Disclaimer: I do not own the Stargate franchise or its characters… (I seem to have been forgetting this…not the part about not owning it, the part about putting this statement in).
Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to get the next bit of this up…if it makes you feel better it was in part because I was distracted by writing the final bit for this fic, which should appear in another couple chapters…
This chapter overlaps/will overlap with the equivalent of its SGA counterpart, just FYI, if you read both, some material will seem similar (although I've tried to vary the narrative).
Awakenings
Everything is Fine…Really!
The key was to be confident. These people were experts. They could smell fear, probably taste it too…
Vala put on the biggest 'Everything is perfectly fine' smile she was capable of as she walked into the kitchen, with a cheerful "Good Morning."
She willed the aura around her to scream-well, not scream, that would cause problems-to state (yes that's better) in a casual yet forceful manner that 'everything is fine.' The question on your minds shouldn't be 'why is Vala wearing a man's shirt, and not much else' but 'why wouldn't Vala be wearing a man's shirt and not much else?' because that is a perfectly reasonable, normal thing to be occurring…
Unfortunately, all the positive and forceful thinking in the world wasn't going to stop the shock that instantly spread through the room that had previously been bustling with the busyness of people breakfasting.
Silence spread like ripples in a pond. (…except for the clattering of silverware and creaking of jaws as they dropped).
And Cameron Mitchell felt like the stone that had been carelessly chucked into the murky depths.
No, that isn't right, he mused to himself as he watched Vala take a seat at the table and help herself to various breakfast items as if the eyes of everyone in the room weren't following her, only breaking away to make quick and piercing darts in his direction. He felt more like a stone that had been skipped, bouncing off the surprisingly dense surface several times to the amusement of the person who had chucked him, only to then be abandoned to the water's cold embrace.
He glared at the back of Vala's head as she stuffed her face with eggs. If anyone would be heartless enough to skip him across a lake, it'd be her!
Cameron's brooding thoughts were disrupted as Teal'C pushed past him with a polite "Excuse me, Colonel Mitchell" to join the others, well, currently only Vala, in eating breakfast.
They were still quietly staring, but at least this time, it was off into random directions in space. So, it had moved onto the uncomfortable stage in which the initial shock has worn off but eye contact isn't being made in case something unpleasant needs to be said, and still, nobody knows what to think or say?
He may have been able to identify what thoughts were more than likely running through his friends and colleagues' heads, but Cameron had no clue what to do or say himself. Vala had seemed to go for the 'ignore it and it will all be okay' tactic…
Damn! He cursed silently in his head as he accidentally caught Sam's gaze. It was bewildered and questioning, and even if it wasn't intended, it felt accusatory. Cam couldn't face that now. He couldn't even face himself yet. So he shrugged in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner and went about fixing his own plate.
Maybe he was reading too much into this, anyway. Just because Vala was wearing a man's shirt and he wasn't wearing his, and everyone else seemed to have their own ones accounted for, didn't mean it was his. His friends were smart people. They wouldn't leap to conclusions, would they?
He tried to read their faces as they went back to breakfasting. It was no longer a deathly silence, but there was still a tension in the air. He hoped it was from unspoken jokes, taunts, or innuendos, not from anything to serious, such as disapproval.
Maybe it was disapproval. No one was making direct eye contact with either him or Vala, and they were all trying to sneak glances laden heavy with meaning at one another. But their friends, their friends wouldn't jump to conclusions when they had said nothing, done nothing to insinuate that Vala and he had woken up in the same bed. They just wouldn't, with so little evidence!
Yes, Cameron knew them, and knew they wouldn't do such a thing! That settled it, he could see to the cries of his hungry stomach.
He made the mistake of going after a piece of toast.
As he reached past Vala to retrieve the breakfast staple, his hand accidentally brushed against hers, causing them both to jump noticeably. He snapped his head around, only to catch the others hastily looking away or busying themselves with various falsities.
Landry rustled the paper in an obvious 'I'm reading' way. Sam made to look like she was cleaning up something on the counter. Jack was intently studying the egg on his plate in a way only he could. Teal'c was unabashedly still looking amused over the situation as he serenely went about consuming his meal. And Daniel…
Cam started again at the look Daniel was giving him before he quickly turned away. He really didn't need this! He hadn't wanted this to happen! Angry at his current lot in the world, he took it out on his breakfast, passionately stabbing the suddenly extremely offensive scrambled unborn fowl.
Pretending that everything was fine really wasn't working out so well, Vala decided. First, everyone had stared in such a manner she hadn't received since that time she had blended in with the Rexilian Traveling Circus to hide from the authorities, performing amazing acts with flaming… Well, that wasn't important. The point was, that neither she nor Mitchell deserved to be stared at in such a manner, or given the silent treatment for their choice (or lack of choices, in her case) of attire.
And now, he too was adding to the tension, brooding over his food, not supporting her or commiserating with her over their predicament in the least. They were in this together, after all, even if they didn't want to be.
Well, she'd put an end to this nonsense!
"Don't you want to know why I'm wearing Cam's shirt?" Vala cut through the silence, trying not to sound desperate or frustrated.
Like when they had first entered the room, everything seemed to freeze for a moment before all eyes were locked on her. She could sense the silent yet profuse internal swearing of Cameron Mitchell sitting but a few feet away without even looking in his direction, but she pressed on.
"Well?"
