Cabin Fever
By Onyx-dreams
Disclaimer: I do not own SG-1 or its characters. Nor any other popular reference/song/movie that might have popped up while writing this.
Vala woke up slowly from one of the deepest sleeps she's had in a while. It was refreshing to not remember if she had had any nightmares whilst also not suffering a horrendous hangover. Daniel really was a drug to her, and this was her proof. Light leaked in from a window next to the bed, allowing Vala a better look at Daniel's room.
It was tastefully done, but like any room where a person does not often reside, it had a detached feeling to it. The living room held more personality than Daniel's room. The floor was wood with a cream area rug. An oak dresser sat next to the bed and there were night stands on either side of the bed. The dresser top held some knick knacks that were obviously from some archeological digs, though none looked like the Egyptian-Goa'uld used artifacts she was used to. What really caught her eye though was on the night stand next to an analog alarm clock. It was a simple framed photograph. It held a picture of a beautiful, graceful woman and Daniel.
So this was Sha're. This was the woman Daniel had given up Earth for and who had been kidnapped and taken for a host. Looking at the woman, Vala suddenly felt very inferior for the first time in her life. She'd known that Daniel had wed once upon a time and that his wife had been taken from him. She'd never known what the woman looked like though. And now that she knew…Vala suddenly felt like, that even though the woman was dead (poor woman to be taken by the goa'uld. Neither she nor Daniel deserved that kind of pain), she would never compare. A candle to be compared to the sun. He looked so happy in the picture too. Daniel was hardly this carefree nowadays.
Vala wiped away a couple of tears that had come out of nowhere. A jumble of emotions had suddenly swelled up upon looking at that picture. Sad acceptance, annoyance, helplessness…but the one emotion she'd thought would pop up, didn't. Jealousy. As inferior to the woman in the picture as she felt, she couldn't harbor any ill will toward her. She had made Daniel happy. And Vala couldn't be mad about that.
Accepting this fact, Vala swung her legs over to the side of the bed and fought off a dizzy spell. "Damnable cold." Glancing around again, Vala saw three doors in this room. One obviously led to the hallway, meaning one was Daniel's closet and the other had the potential to be Daniel's personal bathroom. And boy did she have to go the ladies room.
She placed her feet on the, what she now registered to be, very cold floor and began to make her way slowly to wall containing the two doors not leading to the hallway. To her dismay though, a huge wave of vertigo struck her halfway through her trek to the wall and caused her to fall over onto the ground. She cursed when the vertigo continued even though she was lying down. She quickly curled in on herself due the cold and in hopes that it would help stop the world from moving crazily around her.
Daniel awoke with start when he heard a loud thud. It took him a couple seconds to register that he was on his couch in his living room covered in the quilt he had put over Vala last night.
Vala! The thud! He quickly threw off the quilt and picked up his glasses sitting on the coffee table. He ran down the hallway. "Vala! Are you okay?" He made to go into Vala's room when he heard a weak reply issue from his room.
"I'm in here darling. Oh please make the room stop spinning…"
He opened the door to his room to find Vala curled up in a tiny ball on his bedroom floor. He immediately knelt down next her. "You okay? I heard you fall from in the living room."
"I'm just a little woozy. Took a tumble while trying to see if one of these doors in your room was a bathroom. And now the world almost refuses to stop spinning. But otherwise I'm just fine."
Daniel sighed a little to himself. "Alright. Let's get you back into bed." He gently began to collect Vala into his arms, then picked her up. "Do you have to go to the bathroom first?"
He felt Vala nod weakly into his shoulder. Her hand had taken up a death grip on his shirt, the material twisted up between her fingers. Her breath came out in uneven pants on his neck. He squeezed her reassuringly with his arms, trying to get her to calm down a bit and breathe evenly. Making his way to his bathroom, he opened the door and walked over near the toilet and gently set Vala back on her feet.
