So did not notice I'd reached 200 reviews until like just last week! YAYSA!! Thank you everyone who has reviewed and LVOED this series. It really makes my day to know people are still enjoying the stories created here! SCORE!
Kissing You
The lights of the cargo ship were lowered to a dim glow as Daniel passed from the hold to the front of the ship silently. Behind him, Sam, Mitchell, and Teal'c were all very much asleep. Well, he wasn't quite so sure about Teal'c, but the two Colonels were definitely going to be out for a few hours.
Not that he could blame them. All of them were exhausted after having been stranded on an unfriendly planet for the past two weeks. The gate on their end had malfunctioned not long after their arrival, and of course SG-1 had been the prime target of blame. It made just surviving from one day to the next difficult, not to mention trying to barter passage off the planet.
In the end, it'd come down to Vala falling back on her old ways of cunning manipulations and quick steal techniques to get them off that miserable planet. The fact that it was the type of world Vala frequented in her former occupation made Daniel's skin crawl. The place had been infested with drunken womanizers and sexual predators. He knew Vala could hold her own in those situations. It's the reason she was the way she was when they'd first met, why she still fell back on such ways. It had been burned into her very nature, and he didn't expect her to just turn it off like it was nothing. Her sexual nature was part of the charm she so strongly had him wrapped in. But just seeing how she lived her life beforedeeply upset him, especially since she had shared the burden of her protection with him.
Placing the items in his hand down by the center console, Daniel stepped up behind the only occupied space in the area - the pilot's chair. Snaking his arms down her chest, clasping his hands loosely together, he rested his chin in her hair. Vala inhaled gently at his touch.
"Everyone's asleep." He murmured as his blue eyes stared out at the once spectacular view of traveling through hyperspace. It didn't even spark intrigue anymore, not for anyone aboard their ship at least. It was just another aspect of their everyday lives.
"As you should be." Vala murmured in return. Her nimble fingers easily moved over the controls before her. This was one of her areas of expertise, and Daniel reveled in watching her work with such ease.
He squeezed her gently. "No, as you should be." He placed a chaste kiss in her hair. "You've been going non-stop for almost the entire time we were trapped on that planet. It's time to take a breather."
Vala laughed a little at his words. "I'll 'take a breather' as soon I'm sure my part is done, darling." She patted his hand, almost reassuringly.
"Your part is done, Vala." Daniel sighed, rising and moving around the chair to kneel before her. She fixed him with a look that seemed almost...shameful. "You did really good today, ya know that?" He smiled and squeezed her knee affectionately. "The entire two weeks, as a matter of fact."
She shook her head. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."
Daniel tilted his head a fraction. "Why would you need to feel better? You did what needed to be done to get your team to safety. That's something to be proud of, for which I very much am. Proud and thankful." His lips pressed against her BDU-covered knee in a small kiss.
"You're proud of me?" Vala whispered, almost as if asking would make it untrue.
Nodding, Daniel leaned up a little bit further. He cupped her face softly, his thumb running over her lips slowly. "Of course I am." He breathed, pushing his lips to hers seconds later. One of Vala's hands came to the back of his neck, pulling him in just a little closer. Daniel had to place a hand against the arm of the chair to keep his balance. Separating, he smiled as his thumb continued to caress her cheek.
"Sleep." He whispered. Vala shook her head, and Daniel nodded right back. "Yes, Vala."
She still shook her head. "No. Someone has to stay here at the controls. And the ship is too wonky and unstable for me to feel comfortable with anyone but me doing it."
Smiling, Daniel placed a kiss to her forehead. "I had a feeling you'd say that." At Vala's curious look, he pushed off the chair and moved to retrieve the blankets he'd brought with him from their packs. He laid them over the arm of the other chair, and turned back to her. "It's not exactly the Hilton, but I figured Chez Daniel was just as good, under the circumstances."
Vala smiled at the cute grin on Daniel's face. "That's sweet, really. But you need the sleep just as much as I do, and that chair will do nothing to help you relax."
"Correction, I don't need the sleep as much as you do." Daniel held up his finger. "And you cuddled in my lap will help me relax plenty, especially if it means YOU," the finger pointed at her. "Will be getting some rest." He closed the short space between them, and looked down at her. "Come on Vala, you're beat. Even those ridiculously adorable pigtails of yours are tired." He indicated back to the other chair. "We'll be right at the other console if anything goes wrong, which I'm sure it won't, but just incase."
She squinted up at him skeptically. "And you'll wake me if you need me?"
Daniel nodded. "Absolutely."
Sighing, Vala gave in. "Okay, I guess I could sleep for a few hours."
Practically bouncing in victory, Daniel clapped his hands together. "Thank you." He brushed back the bangs from Vala's face as she stood up slowly. Even rundown and sleep deprived, in the glow of the lights she looked radiant to him. How quickly she had become his everything, his true purpose. "Did my heart love till now?" He stated tenderly, a line memorized ages ago returning to him in that instant. "Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
Vala smiled. Only Daniel would utter such words of affection to her in the confines of an old, dilapidated cargo ship after two weeks of just fighting to stay alive. "Come on, my Romeo." She grinned, happy that this was one cultural reference she knew well. Leading him over to the other chair, she picked up one of the blankets and wrapped it around herself "Whisper words to me with that golden tongue of yours as I drift off in your arms."
Sliding into the chair, Daniel helped Vala settle in comfortably against him and draped the second blanket over them. He placed a kiss in her hair as she rested her head against his shoulder. "What whispered words would you like, my love? Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing? Or something more modern, like Moulin Rouge, Titanic, or everyone's personal favorite - Rent?" He whispered into her ear, and she giggled. "And do you want it in English, or something a little more romantic, say Italian or Latin even?"
"Do you really think my pigtails are ridiculous?" She asked in a small voice.
Daniel didn't even blink at the rapid jump in subject. "I believe I said they were ridiculously adorable." He laughed. "Which makes the whole meaning of the ridiculous part something completely different than normal...I love your pigtails, baby."
Vala's eyes were already closed. "Oh..." She yawned, snuggling deeper into Daniel. "Okay." She mumbled, drifting off quickly.
Placing a hand on the side of her head lovingly, almost protectively, Daniel sighed contentedly. "Sleep well, my sweet Juliet." He rested his head back against the chair. "May your dreams be of..." He grinned smugly to himself. "Kissing me, for if I sleep this night, mine will surely be of kissing you."
A/N: Most of this idea had been floating around in my fron for a while. Than as I was writing it, I was listening to the Romeo + Juliet V.II OST, and the track 'Kissing You' came on. For those who don't know, it's the instrumental version with actual soundclips from the movie thrown in. And Romeo just happened to utter those lines RIGHT when I was typing out how Daniel thought Vala looked "radiant." If that wasn't fate, idk what is. And that's how the rest of the fic wove into a sort of allusion to Romeo and Juliet at the end. Also how this chapter got the title it did. Heh!
Just thought ya'll might find my inpiration interesting...or something. Reviews are LVOE!
