Authors Note: So first chapter, a little slow. This is supposed to be a humour fic as well as a nice Daniel/Vala piece, just the first few chapters will slowly get into it, set up the scene so you know where the storys at. First chapter so would love to know what you think so as to get some sense of direction or areas of improvement. As usual, apologise in advanced for any spelling era's, don't have spell check and am world's worst speller. I have been collection quotes for quite some time now, from Third rock from the sun in particular, so there will be a lot you may recognise from that.
Disclaimer: I do not own StarGate Sg-1 or its characters or anything else you recognise from the show. I do not own Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Scrubs, Gilmore Girls, Third Rock From The Sun, Dark Angel and any other TV shows that many of the quotes/lines/story concepts have been taken from.
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Chapter One: Translations and Appartments.
Daniel barely even batted an eye lid as he entered his office at the SGC, only to find that there was already someone in there. There was no greeting given, there was really no need for it. She was always there lately, he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because she was so worried about being forgotten. With the threat of the Ori completly forgotten, after Earths' much earned victory over them at least three months ago, it seemed that the focus was not on her nearly as much as it used to be. In fact, the focus wasn't really on anything lately. It seemed that everything had finally settled down and there was a great sense of peace over everyone at the base. There was no more fighting, no more bad guys, well at least none worth worrying about, and there was hardly any gate travel.
With the Ori finally destroyed, the President thought it best to focus it's main funding on the Atlantis project. Not having any reason to argue, there wasn't much that General Landry could do about it. So gate travel was still allowed for exploration purposes only, advanced technologies, possible allies, learning about new cultures, it was back to how Daniel always liked it. Now he had more time to research, more time to explore. Of course there were more rules now, gate travel was limited to only a few odd trips during the week, but that left more time to get the work done in between.
But of course there was always that something that managed to distract him from his work. And that something just happened to be the very women that was sitting in the corner of his office today, the one day when he actually needed some quiet so he could get back to his translations.
He resisted the temptation to ask her to leave. She seemed to be absorbed in a book that was resting on her lap, so it was impossible for him to see the title. Nevertheless, he wasn't about to disturb her. She was quiet, that was good enough for him.
Sitting in his chair and placing the precious tablet, that he had been carrying under his arm, on the table, he took out pen and paperwork and began his translations.
... FLIP ...FLIP ... FLIP ...
Sighing loudly he looked up from his work and towards the figure in the corner. She was still uncharacteristically quiet, her eyes darting backwards and forwards over the words on the page in front of her, mouth hanging open in complete awe. He shook his head, willing himself to concentrate and went back to his tablet.
... FLIP ...FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFLIP ...
He threw his pen down, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes in frustration. Placing his glasses back on he looked over at her once again, secretly hoping that she would get the hint and go for a walk or something, leaving him alone in his office. Because it was, after all, his office.
She smiled to herself as she read her book, mouthing the words, too softly for Daniel to hear them. He instinctivly leaned further over his desk, turning his head so that his ear was pointed in her direction. That book was enjoyable, he could see it in her eyes, he had to know what it was. Opening his mouth, just about to ask her, she almost seemed to sense what he was about to do and she started to read out loud ... very fast.
"When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles and the bottles in a poodle and the poodles eating noodles ..." she paused for a second to catch her breath as she scanned over the next page "... they call this a muddle-puddle-tweddle-poodle-beetle-noodle-bottle-paddle-battle."
She inhaled loudly and closed the book so she could see the title and the author. Daniel didn't need to read the front to know it was 'Fox in Socks', by Dr. Seuss.
"My god Daniel," Vala finally said, acknowledging him for the first time since he entered the room. "This man is a genius!"
Daniel lowered his head and rubbed his temples slowly as Vala got up and slid the book across his table, untill it was directly under his line of vision.
"You should really read it sometime."
"Oh, I already have," he said, pushing it back towards her. "About 30 years ago."
He picked up his discarded pen and focused once again on his translations. It was a very big, very clear hint that he was done talking and wanted to work, but as usual Vala didn't get the hint.
"You know ... I found a mistake in one of your translations Daniel," she said, not liking that his attention was no longer on her.
Unable to help himself, Daniel once again forgot about his work and looked up at the women who was now leaning in over his desk, getting very close to him. "You did, did you?"
"Why yes I did. I'll even show you." Vala picked up her Dr. Seuss book and pulled out a few loose pages that were resting in the back. Daniel recognised them immediatly as the translation he was working on about four nights ago now. Over his writing in black, were some corrections done in pink highlghter. She handed him the papers as he just stared at them dumbstruck.
"How did you get these?" He had spent hours on these, only to have her scribble all over the top of it. He tried to control his temper. "They were in my desk."
