A Match Made in Margaritaville by Cleo the Muse
Older Kids
Het (Daniel/Vala), Humor, Pre-ship
Episodes: Between Ark of Truth and Continuum
Warnings: None
Synopsis: Written for the 2008 Holiday Fruitcake Exchange for Stef, who wanted a jealous Daniel.
Status: Completed as of December 18, 2008
A Match Made in Margaritaville
"...Some people claim that there's a woman to blame
But I know it's my own damn fault."
-- Jimmy Buffett, "Margaritaville"
The door slammed so hard it rattled in its frame, which was pretty impressive considering it was made of steel and the frame itself was embedded in concrete. Daniel sat at his desk and stared at the quivering door, wondering aloud, "Was it something I said?"
A mere four hours earlier, Daniel had arrived on base, and while waiting his turn to slide his access card through the entry terminal, he'd spotted Vala getting on the elevator to the lower levels. She didn't notice him, though, as she was engaged in a lively discussion with the muscle-bound Marine standing next to her. The doors closed before Daniel had gotten a good look at Vala's new friend, and he shrugged the event off as inconsequential.
Half an hour later, he entered the infirmary for his pre-mission physical to find Vala already there, swinging her feet while she sat on a bed chatting enthusiastically with Doctor Lam. Carolyn waved him to one of the other beds without interrupting the conversation, and Daniel couldn't help but wonder what could be making the women smile and laugh so much. While Vala having a good time wasn't unusual, the doctor wasn't well-known for her sense of humor.
"Have a good weekend, Jackson?" Cam as he sat on the bed immediately across from him.
"Um... yeah," Daniel answered, ducking his head and pretending he hadn't been trying to eavesdrop on Vala and Carolyn.
"How'd the lecture go?"
For a moment, Daniel was at a loss to figure out what Cam meant, but then he remembered the archaeological symposium he'd attended in Denver. Most of the conference had been full of the same old out-dated theories--which Daniel couldn't set straight because of the classified nature of the Stargate program--and the same old pompous windbags, but he'd enjoyed the demonstrations on new technology and techniques.
"It went well, actually. One of the post-grads I met there, a Doctor Windham, seemed to be pretty bright and open-minded, if a bit naive. I'm going to check out his resume and see if--"
"--had too much to drink, so I had to spend the night at Phillips'," Vala finished loudly.
Daniel trailed off and stared. Who was Phillip?
"I guess you rode together to base this morning?" Carolyn asked, grinning a little.
"Well, of course," Vala replied. "Sharing a motorcycle seat was nothing after sharing a bed the night before!"
Cam glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to look at Daniel. "Sounds like Vala had a good weekend!" he grinned.
Remembering the solidly-built Marine Vala had been having a good time with this morning, Daniel felt an unexpected twinge. "Sounds like," he agreed flatly.
After the medical check, Daniel returned to his office to finish gathering his notes for the team's pre-mission briefing, and soon found himself caught up in a translation for SG-14. After a few hours of uninterrupted concentration, a knock at his door snagged his attention.
"I'm going to grab lunch before the briefing," Vala announced, swinging her arms and rocking on her heels. If Daniel didn't know her better, he'd swear it was a nervous gesture. "You want to join me?"
Shaking his sleeve back and peering at his watch, Daniel noted that there were still two hours left before the briefing. "No, I'm fine for now."
Vala stopped fidgeting. "Oh. Okay."
"Wait!" Daniel exclaimed as she turned to go. "Who's Phillip?"
"Phillip?"
"Yeah, Phillip... is he the Marine you were talking to on the elevator this morning?"
"You saw me come in this morning?"
"Yeah. Well, no, I just saw you get on the elevator," he amended, "but since you live on base, I thought you... um... must have spent the night... you know... off-base."
Vala blinked, unfroze, and grinned broadly. "Oh, that Phillip! I guess you must have overheard me talking to Carolyn this morning."
"Yes... I mean, no, not the whole conversation, no."
She scooted her butt on top of the lab table in the center of the room and began to swing her feet like she had in the infirmary earlier. "So you didn't hear the part where a group of us from the base went out to El Taco Loco for supper and drinks? Well, someone challenged me to try one of those icy things they serve in a fish bowl--"
Daniel's eyebrows rose. "The sixty-four-ounce margarita?"
Vala brightened. "Yes, that! Anyway, I managed to down the whole thing, which meant my meal and drink were free, but I must admit: I was more than just a wee bit tipsy."