"Call when you're done and I'll make sure you make it back to bed okay?" He carefully got her to let go of his shirt and then walked out, closing the door softly behind him. He felt rather guilty now. Vala had obviously woken up last night from a night terror and had sought out his company only to find him passed out on the couch. He couldn't imagine how hard it was for her to get him to lay down and get his legs up on the piece of furniture with how weak and dizzy she is. So in the end she sought out the next best thing to being in his presence and that was crawling into his bed.
He glanced over at it and was pleased to see that it looked like she hadn't thrashed around at all. She had slept peacefully at least. He finally heard her call quietly from the bathroom and he walked in to see her looking pale and queasy. "You don't look so good. You going to need a trashcan next to the bed?" Vala nodded shallowly as she stepped toward Daniel and hugged him, burying her face into his chest.
Daniel stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before wrapping his arms around her. "Come on. Off to bed with you." He dipped down and picked her up again, knowing he really didn't have to with the bed just feet away. But Vala looked so miserable he couldn't help himself. Laying her down on the sheets he found that she wouldn't let go of his shirt this time. "Vala. Let go."
"Please stay for a little bit…at least until I fall asleep or feel better." Her eyes were closed tight in an attempt to not look at the room that spun around her. Having Daniel to hold onto made her feel secure and less nauseous. She felt Daniel heave a huge sigh under her hands. To her surprise she heard Daniel's glasses get placed on the night stand and his weight settle next to her on the bed.
He pulled her close so her head was resting on his shoulder then pulled the covers up over them both. "No one gets to know how much you have me wrapped around your pinky finger okay? And when you're not sick, you're free game to make fun of and piss off back." Vala chuckled into his shoulder.
"Whatever darling. Shut up and be my pillow." She snuggled close and to Daniel's surprise was asleep almost instantly. Before he knew it or could do anything about it, he too had drifted off to sleep.
Daniel slowly drifted back into consciousness feeling most relaxed and at peace. He was also feeling unusually warm on one side of his body. He cracked an eye open to see a huge wild mass of black hair sitting on his shoulder. Remembering that he had laid down to help Vala fall asleep, he made sure to beat back the alarm that had slowly risen in his mind at the idea of a stranger creeping into his bed. With that task done, he smiled down at Vala's sleeping form. She hadn't moved a muscle. Though she did drool a little on his shoulder. He sat up a bit to peer over the space pirate's head to look at the clock on his nightstand. Thankfully he had bought it with numbers big enough that he could even see it without his glasses. It was almost noon.
May as well get the decorations out of the attic for when Vala was awake and feeling better. It took him a few minutes but he finally managed to extract himself from Vala's grasp without waking her. As he looked down at her sleeping face, his traitorous hand once again strayed out to tuck an errant lock of Vala's hair behind her ear. He then grabbed his glasses and placed them on his face. Rechecking the clock his eyes were drawn to the picture of him and Sha're next to it. From the looks of it, Vala had picked it up to look at it. He wasn't sure if he'd ever explained anything about Sha're to Vala. But that was also one of those things he'd told her he wouldn't answer questions about. He wasn't ready to talk about his dead wife to anyone yet. Not even Jack.
Enough of that. Ornaments. Attic. Focus. With a last glance at Vala to make sure she was still resting peacefully, he walked out the door into the hallway.
Vala woke slowly for the second time that day, this time feeling significantly better. The world didn't spin around at an unbelievable speed, though she felt she might still have some issues walking. She registered the smell of coffee coming through the door that had been left open a crack. And now she was hungry. She climbed eagerly out of bed and waited for the familiar dizzy spell to pass before she made her journey down the hallway wall to Daniel's living room.
He wasn't in the living room, but bunches of cardboard boxes were. She had only made half of her journey though, as her stomach rumbled to remind her that sustenance was high on the list of priorities at the moment. Arriving in the kitchen she caught sight of her host standing at a counter, mug of coffee in hand, and newspaper spread out in front of him. "Mind pouring me a cup Daniel? And what do you have to eat? I'm starving."
