Vala, Cassie thought. It was an abrupt name, blunt and unyielding but somehow flowing off the tongue effortlessly. A contradiction. Maybe a bit like the woman herself, currently seated across from her in the horseshoe booth. Vala was clinging a bit too possessively to Colonel Cameron Mitchell, sprawled up against him like a cat in sunshine.

Like Cassie was interested in a guy almost twice her age. Yeah he was hot; handsome, even, in a kind of home-bred country-boy rugged way. But Cassie knew what this guy did for a living and she worried about enough people who went through the Stargate. Sometimes they didn't come back. Daniel had gone away for a long time and everyone thought he would be gone forever. Then her mother – the second person to claim that title – had died and she was really gone forever. Then Jack had disappeared for a while and no one would tell her what had happened except that he wasn't dead. He was just away for a while and, no, they didn't know for how long but she shouldn't worry about it; as if that had made her freak out less.

So there weren't any guys who worked at the SGC that would really interest Cassie.

Besides, Mitchell was treating her with a deference that Cassie knew came from the unspoken understanding that she was under Jack O'Neill's protection. She got the same thing from everyone who had ever worked under the mountain. No one wanted to mess with General O'Neill. No one really wanted to mess with any of SG1. Everyone avoided eye contact with Teal'c if it was possible, especially if he was with Cassie. Daniel seemed like the mildest human being in existence until someone crossed him or threatened something – someone – he loved.

Her 'guardians' took the word 'guard' much too seriously.

Cassie wrenched her thoughts away. It was the kind of thinking that made her head hurt and made her feel like a prisoner. She focused on Vala for some reason; maybe because she was the most outrageous person she had ever met.

For no reason that she could think of Cassie suddenly heard herself blurt out, "Did you really just try to escape out the bathroom window?"

Vala paused in whatever she had been saying to Mitchell, blinked in Cassie's general direction and said, "Out the vent in the ceiling, actually. I was nearly out when Teal'c came in and grabbed my ankle." She swiveled her head in Teal'c's direction and said, "You do understand the concept of ladies' room. Yes?"

"I do," Teal'c replied shortly.

Vala pouted and trailed her fingers down Teal'c's impressive forearm. "I don't understand why all of you insist on keeping me a prisoner. I haven't done anything wrong–"

Mitchell cut her off with a snort of laughter.

"Why are you a prisoner?" Cassie asked, startled. She had thought Vala was Cameron's date, which is why she had been so confused to hear Vala mentioned as being 'connected' to Daniel. At the time she had ignored it. Daniel didn't look like he was in any danger.

It was Mitchell who answered, "Vala isn't exactly from around here."

Cassie gaped for a moment. "You're an alien? Extraterrestrial?"

Cassie had met other aliens over the course of her time on Earth. There was a support group for people who had been displaced from their own home worlds and sought refuge here. But she had never met an alien quite like Vala.

"Yes," Vala said, reaching for the glass in front of her and taking a drink, "in that I'm not from Earth. I came through the Stargate."

"Me too," Cassie said almost reluctantly. She didn't know that she wanted to have anything in common with the strikingly beautiful woman who seemed to command the attention of every man in the room. She took a breath and went on, "They don't like us to wander around too much on our own. Apparently we're a huge security risk."

Vala leaned forward, smiling in a way that was too bright to be genuine. "What was your planet like?" she asked.

Cassie floundered for a moment. She didn't remember it all that well. "It was small, at least my part of it was." Even she didn't know if that meant geographically or significantly.

"Have you ever been back?" Vala asked.

"I was never given the choice," Cassie said, realizing that for the first time and wondering if she wanted to go back. Suddenly she didn't like being under Vala's scrutiny. "What about you?"

"What about me what?" Vala asked.

"What was your world like?" Cassie asked.

Vala appeared to consider the question. "It was hot in the summer, humid, and cold in the winter."

