Rating: PG-13
Genres: non-graphic Violence, FLUFFINESS, Hurt/Comfort, Romance (Daniel/Vala, some Cameron/Carolyn), Friendship (SG-1 with eachother, SG-1/OC), some Family (Hank/Carolyn, OC/OC), Talking Animals (is that a genre?) ....
Summary: Vala meets up with an old friend, only to lose her tragically at the hands of SG-1. Will her relationship with her teammates -- especially Daniel -- survive? ....
Spoilers: up to and including "Counterstrike", especially "Uninvited"
Length: almost 9250 words -- about 23 pages
Notes: Part of the "Getting to Know You ..." universe, AR to "Memento Mori". Set after the events in the fics Solace, Origin, and Influence, but can be read on its own if you just accept that Daniel and Vala are together. This is the story I promised last year -- this plot-bunny, which was sparked by Vala's mention in "Uninvited" of having been a big-game hunter (I guess you could call it a tag for that ep), has been simmering for months! It had to happen sooner or later -- anyone who knows my body of work knows that a wolf has to make it into the story *some*where down the line. I really love talking animal stories, so if you hate those, you may want to pass this one over. Oh, and if you've read my "Date With a ..." series, you might notice that this plot-bunny was mentioned in "... Wild Child". I just couldn't resist. ;) ... Will there be another story set in this universe? I have no idea. I don't have one planned, but that doesn't mean anything, heh ... Oh, and the word "weretiew" I got by combining the Egyptian word "weret", which means "large", and "iew", which means dog. Yeah, I might not have gotten the combination right, LOL. And Mendler's name is a mix of Mendel, the father of Genetics, and "meddler". ;)
Feedback: You may post feedback to this fic either at LiveJournal or .

At first Vala Mal Doran figured she was just suffering déjà vu because, frankly, many of the planets SG-1 had been to were still largely in their natural state, and therefore remarkably -- or perhaps that was unremarkably -- similar. Then she saw the footprint, and knew it was more than that. Much more.

"Rhael!" she breathed, grinning. She turned to yell to her companions what she discovered, but a sudden impact knocked her to the ground and stole her speech for a moment.

"Rhael!" she said again, louder this time, as she stared happily into a familiar pair of golden eyes. She didn't mind the heavy paws that pinned her shoulders to the ground, and the shining white teeth didn't frighten her one bit. She laughed and smiled -- until she heard the beast that held her mutter a low growl.

Vala's smile only faltered slightly. "Rhael, it's me, Vala! Don't you remember me?" The creature paused a moment, and Vala could feel the presence of another in her mind. Then the sensation was gone, and the beast was snarling much louder than before.

"Vala?!" Daniel cried, scrambling as best he could through the brush, the others a few steps behind him.

Once he reached her, Daniel didn't waste a moment, firing his automatic weapon almost the very instant he saw that Vala was pinned; the creature standing over her was tall enough that he could shoot it with no fear of striking her. Sam, and then Mitchell, reacted similarly; the monster was dead by the time Teal'c arrived on the scene. No one, least of all Daniel, had considered that the nearly bear-sized creature would, in death, pin Vala further, rather than fall away from her. They thought Vala's muffled cries were of fear, and hurried to push the monster off her.

Daniel quickly realised something was amiss when Vala scrambled to her knees beside the fallen creature, shaking it, sobbing "no" and something that sounded like "rail" over and over. When she finally calmed a little, she glared at him, accusation in her eyes.

"You ... you ... imbecile!" she snapped through her tears, hitting him so hard in the shoulder that he fell back into Mitchell. "The gung-ho lot of you just killed one of the best friends I ever had!" Her face screwed up tight before she buried it in the pelt of her fallen friend.

Daniel didn't think he'd felt that sick to his stomach since he'd gotten radiation poisoning. He reached out touch her shoulder, but she jerked away from him. "Don't touch me!" she snarled, her voice thick with grief and sounding not so unlike the creature they'd just killed.

Daniel exchanged worried, guilty looks with his companions. "Vala ... I-I'm sorry! We thought it was attacking you...." He spread his hands helplessly.

He let out a slow, quiet breath when she shoulders lost their tension. "She," Vala began pointedly, then remained silent a long moment. She sounded defeated as she began again, "I thought she was just greeting me at first. But ... she didn't seem to know me..."

"How can you be sure this is the ..." Sam gestured to the still form, "... well, the one you knew?"

Vala wiped her eyes. She then pointed to a patch of white just behind the creature's ear. "See this? That bit of fur's white from a scar. Rhael got it saving m..." She closed her eyes, swallowing hard. She took a deep breath. "Saving me from a pterosaur," she finished.

Mitchell blinked. "As in the winged dinosaur?"

A screech overhead drew their attention. Looking up, they found a large creature that seemed an odd cross between a bird an a lizard.

"I think that's a yes," Daniel said. "That one's not a friend, right?"

Vala shook her head vigourously, her pigtails flapping about. She brought her own weapon up and fired, the others quickly following suit.

The bullets were about as effective against the creature's hide as flies -- even Teal'c's staff weapon did little more than singe it. The creature let out another screech and swooped down. SG-1 made a quick run into the nearby trees for cover. The beast hit the brush, knocking some of the weaker trunks right out from the ground. Only slightly dazed, it flew up and readied itself for another strike. SG-1 didn't stay to witness the next attack, but hurried to the 'Gate, dialing home and dashing through before the creature could consider flying above the trees to the 'Gate's own clearing.

SG-1 hit the ramp running, but unlike the rest of the team, Vala didn't slow or stop when she reached level ground. It took Daniel a second to realise to realise she hadn't, and another to build up momentum again as he moved to follow her. Sam and Teal'c accompanied him, leaving Mitchell to fill a bewildered Landry in.

"Vala, stop!" Daniel pleaded as they ran. "We need to talk about this!"

