Yes, and exceptionally peculiar arrangement, I know. Especially that the alternate (aka: fluffy) ending will be longer than the realistic one. I haven't the skill that others do for venturing into the land of "this is what I'd like to happen but never will" that others seem to posses, but I tried it. So per the request of several individuals who just wanted to see if I could do it (cough cough not at all because they wanted fluffiness), here's part one of the happy ending.
Of course he couldn't see fit to drop by her quarters on a night when she wasn't in fluffy bunny pajama bottoms and an oversized jacket. That would mean karma had finally forgiven her and that wasn't likely to happen anytime soon. Even worse, the jacket was his University of Chicago sweatshirt. Yeah, that would be fun to explain.
She paced in front of the door as it shook again from his pounding. "Vala, open up, I have to talk to you!" She drummed her fingers on the end of her bed before bolding stepping towards the door. She made it halfway there before turning back and plopping back down on her comforter.
She was tied up in knots, and avoiding him for most of the afternoon hadn't done much to improve her situation. He was just a boy like any other. A boy, a boy, a boy, a boy! Ugh, she sounded like a lovestruck teenager. Normally she would throw open the door and tease him about being a genius who couldn't work a stargate, but today she couldn't, she knew too much.
Daniel and the offworld teams had successfully made contact with the SGC at the four hour mark, but SG-1 still went through the gate to haul Daniel back home. On the last loner mission he was just over 24 hours late, and a few missions before that he went three whole days without contact. Cam referred to their retrieval mission as 'grounding' him, so that next time he would remember to be a good boy and check in.
She'd believed Cam's intent was solely to force Daniel out of future intellectual reveries so Cam would be able to distinguish when Daniel was or wasn't about to get killed, and get Colonel Mitchell killed in retribution. Then Jack sauntered into conference room, when he knew Daniel was coming home, and with beer in tow, that threw the punishment theory right out the window.
Jack had been brought in to get though to Daniel when no one else could, and Vala wasn't sure if that would swing in her favor or not. There was hope, and then Jack gave her the beer.
Daniel had told her that he'd only seen Jack drink a few times while on base, and each and every time preceded or followed profound amounts of emotional trauma. (Usually involving women, because getting shot at just didn't qualify as trauma anymore.)
Jack giving her the beer was a sign this conversation wasn't meant to be good. She would avoid him, that was the only solution. Under no circumstances would she see Daniel Jackson until she knew exactly what had been planned for his imminent return that Jack felt she needed to be buzzed to deal with.
That resolution fell flat on it's face the moment Daniel stepped through the gate. She hadn't meant to spy on him, she really hadn't, she just happened to be around every time SG-1 had their precursors to the Jack conversation.
After restlessly puttering around the base she eventually settled in to her quarters to wait out her overly romantic spell in a place where no one could see it. She waited until the sirens sounded in the hall announcing offworld activation and then walked over to the infirmary to meet up with him.
To be fair it wasn't so much a walk as a sprint interspersed with sauntering sections whenever she happened past observers.
Any time she caught herself meandering just a little too quickly she forced herself to stop and remind herself it had only been five hours. When she finally made it to the infirmary hallway saunter didn't do the lackadaisical pace justice.
She kneaded her hands and forced the butterflies to shut up and leave her be. The last few steps to the infirmary door were painfully slow, and she kept reciting to herself the bountiful reasons to turn back. She'd convince herself of the absolute stupidity in immediately dropping by to check on him, and how pathetically over-attached it would make her seem, and would turn around.
Then she'd feel his smile. It rippled through her and all reason went out the window. She stepped into the infirmary and stopped again at the sound of Sam's restraint. "It's not right Daniel, and you know it.
"Sam, I don't have a clue what you're talking about."
The frustration crept out the more he faked dumb. "Daniel, remember how we always tell one another the truth?"
"Always Sam? Tell me, how's Jack doing?"
"Cheap shot, and he's here by the way, waiting to have this conversation with you if you don't listen to me."
"Sam..."
"Daniel, you can't keep vanishing for days at a time. Given your track record for dying it's not exactly fair to those left behind on your little excursions." (Vala reminded herself to have to cooks make Sam something pretty for being on her side in this matter, not that she would admit to having a side.)
"Sam I've been vanishing for years and we've never had this conversation before. Are you telling me you didn't care every other time I died?"
