Much to Daniel's and Vala's ignorance though, their friends had just looked up from their coffee and hot chocolate to see their friends trying to hide themselves in the crowd. Jack just watched in mild shock "Damn I knew he was a fast learner but this is ridiculous." Feretti just elbowed him in the arm. "I guess all he needed was the right teacher and that is some teacher." Sam glared at Lou as he dodged a playful smack from her. "Hey! I was the one that tried to teach him last time!" Teal'c just raised an eyebrow "I do not believe DanielJackson wanted to know the precise mechanics of how one learns to ice-skate by calculating the exact amount of velocity, pace and positioning." Cam only grinned, "Sounds like to me like he just tuned everyone out and tried to take the baby steps on his own. I mean all that technobabble has got to be intimidatin' as hell when all you're trying to do is to get your balance out there."
Jack squinted, looking for the pair when he lost them, before too long he found them again and saw how close Daniel's mouth was to Vala's neck and ear that as soon as he saw it he turned away, but Cam had followed his former line of sight. "Am I seein' what I think I'm seein'?" Jack could only grin at the young Colonel's total lack of tact but he himself couldn't resist stealing another look for himself, which gained him a whack to the side from Sam's elbow once she saw them as well. From their point-of-view they couldn't tell what exactly what Daniel was doing. Jack smiled watching the pair weave slowly in and out of the crowd "Think the plan worked?". Cam shrugged, "I dunno, Sir. It's kinda hard to tell until we have full line-of-sight confirmation." "In other words...", Sam grinned "full-blown lip to lip contact that doesn't require CPR, and I'm pretty sure that is not where Vala's mouth is located." She tilted her head as if it would help her get a better view of the supposed situation.
Teal'c observed the pair from the table. "I do believe that DanielJackson is merely whispering something to ValaMalDoran in very close proximity. Although I am very proficient in lip-reading I cannot seem to make out what he is saying with the crowd obscuring the view." But just then Daniel moved his head just enough so his face could now be clearly seen, "They do seem, however, to be enjoying each others company at the moment." Teal'c said as he gave this undeniable, all-knowing smirk that he usually wore nowadays whenever it concerned Daniel and Vala. Something had definitely happened between Daniel and Vala during their fifty years on the Odyssey in that time dilation bubble before time was reset but whatever it was, Apophis' former first prime wasn't sharing. But now they were all momentarily distracted by the look of utter mischief on Daniel's face from the look Vala was giving him now, one of total shock, and he seemed to be nearly laughing his ass off at how indignant she seemed from whatever he'd just whispered to her. "Wow, that's gotta be the first time I'm seen him laugh like that since... since my first time on Abydos." Sam said as she blinked not quite believing her eyes. This place was definitely good for Daniel's mood. It was either that or a combination of the place and the company he was keeping. He had definitely needed this break more than they'd known. Vala had definitely rubbed off on him for the better it seemed. As if reading her thoughts a single "Indeed." breaking the near silence surrounding the table.
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"You mean to tell me that ever since you set skate to ice tonight, you've been faking it?! All night?!" Vala stood there in the middle of the ice frozen to the spot. Now Daniel wasn't one to nearly break down in giggles but now he couldn't help himself. "Well," he half-laughed/half-wheezed, "not en...entirely. I'm just not used to skating on such sharp blades so slowly and well...your help was very much appreciated.", he grinned roguishly despite his normally better judgement. Vala couldn't help but break into a grin just as brilliant as his. "You know Daniel darling, I've just noticed something." "Hmm, what exactly do you think you've noticed?" He asked completely oblivious to just how he looked at the moment. Cheeks flushed from both his laughter and the chill in the air and hair ruffled by the breeze that went by from nearby speeding skaters. What she had wanted to tell him at that moment was just how extremely stunning she thought he looked at this moment, she never would've thought that skating agreed with him this much. He looked so totally lighthearted, so unlike the man she first met when she tried to steal the Prometheus out from underneath his feet. But instead with a slightly heavy heart she said the next thing that came to her mind.