Sam blushed for the apparently shameless woman. Landry gave her a 'really shouldn't and don't want to know this' look, while Daniel stared at her in an accusatory manner and Teal'c continued to adorn his semi-smirk. Vala didn't really know Jack O'Neill that well, but she was fairly certain the blank 'I am too stupid to follow what's going on' face he was giving her was just a façade for a clever mind that had probably not only reached conclusions but was considering various jokes that could be derived from them in the future, after the uneasy tension had dissipated. Perhaps, he was trying to spare her…or himself from having to be involved in the awkward conversation.
Apparently, there would be no verbal response from anyone present.
"I couldn't find my dress this morning and Mitchell was kind enough to lend me his shirt to avoid an awkward situation," she explained without actually lying, fighting the urge to crack under the extreme pressure building in the kitchen, the tension of being under so much scrutiny, and for once from people she had come to consider friends.
Avoid an awkward situation? Then what the hell was this?!! Daniel fumed. He wasn't exactly sure why this was so upsetting to him. Well, maybe that was a lie. He hadn't exactly embraced Vala's affections, but when they had waned he had found himself missing the fact that someone had so shamelessly fawned over him. And now it appeared that she had simply switched the focus of such affections instead of ridding herself of the desire to pander.
"How did you lose your dress to begin with?!" Daniel snapped, unable to control the unexpected jealous fury. He felt briefly guilty over the realization that he only seemed to want her, to think of her as his, because she may have been with another man. Otherwise, normally, he could care less whether she was pining for him or not.
"As you know, I prefer to sleep in the nude," Vala replied scathingly, no longer caring whether the tension in the room remained unbearably high. Cam choked on the coffee he had busied himself with drinking to avoid picking a fight with Vala for her lack of tact. It seemed that Daniel had beaten him to entering into a combat of words and will with their supposed, presently affronted-feeling, friend.
The silence became even harsher as every person in the kitchen felt the worst unease they had ever known, which was saying a lot for seasoned veterans of wars on the galactic scale. Cameron tried to hold his breath and calm himself, afraid that if the pressure inside the room increased any further, the incandescent lights might implode, or even more unpleasantly, his ear drums. But then, maybe, he'd pass out and no longer have to deal with the immense embarrassment.
A new voice broke the silence this time around, causing everyone to visibly sigh in relief.
"Just wanted to let you know that we're heading out," John Sheppard said, as he and Elizabeth Weir appeared in the kitchen. They looked around at the kitchen's occupants in bemusement, recognizing that they had interrupted something that appeared to have disturbed their friends and colleagues.
"Oh, already?" Sam asked, recovering from the horribly awkward and disquieting situation. She let the sincere disappointment show through in her voice. She had really just started to get acquainted with the leaders of Atlantis beyond a passing yet genial familiarity.
"Actually, we should be leaving, soon, too," Jack reminded her of the flight they had to catch for their honeymoon.
"We can't leave the house like this!" She protested, glad that the subject had so completely and efficiently shifted. "It's a mess!"
"That's what Fred is paying the servants for!" he retorted. Landry rolled his eyes and Elizabeth appeared to suppress laughter over the interplay between the newlyweds, but Vala was still too infuriated by the men in her life to appreciate the light moment.
"The Daedalus leaves for Atlantis this afternoon," the rather attractive yet disheveled man supplied. Vala could sense that he was as tense as Cam had been that morning, and as anxious as she was to leave whatever awkward situations that had arose behind. The woman with charming words and warm eyes, Elizabeth Weir, took this as a cue to say goodbye.
Pleasantries were exchanged by all, although less-than-enthusiastically by those who had been mid-argument when the pair had appeared.
"Has anyone seen our shoes?" John asked. He looked even more disturbed than before, if that was at all possible.
Or my underwear? Elizabeth thought bitterly.
Or my dress? Vala added silently to John's inquiry.
Or my willpower? Cam thought.
Or my self-respect for that matter?
All four of those who had rude awakenings that morning had the same resentful thought in unison. However, they didn't know just how similar they all felt at that particular moment.
Apparently, the couple rightly took the silence as a negative response, for with another quick "thanks, congratulations, goodbye" they departed, to leave the rest of the kitchen's occupants to endure a rather traumatically solemn breakfast.
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The remainder of what was SG-1 and Landry stood in front of the large house and waved as their friends turned newlyweds' limo drove away down the dusty road. A truce had seemed to be called for the sake of their friends', specifically Sam's feelings. They knew she wouldn't be comfortably leaving them knowing such an upsetting and primarily unspoken argument hung in the air.
Pushing thoughts of who he may or may not have wronged, been wronged by, or felt wronged in any way shape or form on account of what had happened the previous night, Cameron tried to enjoy the happy moment of two people in the start of their lives together.
For some odd reason, Cameron had the urge to look up at the bright morning sky and survey his surroundings.
Something flittering in the breeze caught his eye, something about the size of a little black dress, such as the one Vala had been adorning the previous day and was sans today. But it couldn't be, because, how in the hell did it wind up on top of a rather large shrub in front of the senator's summer home?
Just because that window a few feet above it was wide open, and what Cam could see of the interior was similar to the room he had woken up in that morning didn't mean…Aw, Hell!
He nudged Vala who stopped waving after the departing couple, to give him a dirty look for the harsh, and in her mind, completely uncalled for, jab to the ribs. He nodded his head meaningfully.
"What?!" she asked him, annoyed and confused.
"I think I found your dress," he hissed at her, again indicating that she should look up and to his right with a jerk of his head.
"Oh my…"
A/N: I really have no idea how I am doing character-wise…but I think I've sort of made them my own, and like them this way… (So point out flaws if you'd like, and I'm sure it would be helpful, but I'm not sure I'll apologize for them.)
