Who: Freya Mikaelson, Vala Mal Doran, Sam Carter When: This afternoon Where: Streets of Madison Valley Warnings: None Status: Completed Gdoc
Vala was thrilled to be back in Madison Valley, especially now that more of her people were here. Of course, she missed having Cameron around, but with Daniel, Jack, and Samantha plus the Atlantis people, there were more than enough folks for her to bother. Plus some of her other friends were still around, which was also nice, especially considering how much time had passed between her visits.
This afternoon, she and Samantha were having lunch and, because Teyla was looking for a job, they had Torren with them. Spending time with him made Vala wistful for when Adria was born and made her wish, not for the first time, that she’d been able to raise her daughter. Idly, she wondered what Daniel would think about having children. They’d both experienced losses in their lives, so she would understand if he wasn’t up for it, but if they were lucky enough to stay here longer this time, maybe this would give them an opportunity they wouldn’t have at home.
After lunch, she was carrying the baby as they walked along Main Street, getting the scoop from Samantha about her relationship with Jack, and neither of them was paying close attention to their surroundings.
***
Once she’d dealt with the whole issue of her family being threatened, Freya had begun to relax, just a little. She missed Keelin like a limb on a daily basis, but having her son there as well as her brother, niece, and Hayley - well Freya knew that things could be much worse. At the moment, she was just heading out to the magic store she’d found to see what kinds of herbs and supplies she might find when she spotted a familiar profile and did a double take.
Dahlia.
Her aunt was walking with a blonde woman and she was actually holding a child, which made Freya immediately take notice. Angling to cross the street with the full intent of confronting her, she gave no thought to her own vulnerability or the fact that Dahlia could very easily kill her now that they weren’t linked.
“Dahlia - whose child is that?” She asked as she stepped in front of the two women, one hand raised in warning and ready to cast a spell without any thought.
***
As if out of nowhere, a young woman was suddenly blocking their path and both the tone of her voice and expression on her face made it clear that she was some kind of threat. Sam almost wished she was carrying her zat, though the fact that she was looking at Vala when she asked her question and used a different name, immediately reminded her of fight club and her experience with the man who looked like Martouf.
Since Vala was carrying Torren, Sam stepped in front of them, putting herself between them and the other woman. “Hi, I’m Samantha,” she said. “This is my friend, Vala, and that’s Torren. He’s the son of another friend of ours, Teyla.”
She kept her voice calm and pleasant, not wanting this situation to escalate.
***
For her part, Vala immediately did her best to shield Torren from the young woman who seemed to be accusing her of… something. Had she ever used the name Dahlia as an alias? Could she have stolen something from her long ago on another planet that resulted in this level of animosity? She didn’t think so, especially since the woman’s ire seemed directed at the baby.
She was grateful that Sam put herself between Torren and this woman and nodded as her friend introduced them, waiting to see what would happen next.
***
Freya’s hand twisted, holding the blonde woman in place for a moment, then pushing her aside magically so that she wasn’t standing between herself and Dahlia, though her words did cause the witch to look at her incredulously. “Whatever she’s told you isn’t true. This woman is my Aunt Dahlia, and she’s -” Dead was the word that came to mind first, because she was supposed to be long since gone, but instead Freya went with something a little less morbid, “Evil. She wants nothing more than to hurt that child, whoever’s baby it is.”
After all, it was what she’d done to Freya herself. “She needs to be stopped.”
***
Sam stumbled when she was pushed aside without being touched. Okay, some kind of magic or other powers then. A weapon probably wouldn’t be terribly useful against that. Still, she listened to the younger woman, understanding her concerns.
“She may look like your aunt, but I assure you, I’ve known Vala for several years and she is not evil.” Maybe a bit misguided and mischievous, but certainly not evil. “It happens here sometimes. That people look like others. I met a man who looked like someone I knew at home.”
***
Concerned that this woman might somehow harm Torren, Vala passed him over to Samantha, immediately lifting her hands to show she didn’t mean any harm. “I’m sorry, darling,” she said. “I am not your aunt and I would never harm a child. This must be a face twin thing. It happens with astonishing regularity here.” This was a first for her though.
***
“What do you mean people look like others?” Freya’s voice was hard, but she did let her eyes shift to Samantha for a moment, before the baby was passed to her. Since that meant that Dahlia was no longer putting a child in danger, her other hand rose and the brunette also froze in place.
“Face twin? I’ve never heard of anything like that.” But the doubt was certainly there now - and the woman’s eyes…..they were gray. Dahlia’s were as black as her hair, and it wouldn’t make sense for her to change something like that.
***
For the first time in a very long time, Vala wished she still had access to Qetesh’s powers. “Yes, well, it’s not something common in most places,” she said. Or, well, when you did meet someone who looked like you, they were probably evil or a replicator, at least in her team’s experiences. It hadn’t ever happened to her though. “But there are a lot of things in Madison Valley that aren’t common other places.”
She couldn’t move, but her eyes did dart over to Samantha, who was cradling Torren. The baby clearly sensed the tension and was beginning to fuss a little.
“I had a daughter once,” Vala said. “She was taken from me and raised by… some very unpleasant people.” That was an understatement, all things considered, but she wasn’t about to try and explain the Ori right now. “I’d give anything to change that.”
***
“If you’d like, I can get this baby’s mother on the phone for you,” Sam offered. “She’s a teammate from home and is well aware that Vala and I have him right now.” She wasn’t entirely sure if getting Teyla involved in this was a good idea, but she was grasping at straws and trying to think of any possible way to diffuse this situation. It was too bad that Jack or Daniel wasn’t here. They were both better with this kind of thing than she was.