"Well for one thing you seem a bit more...well...chipper for one thing, the complete opposite of how you are at work. Which is if you ask me, a bit grumpy." Daniel opened his mouth to protest this but just got a shushing finger a half-inch from his lips to hush him before he even got started. "And you are definitely a bit more athletic than I would've given you credit for." He just shrugged, "What can I say I learned when I was twelve..." She interrupted him again as she stood on her tip-toes, as best she could on her skates, to get close to his ear to say something so that no one surrounding them could overhear. "Well not that you weren't to begin with. Running from Jaffa, false gods, bounty hunters, walking overgrown piles of laundry. Oops sorry I meant half-ascended walking evil pile of laundry trying to conquer the known galaxy, silly me. And whoever else is stupid enough to mess..." Was as far as Vala got before she eventually tipped over, but before Daniel could catch and steady her she landed on top of him hard, knocking him off balance as well and sent them both sprawling to the ice. Daniel didn't have time to catch his breath after he fell because a split-second later Vala came tumbling right on top of him.
"Oof! Ow. You alright Vala?" he panted slightly as he fought to catch his breath and asked the brunette who was half-laying on top of him. "Oh yes. Just a little surprised that I decided to fall mid-sentence. And how are you?" She smiled down at him as she absent-mindedly straddled him as she sat up. "Oh, I've been better. But uh, you might want to get off me unless you're planning on getting comfortable there." She wriggled for a moment in his lap until she realized their positioning before rolling off of him and standing up. "Oops. Bad habits are hard to break and all that." She grinned just a little before offering him a hand to help him stand. He gratefully accepted the hand but didn't expect her to have such a strong grip and practically pulled him up with ease. He resisted the temptation of pulling her back down to him, but he knew that this wasn't the time or place for those tactics. "Thanks." he looked up at her as he got to his feet. "So you were saying?" He smirked a little before dusting the light coating of ice shavings off his sweater, jeans and backside.
Vala couldn't help but stare as she thought, 'Where on Earth did Daniel get those jeans?'. He'd never worn anything that snug even when he was off duty. Once she'd realized though that she was in fact staring, she blinked, "Er, sorry what was that?" Daniel looked up, slightly worried, when she answered his question with a question. "You sure you're okay? Maybe we should sit for a while." He shook her gently by the elbow thinking that somehow that her fall had in someway discombobulated her. "Yes I'm fine, thank you darling. I just...got caught thinking for a minute there." She gave him her best 'I was so not looking at your ass just now' look. And for once he'd believed it. Daniel just shook his head "Sorry, I guess I must've panicked there for nothing for a minute." A shy smile returned to his face almost as if they hadn't just fallen onto the ice a moment ago.
"And down they go! What did I tell ya? That's fifty bucks you owe me, O'Neill!" Lou laughed as he watched the sprawled out pair gather their wits, "Eventually one or both of them was gonna end up on the ice like that anyway, Feretti. They're both still learning, Daniel even more so.", huffed a pouting Jack O'Neill as he dug around his jeans pocket for his wallet. They watched as Daniel looked just a little uncomfortable as the woman was sitting astride his lap right there in public view of everyone else there. Teal'c has so kindly transcribed for them what they were saying since their fall, and because he had the most experience in lip-reading (provided no one who skated by them blocked them from view) he'd been giving them the word-by-word account of Teal'c really was the next best thing to having a spy skate past the pair. However he wasn't needed to see the look on Vala's face while Daniel was innocently dusting the ice off of himself. Sam nearly laughed herself silly at Vala's visual slip, none of the others except maybe Feretti, got it though.
"...don't believe everything you've heard about me being clumsy around the SGC. Half of it is an exaggeration and the other half is when I don't look where I'm going or when I'm in a hurry. Jack and the others only thought I couldn't skate because they took me here very soon after I came back to Earth and had no memory of knowing how to. A short while after that it all came back to me and I started coming here whenever I could. I only kept up the farce tonight so that I could have more time to myself in the future. It isn't anything personal against anyone, but sometimes I just like being alone. Another face in the crowd if you will, is the best camouflage there is. But now I'm finding that company isn't bad after all." He stopped for a moment when he realized he'd just spent the last few minutes talking about his past. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to ramble on so much about myself like that. It's not something I normally do." Daniel had the decency to look sheepish. Vala just looked at him, very amused at his sudden remembrance of his manners. She was about to tease him about it when she noticed his face. He had suddenly turned very pale as he looked past her shoulder. A second later he was gone, speeding from her side as if he'd seen a ghost. Another second after that she went after him because perhaps he had.
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Author's Note:
I only have two more parts prepared for posting. I've still not finished this fic (work has been interfering). It may be a bit of a wait for me to post Part 8 and beyond. I've been working on this fic for months and I'm a bit of a perfectionist with the plot. I can't wait for all of you to see what's going on inside my head beyond this.