Disclaimer: I don't own stargate, just having fun with the characters.
General Landry felt as though he needed a double take, convinced he must have heard Jackson wrong.
"Say again?" he asked.
Daniel sighed. "I was requesting that Vala be allowed to live off-base," he repeated.
General Landry said, "Are you kidding me?"
He didn't miss Vala's raised eyebrows at his comment. "Yes, I know you have proven yourself trustworthy to this program, and I'm not saying that you would ... break the law if allowed to live off-base, but aside from the fact that you are an "alien", the last time we allowed Teal'c to live off-base, he was accused of murder, kidnapping, and had to move back on-base to prevent it from happening again."
Daniel sighed again. "Well, Sir, she wouldn't exactly be living on her own..."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, Sir, I've talked it over with Vala, the rest of SG-1, and General O'Neill, and we think it might be best, if she moved into my apartment."
Even Daniel had a hard time saying that with a straight face.
General Landry tried in vain to hold back a smile. "Vala, could you give us a moment alone?"
Vala looked at Daniel, and with his nod, left the room, closing the door softly behind her.
"I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to run this by me one more time," Hank said.
"Look. General, I can understand your reluctance, but Vala has made a remarkable turn-around, and keeping her cooped up on the base forever is just going to end badly. Now I know she's not exactly everyone's favorite person, but for the most part, she seems to listen to me, and this provides an opportunity for not only her, but for us as well. By letting her live off-base, I'm hoping she won't be as "bored" as she is here, trust me that will do wonders for my credit rating, and showing her that we trust her could go a long way. I'm not saying this could have some bad consequences, but I think' it's worth the risk."
Daniel took a breath, waiting for a response.
"Sir? Could you at least consider it?"
Hank smiled. "You had me at credit rating. Bring her back in here, please."
Daniel smiled, hurrying to the door, to let Vala in, not surprised that she had her ear up to the door.
"Here are my terms, Miss Mal Doran."
Vala stood straight, a bright smile on her face.
"You will consider this a probationary period. First, we'll see how you fare after a week, it that goes well, we'll give it another month. If after that time, you've managed to conduct yourself reasonably, then you will be allowed to live off-base, on a semi-permanent basis."
She began to protest, but Daniel stopped her. "That sounds reasonable, Sir. If you don't mind, we'll get her ... moved in, immediately."
………………………………………………………………………………………
"Wow, your place is wonderful!" Vala commented.
"Not really, it just isn't Stargate Command."
"Very true," she replied giddily. "So, what do you for fun?"
"Pretty much the same thing I do at work," he told her, setting up her temporary sleeping bag.
"Are you serious?"
"Vala, there's plenty for you to do around here, without trying to drag me into it. There's a TV, food in the fridge, and I took the liberty of having Sam buy some magazines for you. For now, while I set up your stuff, can you just find something to do?"
Without a word, she left the room, and sat down on the living room couch.
Daniel sighed again, putting down the sheets he was holding, and went to find her. He sat down on the floor by the couch.
She wouldn't look him in the eye, just sat staring at his bookshelf.
"I'm sorry. I'm just a bit stressed out right now."
"Then why did you ask for me to move in with you?" she wondered. "If you obviously don't want to be around me?"
"It's not like that Vala," he said, though he wasn't entirely sure that was the truth. "I asked for you to move off-base because you've earned it, and let's face it, you listen to me slightly more than you listen to Sam or Cameron. Letting you live here with me, it's my way of showing you, that you can trust us, and that we want you to be happy...at least as happy as you can be, stuck here with me."
Vala smiled at that.
"So," he said. "Wanna go shopping?"
Her squeal was heard from several blocks away, he was sure.
………………………………………………………………………………………
Weighed down with more bags than he could imagine, he wondered how the hell she'd gotten him to buy all this stuff for her. The bed and dresser were being deliver on Tuesday, so Vala would have to make do with the couch or floor until then, but there will still seven bags of clothing, three bags of make-up, four bags of junk food, and five bags of shoes, two boxes to a bag.
Daniel thanked his lucky stars that he made a lot of money traveling to other worlds.
"Hopefully, you'll start getting paid soon," he commented, as she lugged her spoils into his apartment.
Vala, however, carried the pillows she'd bought, carefully, as though she were afraid she might drop them.
"Really? They'd give me money?"
"Eventually. They offered Teal'c, but he declined. The Jaffa aren't a very materialistic race," he added, glaring as she gingerly set down the pillows on the couch.
"So, what are we to tell your neighbors, my Daniel?" she asked as they went out to the car for another load.
"Why should we tell them anything?" he wondered.
"Well, at least two apparently nosy women were looking out at you through their windows," Vala informed him. "I think one of them had binoculars."
"You're not serious?" He looked up at the apartments before him.
"I take it you don't know much about your neighbors?"
Daniel shrugged. "I sort of keep to myself at home."
Vala smiled. "I never would have guessed that."
Daniel gave her one of his "grow up" looks.
"I just think you should introduce yourself. And me."
"And what, exactly, would I be introducing you as?"
Vala shrugged. "Well, I don't appear to be related to you..."
"Vala!"
"Oh fine," she said, enjoying the flushed look on his face. "We shall cross that bridge when we come to it."
Daniel shook his head, closing the trunk to his car once they'd grabbed the last of the bags. Daniel tried to remember the last time he'd spent this much money on material objects, but came up blank.
Daniel found himself also searching the windows for open curtains, binoculars. Vala must have a better eye than me, 'cause I can't a single busybody.
………………………………………………………………………………………
"Well, I hope you don't hog the covers," Vala joked.
"Vala, for the last time-"
"Hello, Daniel!" came a voice from behind him.
He turned around, and was surprised to see the one neighbor he actually knew. "Oh, hi there Mrs. Burnhartt. How are you?"
"Not too bad," she replied. "And who is your lady friend?"
Daniel began to answer but Vala cut him off. "I'm his fiancée, Vala. It is so charming to meet you. My Daniel talks about you all the time."
The woman chuckled with a gleam in her eye. "Well, it's about time our young man settled down, and you seem like a nice girl. Well, I just came out to check the mail. See you, Daniel. Bye Vala."
As the door shut, Vala kept her arm around Daniel's shoulders. "Well, hubby, we'd best get home."
Daniel glared at her with intense hatred. "What was the point in that?" he asked, removing her arm from around him.
"It was fun," she said.
"Fun? She's going to tell everyone in the building, there will be gossip for weeks, and then someone will notice you don't have a ring on your finger, and that we don't kiss or hold hands, and people will start to wonder about that, and before you know, they'll be calling me a mail-order-bride abuser, and I'll be getting hate-mail every other day!"
Vala simply stared at him. "Done?"
He shrugged. "Yeah."
"Can we go home now?"
"Yeah."