Just then, Dr. Lam rounded the corner, and Vala plowed right into her. Daniel helped Vala to her feet, but as soon as she was steady, she jerked away.

"Dammit, Daniel, just leave me alone for a while, please!" She put her palms to the sides of her head, screwing her eyes shut as in if pain. "I-I need to think, to breathe!" He started to speak, but she cut him off. "I know you're sorry, Daniel, and I know logically it's unfair to be angry when you were trying to save me, but my friend is dead because of you and the others, Daniel! Can't you understand? I can't look at you right now!" She shook her head and spun on her heel, stalking off.

Dr. Lam gaped at Vala's retreating figure, then turned to Daniel and the others, lips pursed inquisitively.

"We shot something that we thought was attacking her," Sam explained, "and I guess it was actually a friend ...."

Daniel felt like he was the one who'd lost a friend as he stood there helplessly. Part of him -- the majority -- wanted to chase after her anyway, but the minority portion, which respected her wishes, was the part in control of his feet, apparently. Or at the very least, the two parts warred enough to keep him immobile anyway.

He felt Teal'c heavy hand land on his shoulder. "You forgave me for a similar transgression; I believe ValaMalDoran will forgive you as well, DanielJackson."

Daniel didn't feel comforted. It had taken repeated dreams of Sha're telling hi, to forgive Teal'c before he was finally able too, and even then, it was still longer before he felt comfortable in the Jaffa's presence. And Tealc' was only a friend; Vala was his girlfriend. And the creature wasn't likely to haunt her dreams, begging her to forgive her friends. The memory of her hurt, her anger, tore at his insides. How could he survive the wait while she grieved? Now that he'd welcomed her into his heart, he couldn't bear the thought of her being out of sight for any significant length of time, much less the thought of being an object of pain for her when she was around. He was almost ready to try to talk Sam into doing some time-warp thing with the gate so that he could send them a note saying not to shoot the creature -- or perhaps to avoid that planet altogether!

"Perhaps I should accompany her," Teal'c suggested, thoughtful. "I did not harm the creature; she may allow my presence where she would not accept yours or that of ColonelCarter or ColonelMitchel."

"I guess it's worth a shot," Daniel agreed; Vala could always tell Teal'c to get lost if she didn't want him around either. "I'll be in my office," he said with a sigh. He still needed to write up a report -- no matter how torturous reliving the events promised to be.

"Mind if I come with?" Sam said quietly.

Looking at her then, he realised she was pretty upset herself. Sure, it was a pretty upsetting situation all around, but there was more to it: Sam and Vala had become good friends. It made him smile a little to know that Vala was becoming thoroughly entrenched in lives besides his own. He nodded to Sam, suddenly glad for the company.

Teal'c followed Vala all the way outside and partially up the mountain. He had a feeling she knew she was being followed, though she didn't try to shake him at all. His suspicion was confirmed when she stopped and said, "Don't think it's all that much easier to look at you, either. You might not have fired a shot, but you were there. You're reminder as much as any of them." She sat herself down on a outcropping of rock, dangling her feet over the side. True to her word, she wouldn't look at him, instead taking in the vista. But she didn't ask him to leave, either.

He sat down beside her. "You showed great knowledge of hunting large predators a few months ago, when we went to stay with GeneralLandry in the woods. Then today, on the planet, you said this ... Rhael taught you to hunt ...?"

She didn't answer for a long moment, and he couldn't see her face hardly at all. Finally, "It's because of Rhael that we were able to kill those things. Her world has a lot of large predators -- a lot of large creatures period really. It was once a place where Goa'uld liked to go hunting, as I understand it, but none of them have used it in a long, long time. As I understand it, the animals were created by Nirrti, using the genetic material left from prehistoric beasts, merged with DNA from animals from other worlds. Kind of like that Jurassic Park movie? Anyway, since the Goa'uld had abandoned it, others started hunting on the planet, for trophies, for animal parts trade, for zoo specimens."

"The Garden of Xanadu," Teal'c offered, his voice tinged with wonder. "Apophis mentioned it once, and there are Jaffa fairytales that speak of it."

Vala nodded. "That's the place. At one point after I was de-snaked, I signed with a hunting expedition that routinely headed there. On the last trip I took with them, I saw Ysardith, the expedition leader, about to kill a weretiew cub we'd found ... and I just couldn't let him do it. I shot him in the arm, grabbed the cub, and ran. His men shot me, but I managed to escape. Unfortunately, a pterosaur found me when I was too weak to move. It would have killed me, but Rhael heard her cub by then and saved us. She then carried me to her den and brought me food until I was well enough that she could teach me how live in the woods -- how to hunt, what plants were safe to eat and which were medicinal, how to avoid predators. And she showed me the Stargate, I could have left, but at that point I'd had enough of humanity and struggling to survive, all alone. For a while, I thought I could stay there forever ...." She drifted off, clearly lost in memories.

Teal'c stayed quiet, letting her take her time. Listening was what he did best, after all, wasn't it?

"But Ysardith came back one day, and when he found me, he and his men took me prisoner. They took me off-world, saying they'd killed my friends and sold their skins -- I thought I'd never see Rhael again. But I put the skills she taught me to use, putting together my own little hunting expeditions on other worlds ...." She shrugged. "It got me by."

"ValaMalDoran ...." Teal'c began tentatively, "you speak as though you and Rhael could communicate ...."

She finally looked at him, surprised. "Oh, I didn't tell you? Rhael's people were sentient and telepathic. I had to speak to her aloud -- Nirrti had taught them our language, and Rhael was too polite to probe someone's mind -- but I could hear her when she spoke to me mentally."

"Fascinating!" There was something niggling at Teal'c, something bad Apophis has said about Xanadu, but he couldn't recall ... he decided it was better not to mention it until he could remember specifics. Vala had enough on her mind.

