Summary – Vala has her issues, but she is adapting well into the SGC, or so Daniels thinks. Till some unexpected trouble occurs and the teams trust towards her is put to test. What´s more, in the most inappropriate moment, a mission goes totally wrong.

Pairing – Daniel and Vala

Spoilers – Season 10 spoilers

Disclaimer – Well, obviously not owning the SG world, because if so, I would not post this story here, but publish a book itself and make loads of money. Or, if nobody was interested into reading it, well, to hell with them, I could afford to publish the book anyway! ;)

Sandra – U declared war, you shall get it. You give me no information, I give you no information. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. ) And yes, this one chapter is for you, obluda.

Dawnie – You are a review angel, thank you so much! And no hesitation at criticims. As Vala would say – And more enthusiasm from you next time! ;)

ALL others – Thank you so much, to everybody who reviewed but also to everobody who simply read my story, I hope you enjoy it. I surely enjoy writtng it. :) You guys rock. This one is for all of the shippers out there. Again, RER – read – enjoy – review.

Where the truth lies

by- liz parker

Chapter 2 – Coffee and Hairslides

„BOO!"

At that sound, Daniel got such a scare that he dropped the mug he was holding and the coffee spat all across his shirt and floor.

„Ooooops…"

„Ooooops indeed!" Said Daniel angrily, then sighed. „What do you want Vala?"

„I said I am sorry, so no need to be rude…" Said Vala in an offened tone, entering Daniels office without invitation, sitting down on Daniels chair, putting her feet on the table.

„No, you said 'Ooooops', not 'sorry '." He took a small cloth that laid just withing reach. He tried to dry his shirt, but then he saw the shirt was already stained and not-to-save. So he got to his knees, wiping the remaining coffee off the floor, purposely turning his back to Vala. Suddenly, the room got all quiet and he could literally feel her look on his… NO, he has to stop her right there!

He jumped to his feet, quickly turning back to the woman that could always take him by surprise, no matter what. A large lazy grin was spread across her face, sizing him up and down, obviously having fun. Finally, she broke the silence.

„You know, you should really thank me. I just saved your life."

„Yeah? How come?" Asked Daniel indifferently, wiping his dirty coffee-stained hands with the cloth.

„That stuff..." She pointed her head to the spilled coffee, „...is dangerous."

„Really?" He asked casually.

„Yeah. Mitchell told me."

Daniel pulled a face. „Yeah, I bet he did…that little traitor."

„He said that coffee was poisonous if taken in great amounts." She said convincingly.

„Yeah, and not just the coffee..." murmered Daniel under his breath.

„So...are you finally going to take your shirt off or what?" Asked Vala impatiently. Daniel almost chocked.

„Excuse me?!?"

„Your shirt. It's wet and stained." Explained Vala plainly.

„Aw, that. Well, later...perhaps..." Replied Daniel trying to mask his previous reply, yet he could not dispose of the embarrassment in his voice. Vala's smile grew even bigger, what Daniel believed to be impossible, and it scared the hell out of him.

„Daniel, I didn't know you were such a perv!" She cried out indignantly. "I will have to take heed of you or you'll ruin my untained spirit."

„I wouldn't even dream of it." Said Daniel dryly.

„Look, Vala, not that I wouldn't ' appreciate' your company, but is there any particular reason you are here? You know, just out of curiousity…" He said outwardly carelessly.

„In a matter of fact, there is."

„Feel like sharing?"

„Yep." She started to pivot on his chair. It drove him crazy and she knew that.

„Mitchell, Sam and T'ealc are waiting for us."

„Why? What happened?" Asked Daniel disturbed. Vala tilted her head back and gave an agonized cry.

„Lunch, Daniel! that's what happened. See, I may not live here long yet, but I have already discovered the secret of the strenght of your people. And I will be so gracious to share that secret with you, because firstly – I like you, and secondly – you aren't that cute when you play dumb. The secret is proper lunch!" She gave a dreamy look.

"Yummy, I am really hungry. Now, come on." She got up in a second and was already heading towards the door.

„Well, have fun."

She stopped in the middle of her tracks, turned around and gave him a surprised look. Well, he was safisfied. Now she was the one to get surprised.

„You mean you're not coming?"

„Yep."

She pulled a disgruntled face. „And why would you do that?"

„Well Vala, some people have things to do. We call it work."

She looked as if she couldn't understand what he was saying. Then her face lit up.

„Ah, I get it. You mean the time when you look through your papers, reports, drink galons of coffee and pretend to crack some ancient codes, don't ya?"

„Pretend? What do you mean 'pretend '?!?"

She gave a laugh. „Ow c'mmon Daniel, you know what I mean. You honestly can't think I'm gonna believe that during the whole time whilst you are hiding down here, you are really WORKING?!" She guilelessly laughed again, then looked at the security camera in the corner of the room and whispered through squeezed lips, her gaze never leaving the camera.

„The cameras don't record audio, do they? So you don't have to lie to me in order to make your bosses believe you work all the time. I think they already believe that."

Daniel was speechless. He really wanted to believe she was making fun of him, but with Vala, you never knew. Like her obsession with hairslides. He would never think the first time he met her that she could be so vain about such a silly thing as a hairslide. She was wearing one today too, obviously a new one. Before Daniel could stop it a though occured in his head. A pleasant one, but also one that scared him. It was a very simple one really, just how lovely she looked today. Her hair loose, her shirt covering as little skin as she could master with the military clothing, always trying to look sassy. And damn was she successfull.

„So what? Are we going?" Her words cut through the trail of his thoughts.

„Going? Where?" He gave her a confused look. His mind was still somewhere else.

She gave another desperate cry. „God, you really are slow today. I truly should have let you drink that coffee. The lunch Daniel, the L-U-N-CH. The only thing that's on my mind since I walked in here. So what? Are we going?"

„What makes you so certain I will go with you?" He gave her a crooked smile, leaning against a cabinet.

„You really want to do it the hard way?"

„As in...?"

„Hmm, let's see…I remember the last I was here convincing you to go have an ice-cream with me, and it involved some desperate measures on my part...I remember the noise of breaking glass and then..."

„Ok ok! I am going! And don't you ever dare to touch any of my things again." He grumbled.

„You mean something like this?"

He didn't even notice when or how she grabbed it, but when he saw how recklessly she tossed and fidgeted with his flacon from 436 B.C., he quickly clossed the distance between them and resolutely but carefully wrenched the priceless object from her grasp, putting it back affectionately to it's place. Then, he grabbed Vala by her arm and literally ousted them out of the office, never minding her wide grin.

"Ok, lunch it is." He said with the most calm, half-manic even, voice he could master.

"Aw Daniel, I didn't know you had such an animal in you. Rrrrrr…" She gave him an ear to ear all-fourty-teeth-smile.

"Quiet or I'll ask T'ealc to look after you again."

As they were receding into the corridor, Vala's horrified pleading voice could be heard throughout the mountain.

"What? Muscles? No, you can't do that to me! That guy sitts in the dark for hours. In silence!!"

TBC

AN – Ok, this one is a bit short and monothematic. I guess I wanted to leave this lovely scene to subside alone, not disrupted by smt else. And I wanted to give you guys another peace of work. :) I hope you liked it. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved to write it, so I hope it will be as enjoyable to read it. I hope I stayed true to the characters, at least in most of the situations. Whatcha think? Let me know. And also let me know if you like some shippers stuff like this from now and then, or if you prefer a more general story. Though, I guess, that you won't get rid of any, cos both parts have their fair share in this story, general AND romance. :) Will try to balance it out in the next chapters though. And don't worry. There's far more to the story to come. :)

See ya soon.