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Vala paused uncertainly in the doorway of Daniel's office. The room had never been very well kept. It was usually scattered with artifacts from various offworld missions, cluttered with books and dusty old documents, and contained at least a week's worth of old coffee cups. Now, however, the mess seemed to have exploded.Daniel himself was off in a corner, kneeling in front of a crate. There were several stacks of what she presumed were valuable historical objects around him, and as he removed each new item, he carefully unwrapped, catalogued, and then re-wrapped it before placing it with the others. He continued working for several minutes, oblivious to her presence, until finally she stepped inside and cleared her throat.
He looked up with a start, but quickly turned back to what he was doing. "Hey, um…if this is about dinner, I'm kinda busy," he said distractedly.
"Yes, darling, I noticed." Vala replied. She walked over to the desk and leaned against it, frowning. "What is it you're looking for?"
"A bracelet," he replied pensively, still not looking at her. "SG-8 brought it back from their last offworld mission and now it seems to have vanished."
"Well, don't look at me," Vala's eyes widened.
"Vala--"
"Really, Daniel. I swear. I had nothing to do with it!" she raised her hands innocently.
"Vala, I don't think you took it," he turned toward her, cocking his head slightly as he looked up.
"Really?" her eyes widened in surprise.
"Really," he smiled.
"Oh," she nodded. "Right, of course you don't. So. Shall I help you look?"
Daniel's eyebrows rose. "You…wanna help me re-catalogue all this?"
"Well, not really," she winked. "But friends do that sort of thing for one another, right?"
"Right," he nodded, hiding a chuckle.
Vala pushed off the desk and threaded her way through the stacks to kneel beside him. Peering into the crate, she bit the side of her lip and said thoughtfully. "You know, Daniel…"
"Hmm?" he looked up again.
"Never mind," she shook her head.
"Okay," he shrugged, stifling another laugh as he turned back to his clipboard. From the corner of his eye, he could see her frown, and was rather surprised at how long and companionably they worked before she made another attempt.
"Daniel, about dinner," she cleared her throat.
He sat back on his heels and balled his hand over his lips, barely turning the laughter into a cough. "Dinner?" he asked innocently.
"Yes…Friday? We did have dinner plans, didn't we? You mentioned when I came in…" she trailed off with an awkwardness that didn't quite seem feigned.
"Yeah," he nodded reassuringly. "What about dinner?"
"Well, you see, Daniel, I've decided I'm not sure I really want to have dinner with you," she said slowly.
His mouth popped open. "You--you don't?"
"Mmm-mmm," Vala shook her head. She paused for a few seconds, then broke into a wide grin. "I'd much rather we took a drive to the beach!"
Daniel raised his eyes to the ceiling, then dropped his forehead into his free hand. "Vala, that's--that's not a good idea."
"Come now, darling, of course it is. A nice, long romantic drive…a walk by the ocean--then we can we spend the rest of the evening under the boardwalk--"
Daniel's head snapped up, eyes bulging. His jaw dropped again, then began to work silently as Vala hurriedly amended,
"On! I meant on! Really."
"I think you've been watching too much TV," Daniel replied, kneeling up again to pick up a small statuette from the crate.
"So…that would be a no?" Vala asked ingenuously.
"That would be a no," nodded Daniel firmly.
She sighed heavily and set to work again. Daniel shook his head, holding the silence, but he stole several sideways glances at her and frowned more deeply with each one. He'd expected a show of disappointment, but if it had been false, he knew that Vala would have let it drop within a few minutes. In fact, she probably would have just shifted tactics and kept trying to wheedle him into taking her to the beach.
He let out a sigh of his own. "So, where do you want to go for dinner?" he asked softly.
Vala looked up in surprise, but didn't reply right away. Her brow creased in thought for a moment or two, then her eyes brightened eagerly. She smiled and opened her mouth to say something, then abruptly shut it again. This time, though, he saw resignation and pain, not the playful hope that he would invite her to continue.
"Wherever you like, Daniel," she said heavily, moving her eyes away.
Daniel slowly set the statue down and reached out to lay a tender finger along her jaw. Gently turning her face back to look at him, he asked, "You wanna go to Sol's?"
She nodded once, swallowing back a sudden wave of emotion. Her eyes blurred with tears, but when she tried to look away, Daniel brought both hands to her cheeks.
"Okay," he smiled.