"That's not what I'm saying and you know it. Things are different now."
"Sam, I have no idea what you're talking about, and unfortunately it seems that Dr. Lam would like to interrupt you for a few blood tests."
Sam and Carolyn shared a glare before she jammed the needle rather violently into his arm and Daniel jumped. He turned to complain, but stopped when he caught the look in Carolyn's eye and decided silence was the most favorable option.
After sneaking out of the infirmary she was bound and determined that she was going to hold out for him to visit her, and not the other way around. So she resorted to her old standby for emotional pacification, chocolate. (Namely the triple layer cake the cooks had baked her when they heard Daniel was missing, again.) Unfortunately she stumbled across stage two of the interrogation being done by Cam in the hallway outside the mess.
"Stop talking now Mitchell."
"Come on Jackson, you know what goes on around here when you go AWOL. I mean, how could you not, you pace more than she does."
She choked on her fourth piece of cake for the day and shrunk behind the corner where they couldn't see her. Teal'c had followed her out of the commissary, stopping to ask, "ValaMalDoran, are you well?" She gestured at him to be quiet and pointed around the corner all the while trying not to spill her cake and give away their position.
Teal'c nodded in understanding as the conversation continued with Daniel's stress level shooting up several points. "Mitchell, remember how I told you to stop talking!"
"I don't know if you've noticed this Jackson, but this base is populated by brilliant scientists and the best the US military has to offer. I can guarantee you they've noticed that you're not particularly friendly when she's late comin' back from offworld."
They were only a few paces away from her corner, and she had a feeling that if she got caught evesdropping on this particular conversation he'd be too embarrassed to speak to her for the next month. She gave Teal'c the doe eyes and mouthed "please." To sweeten the deal she extended her hands forth with the plate of chocolate cake, and after giving her as much a smile as she ever got from the Jaffa he took a finger full of icing and stepped around the corner.
"ColonelMitchell, GeneralLandry is looking for you." Cam hesitated for a moment, torn between watching Teal'c take care of Daniel's denial or the call of duty, but the look on Teal'c's face compelled him to dash back down the hallway towards the command center.
"Not you too Teal'c."
"I have nothing more to say on the matter DanielJackson. It has been many years since I joined your people DanielJackson, but despite the time I have spent studying your culture, I still do not entirely understand the limitations on your relations."
"There are rules Teal'c, you know that."
"I am aware of the rules for your military DanielJackson. But such rules do not apply to your behavior."
She heard Daniel sigh and start past Teal'c toward her corner. "You are a brother DanielJackson, and I wish to see no harm come to you, from any source."
"I'll be fine Teal'c."
"She is my friend also DanielJackson, and I will see that no harm is done to her, even if you insist upon harming yourself."
Daniel stopped, and she could hear his slowly turn and stutter, "Wh-what?"
"You have feelings for ValaMalDoran."
"I-I don't know what..."
"I have seen many a young Jaffa fall in love DanielJackson, and their behavior seems to be a trait shared by the Tau'ri. I have observed you when merely attracted to an individual DanielJackson, and you behavior does not suit that description."
"What behavior!"
An airman passing Vala turned the corner, and stopped for a moment as he observed the scene in front of him. Judging from the saucer size his eyes swelled to and his terrified grimace as he turned tail and almost sprinted past Vala, to the outside observer it would appear that Teal'c and Daniel were finally ready to come to blows.
"You are behaving in a manner which I am unaccustomed to seeing DanielJackson."
"I'm behaving the same way I always have."
"You are currently angry at me while in a main hallway of the SGC. Does that not suggest something abnormal DanielJackson? I believe your desire to avoid discussing your feelings for ValaMalDoran cause you to react this way."
Daniel sputtered and blew past Teal'c and froze as he turned to face Vala on the other side of the corner, listening to their conversation.
The color drained out of his face as he realized what he'd been caught denying. Rather than waiting to deal with his rejection by refusal, or for the anger to blossom when he realized she'd been spying, she gave him the shiniest version of her guilty smile she could muster, handed him her half-eaten plate of chocolate cake, and sprinted down the hall.
It was all Jack's fault.
He'd sworn to Carolyn on everything holy, (namely cake, fishing, and ever being allowed to fly an F-302 again) that Daniel had left the base. That was how he tricked Carolyn into opening her office door and letting him in to see Vala.