"Maybe I could talk to her," Carolyn offered.

Cam had found her in the commissary, and filled her in on the details of their aborted mission, obviously feeling horrible about what had happened. As sorry as she felt for Vala herself, Carolyn also felt sorry for Cam.

"I don't think it'd help. Anyway, Teal'c supposedly went to talk to her. He's the only one of us she'll be talking to for quite a while, I'm thinkin'," Cam replied, more than a little morosely.

"Hey," Carolyn said, reaching out and clasping his hand as he picked idly at his lunch. "You thought she was being attacked -- anyone would have. You had no way of knowing."

He sighed and nodded, squeezing her hand in thanks. He sat back and shook his head. "Thing is, when I replay the scene in my mind, I still think that thing meant to hurt her. I know that thing was her friend once, but ... I just can't shake the feeling Vala really was in danger!"

Carolyn nodded. "She might have been; there's no way to know for sure."

Cam got a strange look on his face.

"Oh, Cam, she's just grieving -- she'll calm down soon."

"No, that's not -- it's what you just said! About there being no way to know for sure? What if we went back there and got the body? Maybe there was something wrong with it, like it had rabies or something!"

"Er, well ... I'm not a veterinarian, Cam, and this is an unknown species ...."

"So we get that zoologist, Dr. Redden, on it!"

"She's off-world helping out with a livestock problem, and not due back for another month. I suppose we could keep the body on ice until she gets back ...."

"A month?" His shoulders sagged, and her heart broke for him.

Then she remembered something. "Wait, there is someone on staff who might be able to help!" She got to her feet, determined, and came around to his side of the table. "Come on," she told him, tugging on his arm. "We're gonna talk to the general."

For twenty minutes, the only sound in Daniel's office had been the clattering of keystrokes as Daniel and Sam each typed away, working on their reports. Finally, Daniel pushed his chair back, rolling across the room, and slouched down in his seat.

"How is she ever going to forgive me?"

"You mean forgive us," Sam said, sighing as she tapped in the last word of her report. "Of all the things that could go wrong on a mission, I have to admit this is one scenario I'd never considered. I can blow up a sun, but I can't figure a way out of this."

"Well, she can't stay angry forever, I guess" Daniel said. "But I think I'd rather burn my hand and then stick it in a pitcher of lemon juice and salt than go through the wait."

Vala and Teal'c had sat in silence for a long while before Vala finally spoke again. "Why did this have to happen?" she wondered aloud. "I love Daniel so much, I do, but ... right now the very thought of him ..." She wiped a tear away, but there was another to replace it, and another.

"Did DanielJackson ever tell you about how his wife, Sha're, died?" Teal'c asked her, feeling the sting of a reopened old wound in his heart. Still, if it would help her and Daniel, he was ready and willing to do whatever it took.

Looking at him curiously, Vala shook her head. "I only know that she did, and that she had been host to a Goa'uld."

Teal'c nodded. "That was my fault. I was First Prime to Apophis, and I chose Sha're to be the host for his queen."

Vala's eyes flew open wide in shock, hand flying to her mouth.

"But DanielJackson and I grew to be friends despite this. So when I ... killed Sha're, it was ... that much harder to face him after."

Vala gaped. "You killed ...?"

He nodded again. "Amonet, the Goa'uld who possessed her, had DanielJackson at the mercy of a ribbon device when I found them. She was killing him. I did not hesitate, but used my staff weapon on her, killing her instead."

Vala looked away, nodding. "You had to do it. Just like Daniel and the others had every reason to think they had to do what they did. I understand it up here," she added, pointing to her temple. "But here ..." she said with a hand over her heart. "I just can't shake this sick feeling."

"It will take time," Teal'c concurred. "DanielJackson knows this. But ... if it is any consolation, because you are hurting, he is hurting as well." Teal'c spoke not from knowledge of Daniel's mindset, but rather from his own experience. The Jaffa warrior just hoped it wouldn't take any sort of otherworldly intervention for Vala to forgive Daniel, the way Sha're's spirit had convinced Daniel to forgive him.

"Come on, kids, we got a mission," Mitchell announced without preamble when he stuck his head through the doorway of Daniel's office.

Daniel and Sam looked up from their work, thoroughly confused. "Come again?" Sam asked.

"I'll explain on the way! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" And he left without waiting, the flummoxed pair hurrying after.

By the time they'd reached the 'Gateroom, Mitchell had filled them in on the plan to do an autopsy on Vala's friend, with a little help with a member of the staff who specialized in "extra-terrestrial theoretical biology". Or something like that.

"What if the body isn't there anymore?" Daniel asked.

"Well, I guess that would make this a wasted trip," Mitchell replied, shrugging. "We've had those before."

"And if we run into more things like that Pterosaur?" Sam asked.

"That's what we got these guys for," Mitchell answered, pointing to the gathered members of SG-7 and -16 waiting for the 'Gate to be activated.

"Guns and a staff weapon didn't work against it last time," Sam pointed out.

"Then I guess we run like hell. We've done that before, too ...."

There wasn't a pterosaur or any other big, scary beastie waiting for them, neither in the clearing outside the 'Gate nor at the body. Unfortunately, though, the body was less than whole and very, very messy, having apparently been on the Pterosaur's lunch menu. A number of the party, including Daniel, were quietly sick in the nearby bushes. Those who weren't were still more than a little nauseated; most of them were stuck with the nasty task of packaging the body for transport.

As they set to the task, Daniel, who stood watch for predators, thought he heard the sound of crying from some nearby bushes. He crept warily over towards the sound -- and nearly jumped out of his skin when whatever was hidden within bolted.

The thing didn't get very far before a zat bolt hit it. It dropped like a stone. Daniel could see now that it was much like the animal they had killed, only smaller. Looking about, Daniel realised the bolt had come from a woman he didn't know. He gave the woman an incredulous look, which she ignored.

