Our story so far: Daniel has a migraine and Vala is staying over at his house to offer her 'nursing' skills.
Chapter Two: She was Very Good Indeed...
The next day was similar to the first, except more boring. He only had one more bout of nausea, but the pain, while marginally better, still held him in its grip.
Between breaks to rest her voice and refresh his icepack, Vala continued reading the book. The plot had thickened as Christopher uncovered clues about his mother's whereabouts. As much as he usually shunned fiction, Daniel found himself enjoying this odd coming-of-age story of a teenager hampered by his differences, autism in this case.
Daniel even reconsidered his old conviction that he should avoid talking while sick with a migraine. He and Vala had a few spirited discussions: what qualifies as a disability and what responsibility society has to the disabled; a parent's duty to his child and if deception could ever be justified.
"You know Christopher's difficulty understanding 'normal' people and their turns of phrases reminds me of you, Vala," Daniel teased at one point when Vala had paused for a sip of water.
"And his pathological intolerance of disorder reminds me of you, Daniel," Vala shot back without a pause.
"There's disorder and then there's chaos," Daniel huffed.
"Hmm."
o-0-o
Around noon Vala took a lunch break. When she came back to the bedroom holding a glass of bubbly ice water she announced she had found an ancient but unopened bottle of Italian seltzer in the depths of Daniel's cabinets.
Daniel eyed the glass doubtfully. "Um, I'm not sure if my stomach can handle that."
"It's good for overhangs, why not your migraine?"
"That's hangovers, and I'm not simply queasy, it's more than that."
"You need to drink something or you'll get dehydrated, so what does it hurt to try this?"
"Um, nothing. I guess..." Still glowering suspiciously, he drank a few swallows. It felt pretty good going down his parched throat
"And a few crackers." Vala produced a plate of crackers like a magician producing a rabbit out of a hat.
"I don't want to-"
"Eat them." Vala ordered, her eyes turning steely again. "You need the salt and you need something in your stomach."
He glowered again, but her expression was unrelenting. Well, it was true that if vomiting was in his near future, better crackers than bile.
Daniel munched obediently at the bland crackers, alternating with sips of the soda water, while Vala read another chapter, snagging a couple crackers for herself. She made a point of chewing with her mouth closed before continuing to read. Daniel felt a childish urge to smack his lips and stick his cracker-coated tongue out at her, but was too afraid of increasing his queasiness for that, so settled for a mild eye-roll.
When he'd polished off the plate he felt...better. Definitely better. The headache was still there and he still felt loopy as hell, but at least the nausea wasn't rolling through him like noxious ocean swells.
"Um, thanks for the idea, Vala. I really do feel better."
Vala's smile was as bright as sunshine and twice as dazzling. "You're welcome, darling."
She took the plate and glass away, and Daniel lay back against the piled up pillows, thinking that headache or no, Vala's smile would never bring him pain no matter how dazzlingly bright.
o-0-o
In the afternoon Vala gave her voice a rest, turning on the stereo in the living room and cranking the volume so they could hear it from the bedroom. She picked out an old opera CD that Jack had given Daniel ages ago: 'The Magic Flute' by Mozart. Vala sat down on her chair beside him, reading the libretto and following along with the English translation while Daniel listened to the German.
When it was over (and Vala had declared her favorite character to be the villainous Queen of the Night; disturbing, but Daniel was trying not to think about it), Vala left Daniel alone for a time after giving him a fresh icepack. He guessed she went to have a bite to eat, if the sound of the kitchen cabinets being opened and closed was any clue. Daniel lay quietly, absentmindedly enjoying the bustling sounds that indicated he wasn't alone, that someone else was sharing this space, this home with him. That was an increasingly rare occasion in his life these days.
When Vala returned to remove the ice, he was feeling a bit drowsy. She checked his forehead, then cocked her head as if at a new thought. "How about a massage, Daniel? I could massage your head, wouldn't that help?"
