Series: Stargate SG-1

Spoilers: minor one for Avalon, part 1

Summary: It's just not Daniel's night—even the music is out to get him.

Knock Me Out Again

Daniel Jackson began putting his notes away for the evening far sooner than he would have liked. It was still only 2300, but his wonderful new friend had insisted upon getting her beauty sleep, and his office was too far from the VIP quarters on base. The artifacts that SG-7 had brought back from their latest mission were fascinating, but not quite fascinating enough to give himself a fainting spell over.

Daniel took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, willing himself to have more patience with the woman. This was what he imagined a marriage from hell must be like. Right before a couple got a divorce or one of the partners went nuts and killed the other. Not that he was harboring murderous thoughts or anything, no...

He replaced his glasses and reached for the stack of half-finished reports on the corner of his desk. At least he could get some work done while he was stuck in his room. The general had started giving him two minute time limits whenever they spoke, but had indicated that he would be more inclined to listen to Daniel when he no longer had a three week backlog of outstanding analyses and reports.

Daniel snapped out of his musings when he heard a clatter and a small crash. Leaning over his desk, he saw several jewel cases and CDs now scattered across his floor along with the batteries from a mercifully unbroken portable CD player.

"Dammit, Vala. Even when you're not here, I'm picking up after you," he muttered to himself angrily as he slammed the pile of file folders onto an empty spot on his desk. He shoved the CDs back into their cases and tossed them unceremoniously to a more out of the way spot on a nearby bookshelf. He slipped the batteries back into the CD player, then nearly dropped it again as music came blaring out of the headphones that were still attached and sitting on the corner of the desk right next to his head.

"Gah, turn it off!" Daniel flipped the player over and hunted for the off button. "Unbelievable," he growled. "No off switch." Just as he was about to just unplug the headphones and leave the damn thing to run out of batteries quietly, the vocals to the song started, and he blinked in surprise.

I want a girl with lips like morphine
Knock me out every time they touch me
I wanna feel a kiss just crush me,
And break me down...

Knock me out
Knock me out
'Cause I've waited for all my life
To be here with you tonight.

Daniel stared at the CD player as if it had suddenly turned into Apophis come back to life.

I want a girl with lips like morphine,
Blow a kiss that leaves me gasping.
And I wanna feel that lightning strike me,
And burn me down...

He listened to the rest of the song numbly, still crouched on the floor, unable to keep himself from thinking of how perfectly the lyrics suited Vala. Even when she wasn't physically present, she was still completely knocking him off balance and filling his thoughts. Daniel removed his glasses, pressed the palms of his hands against his head, and willed himself to stop thinking about her.

Nope, of course that wasn't going to work.

The CD player whirred and shifted to the next track. Daniel yanked the headphones out as if he was afraid the machine would bite him. Hurriedly, he placed the CD player on his desk, stood up, and left the office, not even noticing the abandoned file folders on his desk or the lights still on as he slammed the door, the last verse of the song echoing through his mind.

See, I've waited for all my life
To be here with you tonight.
Just put me on my back,
Knock me out again.

As he reached the end of the hall and got in the elevator, Daniel decided that some things were worth risking a fainting spell for. While SG-7's artifacts might not be, a cold shower definitely was.

A/N: I love Daniel/Vala. When I was listening to this song (Lips Like Morphine, by Kill Hannah) earlier, I realized how much it embodied the reaction Vala wants to get from men. Thus, I made Daniel and the song have a little confrontation. Short, and hopefully not too awful.