glow invitingly as the door reached the half way mark, revealing a small transport pod. Daniel also noted that he could see blue sky behind it, meaning they were still within a planet's atmosphere. Whether that was Veranan or elsewhere, he couldn't be sure. It zipped in before the hatch was all the way open and landed gracefully in the narrow space left for it between all the crates.

Daniel's eyes darted to the Faceless One still guarding the exit. It had inched forward, groping blindly with its hands-turned-fleshy-tentacles. Swallowing hard, he shifted slightly backwards in his hiding place. The transport pod, or whatever it was, opened its doors now, just as the hangar doors were closing.

A woman stepped out, a thick coil of cables over her shoulder, and a sullen look on her face. Her shoulder length auburn hair was a mess of leaves and debris, and he couldn't quite make out her face but for a pair of dark, almost black eyes. The Faceless One was still edging toward her, though she wasn't in the slightest bit alarmed. In fact, she'd been expecting it.

"Roldie, take this," she said, holding out the cable for it. It took the cables obediently. She limped toward the door after that and it held out a hand for her. Daniel frowned at this. Was it empathy or was she somehow conducting its movements? She paused for a moment and then appeared more alert as she picked several leaves out of her hair and tossed them to the ground.

"Someone's here?" she asked the creature. Daniel's frown deepened as it appeared to nod. He had hoped his heart wouldn't exactly be able to speed up anymore, but here it was. Trying to kill him. As usual.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" the woman said in a singsong voice. Daniel kept as still as he could, still pretty sure that the thing hadn't seen him. But what the hell did he know at this point?

"I don't want to hurt you. If Ally brought you aboard, I'm sure there was a perfectly good reason," she said, hobbling forward. Her leg was injured, maybe he could get the jump on her, knock her down. Steal the transport pod. And then the thing would only have to touch him once and then he'd be the new Roldie.

He stood up hesitantly, his hands up to show he was unarmed. He'd shoved the knife back in his pocket before he did so, of course.

"Well then," she said as he appeared from behind the boxes. "Who might you be?"

"I'm ah, Daniel Jackson. I'm a peaceful explorer - I just sort of… woke up here. In that sarcophagus," he blustered.

"I forgot we had that. Suppose I couldn't just dangle my leg in and hope for it to be patched up?" She looked at him expectantly, as if he would of course know the answer. All he could do was narrow his eyes at her, confused and a bit horrified. She shook her head. "No, probably not. Do you know how long you were in there?"

"The sarcophagus?"

"I thought the question was clear," she said shortly.

"Uh, well then no. Not too long - I don't feel…" he trailed off, motioning the sign for loopy with his index finger.

"Thank goodness for that. I keep telling Allan to get rid of the silly thing," she said. "So you simply woke up here?"

"Yes. I'm sorry - but are you the one who made that thing?" Daniel said, still watching a bit incredulously as she leaned on the Faceless One for support as it if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"This is not a thing," she said stiffly. "This is Roldie. He's simply got a skin condition." Daniel blinked and decided not to disagree with her for the moment.

"But isn't it - Roldie, isn't he contagious?" The fact that she had named it had made it all too apparent that the thing had once been human - he'd been trying to forget that notion, if only to make killing them a bit easier.

"What? Oh. Oh. No, of course not. Would I be hanging all over him if he was? Do use your head! Come on then, and no funny business. I've got to ask Allan what you're doing here in the first place," she said, leaning forward and shaking the debris from her head. A puff of dirt reached Daniel's nose and he sneezed. The woman paused as he did, eyeing him suspiciously before saying, "Also you may call me Druenna."

"Druenna," Daniel repeated, offering a tentative smile, her gaze still uncomfortably hostile. She was older than him, late forties he suspected - though still quite beautiful even through the grunge and grime, those dark eyes unwavering and demanding. He decided he found her unsettling, and not just because she was commanding about a tentacled behemoth like it was a golden retriever. He wanted to ask her if she'd just come in from being buried alive, but decided to keep his mouth shut until he was better able to suss out the situation.

