Vala had never been to Daniel's house before. Mitchell usually hosted team nights at his apartment and Sam hosted girl's nights at her place. Daniel had nice little almost bungalow tucked in the back of a neighborhood that had kids playing in the tree lined streets and a dog chasing squirrels in the neighbor's manicured yards.

"This must be what Anne felt like when she first saw Green Gables," Vala sighed happily.

Daniel looked at his house thoughtfully. He supposed it did have a picturesque quality to it. He hadn't thought much of it. Jack had gone over it top to bottom looking at wiring and the foundation before he gave it his stamp of approval; Sam had called it 'so cute' as she all but begged him to buy it. Daniel hadn't thought much past the fact that it was in his price range and was immediately available. Plus the small yard was easy to take care of as it was mostly trees and landscaping.

"I guess so," he shrugged, pulling into his driveway. "I'll get you settled and then go grab some things from the store."

"Is the flu always like this?" She felt nauseous and exhausted.

"Not always. It shouldn't last more than a few days, though."

"And there's no cure for it?" she asked as he opened her car door for her.

"Nope."

"Can't we use the ribbon device for this?"

Daniel chuckled. "I don't think that's a good use of it." He helped her out of the car and led her inside.

"I've never been to your house before," she told him taking in his living room.

"That is true," he agreed.

"It is very much your house," she added solemnly. It was like a live-in museum with artifacts and art adorning the walls, bookshelves crammed with books and more artifacts.

"That's what the mortgage says."

"I mean it looks like you," she explained further. She leaned heavily against him, tired and weak from fever.

"Let's get you to bed," Daniel changed the subject. "Just down the hall."

"Is this your room?" she asked as he opened the door. The bed was unmade and there was an overflowing laundry basket in the corner. "Where will you sleep?" She asked as she crawled into the bed and hugged his pillow, breathing in his scent.

"Don't worry about me." He instinctually started taking her shoes off for her.

"I don't like the flu," she pouted as he pulled the blankets around her shoulders.

"Do they have anything like this where you're from?"

"No." She started to relax, the thick comforter starting to ward off the chills from her fever.

He gently put his hand to her cheek again. "Do you want anything?"

"I think I just want to sleep."

"Okay. I'm going to run to the store real quick. I'll be back in less than an hour."

"I'll be right here," Vala mumbled, her eyes fluttering closed.

Daniel stood at the side of the bed and watched as she drifted off to sleep. Even when she started snoring she looked peaceful. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, but he was self-aware enough to be embarrassed.

"What are you doing?" he shook his head, forcing himself to leave the room. He did a quick check of what he had on hand, not much, before heading to the pharmacy and market.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Daniel looked around and dried his hands on the dishtowel tucked into his belt. It didn't look like his kitchen. There was food everywhere. Real food. Fresh vegetables and herbs covered the counters. Nothing had come from the freezers at the corner store. He felt a little bad. When he made Sam chicken soup last week he'd used frozen vegetables and pre-seasoned stock. He had made it for her with all the good intentions in the world. But, for some reason with Vala staying at his house he had felt inspired. He drove past his usual market to the new fancy grocers a few blocks away.

He'd been curious about the store already. It wasn't that he was trying to do anything special for Vala. It was that he had the time to do something he'd been wanting to do. It was really more for him and she was benefiting from it, too… by pure coincidence.

Then why did he get so self-conscious when he heard Sam came in the front door?

"Hey," she called from the living room after letting herself in.

"In here."

"You've been busy," she looked around the kitchen. There were pots simmering on the stove, dirty plates, bowl and cutlery in the sink… try as she might she couldn't find a single take out container anywhere.

"I'm just making chicken soup," he shrugged dumping celery into the biggest pot.

"Just soup, hum?" She grabbed a spoon from the drawer and helped herself to a taste. "That's not what you made me," Sam accused good naturedly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, trying to convince himself he was as innocent as he wanted to be.

Sam just laughed and bumped him with her hip before taking another taste of the soup. "That's really good."

"Thank you."

"Not at all different from anything you would do for any other member of the team." She dropped her spoon amongst the dirty dishes in the sink and leaned against the counter.

"Exactly."

"No preferential treatment going on here at all."

"There's not," he insisted.

"Um-hum," she smiled at him.

"Sam!"

She shook her head. She loved the man, but Daniel was hopeless sometimes. "I brought Vala's things like you asked," she changed the subject. "I brought her toothbrush, a couple changes of clothes, and those not-at-all-hard-to-find early editions of the books you've been buying her."

"I always go to the used-books store first."

"Did you see the publication date on those things?"

Daniel shrugged. "Book store had no idea what they had. I grabbed them."

"You bought the entire set and are giving them to her piece by piece so you can have an excuse to talk to her!" She couldn't help it; there was an air of romance to it. Even if he would deny it to his dying day Daniel was in love with Vala and these little gestures more than proved it.

"Keep your voice down," Daniel hissed glancing toward the bedroom door. "She's asleep."

"But you have the entire series, don't you?"

"I didn't give them all to her in case she didn't like them. I can sell them for more if I have the set."

"Because you're so good at getting rid of things." Sam gestured widely at his house, every available surface put to use.

"You know, I was going to invite you to stay for dinner. But, if you're just going to keep making fun of me, I won't," Daniel shot at her, smiling despite himself. Sam was right, he'd just keep the series. He needed another bookcase in the den anyway.

"I've had my fill of chicken soup," Sam smiled back. "And it was very sweet of you to make it for me. And it did taste really good."

"I'm making chili," he nodded to the second pot on the stove. "Jack's recipe."

"We can watch the History Channel and you can explain to me why everything they say is wrong," Sam offered.

"Or," Daniel countered. "We can watch the Discovery Channel and you can explain to me why everything they say is wrong."

Sam's eyes brightened. "We can switch off hour for hour."

"Flip to see who goes first?"