Comfortable
He doesn't know if it's early or if he just can't sleep. Living in space meant no light came through any windows. So you usually had no idea what part of the day it actually was without a clock. He had a clock on his wall, but his glasses are out of reach on the nightstand due to someone sleeping next to him.
He is still in awe over what had changed from yesterday to today. Yesterday had been normal and routine, the same sickening routine that had taken over all of their lives of late. And then she had come to ask him something. He can't even remember what now, but hearing something in his voice she had asked if he was all right. Next thing he knew she was sitting on his bed while he spilled out his frustrations. He had had no idea how that night would end. And now here they were, her legs intertwining with his and a mess of raven hair all over his pillow. Not to mention a lack of feeling in his thighs and dare he say, a feeling of contentment? But he is, strangely. How did this woman beside him…this crazy woman who could send him to his wits end make him feel like this?
His head turns to look at her. Her head fits nicely against his shoulder and chest. He leans in and kisses her forehead as gently as possible so not to wake her. He smiles at a very different Vala he has only seen a couple of times. Vala always worries about looking nice and what was beside him was a mess of hair. Still, she is beautiful. A part of him can't even fully comprehend what she sees in him. Well, a part of him can't fully comprehend what he now sees in her, but he figures if what he feels now is any indication, that part of him won't be there much longer.
For her part she is indescribably different and he is 'for lack of a better term' a book geek. Still, here they are in his bed and for once he doesn't want her to leave. He suddenly misses the sunlight more than ever. He is sentimental like that and relishes moments like these. He wishes he could look at her with light coming through his window and watch her sleeping against him. That would be too normal for them, he guesses.
He kisses her softly once more before letting his head fall back onto the pillow and closing his eyes. Immediately the night before runs through his mind. The things he had said to her, and how he had hurt her, are things he wished he could take back. Of course, he knows they wouldn't be here if he hadn't of seen her so broken and he had been the one doing the breaking. He was a little surprised she hadn't brought that up later between tumbles, but then again he knows he is going to have to be the one to say they need to talk about that. That's Vala. She's good at protecting herself and he knows even though things have changed between them, her need to keep any hurt bottled up will not. They will talk, because if this was going to go anywhere and really turn into something then they couldn't leave that loose end hanging. Even if it has worked out for something better.
It worked out for something much better, to be exact. Okay, yes as a man going all the way with any woman there's a physical effect, but he wasn't prepared for what Vala made him feel. Something he has only felt before with his wife. He can't explain it exactly, but there is this feeling with certain women that the next morning or some morning she or he would leave and that would be it. He doesn't feel that with Vala. Yes, they are so different and somewhere deep down he knows there is an absence of a voice that should be telling him how absurd this all is. But thinking back on last night he feels it had been natural for them. As if everything has been leading up to it and neither of them had seen it coming.
"Daniel, if I had known it was going to be like that I would have skipped all that cat and mouse crap and just mounted you."
He laughed despite still trying to catch his breath and pulled her closer to him.
She smiled seductively at him and then let her head rest on his chest. "So…does this count as a second date?"
"I think we just skipped the first couple of dates altogether." One of his arms slinked beneath her naked body and curled around her back so that he could hold her.
"Fine by me. Never liked dating anyway. It's not as fun as this part. And no matter what you say Daniel, interrupted or not, our dinner was a date."
"If you say so."
With that she pinched his side playfully.
"Ow! Okay, okay it was a date." He turned slightly so that they were facing each other. " To tell you the truth I don't care." He took his free hand and brushed her hair away from her face. "I don't have anything to hide anymore." Back then he had cared about what his teammates thought about him and Vala. Now he didn't care. And if subconsciously he hadn't realized his feelings for her before now, maybe it did count as a date. It just didn't matter anymore. He pulled her to him a little more, embracing the feeling of having that warm body beside him.
Vala only stayed like that for a moment before she lifted herself up. She had to look down at him now and her hair cascaded down in such a way that he found himself completely taken in by her.
"Daniel, can I ask you a question?"
"You always scare me when you ask if you can ask a question and since I know you're going to ask it anyway, yes."
She took a moment before she spoke. Studying his eyes. "Are you sure about this? If you are going to regret this later…"
He put a finger to her mouth to quiet her. "I don't…regret this."