"I'll say," Daniel agreed. Even in his college days, he probably could never have finished even a fourth of that enormous drink. "So you had a little too much to drink..." he prompted.
"Well, so did a few of the others. Rather than trying to take me all the way back to the base, our designated driver dropped me off at Phillips' place to spend the night."
"You slept together?" Daniel blurted.
Her grin broadened. "Well there was only the one bed, Daniel... and it was rather cold outside!"
"You slept together?" he repeated.
"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?"
Daniel's teeth snapped shut. "Uh, no... I mean, you're a grown woman, recently-divorced, able to make your own decisions--"
"As long as they involve you?" she guessed.
"Yes! I mean, no!" He shook his head. "What?"
She slid off the table, planted her hands on the desk, and leaned in close, studying him carefully.
"What are you looking at?" he groused, leaning back in his seat.
Vala straightened and fisted one hand on her hip. "Well, they're still blue for the moment, but I'm sure I saw the green-eyed monster looking at me a moment ago!"
"I'm not jealous!"
"Sure, you aren't."
Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. "Vala, you can do whatever you want as long as it doesn't reflect poorly on the team or the SGC."
She pouted playfully. "You mean you don't care?"
"No, Vala, I don't care."
It was at that moment that she let out an exasperated huff, spun about, and stormed out the door, slamming it behind her.
SG-1's two-day mission was a blast, especially since Vala refused to talk to Daniel. Sam was gone to Atlantis, which meant she wasn't available to run interference for him, which meant awkward conversations around the campfire. In fact, Vala spent most of the mission in silence, and if she talked it all, it was to Teal'c or occasionally Cam.
As they broke for lunch shortly before returning to the SGC on the second day, the colonel sat down next to Daniel, who was taking notes. Handing the linguist an MRE, he began, "So I hear Vala's got a new boyfriend."
"Good for her," Daniel muttered around a mouthful of cheese tortellini.
"'S funny," Cam continued, "'cause I always thought she had a thing for you."
He coughed and took a swig from his canteen. "Only if you count beating me up and kidnapping me as a 'thing'."
"Yeah, but that was years ago! Look how far you've both come since then."
Daniel stared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Cam rolled his eyes. "Look, Jackson, you didn't see her moping around on base after Adria grabbed you, but I distinctly remember you losing sleep when she was kidnapped by Athena."
His mouth opened and shut. "She's my friend. Of course I was concerned--"
"And you drove everyone insane while she was off playing decoy for Adria," Cam reminded him.
"It was dangerous, and part of the ploy was for her to be emotionally distraught--"
"Distraught because she thought you'd betrayed her," he interrupted.
Daniel's eyebrows knitted. "She thought we'd all betrayed her."
"Well, yeah," Cam agreed, "but you didn't hear her finalizing the details of the new memories with Sam. The final straw which sent her running was when her imaginary Daniel refused to believe her."
"I thought the last straw was supposed to be the IOA confining her to quarters."
Teal'c suddenly appeared, holding out two tin cups of coffee. "Indeed, however it was her imaginary Daniel Jackson who broke the news. Do you not recall her anger at you when she and Adria arrived on the planet?"
Dumbfounded, Daniel was unable to do anything but stare at Teal'c for a long moment. "She was mad at all of us, Teal'c."
"You are incorrect, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replied. "You were the sole recipient of her ire then, even as she is extremely upset at you now."
"Upset at me?" he spluttered. "What the hell did I do to her?"
Teal'c smiled enigmatically. "I believe it is not what you did to her, Daniel Jackson, but rather what you did not do."
After they got back to the SGC and Daniel had had time to mull it over during his shower, the only thing he could think of was his slip of the tongue in telling Vala he didn't "care" that she was seeing someone else, thereby accidentally implying that he didn't care about her.
And maybe, if he was honest with himself, he was a bit jealous that she was seeing someone, as that meant he was no longer her sole confidant. Not that he was her only confidant, of course, since Vala and Sam were such good friends, and from the looks of things, Carolyn and the rest of the infirmary staff were getting pretty chummy with her, too. And then there were Teal'c and Cam, with whom she was also close, so it couldn't be because Vala's new friend... lover... whatever... was a man. And yet, Daniel didn't think he was jealous of her new... companion... because Vala's relationship with Tomin had never bothered him.
