This is the chapter I had trouble with. Please give me your honest opinion on it. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Chapter 7

Vala's eyes popped open suddenly and she sent a furtive glance around the room. Well, she was in the SGC infirmary but which one? The 2009 version or was it still 2019? Looking up into the observation deck, she noticed Carolyn wasn't there. That was a good sign, right? Her eyes travelled to the side of the bed where she noticed Daniel exactly where he was before. Only this time he appeared to be asleep and he was wearing BDUs. She sighed a little as she realised what that meant. She was finally home. She didn't think she'd made much of a sound but Daniel's head shot up quickly and their eyes connected.

"You're awake." he whispered after a moment. The obvious relief in his voice made her smile and she squeezed the hand that was holding hers.

"Yes, darling, I'm back."

'Back?"

"Never mind." She'd promised not to tell any one about her time-jump. Or had it all been a dream? She wasn't sure. Suddenly Daniel stood, releasing her hand.

"Guys, she's awake. Someone get Carolyn."

It wasn't until then that she looked around the rest of the room and noticed all of the members of SG-1 scattered about.

"Hey, Princess." Cam said as he, Sam and Teal'c made their way to her bedside.

"It is good to see you awake, Vala Mal Doran." Teal'c said with a nod.

"Thank you, Muscles. It's good to see you, too." She hadn't realised how much she'd missed the Jaffa in her time-jump until just now.

"You had us all so worried." Sam put in. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. I had the strangest dream, though. You were there, and you, and you." She pointed to Sam, Daniel and Cam in turn.

"Well, Dorothy, glad you made it back from Oz." Cam said with a chuckle.

"Me, too. It's good to be home." They all gave her an odd look but before anyone could question her, Carolyn came into the room.

"Vala, I see you've decided to come back to us." She placed her stethoscope on Vala's chest with a kind smile. "Now, everyone out so I can examine my patient."

Sam, Cam and Teal'c all left the room immediately but Daniel lingered at her bedside. Vala smiled reassuringly up at him and reached for his hand. He took it and smiled back. "I'll be fine, darling. Let Carolyn do her job. I promise to still be here when you come back. And if you happen to be carrying a bowl of green Jell-O, you won't hear me complaining."

"You got it." he responded and squeezed her hand one last time before leaving.

"All right, Carolyn. Do your stuff."

()()()()

It took three days but Vala had finally been able to convince Carolyn that she was well enough to leave the infirmary. The future Carolyn had been right, they were blaming the coma on some virus she'd picked up on Terla. Vala hadn't refuted the theory, not wanting to mess with the future too much. They'd all agreed it should remain a secret. Besides, she still wasn't convinced that hadn't all been a dream. The thought saddened her a little, though, so she pushed it aside. Even so, keeping her "secret" made her feel a certain kinship to Teal'c. She now understood just how hard it must be for him to keep his fifty years on the Odyssey to himself. Thankfully no one could harangue her for information as she had him. But she wasn't going to go back on her promise, even if it had all been a dream. She couldn't risk it. They'd all find out in ten years anyway. But that didn't mean she couldn't make a few bets on future events. Such as whether or not Cameron and Carolyn would ever start dating or who would take over the SGC after General Landry retired. Now she wished she'd found out just where Teal'c had been in that time.

One thing she knew for sure she wasn't going to do, though, was confess her feelings for Daniel. She'd thought about it and came to the conclusion that he had to come to her on his own. That way she could be certain she hadn't influenced events. She didn't care how long it took. She needed this to play out naturally. With that in mind, she pasted on her best "co-worker and friend" mask and strolled into Daniel's office.

"Hello, darling." she said with a grin. "What are you working on?"

"Nothing important." He pushed aside the tablet he'd been studying and graced her with a gentle smile. "I see Carolyn finally let you out. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. Completely back to normal."

"Are you sure?" He stood, grabbed her chin in his hands and studied her like she was some Ancient artefact. "Not tired or anything? I mean, you did just fight off an alien virus that nearly killed you. And you were unconscious for over a week."

"I told you, I feel perfectly healthy. Can I have my face back, please?" If he kept touching her, she didn't know if she could keep her promise not to confess her feelings.

Daniel's hand dropped abruptly form her face as if just realising what he was doing. She laughed and watched him place his hands in his pockets. "Sorry. I just-I was worried. When I found you unconscious the day after the mission, I got scared. I thought...I thought I'd lost you."

"Rubbish, I'm right here. Alive and ready to get back to work." She smiled gently at him and moved to walk past but he stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"That's not what I meant exactly. When I found you, I thought you were...I was afraid you were...dead. I thought I'd lost my chance to tell you...to let you know..."

"Let me know what, darling?" Vala looked deep into his eyes, waiting. There was no way she was going to force him to admit anything.

"I need to let you know how I feel. I-I care about you."

"I care about you, too, Daniel." she said carefully. "You're my best friend."

"Thank you, but I wasn't talking about friendship. I'm trying to tell you that I'm attracted to you and I care about you as...as more than a friend. Almost losing you again made me realise that I don't want to waste any more time thinking about this." With those words, he dropped his head and kissed her.

He'd caught her by surprise but soon Vala was giving as good as she got. There was nothing tentative or careful in this kiss. It was full of pent-up emotions and longing, from both sides. Finally they pulled apart, breathing heavily, and stared into each other's eyes.

"I don't believe your time spent thinking about that was at all wasted." she was finally able to get out.

Daniel laughed a little before turning nervous again. "What do you say? Wanna take a chance and see where this leads?"

Vala smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his lips lightly before answering. "I'd love to take this leap with you, my Daniel."

Daniel smiled again and pulled her into his arms once more for a kiss. Neither one of them spoke of love, but Vala didn't mind. There would be time enough for that. Right now she just wanted to enjoy the journey.

A/N: I'm actually thinking about writing a companion to this focussing on Daniel's experiences while Vala is in the coma. What do you think?