***
Freya stared at her for several long heartbeats, still trying to separate this woman from the one she’d spent a thousand years with, bound by magic. She thought back to when she’d first arrived here and someone had thought she was someone else, and looked at Samantha after a moment.
“No...that isn’t necessary.” The more she studied ‘Vala’ the more differences she saw, and after a moment she finally released both women with her power and stepped back, though it was clear she was uncertain about this. If she’d made a mistake here, then she knew Dahlia would jump at the chance to hurt her and this was her way of testing their claims.
***
Relieved that they seemed to have finally gotten through to her, Sam bounced Torren, making soothing noises, and shot a look to Vala that communicated they still needed to proceed with caution. It was clear that this young woman was still suspicious and there was still a chance that things could go sideways.
“I’m Samantha Carter,” she said. “From Colorado Springs. I’m a Colonel with the United States Air Force.”
***
“And I’m Vala Mal Doran,” Vala added, understanding that Samantha was trying to keep things calm. “I am actually not from Earth, though I’ve been working with Samantha and her team in Colorado for the past year or so.” It was hard to say exactly how much time had passed since she first joined up with SG1.
Hopefully it wasn’t a mistake to mention that she was from another planet.
***
Freya’s eyes went to the baby and softened, since he wasn’t too far in age from her own son; that thought, though, had her still feeling nervous about this woman in general. After giving Vala a dubious look - honestly, did she really expect her to believe she was from another planet? - Freya reluctantly introduced herself as well.
“I’m Freya. Freya Mikaelson,” she said, taking another step back to show that she didn’t mean the baby, at least, any harm. “You really do look exactly like my Aunt.”
***
Sam felt a spark of recognition at the name. “You have some family here, right?” She’d seen posts on the network. And also, now that she was thinking about, she remembered seeing Freya at Fight Club. “And I saw you at Fight Club. We were in different divisions though.” Since she didn’t have anything remotely like magic abilities.
***
“Well, I would say that your aunt is lucky, but it sounds like she’s absolutely dreadful,” Vala said. “I am sorry about that. I understand what it’s like to have difficult family members.” Her father was bad enough without even getting into her daughter.
***
“I...yes. One of my brothers and his niece. And her mother.” Which might’ve been the wrong thing to say if she were talking to her Dahlia, but the more she studied Vala, the more differences she could pick out; plus, she didn’t have the somewhat dark aura that her aunt had carried for more than a thousand years.
“Dreadful is an understatement. She kept me her prisoner for a thousand years so she could drain my magic for her own use, and she wanted to do the same to my niece.” But Esther, in the end, had managed to stop all that. “I’m...sorry. For how I reacted. I was taken by surprise when I saw you.”
***
Vala’s eyes widened when she said that her aunt had kept her prisoner for a thousand years. “So you’re some kind of immortal being?” she asked, glancing over at Sam. Was it possible this woman was a Goa’uld or Ori or something along those lines? If so, she might be more of a danger to them than they thought.
“And no need to apologize. If I ran into someone who tortured me for a thousand years, I don’t think I’d react well either.” Then again, she and Daniel had met when she hijacked his ship and taken him hostage and look at them now.
***
“It must be nice to have family here,” Sam said. “We’ve got a few of our teammates around.” She considered both the Atlantis and the Colorado folks to be her team since she’d worked with both. Plus, everyone in the Stargate program was basically like family. Except Kavanaugh. He was a dick.
***
“No - she linked me to herself and there was a sleeping curse she cast on us so that we’d sleep a hundred years at a time, only to awaken for a short period before we went back to sleep. And she’s dead now, so no.” Freya declined to mention the fact that she was one of the few members of her family who wasn’t an immortal being at this point.
“It is. My brother was at the fight night as well; I actually faced him at one point.” And had beaten him easily, too. “Are you all...aliens?” Because seriously?
***
Vala laughed. “No, darling, I’m human. Just not from Earth. Samantha was born here though. And Torren is actually from a whole different galaxy.” One of her favorite things about life in Madison Valley was being able to openly talk about these things. It was so stifling to have to lie about her origins and it was one of the reasons she was seldom allowed to leave the mountain.
***
“How is any of that even possible?” She asked curiously, studying the two of them and then the baby. He didn’t look any different from Nik aside from his skin tone, which made her wonder exactly what being from another galaxy really meant.
“How long have you been here? In Madison Valley?”
***
“I’ve been here about six weeks,” Sam said. “But I have friends who have been here for years.” And that was still hard to wrap her head around, even with her extensive experience traveling to alternate realities and with time travel. Of course, it sounded like Freya was familiar with odd things too, if she’d been magically bonded to her evil aunt for a thousand years.
Torren began to fuss a little again and she added, “We should probably get going. I think it’s almost nap time.”
***
Vala nodded. “I arrived a few weeks ago, however, I was here several years ago and remember that time,” she explained.
When Sam suggested they should get going, she was grateful. Even though Freya didn’t seem to be any kind of threat at this point, the whole situation was awkward and she would be happy to get away from it. “It was lovely meeting you.”
***
“Oh - of course. He’s younger than my son, but he does look a little tired,” Freya said with a soft smile at the baby Sam was holding, and after a moment she took another little step back. At Vala’s words, she hesitated, studying the woman for a moment, then replied slowly.
“...You too,” She told her after a moment, giving a slightly awkward smile of her own. “Sorry - again.” As they walked away, she stood in place for several minutes, then turned to hurry off to see her own son and find out if her brother knew there was a woman in town who looked just like their aunt.