"And I took them out," she said, matter of factly.
"My desk was locked."
"Which made it very difficult to open," she made her way around the desk so she was leaning in next to him. "You might want to make a note of that."
He closed his eyes trying to ignore her. Maybe if he ignored her she would go away, the paper would go away, everything would just ... go away.
She leaned in closer, pointing at the pink corrections she had made. "These are the correct -"
"YES!! I can see that!"
"Alright, just thought I'd help." She pushed herself away from the desk, picked up her book and left him alone in his office.
It took him a moment to calm himself and then he glanced over the paper. Of course her corrections were right, that was probably what killed him the most. Rolling his eyes he once again tried working. But it was no use, he wasn't focused any more. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, deep in thought.
Vala and he still had their little disagreements here and there, but the truth was, they were a lot closer then what they had been before. They had been through a lot together and he hadn't forgotten, he was positive that she hadn't either. When the Ori had been destroyed, Adria, Vala's daughter was destroyed with them. In fact if it wasn't for Vala making a very difficult decission then Daniel wouldn't even be alive. It was he that destroyed her personal sheild, he that rendered her defensless, but she wasn't happy and was ready to kill him. She would have done it all too easily too, but Vala had destracted her long enough for Cameron to get in one simple shot that cut the Orisi's life very short.
Daniel was still grateful and he was there for Vala, but she was yet to talk about it. In fact she hadn't even mentioned Adria or that day or that moment to anyone and, for once in his life, Daniel wasn't sure whether he should be the one to try and talk to her or just let it go. So, three months had gone by and still he didn't bring it up. They still disagreed, they still had their moments, she still laughed, she still bugged everyone like only she could, Daniel wasn't sure if he should be happy she took the whole thing well or worried.
It was then that he suddenly remembered what he had to talk to Vala about. Not wanting to miss his chance, and feeling now was as good a time as any, he got up from his chair and quickly ran after her. She hadn't gotten very far, she was strolling along the corridor, very casually, as she made her way to her quarters.
"Vala, wait up," he called, coming to a stop as she turned around to meet him.
"Ah, noticed my corrections were accurate I see," she crossed her arms over her chest and put on her usual 'I was right and you were wrong' expression.
"Well, they were - somewhat correct, but that's beside the point. I forgot to tell you, I found a nice appartment for sale."
"... Oh!" was all that she said. Daniel smiled at her, this was supposed to be happy news. He knew that she was a little reluctant about moving, but everyone thought it was for the best.
Vala was an official member of SG-1, she had earned it fair and square. It was always easier if she stayed on the base because they travelled through the gate so often and it was just easier for her to adjust to Earth one step at a time. Now, however, she had been there for a good ten months and with the Ori gone and gate travel at a minimum, General Landry and the rest of SG-1 thought it would be nice for her to get her own place. Daniel had mentioned it to her a few days ago, thinking she would be excited to move out of the base and finally have a permanent place of her own, but she seemed to push the thought aside. But he had been looking for a nice place for her for days and it seemed like he had finally found the right place.
"Y-you know, Daniel, I was thinking, Teal'c has been here for far longer then me and well, he still stays on the base." She seemed to be averting his eyes, but barely noticing he continued to push.
"Yes, but Teal'c has family and friends through the gate, he's never really concidered Earth his real home. So it never really mattered if he had his own place or not. You should be happy Vala, you'll be out of this stinkin' place and have somewhere nice to go home to every day."
She smiled at him, but it wasn't really her usual genuine smile. "Well ... I dunno, I mean, I have people off-world too and -"
"You can still go off-world Vala, I just figured ... you know, it would be nice if - you actually had somewhere to live ... somewhere permanent." Daniel chose his words carefully, he didn't want to start blabbing on about how she had nothing but a life of crime out there and so didn't really need to go off-world. He could see her thinking it over and so he decided to tell her more about the appartment.
"It's got a big bathroom ... lots of wardrobe space ... " he paused, tossing up whether to tell her the last part. "It's about two blocks away from my appartment."
She smiled. Another fake smile, but he could see she was beginning to see reason.
"Alright Daniel," she said, sighing softly. "When can I look at it."
"Good, I was hoping you'd say that. Well I organised for you to have a look tomorrow afternoon. I figured I'd go with you, just because I'm not sure if you'd know what to look for." She smiled again but didn't say much else, she simply turned around and began walking back towards her room.
There was really no reason why she wouldn't want her own place. The SGC was no place to live, alarms going off through the night, tiny living areas. He knew she didn't seem too keen on the idea just yet, but he knew she would, he was sure of it.
end chap 1
AU: Hopefully another chapter up soon, depending on real life stuff, such a drag lol. Please let me know what you think.
