TITLE: The Eternal Question
AUTHOR: Vid Z.
PAIRING: Cam/Vala
SEASON: 9 before her residency in the Ori galaxy
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show Stargate: SG-1 are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTES #1: I'm not sure about this characterization of Vala. I tried to write her in character by being flirty and a newbie on Earth (this takes place soon after she joins SG-1), but I'm worried that I made her into an airhead instead, which is the last thing I ever wanted. All input would be greatly appreciated!
AUTHOR'S NOTES #2: okay, can anyone name me a shiny, black material? Perhaps a stone or a mineral. I know I've seen it somewhere used as a metaphor for skin tone before, but can't remember it. I'm trying to use it as a metaphor for Vala's hair colour, but coming up empty. Please help!
AUTHOR'S NOTES #3: should I bother writing a sequel?
SUMMARY: Vala is bored and a bored Vala is... well, you get the picure. And stumbling upon our favorite Lt Colonel and a friend of his discussing something is definitely not something she'd turn down in her search for entertainment.
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Bored out of her lovely head Vala walked into the commissary, looking for entertainment.
She had already exploited the two out of three possible sources of amusement, with Daniel having thrown her out of her office at her harrassment (he swore she was worse than Jack when bored and only feared the time she'd meet the man -- together they'd be an unbeatable horror) and, since Muscles was meditating, there was only one other person who could provide her with some stimulus.
She really had been born under the lucky star, for there he was, one Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell.
He was sitting at a corner table, talking to a man she vaguely recognized, a fellow Lt Col.
Nearing their table she remembered the man's name was Michael Griff, SG-2's team leader.
Moving silently, neither man was aware of her until she pushed a chair to Cam's, plopped herself down on it and in her usual coy manner draped herself all over her team leader.
Slinging her arm around Cam's shoulders she purposefully ignored how he stiffened at her action. It was hard to be a tough, intimidating, commanding Colonel if you had your direct subordinates draping themselves all over you and nuzzling your neck, sniffing at it like a lover. Kinda hard to get respect from junior officers if they saw other subordinates act like that towards you, with that kind of familiarity, ease and comfortability.
On the other side of the table Griff couldn't contain his amusement at his newest friend's plight.
"What do you have there, Darling?" she purred into Cam's ear, while simultaneously reaching out for the colourful piece of glossy paper. Cam pulled it away from her, but Vala, in a move quicker than he thought she was capable of, grabbed for it and pressed it to her chest with a victorious smirk. Sometimes he forgot she was a master thief.
Moving away from him slightly, but not so far that she would no longer disconcert him with her physical nearness, she snuck a peak at her prize.
Then gave it back to him when she realized it was full of Latin alphabet, which she unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on who you asked) didn't know how to read yet. She was working on learning it though... And then, watch out world!
"What does it say?" she asked, pouting slightly, something that made Cam quite uncomfortable.
No woman should have such full lips or such alluring eyes and especially not a woman who liked to play with innocent, hapless men. Men like Cameron Mitchell.
Cam was definitely not inexperienced when it came to women, but around Vala he felt like a nerdy virgin school boy talking to his crush, the school beauty queen. She was in a whole other league, flirting wise, had a couple of hundred years of experience on him, thanks to her time as a Goa'uld host. Perhaps it was her sexual aggressiveness or just that she was more of a player than any man he had ever met.
Vala was however clearly of the "play with 'em, seduce 'em and then leave 'em" type.
Defiantly he glared at her, which to his chagrin only made her cheshire cat smile wider. "It's a flyer for a car show."
"Car?" she tried, the weird word almost breaking her tongue.
"Yeah." put in Griff. "It's a wheeled land vehicle."
Vala wrinkled her nose. "Oh, you mean those smelly, fuel extremely inefficient, heavily polluting, backward, without any advanced safety features and extremely dangerous, things that you use for personal transport and which will eventually destroy your planet's ozone layer and air?"
There was a silence as the two men stared at her silently. Well, that was one way of putting it. And a damn accurate way, if one was brutally honest about the Tau'ri way of transportation.
"Yeah." finally drawled Cam, still dumbfounded.
Deciding to divert from that not-so-happy direction of the topic Griff asked Cam. "What's your's anyway, Mitchell, I only saw it briefly."
