Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Pete as in Samantha's fiancée?" Vala whispered directly into Daniel's ear.

He flinched in surprise – he hadn't even sensed her moving in close. Daniel nodded ever so slightly in reply.

"You must be Vala!" Pete exclaimed in his general good-natured way. He stepped forward and held out his hand. "Sam's told me so much about you."

The smile Vala put on was forced. "I wish I could say the same," Vala retorted and had to hide a wince at her bluntness as she shook his hand. Probably not the best thing she could have said. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she tried to cover up her abruptness. It wasn't really, but she would play nice for Samantha's sake – even though she was strictly team Jack.

"You too," Pete continued to smile after releasing her hand and wrapped an arm around Sam's waist.

Vala caught the slight stiffening of her friend. As she studied Samantha further, Vala noticed she was tense and did not look too happy with her fiancée's presence. Interesting…

"I'm sorry to crash the party," Pete apologized, not sounding apologetic to Vala at all, "but when Sam explained why she couldn't make our plans, I figured I'd come here and meet this Vala she's told me so much about."

Vala vaguely heard Samantha mumble to Pete that they didn't have set plans, but she ignored it and twisted her head to look at Daniel with a questioning look. She didn't even have to ask the question she was curious about – he already knew. Had they become that acquainted with each other where he instantly knew what she was going to say?

"It's an expression," Daniel explained in a low tone, presumably not wanting Pete to hear. "It means to attend a party, or in this case, an outing, without being invited."

"A little rude if you ask me," Vala kept her voice low as well. The last thing she wanted to do was offend Samantha and she had a feeling insulting Pete would do that.

"A little, yeah," he agreed with her.

"What're you two whispering about over there?" Jack questioned suspiciously like they were plotting for galactic domination.

Ooh, her and Daniel taking over the galaxy did sound appealing…

"Just explaining the idiom of 'crash the party' to Vala," Daniel answered for them in a cool manner, acting like no one had a problem with the cop being here.

"Right, sorry," Pete shot her another apologetic look. "Sam told me you don't understand all of Earth's idioms and expressions."

Vala's eyes narrowed. He probably didn't mean for it to come out the way it did, but it sounded rude to her. "Yes, the Tau'ri do have odd little sayings."

He didn't seem to know what to say after that and appeared to have let it go. "So, what's the game plan?"

There was a pause.

"Well, Vala and I were about to join the others to eat," Daniel answered, sounding like his diplomatic self.

"We were?" she mumbled to him. She didn't remember agreeing to that. In fact, before Samantha's odd choice of mate 'crashed the party,' she was sure Daniel was about to kiss her. Another reason not to like the man. Daniel elbowed her. "We were!" she chirped with a smile.

"Great, I could eat!" Pete used the arm around Samantha to spin her in the direction of the picnic tables, leaving the rest to follow.

o0o

"So, Vala, how's your first time at one of Earth's Fair going?" Pete asked as they all picked a table to eat at.

Vala choked on the sip of water she just took. Clearing her throat, she glanced at Daniel. "He knows I'm an alien?" she asked in Goa'uld, only now realizing that he said as much earlier with the idiom stuff.

Daniel shrugged nonchalantly. "Looks like it." He didn't appear to be concerned, which could only mean one thing.

"Does he know about the Stargate program?"

"Oh, yeah."

There was a twist she didn't see coming. "There's a story there. Will you tell me?"

"Hey, you two!" Jack snapped his fingers at them. "English only."

"It's going well," she finally answered Pete and held up her giraffe. "Daniel won me a giraffe."

Jack smirked. "You won her a giraffe?" his tone was teasing, but Vala wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to tease Daniel about.

Daniel simply shrugged. "She won me a lion," he made it sound like it wasn't a big deal. "So, I returned the favor."

"Adorable." Vala recognized the sarcasm in Jack's tone.

