Chapter Two

Sam rushed up receiving a clipped nod and half-hearted “hey, Vala” from Jack. She'd have to speak to him about that...once she was herself again. Snatching Vala by the arm, Sam gave Jack a Vala-glare and hauled her friend off into the house, down the hall and into the bathroom. “You're going home with Daniel tonight.”

Both women stood side by side looking into the mirror as they spoke.

Vala tilted her head to watch Sam's head move, “I am? Me? Or you/me are...is...?”

“Well, you are, not me as you, but you as me...I mean you as you.” Sam pointed to her mirror image of Vala as if to make sense of what she was saying.

“Really?” Vala raised a brow.

Sam looked at the high raised brow oddly. “I didn't know I could do that... well, anyway, he just told me, I mean you. I stopped him from saying...”

“Oh, thank you, Samantha, I want to be there for...” Vala trailed off as her Sam-eyes lifted and she saw Teal'c standing just inside the open door. “Hi, Muscles...ah, Teal'c.”

Both women turned around and smiled innocently, each messing with their alter-ego hair.

“ValaMalDoran? You are there, correct?” Teal'c was looking straight at what should be ColonelCarter.

“Where?” Vala whipped around to the mirror and made sure she still possessed Sam's body.

“In ColonelCarter's body. And you, ColonelCarter, are occupying ValaMalDoran's body?”

“How did you know?” Sam and Vala said at the same time as Teal'c looked from one to the other.

“It is most apparent to me, although, I can assure you no one else has observed this. O'Neill and DanielJackson, while most confused, do not suspect.” Teal'c turned to leave, looking once more from Vala-Sam to Sam-Vala. “A most clever costume.”

Once he was gone, Vala shut and locked the bathroom door. “We have got to get these things off. I'm not missing out on this opportunity. Let's hurry, I need to get to Daniel before he changes his mind. And, Samantha...” her hands framed her chest, “these are so heavy!”

Laughing together each dug into their clothing for the alien device. Sam's eyes...the ones Vala was looking through...rounded and rose in horror. “Uh Oh. Sam, I can't get it off! It's stuck!” It was all Vala could do not to scream when she looked at her own face standing across from her and still laughing.

“Calm down, I'm sure … Oh, no, I can't get mine off, either. Vala! Where did you get these?” Vala's eyes... the very eyes Sam was staring out of, were narrowed threateningly.

“Oh, crap...I never knew I looked that fierce when I was pissed! No wonder poor Daniel...”

“Vala!” Sam yelled, still trying to pull the device out from under the leather bustier.

Vala flinched at the grating volume of her own voice. “I told you. PX something or the other... at a swap. I traded a zat for them.” Vala had to turn away she was so distraught over the look on her own face on Samantha.

“I should never have agreed to this! I've got to figure this out, let me try and pull yours off. Maybe I can....”

The knock at the door startled both of them.

“Hey, you gonna come out anytime tonight, there's a line out here!” Cam kept rapping a knuckle on the door.

Sam and Vala exchanged concerned looks then exited, one after the other.

“Sorry. Ah, I had a little mishap with my...er...her...I mean she had a small problem with her bustier. I was trying to help. You see, there's this little part that has a...”

“Sam.” Sam cautioned Vala.

“Oh, right. Okay, we're out.”

Sam followed Vala away from the crowd and took a quick look at her blond hair on Vala. “You know, you could have brushed my hair... too late now. Let's meet back at the bathroom in 30 minutes; I think I can figure this out.”

“What about my long anticipated invitation from Daniel?”

“I'll stall him. You've got to get Jack interested in something or we'll both be sorry... keep him busy... and Vala?”

“Hmm?”

“Watch is hands.”

“Right! And don't let Daniel confess feelings or whisk you off to … omg... this is so crazy, what was I thinking?”

“You weren't – but then again neither was I! This is the weirdest thing I've ever done. Seemed like a funny thing at first. Well, we're in it now, hopefully not for much longer.”

Heads together, chatting non-stop, they strolled around the end of the hallway as Cam and Teal'c watched.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Yep, you're right, Teal'c, they're switched. That's got to be THE best costume ever and the General and Jackson don't have a clue. That's the best part. Course, not sure what's the worst part... yet. But it'll be a doozie.”

Later, Sam, who at the was still occupying Vala's body, was being tugged along behind Daniel across the room, headed for Jack and … well, Vala who was taking up residency in her body. It was all so confusing, and Sam was a bit out of sorts running the implications like scientific equations round and round in her head. Right now she couldn't even be herself, much less try to act like Vala.

She'd already had a few close calls with Daniel trying to...she suspected...confess his undying love for her best friend, Vala. She couldn't very well let him do that and then have to be the one to convey that to Vala herself. Gadz!

Daniel became more and more agitated every time she blurted out anything Vala-ish she could come up with to stop his attempts at that sweet, 'Daniel speak'; it was breaking her heart to put him off and she fervently hoped she hadn't spoiled the whole thing for them...actually, this was all Vala's fault!

So caught up in her musings, Sam naturally drifted close to Jack, grinning at him with what she was unable to discern as a Vala Cheshire Cat grin. Sam didn't even notice as Vala moved in close to Daniel and laid her head on his shoulder with a sign and a sweet 'Carter' smile.

The two men exchanged curious glances. “Jack.” Daniel said, to which Jack replied, “Daniel.”

“I'm freezing.” Sam said, directing the comment to Jack, rubbing her bare arms, raising her shoulders and doing the teeth clamped, wide mouthed Vala grin, once again.

“And?” The general replied inspecting the leather bustier and scrunching his brows with a perturbed glint.

“I need a jacket!” A definite 'Carter' snap came flowing out of Vala's mouth.

Exasperated, Jack barked back, “Why are you telling ME this, Daniel's your love slave, tell him!”

“Oh, right! I for...” Sam stopped herself from commenting further.

“I'll get your leather coat from the car.” Vala, used Sam's 'sweet' voice.

“Carter! Daniel's got two legs, let him get it.”

Vala stiffened, squaring those full Bird Colonel shoulders of Sam's, “You really are an ass. I'm going...I need the fresh air!”

“I think Carter's pissed.” Jack told no one in particular.

“Oh, you have no idea!” Sam replied, stalking off with a flip of Vala's ebony curls.

“Daniel, is it me or are they acting really weird?”

TBC – A/N: one more - I think just one more.