iPod Fluff
by Onyxdreams
I do not own Apple, Taio Cruz's Dynamite, or Stargate SG-1 or any characters therein. Was listening to the radio and thought this would be a perfect Vala MalDoran moment. :)
Daniel sat in his office working happily away. This would normally perturb him after any length of time because a silent Vala was either a very unhappy Vala that he would be expected to go make feel better or a Vala getting ready to cause major trouble. But today, today the blissful silence was one he had caused that would keep her occupied for at least the remainder of the day. Happily occupied. Because for once he happily spent money on her.
The explanation for the start of it all was that he offered to let Vala do a sleep over at his house with Dr. Lam and Sam. Normally he would have let them go to either the good doctor's house or to Sam's house, but Sam wanted to escape Jack for a day and Lam didn't want to be found by her suddenly very affectionate father and head of SGC. No one would think Daniel would let Vala in his house so it became the sanctuary for the three women. He stayed in his office and had even brought in a cot so the women would have the run of the house. Needless to say he didn't want to get caught in the middle of a nail painting session discussing the latest on soap operas. To his surprise though, he heard music from the latest hits radio station blaring over his stereo system. And even more to his surprise he heard Vala exclaiming that she had never heard such music before. Most music she had encountered through out the galaxy was very formal or only included one instrument if it was a more gaudy song sung in taverns.
Daniel smiled to himself realizing that Vala really enjoyed earth music and also felt rather bad for not exposing her to it sooner. He didn't really take the time to realize how much impact music had on the people of Earth. At least in current times. With this thought in mind he hopped onto his computer and quickly found himself on the Apple website browsing iPods.
"Vala, come here for a second."
"Yes Darling?" Vala skipped happily over to Daniel as he walked into his office. Her interest was peaked as she noticed he was hiding something behind his back with one hand. "What is it you are hiding Daniel?" She began to try and reach around Daniel's back in an attempt to grab whatever it was.
She quickly got a crestfallen look when Daniel clucked no at her and held whatever it was farther away.
"I'll give you whatever I have behind my back if you make a promise to me for today."
Vala immediately began bouncing in place excitedly, her mane of black hair adding to her exhuberance. "Oh Daniel I promise! What did you buy me? A credit card? A naughty little something you'd like me to wear?" Vala waggled her eyebrows at her archeologist suggestively.
Daniel gave an exasperated sigh. "No Vala, nothing like that. But I'm sure you'll like it nonetheless. Promise me you leave me alone for just today after I show you how this works okay?"
Vala nodded her head vigorously, her eyes wide with excitement. "What did you get Darling?"
Daniel brought his hand forward to reveal a neatly wrapped box that fit into his hand. "And no, it's not jewelry, before you get that thought in your head."
Vala gave a little pout at him but eagerly took the box anyways. She carefully peeled back the wrapping paper to reveal a small white apple icon on a black box. She went further and opened the box to find what she recognized as small white ear phones and a small rectangular object that was pink with a white circle on the bottom and a screen up towards the top. She carefully extracted the pink object and turned it over to see writing engraved along the top.
"'Music fills the infinite between two souls.' With love, Daniel.' What does it mean?" Vala looked expectantly up at the man who had been her constant companion for years.
"What you're holding is what we call an iPod. It holds music for you to listen to whenever you like. You just have to download the songs you enjoy and upload them onto the iPod." He gently took the object from Vala and plugged in the headphones and pressed the play button on the bottom of the white circle. Vala watched as the screen came on with a riot of color.
"It looks like a small television."
"It's not. It does display album artwork attributed to each artist for each song though. I took the liberty of downloading a few songs that I heard from the radio the other night that you said you liked though." Daniel scrolled his thumb around circle until an artist was highlighted and then clicked in the middle of the circle. He then scrolled again until he found the song he was looking for. Taking the earbuds and placing them in Vala's ears, he hit play for her.
He watched as Vala's eyes lit up and she gave him a huge smile. "It's Lady Gaga! Oh, thank you Daniel!" She sprung at him and gave him a huge hug. Daniel sat there awkwardly for a few seconds before returning her hug. He let go and took a step back.
"I'm not done yet." He reached into his pocket and pulled out 3 cards. "These are NOT credit cards. They're called gift cards. You can redeem them on iTunes for music."
"iTunes?"
Daniel rolled his eyes. "It's the software on a computer that allows you to download and transfer music to the iPod. I downloaded it for you on my computer as you'd probably hack your way onto it anyways."
Vala gave a mischevious grin in response.
"I thought so. So, do we have a deal? You can browse for music all day long and make purchases in exchange for letting me have a whole day unmolested to work."
Vala nodded excitedly then quickly ran away to go experiment with her new toy.
Daniel shook his head, a small smile gracing his face. That woman...
Sam sauntered into Daniel's office, a huge grin on her face that wasn't always there.
"Hey Daniel."
The archeologist looked up in mild surprise at his team mate, and took his glasses off his face to rest on the book he had been studying.
"Yes Sam? What brings you to my cave?"
"Oh nothing. Just Vala."
She held in a laugh as Daniel put his arms on his desk then proceeded to drop his head with a dull thud onto an ancient tome in exasperation. "I told her to stay out of trouble today. And of course she doesn't. What has she gotten into now?"
Sam shook her head. "Nothing actually. I just thought you'd want to see this before she realizes people can see her. It's quite adorable."
Daniel looked up at the blonde with a quirked eyebrow. "Adorable?"
"Just come on and follow me and you'll see." With that, Sam turned away and began walking down the corridor. Daniel grabbed his glasses off the desk and jogged to catch up. His curiosity was piqued.
The sight was one that Daniel was sure would be engrained in his memory forever. Not as black mail, not as some horrifying experience, but as one that he knew he was happily the cause of and would always smile while reflecting upon it.
Because there in the shared locker room was Vala, pink iPod clipped to her military issue belt on her military issue pants, black skin tight t-shirt, and a bright pink hair brush that was currently being used as an impromptu microphone. Vala was mouthing the words to a song that could faintly be heard from her ear buds, as she danced around.
Daniel jumped a little as she hit a refrain in the song and actually belted out the words.
"I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, saying AYO gotta LET GO! I wanna celebrate and live my life, saying AYO baby LET'S GO!"
Sam grinned as she saw the look in Daniel's eyes as he watched Vala. She knew he would love seeing this. Vala had been gushing all morning about the iPod Daniel had bought her. For all of Daniel's grouching and bitching about Vala, he cared about her more than he would ever admit. She had unwittingly filled a huge void in Daniel's life that he hadn't known had been there. Ever since he had lost Sha're he had been a shell of a man, going through the motions of his life, seeking to fill the hole where his wife had been. Even being ascended hadn't filled it. Then enter stage left Vala. Wild, rambunctious, vivacious, and wouldn't take no for an answer from her Daniel. Emphasis on HER. Sam shook her head and turned, leaving Daniel to stare at the woman who would undoubtedly worm her way into being his next wife, whether he liked it or not.
A/N: Thought it was fitting for a small one shot. :) Enjoy!