"Put it in restraints, then box it up," she ordered a member of SG-7.

"Excuse me," Daniel snapped.

The woman turned to him with cold interest.

"Bringing back another one wasn't a part of the plan, Ms ..." Daniel told her, jaw clenched.

"Doctor Gina Mendler. As the study of extra-terrestrials is my job at SGC, I deem this a necessary part of said job. How much do you expect me to glean from a mutilated, dead specimen? Besides, this one appears to be a child, possibly an adolescent, and likely the young of the one you killed. It may not even be able to survive on it's own, in which case it would be our responsibility to look after it until it can."

Daniel's hackles lowered even as the sick feeling in his stomach grew. Bad enough he'd killed Vala's friend -- now he'd killed a mother as well?

After her conversation with Teal'c, an emotionally-drained Vala had returned to her quarters and slept for hours. Upon waking, she found she felt even worse than before. Not only did her grief and her concern for her relationship with Daniel lay heavily on her, but she felt feverish, achy, and irritable. For a moment, she was afraid she'd had a relapse of the flu she'd suffered a month ago, but she decided that this was different, primarily because her throat didn't hurt. She was very thirsty, though, and had a throbbing headache.

A quick peek at her medicine cabinet revealed she was out of pain reliever, so she took a walk to the infirmary, pointedly ignoring any greetings she received upon the way. She knew it was rude of her, but she just wasn't feeling that friendly. In fact, she felt oddly offended that anyone should be smiling and happy while she felt so miserable. Irrational, yes, but like she'd told Teal'c, it didn't change how she felt.

The smaller, living specimen was placed into a cage, and kept within the same room where its mother's autopsy was being performed. Despite the horrific smell, Daniel, Sam, and Mitchell stayed in the room, next to the cage, where the animal was still unconscious. What they could do for the poor animal, Daniel had no idea, but he felt he should be there all the same when it finally woke up.

To an unobservant eye, the creature looked like a wolf. Daniel knew just enough about prehistoric animals, thanks to so much time spent in museums as a young child, that he could tell it was more like a prehistoric dire wolf -- with one key difference. Dire wolves weren't supposed to have been much bigger than grey wolves -- just stockier, with shorter legs, broader skulls, and bigger teeth. This one, though, was already half again as big as a true dire wolf was, and its mother was more than twice the size of one!

**Ma?**

Daniel blinked and looked at his companions. "Did ... either of you just say something?"

Mitchell and Sam exchanged glances.

"I was just gonna ask you guys the same thing ...." Mitchell said.

"So was I," Sam confirmed.

Then the animal stirred, drawing their attention. Getting groggily to its feet, it backed as far away from them as it could.

**I had forgotten... Mother ....**

Daniel felt an overwhelming wave of grief wash over him; as it did, he realised with sickening certainty where both the voice and the emotion were coming from.

"You're sentient," he whispered in awe. As tears fell down his face, he was hard-pressed to tell whether they stemmed from the animal's sorrow or his own. What had he done?

**So. What do you plan to do with me, humans? Eat me? Put me in a zoo?** It looked past them. **Dissect me?**

"No!" Daniel insisted. "It's not like that!"

The super-sized dire wolf looked him in the eye. **Isn't it? Then why am I caged?**

"Oh!" Daniel exclaimed, hurrying to unlock the door.

Mitchell grabbed his arm, alarmed. "Jackson, what are you doing?"

"We can't just leave it in there!" Daniel shot back. "We killed its mother, then kidnapped it! It's inno--"

**You killed her?!** The animal's fur stood on end, and it bared its massive canines. **I thought the Pterosaur did it!**

"It was an accident!" Daniel pleaded. "We thought she was attacking our friend Vala!"

The animal traded its posture of aggression for one of surprise. **Vala? She's alive?**

"Er ... yeah!" Of course the creature knew her -- hadn't Vala called its mother a friend?

"Could you guys keep it down?" Mendler snapped from her place at a lab table, where she was fiddling with a microscope. "You're distracting me!"

"Oh, I think you might want to be distracted by this, Dr. Mendler," Mitchell assured her as Daniel once again moved to unlock the door to the cage.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Mendler snapped when she saw what Daniel intended.

"It's sentient, Dr. Mendler," Daniel told her as the dire wolf slipped free.

**I am female,** the dire wolf supplied. **My people are called weretiew; my name is Ranna.** She walked over to the autopsy table and stood on two legs, resting her front paws on the table. She nudged her mother's head gently with her snout, then raised her nose high and howled in farewell.

The sound tore at Daniel. Sam touched his arm, and he saw tears streaming down her face. He put an arm around her, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.

Finished, Ranna sank to the floor and approached Mendler. The dire wolf's shoulders were as high as Mendler's waist, her head reaching the woman's chest.

If Mendler was intimidated, she didn't show it.

**I believe you about her death being an accident,** Ranna said. **So what do you want with her body?**

"We wanted to determine if your mother was healthy when she was killed," Mendler told her. "It would help us to have a basis of comparison ...."

Ranna gave the woman an incredulous glance (which Daniel found rather amazing, given Ranna's wolfish facial features). **Are you serious? What difference does it make what health my mother was in, if you know what killed her?! ... Oh, wait, let me guess -- you hope to prove to yourselves that your attack was justified, so you can sleep at night?** If she'd been speaking vocally, she would have been spitting.

Daniel, Sam, and Mitchell exchanged uncomfortable looks.

**Do you humans always put your victims on trial? Are the dead always expected to prove their innocence?!** Ranna was snarling now.

The guards in the room trained their weapons on the dire wolf, and ignored Mendler's motion for them to stand down.

"You're right," Daniel conceded, trying to diffuse the situation. "That's exactly what we were trying to find out."