Daniel gave a small start of surprise, getting a couple drops of coffee onto the newspaper. "Good lord woman. You're stealthy even while sick and unable to walk in a straight line." He turned and gave her a shit-eating smirk, knowing she wouldn't let the tease slide off.
"Come here. I'll cough on you. See if you laugh about walking after. Now come on man, where's the food? I could eat a hippo." She scowled as she watched Daniel lift his mug to his lips to take a sip of coffee, his eye brow arched over the rim as he peered at her. "I will make you spill hot coffee on your chest and I won't help lick it up and kiss you better as tempting as it may be." She made a half hearted lunge and giggled as Daniel leapt back.
"I give I give. What do you want to eat? I have some cold cuts for sandwiches, some soups…" He laughed putting his mug down. "Also no coffee for you missy. I was given express instructions to keep you away from anything highly caffeinated while sick. How about some hot chocolate? Mother's recipe."
Vala scowled at the idea of no coffee, but she didn't want her abominable cold to get any worse either. "What kind of soups do you have?" She watched her Daniel move to a door in the kitchen, opening it to reveal a decently sized pantry. She walked in carefully behind him to peruse the labels while he rattled off all the different kinds. She then eyed a brand mascot she recognized then snatched the box off the shelf. Kiddy food be damned, it was Daniel who had it in his pantry, not her. "I'll have this instead."
"Mac and cheese huh? That dinosaur drew you to the box didn't it?"
"You don't get to tease me. You're the one who spent the money on it and has it sitting in his pantry. And would your mother's recipe happen to be Swiss Miss?" Vala arched her own eye brow at Daniel daring him to refute her statement. She wasn't born yesterday. She saw the box hiding behind a box of Cheese Nips.
Daniel gave a small laugh. "Swiss Miss is only ONE part of it." He reached a hand out and tweaked Vala's nose before taking the box of mac and cheese out of her hands. He also collected the box of hot chocolate and exited the pantry, closing the door in Vala's face and flipping the light switch off.
"Yes…love you too Daniel…"
"I do my best Vala." He smirked at her as she walked unsteadily out of the pantry once she had reopened the door. He pulled a pot out from under the counter and rummaged around his refrigerator, pulling out the milk he'd need for both the mac and cheese and the hot chocolate and the butter. "You know how to operate the TV. Go finish Rudolf and I'll bring you your food and hot chocolate when it's done. The quilt is still on the couch."
Vala stuck her tongue out at Daniel's back as he was filling a pot with water, then tottered out to the living room. She then noticed that Daniel had also gotten the fire going again and that there was now about two feet of snow outside where there had only been dustings when she had gone to sleep last night. A small amount of flakes continued to drift down from the sky, but wasn't heavy by any means.
She grabbed the remote and turned the TV on to see that the movie was just paused from last night. Pressing play, she placed the remote back on the coffee table and leaned back onto the couch, pulling the blanket tight around her form.
About ten minutes later Daniel walked out of the kitchen bearing a bowl of mac and cheese and a plain black mug that was steaming and had small marshmallows floating on the top. Vala smiled. "So marshmallows are the secret ingredient?" She took the bowl he held toward her and let him sit the mug down on the table. He sat next to her with a smug look on his face.
"Nope. Just another part of what makes it different from regular hot chocolate though. When you drink it you'll taste it. Now eat your food. You're quiet when you're eating." Vala huffed to herself but ate her delicious food anyways. Not even smartass Daniel was going to ruin her appetite. She returned to watching the movie with Daniel sitting next to her. Deep in her mind she was telling herself not to get used to this. Even Daniel had warned her that this truce in their constant bickering and fighting was only to last until she was better. Oh if she could be sick forever then.
She was full rather quickly, about a quarter of the bowl remained when she placed it back on the table. Daniel immediately picked it up and began to finish it off. Vala quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Mac and cheese is horrible when reheated in the microwave. Might as well as finish it while it still tastes good." Vala shrugged then went after the mug of still steaming hot chocolate. She brought the rim up to her nose and sniffed it delicately. Smelled like regular old hot chocolate to her. But she took a sip and quickly realized it was a little different than normal.