He shook his head carefully. "No, massage just increases the blood flow," he explained. "I need the opposite: I need the blood and heat to flow away from my head and to the extremities."
"So I'll massage your hands and feet," she announced briskly.
"What? No, I don't need that-"
But Vala had already flipped his flannel blanket back and, sitting on the bottom corner of the bed and grabbing his left foot, she began her massage.
Daniel sat up, flushing with embarrassment as the alien woman fondled his bare skin. "You don't need...need...oh god that feels incredible..." His head flopped back onto the pillow like a marionette with its strings cut and he melted into the sensuous pleasure of those strong capable hands manipulating his tight muscles, wringing the tension out of them. "How did you learn that?" he sighed in awe.
"My stepmother," Vala answered flatly. "She said it was the only thing I was good for."
"Adria?"
"Yes."
Daniel sighed with gratification again, sinking down into a dreamy hedonistic haze. "She was wrong," he murmured. "You're good for a whole lot more."
Vala froze her movements, but started up again almost immediately without comment.
"Although you are really good at this," he assured her in a muzzy mumble. "Thank you, Vala."
"You're welcome, Daniel," she said warmly.
By the time she'd moved her massage to his hands Daniel lay boneless with contentment, the sharp pain in his head receding to a dull throb. As he drifted to sleep, he thought he felt lips press in a soft kiss against the back of his hand...but no, why would Vala do that? That would be crazy...
o-0-o
When Daniel woke from his nap it was dark outside. He felt muddle-headed, like he was hungover, and knew this meant the migraine was loosening its grip on him at last, the pain dulling increment by increment. He looked over to find Vala sitting in the chair she'd been using.
When she noticed he'd awoken she put the magazine she was reading down (it looked like one of his many 'Smithsonian' back issues) and gave him a smile. "Hey, welcome back. Feeling any better?"
"That chair looks uncomfortable," he responded, his words slow and deliberate.
Vala raised her brows in surprise. "Nice non sequitur, darling, but no, the chair's fine."
"No, I know it's uncomfortable," he stated firmly. "I bought it, remember?" he added quite reasonably.
Vala's lips pressed together as if she was trying not to smile, although Daniel didn't know why that would be. "Of course you did, darling," she conceded.
"Come onto the bed," he said.
"The bed," she repeated, her brows going higher than ever.
"Yeah."
"You want me to lay down on a bed with you," she stated in disbelief. "A small bed."
"Sure, why not?"
Vala rose to her feet hesitantly, as if being tempted by something she couldn't resist. "All right, but don't blame me tomorrow when you come to you senses."
Daniel had no idea what she was talking about and merely scooched over, patting the bed to his right.
Vala piled the pillows up against her half of the headboard and sat down beside him. He continued to lay on his back, but let his head roll to watch her through half-lidded eyes. She read another chapter of 'The Curious Incident,' but he barely followed it, simply content to watch her lovely face, listen to her sweet voice.
After a chapter or two she glanced over at him, studying his face suspiciously. "Are you actually listening, darling?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you bored with Christopher's adventures?"
"Whose adventures?"
"The main character-" Vala broke off with a shake of her head, smirking as she closed the book and set it aside. "Why don't we pick this up again tomorrow. I think you need to rest now."
Daniel didn't answer her at first, simply continuing to lay there and stare. Then he announced, "You're the little girl with the little curl."
Vala blinked. "What?"
"You remind me of the little girl with the little curl," he amplified.
An indulgent smile tugged at the corner of Vala's mouth. Daniel wasn't sure what was supposed to be so amusing, but he was too woozy to care. And he wasn't about to argue when a smile curved of those beautiful lips.
"Little girl, little curl," Vala drawled. "I got that part. Please tell me more."
Softly and carefully, his eyes fastened on hers, Daniel recited the old Longfellow poem:
"There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good
She was very good indeed.
But when she was bad she was horrid."
Vala seemed to be rendered speechless, a rarity. She stared at him, her eyes wide with question, her smile incredulous.
"That's you," he explained with a lopsided smile.