She smiled softly, that typical Vala smile he had come to know meant she was showing him something she wasn't sure she should be. He brushed her hair again, this time behind her shoulders and let his hand slide behind her neck and pull her down to kiss him. Their lips met with a fiery appetite that he hoped would answer any questions as to how he felt. When they parted she kept her eyes closed for a moment and giggled.
"Good, then it's my turn."
"Your turn?"
"Uh-huh."
"To do what?"
She lifted herself up and flung a leg over him so that she was straddling his upper thighs. "To show you what none of those silly books of yours will ever teach you…though usually this works better with a whip..."
Daniel put a finger up to her lips to quiet her. "You don't have to prove anything to me." He understood this is who she had been for a long time. Learning that she didn't have to be that way with him anymore would take her awhile.
Vala's smile faltered for a moment. "I didn't mean to-"
Daniel put his finger up to her lips again. "I know." He placed his hands on her hips and lifted her to his side. He turned and raised himself up so that he was above her. He took one of his hands and lets his fingers caress her cheek. "I'm right here. You don't have to do that anymore." He bent his head low and kissed her deep and hard. Their arms wrapped around each other as they both felt the familiar burn in the pit of their stomachs.
For once she let him lead.
They were drifting to sleep. They both knew it from the lack of talking from both of them. They were wiped out and it was pretty late or pretty early depending on how you wanted to look at it.
"Daniel?"
"Hmm?"
"Should we tell the others?"
"Eventually."
She was quiet a moment before she continued.
"Daniel?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think they will be able to tell…you know…without our telling?"
"Eventually."
He felt her sigh beside him and then she went silent. He was almost asleep when she spoke out again.
"Daniel?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you asleep?"
"Yes."
"Do you want me to go?"
He opened his eyes at this and pulled her closer to him. "Never."
He feels her move beside him and he is pulled out of his thoughts. She opens one eye, looks at him, closes it and then snuggles closer to him.
"Good morning," she mumbles into his chest.
"Morning."
"How long have you been awake?"
"Not long."
"You're not one of those men that stares at girls while they sleep, do you?" She pulls the sheet over her head. "Because we don't particularly like being looked at when we haven't prepared for it."
"You're beautiful when you're sleeping." He pulls the cover down so that he can see her face.
"My step-mother told me that once, but I think that was because it meant I wasn't talking." She smiles and kisses his soft bare skin.
"No, that's what I meant too."
She glares at him and pinches his side playfully.
"Ow! Kidding…I was kidding."
"Good. That should teach you not to mess with me before I've had coffee. Especially when you kept me up rather late."
"Aha, hey I was done after take two. Don't blame that on me."
"Well, someone had to make up for lost time, Daniel."
And then it hits them. At the same time both their minds go back to the words he has said. He feels her stiffen beside him just slightly and he knows he has to bring it up.
"We should discuss some things." He looks at her seriously trying to coax out of her what they need to say about the night before.
"Oh, not now Daniel? It would only spoil things."
"Just as long as you know we will need to at some point."
"All right, fine, later then, but all I need at the moment is this…and maybe some food."
"Are you hungry?"
She nods her head as her answer. "But that involves moving and dressing and all sorts of things I don't want to do at the moment."
"I know, but they are going to send someone to look for us eventually."
"Fine, but I do it under protest…especially my legs."
It's quiet except for the soft thud his sneakers make when they hit the floor. Hallway after hallway looks the same as he sails down them every day. He has gotten a later start than usual this morning and probably should have skipped it, but his days never feel quite right if he doesn't jog. Or maybe it's just the only thing he feels he has control over at the moment. It doesn't matter. Every morning it's the same song and dance.
Well, except for that. He stops his jogging right outside Jackson's quarters. The door had just opened as he went by and he could swear that out of the corner of his eye he had seen Jackson standing there with nothing but a bed sheet wrapped around his waist. Mitchell turns his head just in time to see that walking out of Jackson's room is Vala. Scratch that, walking out of Jackson's room is Vala, pulling her shirt on. Strange. Not to mention the end of that wave he catches. The 'thanks for the most amazing night of my life' wave. No way they could have done what it looks like they have done. Not Jackson, right? But then why is she trying to hide a smile? He watches as she runs a hand through her hair and slightly crooks her head to the side as if to say 'I'm just that good, Mitchell'. Still, he can't believe it. Jackson must be going crazier stuck on this ship than he is, and that is saying something.
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