Daniel Jackson: Clothes Rack
By: Irene Adler4
Rating: K
(I do not own anything in this story. That belongs to their rightful copy write owners. The only thing I own is the idea, cooked up in a costume shop. No Daniels were harmed in the writing of this story, just poked a little.)
There was a click, click of high heeled shoes walking down a tiled hallway. Back and forth, back and forth paced Cassandra Frasier, waiting for her ride. Daniel Jackson was supposed to pick her up over an hour ago. He wasn't usually this late. But she knew what was causing his tardiness.
See, Daniel had a slight problem. He was linked, by way of G'ouald prisoner bracelets, to a woman named Vala Mal Doran. She was a reformed thief, smuggler, and G'ouald. Daniel didn't entirely trust her, but she seemed to be behaving herself. The problem was if they were separated over a certain distance for a certain amount of time, it would kill them both. So, a person could see why he was hesitant to leave her alone. She was probably taking a long time getting ready. That alone was bound to be driving him crazy. It didn't seem to be a long trip for him were Vala was concerned.
"Cassie, could you give me a hand?" Eva hollered down the stairs.
"Coming, Eva." Cassie answered.
Eva was the head of the costume department for the fall musical. Their university was presenting "Little Shop of Horrors". They had a small cast, with the actor playing the Dentist playing several of the smaller roles as well. It was tradition, dating back to the show's Off Broadway days. Cassie was the assistant costumer. She was getting credit for fine arts as the assistant costumer, but she was still having fun behind the scenes of the musical.
"I can't find Seymour's pants for the second act. Where did you put them?"
"I think they're under the clothes rack next to the door."
Eva bent over, hanging her head upside down. She soon found the pants on the floor, right where Cassie said they would be. When she rose up, she smacked her head on the hanging bar of the clothes rack.
"I'd be careful if I were you," a voice called from the door way. "I don't think that a head can be replaced."
"Hi, Daniel," Cassie said "What took you so long to get here?"
"Vala." Was the succinct reply.
"I'm guessing she's on her way up." Eva said. "Would you mind holding these? Thank you."
Before Daniel could answer, she had hung the pants on his out stretched arm. The costumer bustled about the room, looking for a few other things. Eva didn't catch the look of shock on Daniel's face.
"Sure."
"I think that I see Audrey's bath robe. That should be downstairs too."
With that, the robe was added to the collection. Cassie found the Dentist's leather jacket and hung it off the back of Daniel's collar. It was a good thing that Daniel was already wearing a leather jacket, or it might have pulled his shirt collar out of shape. Three pink dresses were hung off his forearms. A pillbox hat was placed on his head. Jack would be rolling on the floor if he could see Daniel now.
"So, what have you ladies been up to lately?" Daniel asked, trying to be nonchalant. The distraction wasn't working very well.
"We've been trying to get these costumes ready." Cassie told him. "It's taking a really long time."
"Yeah," Eva said. "Will you please hold still?"
"I am holding still."
He rolled his eyes at the two girls. The anthropologist knew that he wouldn't get out of there until they were finished. He decided to use his time to think of a way that they might be able to break the bracelets' bond. The bracelets had been removed, but the bond still lingered. It involved a pair of stones, an item that looked like an Indian oil lamp, and a trip to another galaxy. The whole thing was driving him up a tree. He figured the bond would eventually wear off, but Daniel wasn't so sure he could wait that long. Daniel felt a sharp pain in his shoulder that brought him back to the present.
"Do you two realize how sharp those hangers are?" Daniel complained.
"Sorry," Cassie said "I guess we didn't think about that."
"Don't worry about it."
"That looks quite painful." Snarked an Australian sounding voice. "I hope that it won't impede your driving ability. I was really looking forward to dinner."
"You must be Vala." Eva said. "It sounds like the snark I heard on the phone the other day."
"Cassie must have had the phone here in the costume shop when I called."
"Yes."
"When are you going to be done?" Daniel asked, annoyed. "I would really like for you to get these hangers off of me."
"Hold your horses."
The two young women resumed the click clack sound as they unburdened Daniel and started down the stairs. The trek down the stairs was an odd one. The two young women were carrying a pile of clothing a piece. Daniel was walking with his head down, rubbing the back of his neck. Vala was bringing up the rear with the leather jacket she had roughly removed from his collar.
"I hope this doesn't leave a scar." Daniel groused. "This is the worst place that I could have a scar."
"Well, if you do, we'll have scars that match." Vala said, brightly.
"Yippee."
"You don't have to be sarcastic."
"It seemed like a good way to get through to you."
"Touché today, aren't we?"
"I'm not touché, I'm just annoyed."
"So, Vala," Eva broke in, trying to break the tension. "Your dialect is interesting. Are you from Australia, or somewhere of that nature?"
"Not exactly, but that's pretty close." Vala told her.
Cassie just smiled as she ascended the stairs to the dressing rooms. She had gotten use to this. They were about as bad as Jack and Sam some days. And everyone knew why those two argued like that. She just hoped that they would realize it before it was too late. It was for her mom and Daniel. And for Sha're and Daniel. Cassie hoped that he wouldn't get his heart broken again. She had heard that he still had nightmares about the women that he loved dying in his arms.
"Cassie, will you get a move on." Daniel called up the stairs. "Our reservations are in one hour and we still have to stop by Jack's office."
"I thought he was coming with Sam?"
"She's driving him? No one told me that."
"I'm sorry; I think that I was supposed to tell you that."
Daniel groaned. Soon after, the girls came down from the dressing rooms, grinning. They had obviously heard what had just happened. Then Daniel's phone rang, with vaguely Egyptian sounding music.
"Daniel Jackson speaking."
"Hey space monkey." It was so loud that Daniel had to hold the phone away from his ear for a moment.
"Hey, Jack. We found Cassie and we should be getting in the car soon."
"Well, hurry up. We're all getting hungry here."
"Why don't you go ahead and order without us, we'll order when we get there."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I happen to know that Sam forgot to eat lunch today."
"Sam." Jack said, accusingly.
There was the sound of an excuse on the other end.
"Well, I'll see you when we get there, bye."
"Yeah, good bye Daniel."
Cassie shook her head. She knew Sam was bad about that. Daniel was to, but not quite as bad as she was. He had improved slightly ever since Vala had arrived. He learned that it was better to have Vala eat regular meals. If she didn't, she got cranky, and he didn't like dealing with a cranky Vala. No one liked dealing with a cranky Vala.
"Cassie, come on." Daniel said. "We're leaving."
"I'm coming." Cassie yelled back.
She took a few steps and then ran back to get her coat.
"Tell me everything." Eva said. I'll wait up in my room until you get back."
"Sure."
"Cassie!" He yelled again.
Daniel was holding the door open, waiting patiently. Cassie ran right through and slid a few feet, but soon regained her balance. The car doors made a loud thump, the seatbelts clicked into place, and they drove off. That was one of the most normal nights they had ever had.
The End