There was an awkward silence that fell shortly after. Vala didn't do very well with silence and thought up of things to talk about, but many, if not most, were work related and she didn't want to risk anyone around them hearing something they shouldn't. As it was, she had slipped up with Pete by referring to them as 'Tau'ri.' It didn't matter that he already knew, what mattered was that she had said it aloud where others could have heard it.

"Samantha tells me you're a cop," Vala figured this would be a safe topic and she could get to know her friend's future mate. "I must confess, I'm not entirely sure what you do for a living. Would you mind elaborating?"

The look that crossed Jack's face sent regret through her, but it was already too late for the man had already begun to talk about the aspects of his job and what he did on a daily basis. She listened patiently with a smile on her face, she replied when it was expected of her, and reacted to his tale of the current case he was working on like she was supposed to. He didn't seem to be a bad sort of man, just not right for Samantha.

They ate and talked, mostly about Pete's job, and mundane things, before Jack got up and stated he was done with his food. The General announced he was going to explore and motioned for Teal'c to join him. Sam and Pete did the same shortly after and headed in the opposite direction, leaving Daniel and Vala to themselves.

"How does he know about the SGC?" she blurted out the second Pete was out of earshot. "You told me people like him didn't know about the Stargate."

Daniel wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Most people don't," he said casually. It was like he was deliberately being obtuse.

"So, how the bloody hell does he?"

He sighed. "It's a – " with one look, she stopped him, causing him to sigh before telling her what she wanted to know.

Vala preened a little at the fact that he had given in so easily. She briefly considered what it meant, if it meant anything, before focusing on the tale.

Once he was done, she frowned. "I thought spying on one's significant other was generally frowned upon here."

"It is in general."

"And Samantha was okay with that?" Vala couldn't bring herself to believe that she was – it didn't sound like the Colonel at all. "He ran a background check on her! If that doesn't send up white flags, I don't know what does."

Vala could tell he was trying to hold in a laugh and her shoulders slumped. She had gotten another one of their weird phrases wrong again.

"Red flags." He tried hard to hide the mirth, but she still detected it. "Anywho, just because we find it a breach of trust, doesn't mean Sam feels the same. Even if she does, she's obviously decided to forgive and move on, so we shouldn't hold it against him – we're not the ones he's marrying."

She shuddered dramatically. "Thank Ra for that."

Pete wasn't a bad sort of man, and aside from taking the spying bit too far, Vala couldn't find much to object to – she just couldn't fathom spending a lifetime with someone like him and she didn't know how Samantha could either.

o0o

The pair ran into the engaged couple shortly after finishing their food. Samantha looked worn out to Vala, and she went to the Colonel, linking arms with her, she led her away from the men without explanation to them. "Come, Samantha. Time for us girls to have some alone time."

To her delight, Samantha seemed a little relieved to be led away. "What do you have in mind?"

Vala shrugged. "You tell me. This is my first time here, so native's choice."

They ended up browsing through the many booths that had been set up, selling a variety of goods and promoting a vast number of things Vala didn't understand. At least it was like shopping in a way – some of the promotional stuff was even free!

"Pete seems nice." Vala had to know how Samantha got past everything the man had done early on in their relationship. She hadn't been in a relationship in some time, but she could fathom continuing in a relationship had he broken that kind of trust. She was curious.

"Yeah, he's great."

Vala raised a brow at the mumbled reply. That did not sound like a woman in love. "He must be more than great." She hoped her statement would spur this conversation in the desired direction.

"Why do you say that?" Samantha unknowingly fell into her trap.

The ex-thief moved onto another booth, knowing that Samantha would follow. Acting as nonchalantly as she could, she said, "He'd have to be after everything."

"Everything?"

At the Colonel's confused tone, Vala glanced over. "Daniel told me a bit about your relationship – mainly how he came to know about the…you know what," her eyes shifted around them to ensure no one was listening.

Samantha frowned. "So?"

