It wasn't a date. It was just blue jello.
"Oh, Daniel! They were so mean to me!"
Daniel looked up from his pie as Vala started exclaiming again. She'd been exclaiming all evening. Which was part of the reason he had dragged her from his office, where she'd been annoying him endlessly, to the commissary where they were just finishing dinner. The fact that she had something else with which to occupy her mouth gave Daniel at least a few seconds of peace while she chewed. He frowned, her words tuned out, as he watched her bring a spoonful of blue jello up to her mouth, then lower it when she just couldn't quite stop ranting. Every time she brought her spoon up, he'd get even more distracted by her lips.
This is very bad.
He shook his head, realizing the lips he'd been studying so closely had just mouthed, "Are you listening to me?"
"Yes, yes." He nodded, looking down at his pie, "Listening."
"What did I just say?" Vala challenged, tilting her head and waving a spoon of wiggling blue jello in his face.
"You were complaining about what Carolyn said to you yesterday."
"No, I was..." She stopped, frowning. "You were listening!"
"I usually do." He raised his eyebrows and peered at her over his glasses, "It's difficult not to."
Her features twisted to a pout and she ate her spoonful of jello huffily.
He smiled, getting another bite of pie on his fork. "Vala, next time you go out with Carolyn and Sam, call Cassie first and get her in on it. It'll be two against two."
Vala pursed her lips. "Hmm." Her eyes lit up. "Yes. And Cassandra and I will be able to make human jokes instead of me being subjected to alien jokes all evening!"
Daniel nodded, trying not to roll his eyes at her. He figured she probably wouldn't appreciate him pointing out that she and Cassie were both just as human as Carolyn and Sam; they were just not from Earth. She started chattering eagerly again, but now at least she was happy. He wasn't surprised when she reached over and swapped her bowl of jello for the remainder of his pie. Simply eating his last piece of pie that was on his fork, Daniel resigned himself to the jello. At least it's blue, he mused. He'd been eating with Vala enough lately that he was used to her swapping desserts with him when she wanted to try something new.
He froze with the fork of jello halfway to his mouth. He could hardly believe what he'd just admitted to himself. He was getting used to Vala. But it was more than that; he was getting used to Vala being something he was used to. Even as he tried to unravel his confusing thoughts, he had to wonder. When exactly had that happened?
"Got a bug in your jello?" Vala's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"What?"
She pointed, "Your jello. What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing."
"Well eat it already, then! Watching it wobble on your fork is driving me crazy." She finished the rest of her (his) pie and started piling their dishes on the tray. "Come on."
Daniel frowned as he slowly got up. "What is your rush all of a sudden?"
"I have a date."
"A what!" Daniel stopped in his tracks, staring at the back of her head as she hurried to the tray return. He rushed to catch up with her, grabbing her elbow after she set down the tray. "You have a what?"
"A date."
"A what?"
Vala smiled sweetly and patted his cheek, "Is there an echo in here?"
"Vala." He hurried after her as she walked swiftly out of the room and headed to the elevator. "What do you mean you have a date?"
"Well, silly, why shouldn't I?" She hit the button for the elevator and bounced on her toes, her face inches from his. "I am attractive, even if I do have to say so myself."
She batted her eyes at him and Daniel was just thankful that the elevator door opened at that very moment because he felt the most overwhelming urge to kiss her. He took a slow deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart and followed her inside. "Vala."
"Daniel."
"Vala!"
"Daniel!" She said more loudly, matching his tone. "You seem to have difficulty getting past my name, darling."
Daniel felt frustration rise and suddenly he wanted to throttle her. "Vala, what exactly do you mean you have a date!"
"For a linguist you seem to be struggling with my very simple sentences. I have a date. With an attractive man, I might add."
"Who?"
Vala was honestly shocked to her core at how very...jealous Daniel looked and sounded. She loved teasing him, but this was a surprising development. She smiled, "Why do you want to know?"
"I don't."
She grinned at his abrupt words and how he immediately turned to face the door. They were silent the rest of the way. Once the doors opened, Daniel hurried off toward his office without a word. Vala followed along, musing on his responses. Was she reading him correctly? He certainly seemed jealous. This was very interesting.
They walked into his office to find Mitchell fiddling with a cuneiform tablet. Daniel narrowed his eyes and glared at him. "What do you think you're doing?"
Mitchell's face reflected his surprise, "Whoa, Jackson, just looking!" He quickly put the tablet back down and stepped away, hands held high. "Just looking!"
"You weren't just looking, you were touching." Daniel brushed past him irritably. "What did you need?"
"Just the Princess here."
Daniel spun back around to see Vala with her arms wrapped around Mitchell's.
Cam looked at Vala, "You ready?"
"Yup." She nodded and smiled over at Daniel. She pointed at Mitchell and mouthed, "My date."
Cam didn't know what Vala had just mouthed to Daniel, but he was getting uncomfortable with the way Jackson was glaring at him. The glare he'd started with when he'd found Cam looking at the tablet rapidly intensified. By about a thousand. Cam frowned and started to back away, Vala clinging to him in an unusually enthusiastic manner. He really didn't know what was up with her. He gave a quick half wave to Jackson and said, "Well, we're gonna scoot, don't want to keep Teal'c waiting."
Daniel's eyes narrowed again, "Teal'c?"
Cam paused, "Uh yeah." He watched Jackson's eyes flick back and forth between him and Vala. "We're catching a movie with him tonight."
"A movie?"
"Mmhm. A movie about a princess who is also a bride." Vala supplied.
"Teal'c is watching The Princess Bride?" Daniel asked incredulously.
"Oh yeah, inconceivable!" Cam grinned, rubbing his hands.
"Oh boy." Daniel breathed.
"Come join us, Daniel!" Vala asked, releasing Mitchell's arm.
Cam couldn't say he was sorry she let go. If there was one place in the entire galaxy he did not want to be, it was in between Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran and their crazy, not at all interested in one another, yet strangely inseparable, insane not quite love but something remarkably like it dance. No matter how much Jackson wanted to deny there was anything going on between them, Cam had seen the murderous glare before. On jealous boyfriends or husbands. He was very thankful the revelation that they were only planning to watch a movie with Teal'c had released much of the palpable tension in the room. Heaven help the poor fella who ever might think of asking Vala out on a date.
Vala was dragging Daniel out the door. "It'll be fun. Don't be such an old stick of dud."
Cam snorted.
"Stick of mud." Daniel muttered absently, finding himself halfway down the hallway without meaning to have left his office.
Cam snorted again and offered a second correction, "Stick in the mud."
"Are you sure about that?" Vala questioned. "That sounds swishy."
"Nope. Nothing 'swishy' about it." Cam laughed. In fact, the most 'swishy' thing he could think of right now was the fact that Jackson hadn't made so much as a peep of protest about being dragged down the hall by Vala. That was even more 'swishy' than the thought of Teal'c watching The Princess Bride.