"Hanka was primitive," Cassie said, "at least by SGC standards. Have you ever gone back? To your home planet?"

"Oh, that ship left orbit ages ago," Vala said, sitting back, leaning against Cameron and studying her fingernails for a moment. Then she sat up again rather abruptly. She put a hand on Cameron's arm and pushed. "I think we need more pretzels. Let's go get some," she said, shoving him out of the booth.

"Fine," Cameron grumbled.

"Great!" Vala said, cheerfully.

"Cassie? Do you want anything?" Mitchell asked.

He seemed reluctant to leave her in the booth alone.

"No, I'm fine," she said tightly. It wasn't like she was suddenly going to try escaping out the ceiling vent.

Mitchell nodded and then let Vala drag him off in the direction of the bar. When they were almost there he heard that ripple of excitement that preceded the arrival of SG1. Turning his head he found that, sure enough, they had walked back into O'Malley's and were heading for the booth. The people of the SGC who managed a friendly takeover of O'Malley's on the first Thursday of every month drew up with such an air of wonder and respect they might as well be at military attention.

No wonder Vala had wanted pretzels so suddenly. She had been successfully avoiding Jack O'Neill all night. Of course, the General treated Vala like a live explosive that was likely to go off at any moment, watching her with an expression that mixed wary with 'not-at-all-amused.'

Mitchell understood her reluctance to confront the General. He oscillated between being awed by Jack O'Neill and borderline terrified of him.

Mitchell stopped walking abruptly and made her stop before they got to the bar.

"Dance with me again," he said. "Pretzels will just make you thirsty and you've had enough."

Her eyes were on him, darker than usual and unfathomable. "All right," she said finally, and let him lead her onto the dance floor.

(0)

He had danced with her before when the music had been grinding and fast and that had been bad enough but at least they hadn't really been touching. Now they were dancing to Scotty and Annie singing I'd Love You To Want Me, which somehow wasn't as cheesy as the Lobo version. It was also easier to dance to, and Mitchell was painfully aware of the words for the first time in his life.

Vala's body was pressed close to his, as if she was hoping to hide inside him. His hands wandered too close to places that were publicly forbidden. Her voice in his ear got too close to making those sounds that would drive him wild. Under the pretense of resting her head on his shoulder she bit down lightly on the skin below his ear, suckling a little. He heard the smugness in her soft laughter as his body responded. She tilted her face up to his and he had to resist kissing her with all of his strength. Then she put one foot between both of his and ground down on his thigh.

He knew where this was headed but it wasn't going to happen on the dance floor. He slipped his hands down to her hips and pushed her away from him a little. In return he got the feigned pout and the knowing gleam in her eyes.

"You want me," she hissed into his ear in a breathy whisper.

"Of course I want you. I'm a guy, I'm breathing and I'm straight," Mitchell answered.

She frowned and pressed forward against him again. "Actually, darling, you're going off on a bit of an angle. That can't be comfortable in those jeans."

"That's not what I meant!" Cameron protested. "I'm straight. I like girls, not other guys."

"You don't like other guys at all?" For gods' sake she didn't have to sound so disappointed. "Oh." She looked like she was considering that as something just learned and never considered. Then she smiled brightly and said, "Not that it matters. We should leave. Go to your place."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Cameron said.

"Why not?"

"There's too many ways you can escape from my place," He said and he got a hurt frown as a response. "We'd have to go back to the base. Are you ready to go now?"

She bit her lip and looked hesitant.

"Look," Mitchell said, "Jackson is going to want to take Jillian home any minute. They've only been here this long because of whatever is going on with Cassandra Fraiser. If we leave now, it's on your terms."

It was a guess at what would motivate her, a hunch, a shot in the dark. He found that he did that a lot with Vala. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it backfired.

This time it worked. Vala liked having life on her terms.

"All right," she relented.

The song drifted to an end and they disentangled from each other. Taking her by the elbow they went back to the table to tell everyone they were leaving.

(0)