"He followed you, Samantha," Vala gave her a pointed look. "He didn't trust you when you told him you couldn't discuss your job. Instead of respecting that and your wishes, he spied on you. He even went as far to have a background check done on you. After that level of – "

"What background check?" Samantha interrupted.

Based on her expression, Vala guessed she was both confused and angry, which confused her. She knew, didn't she? "The background check he ran on you," her friend's confusion didn't let up and she laughed nervously. "You didn't know?"

"Who told you that?"

"Daniel did. I believe Jack told him when –" before she could say anything else, Sam stormed off in the direction they had left the guys. Vala hmphed. "I wonder what other secrets I can unintentionally spill before the night is out," she mused to herself before following her friend.

o0o

"Teal'c is a cheater," Jack declared as the two of them met up with Daniel.

Pete had wandered off somewhere, but Daniel hadn't paid attention.

"Does that really sound like him?" Daniel retorted before his mind flashed back to a basketball game they had when both he and Sam had accused the Jaffa of the same thing. Huh, maybe he is… "You sure it's just not him being better than you?"

"Watch it," Jack used his playful warning voice. "Where'd Carter and Vala run off to?"

Daniel shrugged. "Beats me," He wasn't on Vala duty. "Vala just grabbed Sam and walked away. Figure she wants to question Sam."

"On what?"

"Pete." He had said it carefully and watched his friend. "Vala found out that he knew about the program and made me tell her the story."

"Made you, huh?"

"She's surprisingly good at getting things out of you." It was kind of scary how good. "Anywho, Vala's having difficulty understanding how Sam got over the whole stalking and background check being done on her."

From the corner of his eye, he saw Jack freeze. Next thing he knew, Jack's hand grasped his arm. "Vala's not gonna mention the background check, is she?"

Daniel frowned at his tone. "It's Vala, so…yeah, probably."

Jack released him. "Shit!" he hissed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Jack?" he dragged out. What was he missing here?

His frown deepened at his friend's reaction. Jack was being evasive and looked reluctant to discuss it, but he finally admitted what the problem was. "Carter never knew about the background check."

Daniel blinked as the General's words sank in. "You never told her!" He may have hushed his tone, but the implied accusation was there.

"It was brought to Hammond's attention after we'd already told him the truth and she forgave him!"

"So?" Daniel felt his anger rise. "She has a right to know!"

"Well, thanks to you and Vala, she probably already does!"

"Hey," he pointed a finger at Jack, "you can't blame me for this – you and Hammond kept it to yourselves. How was I supposed to know it was meant to be a secret?"

Jack's eyes locked onto something over Daniel's shoulder and based on the soft 'Fuck' Jack let out, he suspected Sam was on her way over.

"Carter!" Jack greeted with a fake smile.

"Save it," Sam practically growled. "We'll talk later, but right now I need to know where Pete is."

Jack stayed silent – wise choice on his part, Daniel acknowledged. Instead, he motioned to where the cop was playing a game with Teal'c.

Sam didn't say anything before storming his way. She all but dragged him away from the game and out of sight.

Jack sighed again once they disappeared. "Damnit."

"I didn't know." Daniel looked over to the spot Sam previously stood and saw a guilty looking Vala. "No one told me it was a secret."

Daniel gave her a sympathetic smile and went to stand beside her. "You and me both." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder as his way of letting her know it was going to be okay.

Vala rested her head on his shoulder, and he felt her shoulders slump. "I wasn't trying to break them up – honest."

"I know."

Vala may not like the two of them together, but Daniel knew she wasn't malicious like that. He knew it was a simple mistake – one that could have been avoided had someone shared all the details with him, but there was nothing they could do now.

o0o

Author's Note:

I always thought Pete took it way too far with the background check and following her. He didn't trust her. He didn't respect her or her privacy. He should've taken her 'I can't talk about work' and left it alone.

Following her because he was concerned? Yeah, sure, I can let it slide (barely), but actually having someone looking into her? Not cool.

I know I'm not Sam, but I couldn't be with someone like that.

I'll step down from my soapbox now...