Title: Bounty Returned

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Characters all belong to MGM and I'm not making any money from this etc etc

Summary: So what if Vala went to Mitchell's high school reunion? It's not like Daniel's jealous... A short story set after episode 'Bounty'.

A/N- thank you cilepe for betaing this. All feedback welcome!

"Nutella, I'm home!"

Daniel's head shot up, his forehead crinkled in adorable confusion as Vala bounded into his office.

"What?"

"I'm back!" she exclaimed with a blinding smile. She jumped onto her usual spot on his cluttered desk. Daniel always seemed to leave that spot clear for her - but he didn't like to analyse that too much. "Did you miss me?"

"Um, sure." He still looked confused. "Did, uh, did you say something about…Nutella?"

"It's just one of your silly Earth sayings, which by the way I don't totally understand. I mean why would morning spreads care that you've arrived home? Nutella, jam, honey. Anyhow," she continued quickly, not letting him interrupt her, "I'm back now from my date with Mitchell."

Daniel's explanation about the term 'honey' died on his lips as he tried to keep his expression from turning into a pout. Grown men did not pout.

"Yeah, about that," Daniel cleared his throat, "when exactly were you going to tell me about Mitchell's high school reunion?"

He leaned back and looked pointedly at her. He took in her clothes for the first time- they definitely were not the usual BDUs. No doubt it was a wardrobe she'd put together after watching the Wizard of Oz for a 'Kansas' look. The dress was simple but only came to her knees, revealing her bare, smooth legs. He swallowed as he watched her cross the said bare legs dangerously close to his face.

"Well," her voice pulled his attention away from her legs and he made an effort to focus on her face. "As you wouldn't let me come with you to your little museum-"

"You would have hated it."

"-I had to entertain myself some other way. With you, Samantha and Muscles all off doing your own thing, I was in danger of dying from boredom. My only options were going to Kansas with Cameron or helping General Landry clean and polish his special edition 'garden bird' chess set."

Daniel raised his eyebrows but wisely remained silent.

"So, I decided it would be fun to see life outside of the mountain."

"Was it 'fun'?" Again he had to force himself not to pout. It wasn't that Daniel didn't want her to have fun. Of course he did. He just wanted her to have fun with *him*.

"Well, besides the party getting gate-crashed by Ventrell and the whole hostage situation, it was quite enjoyable." She grinned. "And I got to talk to Cameron's parents about our sex life-"

"Our sex life?" His brows creased and his eyes started to drift back to those bare legs.

"No darling; mine and Cameron's," she clarified with a wink. "It would have been weird if I'd told them about *our* sex life."

Daniel decided not to point out that they didn't have a sex life. Yet.

"For one," she continued, "Frank and Wendy don't know who you are, and secondly, it wouldn't really have helped my pretence of being his girlfriend."

"You actually pretended to be his girlfriend." Daniel sighed, his mind conjuring up all kinds of unwanted images of Mitchell and Vala. He knew it was ridiculous; they had been only been pretending. Vala didn't like Mitchell that way…he was fairly confident of that. Besides, what right did he have to get jealous? They weren't even dating.

Breaking out of his musings, he became aware of Vala looking at him funny and he realised that damn pout had actually found its way onto his face. With a conscious effort, he changed to a more neutral expression before meeting her eyes.

"If it's any consolation, darling, I wasn't a very good girlfriend."

Somehow Daniel doubted that. "Really? Do tell."

"Well," she giggled, "We slept in *separate* beds- something I definitely wouldn't do if I was your girlfriend." She winked before continuing. "Then, on our big date Cameron dumped me as fast as he could to get cosy with some old childhood sweetheart."

"Oh. I'm, uh, sorry." He wasn't. No at all. In fact, he was surprised at the relief that washed through him. Maybe they hadn't had to pretend for long- no hand-holding, no romantic slow dances…

"Don't be. I ended up in an abandoned theatre drinking 'moonshine' while getting hit on by his best friend."

"Sounds like your typical high school reunion," Daniel muttered, liking the idea of her with some stranger even less. Still, he couldn't blame any guy for hitting on her. She was beautiful with her raven hair and gorgeous eyes and the way she had looked at the party in that stunning dress. It had taken a lot of willpower to let her return to Kansas with Mitchell after they'd 'saved the day'.

He desperately tried to clear the images in his head of Vala taking advantage of having Mitchell's friend in an empty theatre. Nothing seemed to work and he bit back a growl. "I happened to get hit on too." It was out before he knew it. He blinked in surprised at his own tactic.

Vala paused and raised a curious eyebrow at him as she studied him. He resisted the urge to shift uncomfortably under her scrutiny. Then, to Daniel's confusion, she let out a little laugh.

"You wouldn't be trying to make me jealous, now, would you, Daniel?" she joked.

"Apparently."

She jolted in shock. "What?"

"I said 'apparently' I am…yes." He swallowed. "Yes, maybe I was trying to make you jealous."

Silence. Vala leaned forward, into Daniel's personal space, as she studied him again. After a moment, she apparently found what she was looking for, as she leaned back with a brilliant smile splitting her face in two.

"Really?" she asked excitedly.

He couldn't help but back grin back; her smile was infectious. He swallowed and nodded. "Yes."

Part of him knew this was crazy but he felt powerless to stop it and for the first time in months he didn't want to. He was tired of fighting this. No matter how good his original intentions and denials he was ready for this. He wanted this.

"And did you get jealous of me and Mitchell?"

"Oh, yes."

With a squeal of delight she jumped off his desk and into his surprised lap. He let out a little laugh as she looped her arms around his neck, still smiling.

"My darling Daniel," her mood turned serious as she ran a hand over his cheek bone, her eyes intently running over his face, "You never had any reason to get jealous. I've been yours since the day I met you."

He continued to stare into her eyes, powerless to pull away. He was mesmerised. Slowly, oh so slowly, he leaned into her and their lips touched in a gentle first kiss. He felt the spark and leaned forward for a longer, harder kiss. He heard her make a whimper into his mouth and he was gone. His hand found the back of her head, securing her in place as tongues and teeth clashed in a desperate need.

Eventually, the need to breathe forced the kiss to end. Daniel kept his arm around her waist and gently rested his forehead against hers. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths trying to calm his breathing.

"Wow," she whispered.

Opening his eyes and pulling his forehead away, Daniel saw her shy smile and matched it with one of his own. "Yeah," he agreed.

"You know, if I'd known all it would take was getting you jealous I would have pinned Cameron up against the stargate months ago."

Daniel chuckled, shaking his head as he tightened his arms around her waist. "Please don't ever do that."

She chuckled and rested her head on his shoulder for a moment and Daniel couldn't keep the smile off his face. He felt more content than he had for years. Happy, relaxed even…

"So, Daniel," she interrupted his musing. Her fingers lazily played with the strands of his hair at the back of his head before running down his neck and over his shoulders to the front of his t-shirt. "You never did say who hit on you."

"Hmmm?" He was too distracted by her hands and the feelings they were evoking in him.

"At the museum? Who came onto you?"

"Oh." Daniel ducked his head, trying his hardest not to blush. "It's not important."

"Daniel?" She frowned at him, her hands caressing his chin to encourage him to look up. "Come on, I want to know. Was it some saucy museum curator? Or maybe-"

Busted. "Fine, fine," He mumbled giving in. "…it was the bounty hunter."

He silenced her loud laughter with a passionate kiss. And another. And then another.