Surprisingly, Ranna settled. **And what will you do if you determine that she was in perfect health?** She sounded angry still, but at least she didn't seem as though she would bite them at any moment.

Daniel had nothing to say to that.

"Then we won't be any better off in Vala's eyes than we are now," Cameron offered. "We just figured it was worth a shot."

Ranna's eyes narrowed. **Where is Vala, anyway?** She rolled her eyes at them when no answer was forthcoming. **I think maybe you should start at the beginning. Obviously there was something about my mother's interaction with Vala that made you think she was being hostile. Describe the scene for me as best you can.**

"Wouldn't it be better if you read my mind?" Daniel asked.

Ranna wrinkled her nose in distaste. **No. It is against my people's custom to do so.**

"But I give you permission!" Daniel insisted.

Ranna shook her head. **You cannot know what it's like, to have another consciousness creeping through your mind. It is a most ... intimate experience, reserved for lifemates. Telling me what you saw will suffice, thank you.**

Daniel looked at Mitchell for a moment. "We can do better than that," he said finally, turning back to Ranna.

On her way to the infirmary, Vala had to pass the morgue. A guard was exiting the room, while another was entering. "I hope you have a strong stomach," the former told the latter. "That thing got pretty ripped up."

"'Ripped up'? What got ripped up?" Vala asked.

"Some monster SG-1, -7, and -16 brought back. They say a dinosaur was chowin' on it before they got there. It's not a pretty sight."

Vala felt like the floor had dropped out from under her, but she maintained her outward composure as she strode into the room. She wavered only a little as she saw the grisly body laid out on the table, smothering a cry with her hand.

And then she saw a strange woman cutting into the body, and completely lost it.

**That was ... amazing!**

"I can't believe it worked at all," Dr. Lam said dryly as she gently tugged the electrodes free of Ranna's fur.

Now the infirmary, they had downloaded the memory of the encounter with Rhael from Daniel's mind, and uploaded it into Ranna's via the device that had once nearly seen Mitchell executed for a crime he hadn't committed, the same device that had restored Vala's memory to her after her abduction.

"Well, I figured if Nirrti had altered the dire wolves' genetic make-up enough to give them human-level intelligence, she likely used the human brain as a model," Daniel explained.

"So ... any thoughts?" Mitchell asked Ranna.

The dire wolf nodded. **I had not seen my mother for days; I feared she had been taken by the Madness, as many of my brethren have been of late. What I have seen in that memory only convinces me more: it does indeed seem that she was attacking Vala.**

Daniel cocked his head quizzically. "'The 'Madness'? That doesn't sound too goo--"

A soldier ran in just then, interrupting them. "Dr. Lam, you're needed in the morgue!"

When they arrived, they found Vala being barely restrained by the guards as she snarled at everyone. A scalpel, bright with blood, lay on the floor. Mendler stood with a towel to her face, blood soaking through.

**She has it!** Ranna said, backing away. **Mother must have passed it on to her before she died!**

Daniel had hurried over to Vala upon entering the room. He was trying to convince the guards to let him take her, but paused now and gaped at Ranna. "You mean that 'Madness' thing you were talking about? You're saying Vala has it?"

As if to prove Ranna's point, Vala lunged at him, just barely held in check by her captors. Spittle flew as she snarled.

**Yes. I'm so sorry...** He could feel Ranna's sincerity.

"But she wasn't bitten or anything," Sam protested.

**The Madness does not spread that way,** Ranna explained.

"Well then, how does it spread?" Mendler asked, her voice calm, the only emotion seeming to be idle curiosity.

**We do not know,** Ranna snapped. **We weretiew do not have hands, much less access to Nirrti's abandoned laboratory!** Ranna didn't noticed the alarmed glances exchanged between Daniel and Sam. **Nirrti did not teach us biology or medicine before she left, and she has yet to return. All we know is that many of us have been infected without ever even being touched by someone carrying the Madness, while others have been bitten yet never were infected themselves!**

Dr. Lam knelt beside the dire wolf. "Can you describe the condition to me?"

Ranna nodded. **We never know right away if someone has been infected. Symptoms don't usually show until after a sleep cycle. The infected wake up stiff and sore with a raging headache, a fever, and a deep thirst. They are irritable, and only grow worse as time goes by. Eventually something enrages them, and they suddenly become very primal. They do not seem to recognise their loved ones, and lash out mindlessly. They do not sleep. Eventually, they attack themselves. The time frame varies, but so far all we know of have killed themselves -- none of the infected have recovered. It was why my people, who are normally pack animals, have drifted more and more apart: to reduce the risk of spreading the Madness.**

Daniel felt as if he'd been stabbed with a long, jagged object that was twisted in the wound. He looked into Vala's eyes and saw that Ranna was right: nothing of the woman he knew looked back at him. Vala didn't seem to recognise him at all, either.

It felt all too much like when he'd lost Sha're to Amonet.

"You said Nirrti left a lab behind?" Dr. Lam asked.

Ranna nodded.

"Can you take us to it?" Lam asked. "If we look at her notes, we might find a clue as to what this 'Madness' is, and figure out a way to reverse it."

Again, Ranna nodded.

Mendler lit up, in the first real show of emotion Daniel had seen in the woman since meeting her. Obviously she was excited at the prospect of finding an entire lab filled with advanced genetic research. He knew it likely contained their best shot at helping Vala, but it sickened him to see the woman so excited about anything having to do with Nirrti's work. A vicious part of him wanted to let Vala loose in a room with Mendler and let her finish the job the guards had interrupted ....

Teal'c was hailed and filled in on the situation. SG-7 and -16 once again accompanied SG-1 to the planet Teal'c now referred to as Xanadu.

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree ..." Daniel recited upon arriving on the planet.

"I know of no Goa'uld named Kubla Khan," Teal'c informed him, puzzled.