"Oh my goodness Daniel…what did you put in here? It tastes amazing." She turned to look inquisitively at Daniel to find him smiling at her.
"It wouldn't be a family recipe if I gave it away would it?" He chuckled as he saw her pout a bit. Her pout passed rather quick and she was back to enjoying her mug of Jackson Hot Chocolate. The rest of the movie passed in comfortable silence between them as they watched to the end credits. Daniel then stood up with the empty bowl and Vala's now empty mug and headed to the kitchen to drop them off. When he returned he found Vala shifting restlessly on the couch.
"We have two options of things we can do right now. One, we can decorate the Christmas tree in the corner there. Two, we can try our hand at some sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies. Take your pick."
Vala glanced between the small pine tree in the corner and the entrance to the kitchen. The house was still reasonably cool even though Daniel had the heat running full time. Staying closer to the fire sounded nicer to her at the moment. "Let's decorate Daniel! I've had cookies before but I've never decorated a Christmas tree!" Daniel nodded at her. He walked over to the couch and picked up several of the pillows strewn about it and placed them at the foot of the tree, spreading another blanket he had pulled out from his linen closet on top of them.
He turned and saw Vala's confusion. "Unless you'd rather stand during your dizzy state, I was making a comfortable place for you to sit next to the tree so you can decorate the bottom half." Realization dawned on Vala face and to his surprise, a blush broke out on her face.
"Thank you Daniel. I do hate being this sick and helpless."
"It's okay Vala. Not your fault you got sick." He walked over to stand next to the couch and held out his hands to help her stand up. He then led her slowly over to the tree and let her sit herself down. He watched as goosebumps immediately broke out on her skin from leaving the warmth of the quilt that would now be a hindrance to her decorating if she tossed it on herself. "One second. I'll be right back."
Vala turned to admire the tree and leaned over to look at the quilted tree skirt. It had a panorama of a snowy country side with small stone houses, thrown in were snowmen and horses pulling carriages. She sat back up to feel something hit the back of her head.
"Hey! What the hell did you throw at me Daniel?" She turned to see Daniel smirking as she held up a large oversized sweatshirt. "UCLA…you're college sweatshirt darling? I'm flattered." She pulled it over her head and put her arms into the sleeves. "Were you a fatty in college darling or did you just enjoy huge clothing?"
Daniel rolled his eyes in mild annoyance. "I was not fat. And yes I enjoyed loose clothing. Wasn't like I was out for any tail while I was there."
"My Daniel the booknerd." She flashed Daniel a coquettish smile.
"It's bookworm. And yes I was." He walked over to one of the boxes and opened it, pulling out a few pieces of crumpled newspaper before removing a small, clear plastic box filled with ornaments. He walked over next to Vala and placed the box in her hands. "Putting them up should be self explanatory." He turned back and pulled out a box for himself and began hanging them up helter-skelter. He observed out of the corner of his eye as Vala looked carefully at each before placing them up. Some of his more hideous ones, to his amusement, she politely turned up her nose at before hiding them deep in the boughs of the tree.
They did this in companionable silence for about fifteen minutes, exchanging empty boxes for full ones when they finished. Finally Daniel determined that unless they were going to decorate the back of the tree, they were finished minus one small detail that was going to prove to be a venture in and of itself.
He rummaged a little through the big cardboard box before he pulled out a large plastic box that held the item that would sit atop the tree. He handed the box to Vala and opened it, pulling out a simple but elegant angel tree topper. She smiled at it as she traced her fingers lightly over the cloth wings. "It's beautiful Daniel. But it looks a little big to hang from a bough."
"That's because it's a tree topper. It always goes on last and it sits on the top of the tree." He watched as Vala looked from the tree topper, to the top of the tree, to him with a disbelieving look on her face.
