Dr. Feel Good

"Vala." Jackson waves her over to their table in the cafeteria. Two hours ago, they returned from an off-world mission, and she was the last one to get medical checked.

She doesn't greet them as she approaches the table, only rubs at the Band-Aid in the bend of her arm.

"Everything okay?" he questions, dumping another spoonful of weak chili in his mouth.

"Yes. It's just—" Jackson gives him a look. Vala tends to be loose lipped with her medical examination experiences, partially because she's never received this level or consistency of medical care before, making her a little paranoid. Basically, whenever she comes back from the medical bay, they steer her towards Sam. "—I just had the strangest experience with the new doctor."

"Oh, that sounds like a story for Sam." Jackson sort of ducks his head, playing around with the swill of coffee in the bottom of his cup.

"What happened?" Doesn't know why he asks—it's just—he knows her a little bit now, and her expression doesn't have a hint of playfulness on it.

Jackson sends him a glare.

"Well he was very touchy—" Okay so maybe this was a story for Sam. He and Jackson shove themselves up from the table around the same time that she rolls her eyes. "Not like that."

"Qualify your sentences, Vala," Jackson huffs.

"How was he touchy?"

Jackson sends a stronger glare. "Oh, we really don't want to know that, do we?"

She slides into a spot next to Jackson who sighs and shuffles over. "He sat very close and made a bunch of horribly unfunny jokes and called me something."

"Was it 'high maintenance'?"

"No." she ignores Jackson's jab, her eyebrows creasing as she tries to remember.

"Maybe he was just nervous." Tries to think of a reason why the fresh out of medical school doctor would be intimidated by her, besides the obvious. "Maybe you were his first alien."

"He saw Teal'c before her."

"Maybe you were his first female alien."

"Tough cookie."

"What?" he and Jackson both turn back towards her, as she taps the tabletop with her index finger.

"That's what he called me. 'Tough Cookie.'"

"Oh." He chuckles, leaning back from the table, his arms crossed, but they don't share his humor. "You don't get it?"

Speaking more to Jackson of course because it's clear Vala doesn't understand Earth idioms and dating styles.

Jackson just stares back. "Obviously not."

"Vala, he was flirting with you."

"Flirting?" Her and Jackson blurt almost at the same time.

"I'm sorry, but—" Jackson's fingers tap at the table in what he would normally just assume is nervousness, but this isn't exactly a situation that reeks of anxiety. "How was that flirting?"

"He called you tough cookie, right?"

"Yes."

"That's a compliment, he thinks you can handle yourself in dangerous situations."

"Really?" Now she leans in, elbows on the table and a raised eyebrow.

Jackson leans in too, trying to drive the conversation away from the new doctor. "He's a thirty-something doctor, not an eighty-year-old grandpa in a retirement home."

The grin drops from her expression as she contemplates Jackson's words.

It really is his fault for not making a move yet, even though all of them, including Vala, are aware of his feelings for her.

"Vala?"

"Yes?"

"He touch your knee a lot?"

"Three times."

"Flirting."

"Well then—" her grin is huge as she shifts out of her spot, dusting her pants and preening at her hair a bit. "I'm feeling a bit feverish, perhaps I should probably go back to medical and—"

Jackson glares at him again before shooting up from the table, following her, trying to convince her the doctor is new and inexperienced—which she states isn't a problem—while trailing her from the cafeteria.