"Is it?"
"I like you when you're good," Daniel assured her. Then he continued in a solemn whisper, "But here's the secret: I like you when you're bad too."
Vala's smile faded at this, but her expression turned so open, so caring that Daniel didn't mind. Satisfied, his eyes drifted closed, his breathing evened out, his stupor dropped him smoothly into slumber.
"Likewise, Daniel," he thought he heard Vala whisper as he slipped away. "Likewise."
o-0-o
He slept hard, the way he usually did in the aftermath of a migraine. There was one moment, though, one drowsy moment in the middle of the night when Daniel came half-awake, thinking with dreamy satisfaction how nice it was to sleep with someone again, to snuggle into warmth and not be alone. Then he drifted back to sleep.
o-0-o
Daniel woke in late morning, alone in his bed-
Wait, of course he woke alone. When did he ever wake any other way? Why would he think...?
Oh crap. Because he had invited Vala into his bed last night.
Vala was gone from beside him now, however, his arm stretching across empty space. He checked the depression where she had lain and it was cool to the touch. Maybe she hadn't stayed long. Maybe she'd gone back to the spare room once he drifted off. A vague memory tugged at his conscious mind, something about thinking how nice it was to have the warmth of another person in his bed. He hadn't...? Nah, he wasn't a snuggler, that was silly, it was just a dream.
The reciting poetry part, however, Daniel was pretty sure that was not a dream. Good god, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow? Really?
Vala entered the room to find him sitting up cross-legged in the tangled blankets, scratching his head as he yawned.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
He squinted up at her, studying her face for a secretive smirk, but not finding it. Vala didn't look any different from her usual gorgeous self-um, her regular self. Hmm, SGC-issue tank-tops had never looked so good...
He came to as Vala waved a hand in his face, one brow arched sardonically. "Tau'ri-Home-Planet to Daniel," she teased. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh. Um..." Daniel turned his attention inward, realizing the migraine pain had slacked off considerably. The joy of being almost pain-free filled him, a joy that most people, himself included for the most part, took completely for granted. He perked up with a smile. "Wow. A lot better. I think the worst is over."
Vala gave her trademark grin. "That's wonderful, darling. Do you think you could keep some food down?"
"Yes, I think so," he said. She didn't seem inclined to mention the whole inviting-her-to-bed thing he realized with relief. So if she didn't, he sure wouldn't.
"Why don't I make a quick run to the store, then? I could do with some fresh fruit and you're all out."
"Okay. There's a little market two blocks east."
Vala left him sitting there on his bed, relishing his return to good health. But when the front door closed behind her and the sound of the Wagoneer's engine faded down the road, the most ridiculous thing happened.
He missed her. Daniel missed having Vala in his house, the sound of her voice, the bustle as she moved around, the scent of her flowery perfume. And that was silly, obviously. He had lived alone for ten years, how could she have made such a profound impact in just a couple days?
Plainly absurd.
In an attempt to occupy himself, Daniel hauled himself to his feet and stripped his bed, finding that his old flannel blanket had slid off to lay forgotten on the floor. He shrugged, gathering everything up and loading it into the washing machine. Next he took a greatly needed shower, feeling something approaching to human again as he got dressed, the pain receding now almost as fast as it had come on two days earlier.
When he heard Vala return, Daniel had just finished tying his shoes and he sternly ordered himself to not go running out to greet her like a lovesick teenager. So if he walked a tad quickly to the kitchen, well, he just wanted to, um...see what fruit she had bought.
"Still feeling better?" Vala asked as he walked up to the living room side of the kitchen bar. She set a bag of apples down on the counter.
"Yep. Ninety percent better," he announced.
She laughed. "How very precise of you, Dr. Jackson."
He smiled. "Maybe even 95 percent. Still a few twinges, but it's pretty much over, thank god."
"Think you could keep some food down?"
"Yes, please. I'm starved."
"An apple and crackers coming right up."
"More crackers?" he protested. "But I'm feeling better!"