Daniel allowed himself a small smile before explaining that it was a Tau'ri poem. "How do you know the planet's called Xanadu, anyway? Did you recognise it?" He thoughtthe Jaffa would have mentioned such recognition earlier.

"ValaMalDoran told me," Teal'c explained.

Daniel tripped over a root. The Jaffa steadied him, then went on to tell of his conversation with Vala. Daniel felt a pang of pity for yet another hardship she'd had to endure -- as well as a spark of pride for what a survivor she was proving to be. He'd been tempted to stay behind while the others went to the lab, but decided there was little comfort he could bring her if she didn't even know him anymore. And though his knowledge of genetics was limited, since he was the only one besides Teal'c who could read Goa'uld, he knew he was more useful planetside. That didn't change how much he missed his girl, though. Daniel didn't consider himself a praying man (how could he be, knowing what he knew about so many of the so-called gods?), but he found himself throwing out a fierce wish to find the answer they needed to save his ladylove to whomever might be listening anyway.

The lab was a few miles away from the Stargate, so of course they didn't make the journey unscathed. When the friendly neighborhood pterosaur showed up this time, though, they were ready for it with, quite literally, the "big guns". Thankfully, the larger arsenal proved effective. When a herd of mastadons ran past, though, they satisfied themselves with simply getting out of the charging animals' path. A large serpentine creature proved to slow to even worry about. The little featherless chickenlizards were quick, but like with the Replicators of times past, a simple machinegun worked well enough against them, even if Daniel's pants did get a bit shredded.

And then they reached the lab, where the real work was. A more eager member of SG-16 unfortunately tested Nirrti's defense system by just blundering on in, and ended up very dead for his trouble. With Teal'c's help, Sam disarmed the system, allowing the rest of them to slip into her lab unmolested. It took nearly an hour to crack her database's password, but eventually Daniel did. Seventeen very exhausting hours later, he, Teal'c, Mendler, Lam, and a handful of other biology-savy team-members, with a bit of help from Ranna, gleaned enough information to hazard a guess as to what the Madness was. Fixing the problem, though, was another story.

"Could ya run that scenario by me again in English, Doc?" Mitchell asked Dr. Lam.

She smiled. She didn't get to answer, though, Mendler stepping up instead.

"This illness is more like a computer virus in some respects, as opposed to a more biological one. Rather than it being passed on through air or fluids, it's passed by electrical impulses -- telepathy. When someone catches it, it re-writes certain brain functions -- specifically, it interferes with the rhythm of both theta and delta waves during sleep. That's why it doesn't become active until a victim falls asleep for the first time after contracting it. A person who is deprived of REM and deep sleep for a prolonged period of time will suffer memory lapses and eventually go mad, but this illness seems to amplify the process, effectively impairing the infected individual's cognitive abilities. And that's not all the virus does -- it also seems to inhibit the production of certain hormones, while promoting over-production of others, throwing the victims entire body chemistry out of whack. Put all those factors together, and that's why the infected party reverts to a very primal state in an extremely short amount of time. We believe the creature initiated some sort of mental contact with Ms. Mal Doran when it attacked her. The good news is, because she's not a telepath, she can't pass the illness to anyone else. Doubtless this is why the disease didn't spread like wildfire across the galaxy -- normal humans couldn't pass it on."

Clearly irritated, Mitchell addressed his next question to Lam again. "Can you fix Vala?"

Dr. Lam nodded. "I believe we can isolate the electrical surge and remove it. Once we do, her theta and delta-wave rhythms should return to normal, as well as her chemical balance, though that may take a few days and careful dietary regulation."

Ranna stepped up to her. **Can you help my people?**

"I think that's the least we can do," Daniel replied. He'd pester the General himself. "In the meantime, why don't you come back with us? I'm sure Vala would like to see you, once we treat her."

Ranna smiled, thanking him. Though she bared an impressive set of teeth to do it, Daniel found he wasn't the least bit afraid.

She didn't want to open her eyes. She'd been having the most wonderful dream: she and Daniel were married and had bought a big house, and were in the process of "devirginising" every room. But somewhere along the way, the sounds of the real world had begun intruding, and suddenly dream-Daniel got shy, insisting they couldn't keep up their task if company over. She insisted that it was their house, and if their guests didn't like it, that was there problem, but he wouldn't budge. Then he turned into a toaster, but he kept burning the toast, and things just got far too weird from that point on, even for her. So, reluctantly, she decided she might as well open her eyes.

She was well-rewarded for her efforts by two of the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever had the pleasure to witness.

"Hey, kitten!" Daniel said sweetly, kissing her. He tasted of coffee and bacon, and suddenly she was famished.

Then she realised where she was, and her appetite was gone as quickly as it had come.

"What am I doing here?" she said, looking about the infirmary.

"You were sick," Daniel started to tell her, before an excited Ranna bounded over from the bed next to Vala's.

**You're awake!** the dire wolf crowed, putting her front paws on the bed and giving Vala's cheek a lick, her tail wagging happily.

Vala stared at her friend. "R-Ranna?" she whispered. Then her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Ranna! I'm so sorry!" She pulled the wolf close and buried her face in her thick ruff.

**I miss Mother, but I am glad you are well again, Vala -- and I know she would be glad as well. The Jaffa man explained what happened to you, when you went missing that day. I am glad to know you were not killed and did not leave us of your own accord without saying goodbye.**

"And I'm glad to know Ysardith didn't really kill you or your ... or your mother." Vala looked at her hands, which clenched the bedcover, her lip quivering.

Daniel lay his had on one of hers, and she flinched, looking away from him. She felt bad for it, .