He'd found her sitting on the ground behind Carolyn's desk playing solitaire with a deck of cards that Jack knew. Vala knew that her friendship with Carolyn Lam was though to be quite impossible, so no one would look for her seeking solitude with the not over-compassionate Dr. Lam. Little did most of the SGC know that Carolyn, Carter, and Vala had formed their own little triumvirate that knew everything and managed to tip the scales in favor of every woman on base.
Jack was never a fan of rational arguments, so rather than attempt to make one he simply picked up the cards and left Teal'c to pick her up. She didn't even bother wriggling in Teal'c's grasp, but chose to sigh and grumble at Jack.
"This isn't fair you know. I thought kidnapping women for your own dastardly purposes, as much as I would enjoy those purposes, was against your Tau'ri code of conduct."
"He's off base Vala."
"Oh, well then, there's no point in carrying me around, I've got no reason to misbehave." Teal'c still didn't put her down. That was her first sign that something was afoot.
Her concerns grew when the fellow didn't chit-chat on the way. It wasn't just their normal taciturn nature when Sam forced them into meddling in someone's personal life (Which they rarely wanted to do) It was fully fledged military mode. Jack even took point with Teal'c assuming the six. It was as if she was some piece of precious cargo they were charged with getting safely back to her quarters.
Teal'c set her gently down outside her door as Jack started talking. "Carter said you should put on, the…black, something or other." He did his little finger roll, expecting his explanation to coalesce into a perfect plan in her head.
"I believe ColonelCarter specified that you are to wear the green wrap dress that you purchased while shopping two weeks ago. We were also instructed to inform you that you are to wear you hair down and…"
Jack snapped his fingers and shouted, "The strappy black sandals! Carter wants you to wear the strappy black sandals." He smacked Teal'c in the arm as he said, "See, told ya I'd remember." Teal'c tipped his head in agreement and gave a small smile at Jack's enthusiasm.
"Alright. You get dressed, and then Teal'c will make sure you get to the elevator."
Her amusement at their odd behavior suddenly vanished. She assumed a stance more accustomed to Teal'c (given the fact Jack found his requests harder to deny than anyone, she assumed it was her safest response.)
"General, I respectfully decline your generous offer to leave the base. I have a lot of…paperwork, very important paperwork, that I need to do."
Jack assumed a matching stance in mocking return and said, "Refusal denied Miss Mal Doran. You will throw on your civie gear and head off base with us." He patted Vala on the shoulder and confided, "Don't worry, we're not going to see Daniel."
Jack headed down the corridor with a spring in his step, obviously off to don his 'civies' before they went out. This wasn't just something with SG-1, she got to wear jeans for that sort of thing. Jack had a plan, and she wasn't sure if it was good sign or a bad one that Sam and Teal'c were in on it. "Jack, where are we going?"
He simply shouted over his shoulder with a tone of suppressed mirth, "Out to dinner with one Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Black."
She looked at Teal'c as she processed the name, then it hit her. She turned to double-check with Teal'c to be sure Jack was just as crazy as he sounded. "He's Area 51's version of Daniel isn't he? Every time the Marines get jumpy about having civilians around they bring up Black's name as Daniel's replacement for SG-1. He was the one Mitchell was supposed to pick rather than bring you all back together."
Teal'c cocked an eyebrow in response to her knowledge on the matter. "Earlier in the week He pointed out something that Daniel mistranslated. Daniel got…huffy, that he'd missed it. He stayed up for a whole day longer than he should have because he wanted to finish some translation that Black thought he couldn't do. I've never seen Daniel quite so competitive before. Why would Jack…" Then it dawned on her as a grin that matched Jack's malevolent smile spread across Teal'c's face.
She turned to Jack's retreating frame and hollered down the corridor, "You're an evil, evil, man Jack O'Neill!"
Jack turned long enough to give a Cheshire grin while he continued his backwards trot, then started back down the hall in a more General appropriate manner.
She looked to Teal'c, almost disbelieving that they would set her up on a date with the man who the US military wanted to be Daniel Jackson. All she could do was mutter, "You're evil."
"Indeed."
Reviews are always welcome. Even if it's to tell me I should've ignored everyone who wanted to find out how I would end it happy.