A/N: This story has been my brainchild for about a year or so. It's my take on life after Unending but before the movies. I wondered what the confrontation, on the Promethus, that Daniel and Vala had would be like if they were in the real world. My imagination kind of took off and ran with the idea and here's the product. It is still a WIP, because of various issues like crashing computers, but I will try my darnedest to keep a regular posting schedule. I will always try to stay a few chapters ahead. Reviews are very much appreciated and would make my day. Now to the story...
Vala sauntered into Daniel's office. As usual he was hunched over his desk studying an ancient document with the attention only Daniel Jackson could give dusty, ancient documents, written in dead languages. Upon seeing that she wouldn't be getting his attention anytime soon she made her way to his desk and strategically placed herself on top of his research notes. Daniel slowly looked up, his eyes falling on the shapely legs of one Vala Mal Doran. Finally making eye contact with her, Daniel cleared his throat, dismissing the thoughts that flew across his brain.
They had a silent staring contest until Daniel broke the silence, "Did you want something?"
"Yes actually I did. I'm so bored! I thought I could come visit you and we could go get some lunch." Vala replied with a slight pout on her face.
Daniel inwardly smiled. Lunch sounded really good. He looked into Vala's pouting face almost giving in, when a dark feeling like a stone dropped into the pit of his stomach. He couldn't describe it beyond that but it always prevented him from saying yes to her pouty face. "No, I really can't. I have to finish these translations. Maybe some other time."
Vala frowned she really thought he'd say yes this time. She steeled herself again, and defaulted to whining like a petulant child. "Please! These documents haven't been looked at in a several million years! Another hour won't hurt." Vala made her voice really small and her face truly pathetic looking with only the talent of a very talented con-artist, "Please?"
Daniel made one final effort, not really expecting that he'd really make it past this last protest. "I can't really. Why don't you eat with Teal'c, or Cameron, or Sam and Carolyn?"
"I've already tried that and I couldn't find Teal'c or Cameron, and I ate with Sam and Carolyn yesterday."
XFlashbackX
The three women walked through the mall laughing and talking, all ignoring the cares that were related to their work and enjoying a much needed afternoon off. Sam veered away from the group when she spotted a little boutique, and more specifically the gorgeous blue dress in the window. Carolyn and Vala barely had time to change direction before their friend was in the store asking about said dress.
After finally catching up to Sam, Vala asked her, "Not that I am objecting in your dress taste, or the fact that you're buying one, but why the urgency?"
Sam blushed slightly and responded, "Well as you know a certain General came to town today,"
"Yes and…" Carolyn prompted
"And he told me he was taking me out to a fancy dinner and to wear something nice."
"Oh that sounds really romantic. Do I hear wedding bells?" Carolyn asked grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
"Everybody does love a wedding." Vala agreed smiling just as widely. In response Sam matched their grins and went back to perusing through the dresses.
XEnd FlashbackX
Vala shook off the happy memory and focused herself on the task of convincing the man next to her to go to lunch. "I promise only an hour. Then you can come back and lose yourself in million year old Ancient texts." She said running out of ideas to convince him to come.
She apparently didn't need to beg anymore because he gave one last exasperated sigh and said "Fine. One hour."
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Daniel and Vala entered the commissary chatting amicably when they noticed the rest of SG-1 plus Dr. Lam and General O'Neill, who still retained honorary membership in SG-1. After they grabbed trays piled with various types of food they joined their friends. They soon found themselves spectators to an ongoing debate between Cam and Teal'c.
"I'm telling you Indiana Jones beats Han Solo in a fight hands down." Cameron stated with conviction.
"I do believe Han Solo would be victorious because he possesses a weapon of superior strength than that of Indiana Jones' revolver or whip. That coupled with his ingenuity would make him the victor in a battle between the two." Teal'c rebutted with equal conviction and a look on his face that was scarier than his "Jaffa revenge thing" look.
Feeling as though he had lost the argument, for the moment, Cam turned to Vala and said, "So, Princess, you finally got Jackson out of his office!"
Vala nodded and replied, "Yes, well I was quite bored and I figured I hadn't graced him with my presence in a while. It took me a while to hunt him down and drag him here." Daniel just grunted with effected annoyance, trying to make it look like he was annoyed by her interruption.
Sam smirked, knowing Daniel's tactic well from the days when she was similarly interrupted by one Jack O'Neill. She also would feign annoyance to defer suspicion of her secret pleasure. She also found herself curious as to how his translation was coming, so she asked, "Have you figured out what the text talks about yet?"