Cam smiled proudly. "It's a 1968 GT390 Forest-Green Mustang Fastback."
Griff whistled. "Nice ride. Didn't McQueen drive one like that in that movie... what's it called?"
"Bullit." the young Lt Col nodded. "It's actually the same series as the two used for that movie. One of them was destroyed during filming. I got this one from the original owner who felt too old to still drive it so he sold it."
"Bull-it?" interrupted Vala, trying out the new words. "Mack Quinn?" she frowned. If it was one thing Vala hated was not knowing things. Especially when it was the things people were talking about around her.
Griff, smirking, glanced at Vala then slid his eyes back to Cam again. "Oh, Mitchell, what the hell are you doing with your team? You should educate them a little." Cam had the grace to look ashamed at this failure as a team leader. "Do a movie night with Vala here and show her all the classics. I'm sure you have at least Bullit in your collection. After all, you have the car... the DVD of the movie is then requisite for you." He locked eyes with Vala and raised his eyebrows questioningly, wanting to know what she thought of the idea.
"Oh, that's a great idea." enthused Vala "Can't wait for it, Darling." she beamed at Cam who looked conflicted.
He didn't know whether to be excited or scared to death at the prospect of sharing an evening with Vala. And in the dark at that.
But trust Vala to get the conversation back on track to find out what she'd wanted to know in the firt place. And so she asked the eternal question many a woman had asked their friends, brothers, generally the men in their lives. "You still haven't explained to me why you'd go to this 'car show' in the first place."
"There's lots to see at a car show." started Cam.
"Mainly cars." put in Griff, still amused.
"Why would you want to look at cars?" This certainly interested Vala.
Why would one want to pay just to look at smelly hunks of metal when you can just take a seat by the road and do the same for free? And see even more cars than at a car show...
"It..." Cam started then faltered. How do you explain the fascination of cars to someone who not only does not feel it, but is also from outer space?
"So, you pay to look at these 'cars'?" Vala thought it was best to check just to make sure. Tau'ri were strange creatures indeed and she didn't want to jump to any conclusions. Especially not when her assumption made Tau'ri look like the weirdest beings in the universe.
"And women." Griff put in, enjoying himself immesurably.
"Yeah." Cam quickly joined, happy to get off the topic that was making Vala look strangely at him. Strangely, namely, as if she was rethinking her membership in his little band of superheroes and of Earth.
Cam's relief lasted only until Vala's response to the newest information.
"Women?" Vala repeated stiltedly, her mouth and the skin around her eyes tightening and her body going stiff. Even though she hadn't pulled away physically he could tell she had in other ways.
Griff, not sure exactly what was going on, decided to be helpful in trying to make the alien understand human culture. But for some reason he had the mental image of him and Cam digging Cam a grave.
"Yeah, the hostesses at the car show."
Which explained exactly nothing to Vala...
"What are these 'hostesses'?" Vala had tilted her head and was staring at Griff intensely, for all intent and purpose ignoring Cam completely. Had Vala been an Earth woman Griff would think she was freezing Cam out, like a girlfriend freezing her boyfriend out, out of jealousy. But Vala wasn't, so what was going on?
Cam, for all the oblivious male he was, had noticed signs of danger, no matter how the sole existence of it puzzled him, and had decided to keep his mouth shut lest he dig himself in deeper.
Griff explained hesitantly, yet knowing no other way to say it better. "They are women hired to help promote cars or bikes or other vehicles at a show. Basically they're hired to either sit inside them or stand by the cars to attract potential customers or just gawkers."
Okay, for some reason his honest explanation had made the situation even worse. By now Griff was seriously concerned over Vala's behaviour and for Cam's health and safety. Everybody knew she was after Daniel, right? And thus everybody knew she and Cam weren't a couple. So what was going on?
There was only one way Vala could think of, for these 'hostesses' to achieve that. "And these 'hostesses' are beautiful?"
Cam, lost in the memory of a particular one, tall, leggy, slim and buxom, had forgotten who he was talking to and whistled quietly, adding a lecherous "Oh yeah."
Then shrunk back when he caught Vala's death glare, while Griff winced sympathetically.
'Why would he go to look at other women, even pay for it, when he has me to look at?' wondered Vala 'None of those women can compare to me. Or can they? Am I not beautiful enough to hold his interest?'
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