Daniel Jackson was not a one known for his lack of insight, and he was certainly never referred to as being unintelligent, but when it came to certain aspects of life, he had a unique way of being completely and utterly oblivious.
The one, main circumstance in which he never had a clue, was when it came to women. This wasn't a new development either; taking a look at his track record he had only ever had a few major girlfriends. His first, Sarah, had doted on him for months before he realized that she liked him, and then he had let the relationship fall apart due to an utter lack of understanding of the way the opposite sex works. Apparently -he latter discovered- they prefer it if you pay more attention to them than to a 3000 year old piece of rock with a barely readable engraving on it.
The second incident came in the form of his first wife; Sha're. The most beautiful, exotic elegant and natural woman he had ever met, and that was before she became a goddess, yet somehow he ended up married to her without even noticing. Ok, there was a slight language and cultural barrier, but not realizing that you have been wed to a gorgeous princess, is a stretch to even the most oblivious guy around. Evidently that guy had awarded that title had not met the gentile archaeologist.
Finally, and most recently, Daniel Jackson had come up against his biggest challenge yet. This wasn't due to his naiveté or his ignorance, but due to the damn right confusing nature of the woman. Daniel had grown a lot over the years, he had hardened a bit and his innocent nature had been tarnished slightly from everything that he had seen fighting the Goa'uld and more recently the horrors witnessed under the Ori. Though however much he had learned in his last ten years, and however much he had grown, he still was not prepared to face this.
Vala was the most perplexing, inquisitive individual he had ever met. Her love for adventure and her gentle heart brought something to life in Daniel that he had never really experienced before. It was like a reawakening of the curious young archaeologist that he had been, who never stopped dreaming and always wanted to learn…more.
She brought a part of him to life again, and he wasn't sure how, or when this had happened, but he was finding himself growing ever more fond of the extraordinary alien.
The thing that perplexed Daniel the most though was how one person could at once aggravate him to the point of a mental break down, and melt his heart and make him want to stay with her just to discover what wonderful or insane thing she would do next. The problem was, his complete lack of knowledge of the female species, human or otherwise, prevented him from distinguishing between when Vala was being wholeheartedly honest with him, and when she was flirtatiously teasing him. This made her all the more intriguing, and only served to make him more infatuated with the woman.
On this particular day, Daniel was hunched over his computer working on a translation from a deserted Ancient outpost on some distant moon that he was disgruntled at having missed out on visiting, while he was contemplating these very thoughts of love and it's many complexities.
What was it about Vala that was just so eluding? He glanced over to her, perched as she often was on the edge of the table next to his desk, flipping through some magazine that she had acquired and pretending to look utterly fascinated by the fashion advice being given. It struck Daniel that he had begun to be able to recognize when it was that she was pretending, and hoped that one day that insight would spread through to her actual emotions. For now though, he knew exactly what she was doing…or rather, what she was waiting for. He switched his computer onto standby and turned to face her fully.
"Want to go find some lunch?" He asked casually
She looked up at him with bright eyes, closed the magazine and hopped off the table in
her ever playful manner.
"I'd love to Daniel." she said calmly trying to keep her composure.
Daniels chair rolled back slightly as he stood up and he picked his empty coffee cup up off the desk. Vala led the way with a slight bounce in her step.
"I hear they're serving something called a 'tater tot' today, apparently Cam says they're quite the delicacy" Daniel couldn't help but smile as they left the room together, Vala chattering excitedly and Daniel following closely at her side smiling contentedly at her enthusiasm for life.
Sure, Daniel didn't have the best history of understanding women, but he was getting the impression that he was starting to learn a thing or two about miss Mal Doran, and he sure didn't mind the idea of spending an extended period of time learning more. Much more.