Daniel's eyes lit up with pleasure as he explained, "Not fully yet no, but I have determined it's somewhat like a technical journal for several things including what looks like the early Stargate designs. It's pretty lengthy it also seems to talk about a mind altering device of some sort, among other things. Once I'm done with the translations you can have a look at it."
"That sounds fascinating. I would love to."
Jack rolled his eyes, becoming very used to his geeks techno-babbling. "As much as I like hearing you two talk about mind altering doo-hickeys, I have a burning question that needs to be answered. I was wondering who was all going camping-fishing next weekend." Silence wrapped around the once busy table as everyone remembered their upcoming vacation that they were practically ordered by Landry to take. Even though the fishing/camping thing became an annual event since the defeat of the Replicators, they didn't think they'd be able to go because of the Ori threat.
Breaking the contemplative atmosphere Vala piped up, "Oh my first camping trip! From the stories I've heard about last year, it should be exciting." When she finished she looked directly at Mitchell smiling wickedly.
Cameron started to defend himself, by denying any and all responsibility. He couldn't help that he had lost the only cover he had for his mesh roof tent; after all he had owned the thing for 10 plus years. He also couldn't have predicted the unseasonable rainstorms. Shuddering before he could finish that train of thought. "There was no way I could've know there'd be freak rainstorms!"
"You could have at least bought another covering. Or splurged and bought a new tent!" Daniel retorted, being the one who actually shared the tent with Cam and who had gotten soaked.
Both men ended up staying in Teal'c's tent, an awkward and uncomfortable situation for all, especially when there were candles involved. Needless to say when Jack and Sam got up the next morning they thought the situation was the most hilarious thing since Thor tried to ride a bike, and even though that concept was funny it was even funnier when it was Cassie's old pink, sparkly bike, with handlebar tassels. To this day Cameron still got flack for his lack of planning, and Daniel still refused to share a tent with him claiming it was bad luck.
"Regardless of what happened last year," Jack interrupted looking at both Cameron and Daniel with amusement. "is it a consensus that everybody is going this year?" A chorus of yeses around the table was interrupted, when a shriek was issued from Vala's general direction. Vala had been randomly looking in Jack and Sam's direction, as Sam moved her left hand, just as the fluorescent lights caught something big and suspiciously shiny on the aforementioned left hand.
Now having the attention of everyone at the table, and possibly the whole commissary Vala exclaimed, "Is that what I think it is!" She grabbed the other woman's hand, practically pulling her across the table. Seeing the gold band with a simple square cut diamond on Sam's ring finger she continued, "It is, and it's gorgeous!" Carter just nodded in response.
Daniel looked at Jack with great happiness but he couldn't help but tease his friend a bit and said, "Finally! I thought we'd all be old and gray by the time you got around to popping the question." Jack shot him a mock glare knowing that he was just teasing, but didn't say anything because Teal'c spoke next, "Congratulations O'Neill, Colonel Carter." bowing his head to mark the end of statement.
Lam was the next to react conveying her congratulations. Cameron was the last, possibly being the most amusing, he blinked his hand halfway to his mouth with a spoon full of food, still reeling from Vala's unusual vocal exercises. He looked at the two of them, put his spoon down slowly and smiled in an attempt to save face. He coughed slightly to take a moment to get his composure back. " Well kiss my Aunt Fanny! Nobody tells me anything! I knew stuff was happening but not this. I mean congratulations, and all but I didn't think it was happening anytime soon! Glad you finally popped the question though Sir, now we can all settle those bets going around." Sam just rolled her eyes in response. Jack couldn't help but look mildly perturbed.
Vala turned to Daniel and smiled in a way that if you weren't paying attention would look mischievous but in all honesty was completely serious, and said, "You know darling, we should get married."
Daniel looked up from his meal with a look that could only be classified as a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look. He quickly assessed the situation and completely missed Vala's seriousness and only saw the mischievousness. With that in mind he replied, with something that he would regret for a long time to come. "Right, when Netu freezes over." With that he continued to dig into his meal. The shocked faces around the table coupled with the strange tension that settled in the commissary went completely unnoticed by him. Vala's face dropped and she abrutly stood up and excused herself. Daniel looked up startled and only managed a clueless, "What?"
The people around him had looks of shock that would usually be reserved for the times that someone had spontaneously grown three extra heads, and those kinds things did tend to happen in their line of work. The silence was only broken when Jack turned to the remaining occupants of the table and exclaimed, "And I'm the one with the thick head?!?" It was only then that Daniel finally realized the gravity of the situation. No longer feeling welcome in the room he politely excused himself. He found himself wandering the halls of the SGC, eventually ending up at Vala's quarters, still wondering how he could fix things that, beyond all reason, seemed irrevocably broken.