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However, Whenever
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The plan had been finalized a few days ago and they’d only been waiting on Sam to finish the calculations and quadruple check them.  They’d be damned if they were blowing themselves up only to see their plan fail because she hadn’t carried the 2.

It was an odd feeling for all of them.  They all soldiers, they’d all lived their lives with the knowledge that it would most likely end on a mission, on a battlefield or in a deal gone wrong.  Now here they were, setting a date for the end.  They spent their last few days reminiscing and making plans for their alternate selves that would most likely never come to fruition.  Then there was nothing left but to reflect on everything that had happened over fifty years.

Obviously, on a space ship devoid of its crew and trapped in a time dilation field, there wasn’t much of anything to contribute to memories, to effectuate a change in their lives.   There weren’t many events that stood out over the years but the feeling of solidarity, of family, that was something none of them wanted to lose.  And yet, despite this immensely powerful attachment, when the time came to send Teal’c back to the past, they’d all retreated to their individual corners of the ship to await the darkness.

Teal’c stood firmly near Sam’s lab, ready for either outcome of this plan.  He would soon be reunited either with his son or with his wife and though he longed to lay eyes on Drey’ac once more, he needed to live to guide his son through life, to meet his grandchildren.  Cameron had gone to General Landry’s former lookout point in the mess hall as he did on most nights when he wondered when it would be him laying in the infirmary.  The years had taken their toll on his body, on his mind, and if anyone had asked him if he were excited to turn back time and become a younger man again, he would have no answer.  Two decks away, Sam sat in her lab, where she’d spent the majority of fifty years.  She was a scientist to the core but she couldn’t help but feel some satisfaction at the thought that in a few moments the consoles, the computers, and the holographic technology that had plagued her for so long would be blowing up with the rest of them.  It was here that she realized she had trapped her friends in a ship for the rest of their lives and condemned General Landry to a death without his loved ones.  The guilt she’d carried for the past fifty years had burrowed so deeply into her soul that, though physically impossible, she believed it would haunt her alternate self as well.

Daniel and Vala, however, felt anxious of both death and time restoration.  In the scheme of their lives, they’d been together for longer than they’d been apart.  Vala thought it was ironic, given her way of life before the Tau’ri, and Daniel said that if it was a time dilation field that allowed them to be together peacefully for so long, then he couldn’t speak badly of it.  They were really the only ones to fully accept the situation.  Sam and Cam had been obviously distraught since the day it was activated, Teal’c was always as calm as he’d ever been but every once in a while, they’d see glimmers of distress, of helplessness in his demeanor.  Landry had never given in to his negative feelings, not publicly anyway, but they all knew that he was the one who felt the most loneliness, especially when he’d been ripped away from his daughter just when they’d started reconciling.  Daniel and Vala had the usual bouts of anxiety when they thought of what the Ori might have done to friends and family but they’d found peace and satisfaction in each other, an intimacy that left them speechless and a connection that dispelled any loneliness.  There was no question that they’d be spending their last moments together.

They stood almost awkwardly in the middle of their room, remembering the good and bad times it had seen.  As Vala’s eyes strayed to the floor at the edge of the bed, Daniel moved up and hugged her tightly.  Her arms locked themselves around his back and they both memorized every sensation, willing the memories to travel back with them.  Eventually they separated and Daniel, grinning as he did, tugged on one of her pigtails to dispel the somber mood. She hadn’t worn her hair like that since they’d lost the baby and just seeing the child-like style gave him hope for their alternate selves.

 
“I want you to know,” he started more seriously.

 
“Mmhm?” she replied, her eyes downcast.

 
“Even if you are going to forget, that I wasn’t with you all these years because we were trapped on this god…awful…ship,” he continued, delighting in her small laugh. “I was with you because-”

 
“I know.” Vala interrupted him, her throat tightening with grief. “And I want you to know that I-”

 
“I know.” Daniel interjected, saving her from the words that were causing the tears to build up in her eyes. “I know.”

 
Vala nodded slightly, smiling up at him.  They stayed silent, standing together, until Vala let out a nervous laugh.

 
“We should have stayed with Sam, the anticipation is killing me.” she admitted, trying to smile. 

 
“Just think of something else.” he advised her, pulling her close with his hands on her hips.

 
“Like what?” she whispered.

 
“Like…our wedding day.” Daniel replied, hiding a grin.  Vala looked up at him with confusion.