Without another word, she led him out the corridor and down the hall, revealing a much larger ship than he anticipated. The blue and grey interior was all curves and circles, very unlike anything he'd come into contact thus far. In his experience, spaceships were generally more angular, rigid. There was a certain charm to this though.

As the corridor began to widen into another room, Daniel heard voices. One of them stuttering and male, the other… "Vala?"

Druenna either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him. As they turned the corner, Daniel was first met with what appeared to be a giant oval work table. A sweaty red headed man was hovering over it, throwing bits and pieces of wiring around as if he didn't quite know what he was looking for. Vala was tied up on a chair beside him, looking at him with unmistakable loathing.

"Allan!" Druenna barked.

"Dru? Is that you?" Allan giggled slightly, caught himself, slapped a frown on his face and continued, "I thought you wouldn't be back for another couple hours."

"Who are our guests?"

"Who the hell are you?" Vala said, brow furrowed. "Daniel?" Daniel gave her what he hoped might be a comforting smile, although it felt a bit half assed once it was out there. Still, relief at seeing her alive and (relatively) safe alleviated a solid third of his anxiety. Now he was just hoping the rest of SG-1 was home. Or, preferably, waiting with a very large battlecruiser just outside.

Vala began struggling more violently against her bonds, Daniel ran and caught her before she knocked herself right off the chair. She grinned at him appreciatively. He realized he hadn't dreamed the wound in her forehead. Fortunately it had already begun to scab over.

"Roldie, secure him for the moment," Druenna said, motioning to Daniel. The thing grabbed him awkwardly around the middle and yanked him away from Vala. The putrid smell filled his nose again and he grimaced, praying that the woman was right, that Roldie wasn't contagious. He then saw that there were two more of the things at the other end of the control room.

"If the two of you will please be quiet and allow Allan to summarize the situation for me, I'll gladly let you go. Until then, no goo goo eyes, and no talking," she said, narrowing her eyes at the both of them. For a moment, Daniel worried that Vala wasn't going to cooperate. He could see the urge to retaliate in her eyes. He hoped she'd manage to sustain it, at least for now.

"Ah, Dru, sugar lumps," Allan began as Druenna rounded on him.

"You got the DHD I see? And why are there two extra bodies on my ship?"

"Well, that's, uh, fairly simple - you see because, uh -" Allan paused and closed his eyes and Druenna grabbed him around the throat. Daniel almost found the scene comical. Druenna was terribly short, perhaps 5'4'' at the most - Allan was about his height and surprisingly well built for such a squirrelly bastard.

"No, no. You're going to tell me. Not your melodramatic alter-ego," she said. The questions just keep piling up, Daniel thought wearily, wishing he had his glasses as a headache began to blossom.

"He said he'd accidentally beamed us aboard when he beamed the DHD aboard. Apparently it's a proximity thing," Vala said irritably. Daniel imagined she'd become quite tired of Allan indeed if she had been in his company the entire time. Allan jabbed a filthy finger in Vala's direction and nodded, relief spreading over his features as he appeared to struggle to find his voice once again. Druenna released him.

"Right! Yes, that. All a silly misunderstanding. I was gonna… I was gonna drop them off as s-soon as you got back with the transport pod," he said.

Druenna rolled her eyes, thinking this over. Daniel was simply waiting for all of his orifices to close up so that he could suffocate to death. How long was the incubation period? He couldn't remember just now, but his anxiety was reaching new heights every time he chanced a glance at Roldie.

"Fine. Roldie, let go of him. Zel, Zinn - untie Ms…?"

"Vala," Vala replied promptly, a pleased smile brightening her features. Daniel let out the breath he'd been holding, wondering if things were actually looking up or if the other shoe were about to drop. He still had a face, right?

"B-but Dru! She threatened me! She's… And H-he… You can't let them run amok on the ship!" Allan said.

Zel and Zinn, that is, the other two Faceless Ones, made surprisingly short work of Vala's bindings. Daniel noticed that they worked together, making full use of every extra appendage they possessed. Vala flinched away from them at first, but then relaxed.