"I'm hardly that tall Daniel. Much less able to stand if I got the inference of your handing this to me correct." She held the angel up to him expecting him to take it from her hands. He just pushed it gently back toward her.
"And if you thought I'd let you do it without my help you really are wonko." He took a couple steps back toward the kitchen. "I'm going to get a chair for you to stand on and I'll steady you while you put it up."
Vala continued to marvel at the tree topper angel until Daniel returned with a stepping ladder and placed it next to where she was sitting and as close to the tree as he could get it without knocking ornaments off. He then held out a hand to help her stand up.
Vala carefully took the first step up on the stool, reassured when she felt Daniel's hands secure around her waist, steadying her before she took the next step up. To her surprise, Daniel took her place on the first step, his chest touching her back in an attempt to give her further support. Thankful for the support because she was plenty woozy still, she saw that she could now reach the top of the tree with relative ease. She leaned forward and stood on her tippy toes, stretching to put the angel on the top, and Daniel's arms wrapped around her waist giving her a more stable thing to lean against. She finally placed it at the top of the tree and leaned back into Daniel's chest as she looked at where she had placed it with pride.
"Does that look a bit crooked to you?" She tilter her head as she observed it sitting at the top of the tree. She felt Daniel's chest rumble with laughter behind her.
"It's fine Vala. You'll never get it to sit evenly. You got it up there and that's what counts." He stepped back off the step stool, but kept his hands on her waist, helping her step off the stool safely. Vala smiled at Daniel then walked over to the couch and sat down while he took the stool back to the kitchen.
"Can you get me another mug of that amazing Jackson hot chocolate? It would be smashing if you did." She leaned over the arm of the couch trying to peek into the kitchen to see if Daniel was doing her wish.
"As you wish Princess. Want me to pop in another movie while you wait?" He walked to the door between the kitchen and the living room, leaning against the doorframe. Vala smiled up at him.
"Of course. You have the movie about the silly little boy who gets left by his family at home? He's blonde." She listened to him laugh a little bit.
"Home Alone huh? Sadly I don't have any of those movies. Never was a fan of Macaulay Culkin. How about Frosty the Snowman instead?" He watched Vala give a mock pout before she nodded her head. She plopped back on the couch enthusiastically, pulling his oversized sweatshirt tighter around her. He walked in and flipped his movie binder open until he found his Frosty DVD. Replacing the Rudolf with the Frosty DVD. Finished he walked back into the kitchen.
Vala picked up the remote and fast forwarded through all the old commercials. So boring seeing all the old crappy movies with bad special effects. Rudolph was almost horrible if not for the fascinating story line and Daniel's obsession with it. Soon enough she saw that Daniel had returned with two mugs in hand. He handed her one then sat next to her with his in hand. "Mmm…I love this stuff. Never could get enough of it." He sat back and relaxed on the couch, his eyes drawn to the cartoon on the screen.
They made it most of the way through the movie before Vala was again fast asleep leaning on Daniel's shoulder. He turned and smiled at her sleeping form, deciding to let her nap for a while and not wanting to move himself. He finished the movie on his own, then decided that it would be best to let Vala rest on her own for a while. He carefully extracted himself and laid Vala out all the way on to the couch.
It was Christmas Eve so he was sure that he would wake her in time to watch The Christmas Story before going to sleep for the night. It was no Christmas unless The Christmas Story was viewed on Christmas Eve. He wandered into the kitchen to do some dishes and he planned on sitting at his dinner table to do some more work until either Vala woke up or it hit 9:30 pm.
Vala grumbled in discontentment. Something was nudging her shoulder in a most annoying fashion and it wouldn't stop. She reached up a hand and swatted her hardest at whatever it was only to be startled at the sound of her hand hitting flesh and a very loud exclamation of pain.
"Hey! Slapping me is not necessary! Jeez that hurt."
Vala sat up quickly looking at a mildly peeved Daniel who had his hand up rubbing the side of his face. "I'm so sorry! Bad habits die hard and all that darling."