"Tastier crackers, I promise. And don't whine, it doesn't suit you." Vala glanced at his face and smirked. "The pouting on the other hand, that's rather sweet."
"I don't pout," Daniel stated, crossing his arms.
"Debatable, darling. Now sit," she instructed, pointing at one of the bar stools.
Daniel obeyed with a smile, watching as the alien woman cut up an apple for him. He liked watching her work in his kitchen. Not in the whole 'barefoot-and-pregnant' way, he assured himself, but just how she had made herself at home, taking over his space and making it her own. Bringing some life and color into his staid and boring house.
Vala popped a slice into her own mouth, then laid the rest in a bowl for him. Daniel took one gratefully, relishing the juicy crunch of apple, his first bit of non-bland food in 48 hours. He ate in silence for an appreciative minute, watching Vala put her groceries away, thinking he would have to make sure she came back here for a meal soon in order to use everything she'd bought. To say nothing of finishing reading the book they had started together.
"I guess we can leave for the SGC anytime you're ready," he said, gulping down a glass of the last of the soda water Vala poured for him.
"Oh. Okay." She seemed momentary subdued by that but continued chatting before he could be sure. "I was using your laptop earlier," she began.
"Of course you were. I mean it's not like I have it password protected or anything."
She laughed. "Yes, and you use the same super-secret password for everything you do."
Daniel glared at her as he set down his empty glass. "Who can remember more than one stupid word at a time?"
"Says the man who knows over twenty languages," Vala observed. "Anyhow, I read up on migraines on the inter-web, and it says there are triggers, foods or activities that can bring on the headache, and you need to stay away from them."
"Absolutely," he agreed. "If only I knew what they were."
"Oh. Well, maybe Carolyn could help you identify them."
"I try to stay away from Dr. Sunshine as much as possible."
Vala snickered as she opened a box of crackers. "You know Cameron calls you that."
"Yeah." He shrugged, swallowing down the last of the apple slices. "I guess maybe the good doctor and I are two of a kind."
Vala froze in the act of taking one packet of crackers out of the box. "Are you?" she asked, her voice suddenly dropping about twenty degrees below freezing.
Daniel looked up to see Vala aiming a purse-lipped glare at the defenseless crackers. She wrenched the packet open, pulverizing a few in the process, then dumped them onto a plate. She banged the plate down in front of Daniel, catching his finger in the process.
"Ow!" he protested, pulling his finger out and shaking it, staring at her in bewilderment.
"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" Vala asked through gritted teeth, voice dripping with false solicitude. "Maybe you should pay Dr. Sunshine a visit." She stalked away. "Or better yet, she could pay you a house-call!" she shouted over her shoulder.
Daniel was left sitting at the kitchen counter with his finger stuck in his mouth and plateful of mangled crackers. "Um...what just happened here?" he asked the empty air.
It was almost like Vala was jealous. But that couldn't be true, could it? Jealous? It was impossible. Daniel bored Vala and Vala irritated Daniel. What kind of a basis for a relationship was that?
Although actually Vala hadn't really irritated Daniel these last couple days, surprisingly enough. She'd been so helpful when he was sick and so interesting to talk to the rest of the time. And Vala hadn't really acted bored. She seemed to really enjoy their discussions about 'The Curious Incident' and the opera they'd listened to.
But nevertheless, it couldn't really be jealously. He was reading too much into the situation. No, she was just peeved because he hadn't thanked her properly.
Daniel shoveled down a quick couple handfuls of crackers (well, he was hungry), then went looking for Vala. He found her sitting in the spare bedroom on the futon, motionless, staring at her folded clothes. When she saw him, she sprang to life, making a show of shoving a stack of shirts into her neon pink duffle.
"Vala, um, I want to thank you," Daniel said tentatively, standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. "I know I was...a little resistant to you helping me, but that's just because..."
"You're a pompous ass?" She zipped the duffle closed with a vicious flick.
"Um...yeah, pretty much."