Sitting there with one sock on and the other sock held open just in front of his toes, it struck him. He was jealous! For nearly a year, he'd fully expected Vala would one day receive word that Tomin had been killed--or perhaps SG-1 would be the team responsible for the Ori commander's death--and Daniel would then be called upon to console Vala and help her mourn for her lost husband. But, because the marriage had been ended amicably and Tomin had returned to his home galaxy to help his people, Daniel had been denied the opportunity to help Vala grieve. And now, of course, Vala was back to her wild ways, except those wild ways didn't include shamelessly flirting with him like they had before her disappearance to the Ori galaxy.
As he finished putting his socks and boots on, Daniel made himself a mental list. First, he'd go apologize to Vala for saying he didn't "care", then he'd congratulate her on having found someone new. Then, because he was sure she was missing Sam, he'd offer to take her shopping to get something nice to wear, so that the next time she went on a date with Phillip, she could wear it to make the Marine feel like the luckiest man in the world.
Making his way to Vala's quarters, Daniel knocked on her door and asked to come in to talk. Apparently willing to talk to him--or perhaps sensing his intent to apologize to her--Vala called back that she had her hands full at the moment but would be there to unlock the door shortly. Shoving his hands in his pockets, Daniel turned around and prepared to lean against the wall to wait.
At that moment, one of the new nurses came around the corner, carrying a plastic grocery sack. When she spotted Daniel next to Vala's door, she froze in her tracks. Eyeing him up and down for a second or two longer than Daniel thought was necessary, she suddenly brightened and exclaimed, "You must be Doctor Jackson! Vala's told me so much about you!"
"Call me Daniel, please," he answered, shaking her hand and turning on the charm.
"Marianne Phillips," she smiled. "Anyway, Vala stayed at my apartment the other night and I let her wear some of my clothes to work the next day. I just came to return her stuff."
Daniel's jaw was attempting to scrape the concrete floor. "Phillips?"
"Call me Marianne, please," the nurse dimpled. "Anyway, I have to be on duty in just a few minutes, so could you see that she gets these?" Plopping the sack in Daniel's hands, the pretty redhead flashed her dimples at him again and disappeared down the corridor.
The door opened and Vala stepped out into the hall, toweling her wet hair. "What did you want?"
His jaw snapped shut. "Your, uh, your 'boyfriend' brought your clothes back."
Vala snatched the bag and smirked. "That's what you get for making assumptions, Daniel."
Rolling his eyes, he followed her into her room. "I know, I know... I actually came to apologize for the 'I don't care' remark even before your new friend showed up."
"Oh? Well, then let's hear it."
Daniel rolled his eyes again. "Okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions, and I shouldn't have said I didn't care. I do care, actually, because I do consider you a friend."
Having dropped the sack on her bed, Vala leaned against her dresser and crossed her arms. "A friend," she repeated.
"A good friend," he amended.
She pursed her lips. "I see."
Daniel sighed. "Okay, what did I do wrong this time?"
"Well, when the infirmary staff and I took the new nurses out to dinner the other night, the conversation naturally turned toward men." She arched an eyebrow. "The group consensus was that the only way you would 'buy a clue' was if it was inscribed on a tablet in Ancient." Seeing he was still confused, she began to tick her points off on her fingers. "I've tried bashing you over the head and dragging you to my cave; playing hard to get; making subtle hints; asking you out to lunch, dinner, and other dates; and I recently tried to make you jealous. For a smart man, you're pretty slow to catch on."
His jaw dropped again. "You've been asking me out?"
Vala threw her hands in the air. "Finally, he gets it! I like you, Daniel... I like you a lot. And, since I'm a grown woman, recently-divorced, and fully capable of making my own decisions, I--for whatever crazy reason--want to be with you."
Daniel blinked. "Then who was that Marine from the elevator?"
"I don't know... he said he was new in town, so I was telling him about the drinks at the Mexican place." She grinned cheekily. "For some reason, he was intimidated by the fact that I finished an entire sixty-four-ounce margarita all by myself."
"Vala, you're pretty intimidating when you aren't drinking."
"Oh... so is that why you won't ask me out?"
Shaking his head, Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. "I've been an ass."
"True, but that doesn't answer my question."
Chuckling, he gave her a small, relieved smile. "Well, like I said, I came down here to apologize, but I thought I'd do that by way of taking you shopping for something nice to wear the next time you and your new boyfriend went out on a date." He raised one finger to keep her from interrupting him. "I feel I should inform you, though, that my favorite color on you is red."
Vala grinned and threw her arms around him. "Then something red it is. Dinner and a movie to follow?"
"As long as they don't serve sixty-four-ounce margaritas," Daniel agreed, and kissed her.
Author's Notes:
Clueless!Daniel... silly man.