"You're so lucky you're sick or I'd slap you back. That really hurt…" He sat at the end of the couch that Vala was no longer stretched out on. "I don't know if I want to share my Christmas Eve tradition with you anymore." He tried very hard to hide his smirk behind the hand he was using to continue rubbing his cheek. Vala was looking very contrite for her accidental hit on her Daniel.
"I really am sorry…it was a reaction…I couldn't help it. Please Daniel…" Tears sprung into her eyes at the idea of being stuck with an angry Daniel on a holiday he went through the trouble of setting up for her. Of course she had to screw it up. Always her.
"Oh good lord you fruitcake. I'm not mad. Just messing with you. Come here." Her pulled her into a hug to calm her rising tears a bit. "But in all honesty if you weren't sick I would have hit you back. That kind of slap deserves retaliation." He felt Vala give a sharp laugh into his chest followed by a light punch to his side.
"You are an ass Daniel. Really." She pulled back and stuck her tongue out at him, wiping a couple tears that had escaped. "So what are we going to do now that you've woken me up?"
"Just watch one movie then we go to sleep so that the great Santa Claus will come visit in the night."
He heard Vala give a derisive snort. "Right. Santa Claus. Almost as real as your little green men. Or menehunes. Teal'c already made it quite clear that the possibility of a single man visiting millions upon millions of houses in a single night along with consuming copious amounts of milk and cookies is just not possible unless alien technology like a time dilation device were involved along with moving at near impossible speeds between house to house."
Daniel actually laughed pretty hard at this. "You've spent too much time around Teal'c and Teal'c has spent waaaay too much time around Sam. Because that is definitely something Sam would say. Alright. We're going to watch a move called The Christmas Story. It happens to be a common tradition among many house holds to watch this on Christmas Eve. Not every one of them mind you, but a good many. So I will share it with you. Just stay awake for at least this one. Promise me that. I'll pinch you periodically as both revenge and to make sure you stay awake."
Vala huffed. "No faith at all. Really Darling. I think I can stay awake for one silly movie."
"You fell asleep for the last two. Trends show that you will likely fall asleep for this one too unless I keep you awake. Now sit and shut up while I get the movie going fruitcake."
"You know, I looked that up as soon as I could. I don't appreciate being referred to as a dessert that almost no one wants to eat and that gets passed around in order to get rid of it. It's quite disturbing that you would refer to me as such."
"Oh my goodness…it's just a turn of phrase. It'd be like calling you a fruit or loony toons. It means I think you're a nut or crazy in an affectionate way." He switched out the DVDs in the TV then returned to sit next to Vala, immediately pulling her legs over his lap. He pressed play on the remote and made himself comfortable on the couch.
They made it through the entire movie, though Vala had yelped quite a few times when Daniel caught her nodding off. Once Daniel had turned the TV off, he stood and collected a still nodding off Vala in his arms. "Upsy daisy. Off to bed with you. I don't want you having any more nightmares and creeping into bed with me so I'll trade beds with you for the night seeing as you slept reasonably well in mine last night. Alright fruitcake?"
Vala mumbled sleepily into Daniel's shoulder, "I am not a fruitcake."
Daniel chuckled lightly as he walked into his room. Thankfully the covers were still pulled back from when Vala had finally woken up earlier that day. He laid her down and pulled the covers up over her. He could tell she was already fast asleep. He sat for a few seconds and admired her peaceful face before leaning forward and placing a light kiss on her forehead. "You're right. You're not a fruitcake. You're my fruitcake. Merry Christmas Vala." He then walked out the room, giving one last small warm smile at Vala's sleeping form before going to the guest room bed.
A/N: More chapters coming. And yes it is slow going. But I feel the heavy description is nice when so many stories lack it. It took me a lot of patience to write this and not cheapen it by rushing it. Which I did a little in the end but oh well. The story will get a tad more interesting in the next chapter. I just had to make it through Christmas Eve to Christmas to get to the more intense part. Hope you enjoyed! I love reviews!