**Vala, do you know the reason you're in here? ... It's because mother had the Madness, and passed it on to you! She would have killed you, too -- your friends saved you life!**

Vala shot Ranna a horrified look. She remembered Rhael's warnings about the Madness. She knew it was a horrible way to die, too. She looked at Daniel now, but couldn't think of a single thing to say. What could she? Sorry I accused you of murdering a dear friend of mine?

Daniel took her hand and brought it to his lips. "I'm sorry, Vala, for everything," he told her earnestly.

"You--? Daniel, I'm the one who's sorry! What I said to you--"

"You had ever right to be upset, Vala -- still do. I couldn't know at the time that she had the Madness. I could very well have ..." He closed his eyes tight, a tear falling against her hand.

Vala reached out to wipe another tear from his cheek.

Ranna huffed. **It was an accident, either way. A horrible accident, but one that could not have been avoided. If Mother had not been ill, none of it would have happened, so stop fretting about it already! It would upset her if she knew you tormented yourselves over the circumstances of her death, particularly when it was out of your hands! Be glad you still have each other!**

Vala nodded, squeezing Daniel's hand reassuringly. He smiled back gratefully. Vala turned to Ranna. "I though there was no cure for the Madness? ..."

Ranna filled Vala in, Daniel adding details here and there. By the time they were done, Dr. Lam had let the General know that Vala was awake and seemed to be doing well. Landry and the rest of SG-1 came in to visit. Mitchell had tried to sneak some pudding in to Vala, only to be severely reprimanded by Lam, who reminded him that Vala would have to eat carefully until her chemical balance was restored.

Landry informed them that he had given the okay for SGC to begin a capture-and-cure program for the weretiew and other telepathic creatures on Xanadu. Lam added that Mendler had found a way to block the virus. Ranna, in turn, assured them all that those of her people who were not afflicted would gladly help with the dangerous task of rounding up those who were.

**I would ask another boon of you, General Landry,** Ranna added tentatively. **Daniel has told me of the Ori threat. I would like to help you fight against them.**

The General, unsurprisingly, began to say no.

"General, you have to understand," Vala said, defending her friend, "Ranna has no family left on Xanadu. She's too small to bring most game down on her own!"

"Are you telling me the other weretiew would let her starve?" Landry asked, raising a brow.

Vala bit her lip -- he had her, there. "Er, no, but ...."

"But Ranna is our responsibility now," Daniel finished. "And she and her people have a right to get involved in this fight -- it's as much their battle as anyone else's. Besides, with her telepathic abilities, she might prove useful against the Priors!"

Landry scowled. "She's gonna get bigger, though, isn't she?" How's she going to fit through the doors, then?"

"Oh, no, she won't get that big," Lam assured him.

He didn’t seem convinced.

Vala heard Ranna whine, and saw her young friend laying on the floor, head between her paws, giving Landry puppy-dog eyes. Or maybe that was puppy-wolf eyes? Taking the cue, Vala did her best imitation of the puppy face, adding a pouty lip. To her surprise, Dr. Lam joined in the act.

It was too much for Landry; he threw his hands up in the air, in defeat. "All right, all right, she can stay!"

And he walked away, muttering.

"Sooo, this must be a dream come true for you, 'ey, Daniel?" Sam elbowed the linguist good-naturedly. At Vala's blank look, she explained, "Now he can talk to dogs!"

**We probably don’t speak the same dialect, but I can certainly attempt to act as a translator for the canines of this world,** Ranna offered, entirely serious.

Daniel studied her with an equally serious gleam in his eye.

"Daniel doesn’t have a dog," Vala pointed out. "How are you with fish?"

**This is a long way to travel to pass water,** Ranna remarked as she did her business, Cameron having escorted her outside.

Cam laughed. "Yeah, the mountain's not exactly designed for canine employees," he said over his shoulder, his back to her. "But we can get you a litter box, for emergencies."

**That would be wise, I suppose. Still, I'd like to come out here as often as the General will let me.** She trotted to his side. **I am starting to wonder how I will stand being cut off from the sky and the air so much.**

"I get ansty myself," he confided, sitting beside her. "But I'm off-world enough that I can live with it. And we can fill Vala's quarters with plants, gets some fans to keep the air from getting stale, maybe put in a sun lamp. But I'm not gonna lie to ya; it'll be hard. Without hands, you won't be able to come and go as you please. Are you sure you want to stay here? We can come and get you from Xanadu ...."

She nodded, and it made him smile. Daniel wasn't the only one who'd ever harboured a wish that he could talk to dogs.

**There is much to learn. I would be content to watch your television when it would be inconvenient for me to be out and about. And Landry has said eventually I will be given leave to roam the mountain. Then I will live out here, and come when there is use for me.**

"Won't that be lonely?"

She was quiet a long moment. **No more lonely than Xanadu.**

Cameron felt tears sting his eyes, and looked away. "I'm sorry about your mother," he whispered.

**It was not your fault,* she insisted gently, and by her thought-sending he could tell she truly did not blame him. **She would have killed Vala. And if you had not come to Xanadu, she would have surely either killed me, or passed the Madness to me, and eventually died herself. But now my people will be free of it. My mother would consider her life well-spent for that.**

She nudged his arm comfortingly. Smiling, he put his arm around her and scratched behind her ears. Her tongue lolled, reminding him ever bit of a dog he'd had when he was younger. He smiled the first real smile he'd had since setting foot on Xanadu.

"So you knew Vala when you were younger, right?" he asked.

**Yes, she saved my life.**

"How old are you, then?"

**About ten cycles. I was six when she saved me. We age only a little faster than humans, it seems -- I will be fully-grown when I am fifteen. My people typically live about sixty years.**

Cam whistled. That was a helluva lot longer than an earth dog! Remembering how he felt when his old dog passed away, he found himself glad Ranna would be sticking around a long time.

"So ... tell me some stories about Vala ..." He had a feeling Ranna wouldn’t exaggerate, the way Vala herself tended to; now was his chance to know whatthe woman had really been like ....