"Once you're finished with that, help Roldie empty the transport pod," Druenna told the Faceless Ones.

"You got the beacon set up?" Allan asked, fraying the wire coupling in his hand nervously. Roldie dumped the coil of cables onto the work bench before heading back the way they came.

"Yes. Now get to work setting up the third one. We'll be to the next city in a few hours," Druenna said. "I'm going to talk to our guests and then get washed up."

"Fine. Fine. Sobek keeps arguing with the build but I think… I think I've figured out a more efficient way," he said, laughing to himself. Druenna looked at him blankly before motioning for Vala and Daniel to follow her down another corridor.

Daniel touched the small of Vala's back and said, "Are you alright?"

"Am I alright? Daniel you were dead. There was so much blood, your jaw was on a hinge, your… I'm pretty sure we probably left it behind, actually," she whispered.

"Those sarcophagi are surprisingly reliable," Daniel said. He'd have to add this to his tally: Daniel Jackson: 4, The Great Not-There: 0. He brushed the thought away. "What the hell is going on?"

"I suppose we'll find out, won't we?" Vala said, giving him a funny look as she rushed to keep up with Druenna. The woman had led them into an intensely strange room, complete with a dark wooden table sporting an antique stained glass lamp, high backed armchairs covered in a Victorian print, a blue chaise lounge, and a tea cart. The only thing missing was a fireplace.

"Okaaay," Daniel said. Druenna pointed to the armchairs expectanty. Vala flounced into the chair, rubbing its arms with a smile on her face.

"Oh this is lovely," she said, suddenly have a grand time.

"How do you take your tea?" Druenna said.

"H-Hold on," Daniel said. "Tea? Where the hell are we? Who are you and why does this ship have a-a-a tea cozy?" He'd been shot, killed, brought back to life, and manhandled by a monster in the space of what felt like a few hours. His head was swimming and his vision was growing fuzzier by the minute and now she was offering them tea.

"Daniel, darling, I think the lady was going to tell us. If you would just be a little patient," she said. Druenna stared at him coldly, raising an eyebrow.

"Sit," she said.

"I'm fine standing," Daniel replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose impatiently.

"Have it your way," she said, handing Vala a cup of tea on its very own floral saucer. "Daniel tells me you two are explorers?"

She had decided to direct the conversation to Vala and Daniel felt himself bristle. Usually it was him who directed conversation. But he supposed he wasn't in the most diplomatic of moods. In fact, he was damn exhausted. Everything felt surreal, but this eccentric little tea room was the icing on the cake.

"Oh yes. We're from a planet called Earth -" Vala began.

"The Tau'ri?" Druenna prompted.

"Precisely. Well, actually I'm not a native Tau'ri but-" Daniel looked at Vala sternly and she curbed her answer. "But that's besides the point. We were on an expedition of sorts on the planet Veranan. An epidemic hit there. Which clearly you know about because your guards are products of it." Vala turned the tactful sentence into an accusation abruptly, but the smile hadn't left her face.

Druenna smiled slowly. "No they are not. Roldie, Zel, and Zinn are not human. They never were. They're Hyper-Hytroxiophs. A species of peaceful farmers which evolved from something quite like a… Morpoatin."

"Something like an elephant," Vala said to Daniel. "But smaller." Daniel wondered if Vala perhaps had no idea what she was talking about once again, but chose not to argue. He digested this information for a moment, getting his head around the idea that those tentacled beings out there were not human and never had been. He supposed it was believable. Thinking about Roldie now, it - he had been smoother, more complete looking than the mutations on Veranan. The skin did not hang off as loosely or awkwardly as it did on their once human counterparts.

"Zel and Zinn are siblings, very young. Roldie's older. He's been with me for about twenty years now," she said fondly. "They're from a small planet, more of a moon really…"

"Then how come the people on Veranan were turning into creatures that looked exactly like these -"

"Hyper-Hytroxiophs," Druenna said again.