Her arch look softened to sympathy, and she dropped the bag to the floor, standing up to face him. "It's all right, Daniel. I saw the pain you were in. I don't like the idea of your ever having gone through that alone."
"I really am grateful," he said earnestly. "You took what I'm pretty sure would've been four days of agony and turned it into only two days of, um, not as much agony. I'm really glad that it was you who came."
"Sure you wouldn't have preferred Dr. Sunshine?"
"God, no. She's a grouch. She wouldn't even put me in a coma."
"Oh, I think I know a thing or two about putting you in a coma," Vala purred, shimmying up to him with a sly smile. "Maybe next time we're here alone together I can show you."
"Uh...yeah...?" he responded blankly, unable to keep up with her sudden changes of mood.
Vala's smoky grey eyes fastened on his like a laser, and she drew closer still until her full red lips hovered just inches away from his, Daniel helpless to do more than blink in confusion.
"Next time," Vala repeated in a whisper, the heat from her breath washing over his skin like a promise.
Then she was patting his cheek and whirling away, grabbing her bags and brushing past him out the room.
He stood there a minute longer, trying to figure out what had just happened. She really was the little girl with the little curl he reflected in a daze: all kinds of wonderful wrapped up in a prickly and dangerously beautiful package.
Then he gave up on it, joined her out at his car and let her drive him back to the SGC.
o-0-o
Late that afternoon Daniel sat in his office, happily headache-free and thinking over the events of the past couple days.
Vala had certainly proven herself to be more than Daniel had thought: kind, competent, patient. Well, that wasn't really fair to either of them: of course Vala was capable of those qualities, she'd shown them often enough in the time they'd been teammates. And of course he already knew that, that's why he advocated for her inclusion in SG-1 in the first place.
It was just that he had never expected her to demonstrate those qualities towards him. Usually all she had for him were cruel jabs and complaints of boredom. Then again all Daniel usually had for her were irritated eye-rolls and complaints about her impetuosity.
Maybe they had moved beyond that. Maybe this proved there could be more for them...
Daniel shook his head, trying to bring his wandering attention back to work. He logged onto SG-1's private team email account, intending to query Mitchell about their next mission when he saw that Vala had just posted something.
Curious, he clicked and opened it, scanning it quickly. She apparently had a couple new mission photos to share, something about an indigenous lifeform in its native habitat? And she must have gotten mixed up because her mission timestamp cited the past two days. She wasn't on a mission, she was at his house. Confused, he clicked on the attachment, waiting for it to download.
She must have meant their last mission, he decided, although he couldn't image what new insights she had from it, it had been a bit boring, even to him. But this just went to show how levelheaded she was being lately.
Daniel pursed his lips in an unconscious pout. Almost too levelheaded. He'd never tell her, but he kind of missed how mischievous Vala usually...
The pics had loaded, two of them shining out from his screen in all their glory, his mouth dropping open in horror.
The first showed Daniel curled up in his bed, sound asleep, arms wrapped around his tatty old flannel blanket. The caption read: 'Here a native male reclines in his nest. Don't let his adorable frown fool you, note the comfort he takes in his warm fluffy blankie.'
That was bad enough, but the second picture...oh god.
The second was what Daniel had heard referred to as a 'selfie': Vala, reclining on Daniel's bed and holding her camera phone out at arm's length, had caught herself in the foreground, grinning wildly. In the background was Daniel himself, asleep again and-oh god, it hadn't been a dream. He had cuddled up to Vala in his sleep, throwing an arm over her stomach and snuggling his face against her shoulder.
The caption read: 'Looks like a blankie's not good enough for this male anymore.'
Daniel sprang to his feet, dashed out of the office and hit the hallway at a dead run. "VALA!"
-end-
A/N: I had a lot of fun producing this totally G-rated fic using some of the same themes and scenarios that I used in the much naughtier 'Domme Vala'! This story came to me when I had, you guessed it, a migraine while I was writing that story. (Domme Vala fans, no worries, I'm still working away on that and hope to complete it soon!)