Ranna was given her own quarters, with all the amenities Cam had promised, but her first night was a hard one. When Daniel came to pick her up the next day to go visit Vala, he found her listless, her tail hanging low. He had a fairly good idea that meant she was unhappy.

"Are you all right?" he asked, worrying that she was still grieving.

**I am just tired. It is ... hard, sleeping alone in a strange place.**

His office was on the way to the infirmary; on a whim, he led her in there, and sat on the floor beside her. "Ranna, I want you to know how sorry I am--"

**I know,** she said, and suddenly he knew what she had expressed to Mitchell. He sensed that Ranna was sad, but not frozen by her grief the way he had been all those years ago -- her people seemed to have a different perspective on death. And she didn’t blame him or the others at all.

It didn’t make him feel any less guilty, though. Suddenly he had a better notion than ever before of what Teal'c had gone through when the Jaffa man had killed Amonet, and Sha're along with her. Now he felt guilt anew for how he'd treated Teal'c, on top pf the guilt he'd already been feeling over Rhael, the sorrow he was feeling on Vala and Ranna's behalf. Now he remembered the pain he'd felt over the loss of Sha're as if it had just happened. Before he knew it, tears were streaming down his face, and he cried into the weretiew's ruff.

Finally, he pulled away, and tried to wipe her fur dry. "Sorry," he laughed. How ridiculous -- she was the one who'd just lost a loved one, and yet she was comforting him!

**You humans bottle things up too much; you need to learn to let things go! I am happy to be a shoulder to cry on, Daniel. That is how friendship works among the weretiew.**

"As it is among the Jaffa and the Tau'ri," a gently-smiling Teal'c said from the doorway. "I am going to visit ValaMalDoran. Would you both care to join me?" He held out a hand and helped Daniel to his feet.

Daniel didn’t let go of the Jaffa's hand, but instead swept Teal'c into a crushing hug. "Yeah, let's go," he said when he finally released the man, ignoring the slightly confused expression Teal'c now wore.

"Vala," Daniel began, Ranna keeping pace a few steps back as they walked down the hall.

Vala had been released from the infirmary with strict orders to take it easy and only eat certain things, in certain amounts. Daniel knew he was going to have to keep a close watch on his girl, chow-hound that she was.

"Yes, Daniel?"

"How are ... things ... between us?" His heart thundered in his chest like the hooves of a nervous mustang.

She shot him a surprised look, then softened in understanding. She squeezed his hand, which he'd been holding since she'd gotten out of bed, and smiled lovingly. "We're good, Daniel," she assured him.

He couldn’t have been more relieved if she'd had telepathic powers and was able to convey her emotions psychically, the way Ranna did. In fact, he suspected Ranna had been talking to her. The tension between his shoulders eased a little, but there was still a question left to keep his heart flighty.

"Sooo ... do you maybe wanna stay in my quarters? P-permanently?" he squeaked.

She stopped short, and he swung on his heel to meet her, face to face.

"Really?" She asked, eyes alight.

He nodded, resting his forehead against hers. "I don’t want to spend another minute without you that I don't have to. The thought of losing you ... I haven’t been so scared since--"

She silenced him with a kiss. Just as suddenly, she pulled away. "Oh! But ... what about Ranna?"

**Oh, don't worry about me, I'll be fine!** Ranna insisted, though Daniel could sense the loneliness under her thoughts.

He hadn't even considered that! "Oh! Well, Vala, we could hold off a little--"

**Don't you dare!** Ranna insisted, and this time he could tell she felt like a burden.

He knelt beside the weretiew. How could he make this right without insulting her? "All right, tell you what. Vala's quarters are right across the hall from mine. We'll keep your door open, so you can come and go as you please, and you can scratch at our door whenever you need us. And until you get used to being here, you can stay with us," he added.

"It will be like a sleepover!" Vala said cheerfully, before Ranna could say no. "We can catch up on old times, and you can keep me company while Daniel pulls all-nighters in his office." She winked at him.

That evening, they moved some of Vala's more pertinent things into Daniel's room -- there wasn't a point in moving all of it, Vala insisted. They also added a litter box to Daniel's room. Then Daniel left to get a report done in his office.

"See, I told you!" Vala told Ranna as they settled on the bed to watch The Journey of Natty Gann, which told of a young woman who traveled across the country with a wolf while looking for her father.

Sam came for a visit just as the movie started, Daniel having asked Sam to make sure she didn’t eat anything she wasn't supposed to, Vala guessed. Sam seemed uncomfortable at first, but as the movie progressed, she relaxed. Vala guess Ranna had let Sam know that she didn’t bear the woman any ill will, as she apparently had done for Mitchell and Daniel. Vala leaned her head onto Sam's shoulder, hoping the woman would understand things were okay between them as well. Sam, in turn, lay her head against Vala's. Soon they were laughing like old times, as Ranna "translated" for the wolf on the screen (although Vala highly suspected the young weretiew was making it all up.)

Sam stayed for a little while after the movie was over, then left, probably having noticed how sleepy Vala was getting. Soon after Sam left, Vala zonked out.

When Daniel made it back to the room, Vala was fast asleep, Ranna snoozing at the foot of the bed. He smiled, and slid under the covers, waking Ranna in the process. Apologising, the weretiew rose and moved to leave the bed. He protested, thinking as hard as he could of the old human ideal of a dog sleeping at the foot of the bed. Whether she actually picked up on that, he couldn’t tell, but she nodded and settled back down, sleepily.

Daniel turned his attention to Vala, kissing his sleeping beauty goodnight and slipping his arms around her, content. Sam had a point -- meeting a talking dog was a dream come true, especially for a linguist. But for the foster boy in him that had been cheated of family for so long and so often, their current scene of domestic bliss was the better dream-come-true.

~ FINIS ~