"Hyper-Hytroxiophs?" Daniel finished.

Druenna narrowed her gaze at him for a moment. "Because I mistakenly visited the Veranan government with Roldie in tow unaware that they had not engaged with alien species before. They asked to examine him, all for the sake of science. Because they assured me no harm would come to him, I acquiesced. Also it was much less expensive than the amount of naquadah that I was prepared to offer in payment."

Vala asked "Payment for what?" just as Daniel said "You allowed your friend to be experimented on?" and they extended each other annoyed looks.

"One question at a time. I'm not even sure why I've decided to afford answers in the first place," Druenna said, sighing. Daniel crossed his arms at her. "First of all, you judgmental little ant, Roldie was pleased to help. He's a resilient, helpful creature. Second of all, I'm not prepared to divulge our purpose here yet as I don't know or trust you, nor have I any reason to. The only thing you two need to know is that we are not the ones causing the epidemic and while you're aboard my ship, I promise no harm will come to you."

"You can't just let it go - there are people dying down there!" Daniel said.

"Technically they're not dying. They're just changing," Druenna said, "and through no fault of mine. I had no idea what those idiots would create with Roldie's skin cells."

Daniel was quickly becoming nonplussed by the woman's apathy. Vala, however, remained dispassionate for once, though Daniel had no idea why.

"Allan said something about a beacon. You had set up a beacon. We had guessed some sort of beacon was controlling them. They move as one, and something must be directing them. Is that you?"

Druenna's eyes flashed with anger, but it dissipated so quickly that Daniel wasn't even sure he'd seen it. "No, our beacon is for something else. I'm afraid I'm very tired. And an absolute mess. Look at me, I look like shrubbery!" She pulled out yet another leaf from her hair. "I'm going to have a wash. You two are welcome to peruse the ship at your leisure. This tier is the living quarter. There's a makeshift kitchen just there, and an extra room if you go all the way down that corridor. You'll have to share, but by the looks of it I'm sure that won't be a problem." Druenna got up then and Daniel was about to open his mouth, but Vala shook her head at him. Vala shook her head at him. He was having quite enough of this role reversal for one day.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Vala said.

"Don't pester Allan. He has enough to deal with without your incessant questions. If you need anything, ask Roldie or Zel - Zinn is a bit grouchy around strangers," the woman said, before turning and strolling quickly down a corridor Daniel had failed to notice altogether. Once the sound of her footsteps disappeared, Vala put another cube of sugar into her cup and leaned back in her chair comfortably.

"You're kidding me right now, right?" Daniel said.

"No, Daniel I'm not. I'm exhausted. Emotionally and physically, and I don't think we're going anywhere at this precise moment," she said before sipping at her tea noisily. "Also, I don't know if you're aware, but us being here is your fault."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Yes. If you had dialed the gate quicker and not been shot, we would have been through. But nooo," she said into her tea, a small smile forming. Daniel collapsed in the other armchair, feeling deflated. Vala leaned forward in her seat and put a hand on his knee. "If you ever do that to me again, you better be damn sure you stay dead."

Daniel answered with a tired smile, putting his hand on hers and grasping it tightly. Her eyes widened then and she took her hand back. "Which reminds me - you might be needing these," she said, pulling out a pair of glasses. His old ones. Vala had been the one to point out that they made him look like he was about eleven years old. He had no idea how she'd gotten a hold of them or why she might be carrying them around, and he decided not to ask. He put them on and smiled more broadly as Vala's face sharpened in front of him.

"Thank you."

"We'll figure this nonsense out. We always do," Vala assured him, patting him once more on the knee. "Now drink your tea."

##

Just an FYI, the Daniel deaths I'm counting are the ones where he legit died, not alternate versions and not presumptions. So I'm counting deaths from eps 'The Nox', 'Meridian', and 'Reckoning'. If there were more 'legit' ones I'm missing then def tell me. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thoughts/critiques/comments/etc are totally appreciated! Also, say Hyper-Hytroxiophs five times fast!