 
“We didn’t have a wedding day.” she pointed out, suitably distracted.

 
“I know,” he concurred, “but we should have.”

 
Vala let out a soft laugh.

 
“It would have been nice to have one genuine marriage to my name.” she mused.

 
“As opposed to the multiple fake ones?” he teased.

 
“Fake is a strong word, darling, I prefer ‘marriage of convenience’.” Vala winked at him.

 
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Daniel replied with mock-chagrin, “wouldn’t I have qualified as marriage of convenience then?” he said, obviously fishing for his compliments.

 
“Never.” Vala said strongly, “Daniel you’ve never just been a convenience to me.”

 
“Vala, I know,” he protested, feeling bad “I was just kidding.”

 
“No, let me finish.” she asked of him and with reluctance, he nodded.

 
“You’ve never been a convenience to me, Daniel.  I mean, in the beginning it might not have been all hearts and roses and my come-ons might not have been one hundred percent genuine but that all changed.  You became something so much more prominent in my life and, I say this with complete sincerity, I’ve never known anyone to be such a pain in the ass.” she said, proudly using one of Cam’s favourite nickname for her.  Daniel burst into laughter, looking mildly scandalized.

 
“Me?  I’ve been a pain?” he asked incredulously and Vala nodded solemnly.

 
“You have.  If it wasn’t for you, I never would have looked for you Tau’ri, never would have converted to the side of good and I’d probably be rolling in piles of treasure enjoying my retirement as we speak.” she said with a grin.

 
“Well if it wasn’t for you, I’d have gone to Atlantis and fulfilled my dream of studying in the city of the Ancients.” Daniel countered lovingly.

 
“So in essence, without me, you’d have become a very boring recluse pining away after dusty tomes?” she asked, earning herself a wide smile.

 
“I suppose so, yes,” he admitted, “life would have been less interesting without you.”

 
“Well then,” she said, leaning up to kiss him, “you’re welcome.”

 
As he held her close, the light-heartedness faded away and was replaced with the same earlier fears.  Daniel thought of everything he had wanted to accomplish before he died and none were possible.  Well there was one…

 
“Marry me,” he said as they broke their embrace.

 
“What?” Vala asked, blinking in disbelief.

 
“I meant what I said,” he continued, “we should have had our wedding day.  Let’s have it now.”

 
“Daniel,” Vala started hesitantly, “look around.  We don’t exactly have the necessities of a wedding, not to mention the time.”

 
Daniel shook his head quickly.

 
“I don’t care.  I don’t need a priest or witnesses, I just need you.” he said quickly, praying Sam would wait just a few more moments to flip the switch. “I love you, Vala, I’ve wanted to call you my wife for decades now.” Daniel said adamantly making a watery smile spread over her face.

 
“I shouldn’t have wasted all that time waiting to get back home, waiting to make it official.  I’m sorry.” he said, regret obvious in his voice.  “I just…if these are our last moments together, I want to live them as your husband.”

 
“If you’ll have me.” he added quickly when his wide-eyed Vala didn’t speak.  Clearing her throat to rid it of the emotions pooling up, she took a deep breath and grinned.

 
“Well I suppose fifty years is a bit long to be engaged,” she joked, shrugging her shoulders.  The smile that blossomed over Daniel’s face made her fall in love with him all over again.

 
Stepping back a bit, Daniel held Vala’s hands in his and looked down at her.

 
“Vala Mal Doran,” he spoke gently, watching her bite her lip and smile, “do you take me to be your husband, for better or for worse, until death do us part?” he recited from memory though the words definitely applied.

 
Vala shook her head no.

 
“Not ‘until death to us part’,” she corrected him, “I know better than to think death is the end.  I don’t care what form or time we’re in, I’m keeping you.  Time displacement be damned!”

 
“I like your version better,” Daniel beamed.  The smile was wiped from his face as they heard the first explosions off in the distance.  Without wasting time, Vala squeezed his hands and recited it back.

 
“Daniel do you take me to be your wife, for better and definitely worse, however and whenever we might exist?” she rushed.

 
“Time displacement be damned.” he answered, crushing his lips to hers, sealing the ritual just in time.  It might have been romantic, the firework-like display of the explosions timed perfectly to the climactic finish of their wedding, but all it meant to them was that their first kiss as husband and wife was to be their last.

 
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Happy Holidays!