Disclaimer: Stargate: SG1 isn't my creation; I'm only playing here and the only things I own are any original characters that came from my own mind.
Title: Overture in Slow Motion
Summary: overture - noun
1) an opening or initiating move toward negotiation, a new relationship
slow motion – adjective
2) moving or proceeding at a slow rate
Spoilers: Not really spoilers...assumes the reader is familiar with the events of SGA S5 episode "The Lost Tribe"
Pairings: Daniel/Vala, probably some referrral to J/S
Rating: "K" at the moment...could become "M" in the future
Genre: Drama/Angst/Romance
A/N: nothing to say here...enjoy...as always anything you wanna say I wanna hear.
4 days later
Brilliant sunshine lit the entire room when Daniel woke. The angle and quality of the light told him it was mid-afternoon. He lay for several moments, savouring the pleasure of being in his own bed, complete with the 500-count Egyptian cotton sheets as opposed to the scratchy overly crisp sheets the base infirmary used. It was also just plain nice to be home. He could eat when he wanted, what he wanted; he could use his own bathroom when and for as long as he wanted without being a bother to the nurses. Well okay, he couldn't quite do all those things completely by himself, yet…but just being home meant that soon he would be completely recovered and able to get back to work. That wasn't now though. Right now, he was awake because; one, he needed to pee and two, he was hungry.
He lay for another moment, listening. There wasn't another sound that he could detect. He would've expected to hear something to indicate the presence of his 'nurse-maid'…noise from the TV or the tapping of the laptop keys, or …even just movement. Complete silence was unnerving. He pushed aside the vaguely panicked thought that she'd left. That was ridiculous. Vala still had her flighty moments but she wouldn't have deserted him. It might have been true when they'd first met. Putting herself out to help someone else was not something she would've done. That was four years ago now and she'd shown him time and time again since then that she was actually a kind and caring person. So the idea that she'd left him to fend for himself was absurd. There had to be another explanation for the dead silence. A new thread of panic twisted through his gut at the thought that she had injured herself somehow while he was sleeping and was now laying somewhere in his apartment, unconscious. For a split second the need to find out what was wrong made him forget his situation. He made to leap out of bed, only to collapse back onto the mattress, every muscle in his body shrieking in a pain. He lay for several moments, catching his breath, while the pain that had enveloped him slowly subsided. After a moment he squirmed his way up to a sitting position, breathing past the continuing cries of protest from his muscles. It was another moment or two before he tried another way to figure out where she was.
"VALA?"
The muscle effort it took to get enough volume out of his lungs came with another surge of pain. His reward for it was the sudden flurry of movement from the direction of the living room.
"Daniel?" came to him in a voice of confusion and panic.
She appeared in the bedroom doorway, looking sleepy and disheveled.
"What's wrong? Are you alright?" she asked anxiously, hurrying across the room to the bed.
He shook his head slightly, his breath still a little ragged from yelling for her. "'m fine. Are you? Couldn't hear any noises…was worried that somethin' had happened to you."
She gave him a small sheepish smile. "Sorry …I just fell asleep on the couch is all, but I'm fine"
Daniel squinted at her, then shook his head in frustration. She was too out of focus for him to judge her appearance.
"Hand me my glasses wouldja?" he asked gesturing in the direction of the nightstand.
Giving her a quick smile of thanks, he slid them onto his face. Immediately he saw the dark circles under her eyes.
"You're not sleeping again," he stated with a frown, "how come? Spare bed not comfortable?"
Her face split into a brilliant smile. "Oh yes of course, quite comfy thanks."
Daniel watched her. The dazzling smile she used to distract other people didn't fool him anymore. She was hiding something. As usual. He took a leap of intuition
"You haven't been using the spare bed have you?" he said softly
Her smile faltered, she looked away from his gaze and shook her head.
"Then where have you been sleeping?"
Shrugging, she flung her arm in a motion backward in the direction of the door.
He squinted at her, trying to guess his way past her purposely evasive nature.
"You've been sleeping at the door?"
She half shrugged.
"Vala," he sighed in exasperation, "why would you do that?"
She half shrugged again, her attention centred on the sleeve cuff of her t-shirt.
"I didn't want there to be a closed door between us, if you needed me…you know if there was a problem, like with your heart or something."
Touching a fingertip to her chin to urge her face up to his, he studied her. The worry in her eyes he recognized. It was the other expression that went along with it that gave him pause. It was the same one he had seen in the infirmary but hadn't been able to put a name to. Until now. If he still harboured any doubts about the wisdom of starting a real relationship with her, the obvious love in her eyes suddenly resolved them. He wondered how long she'd been looking at him like that and he hadn't been seeing it. He almost let himself say the words out loud, but stopped before they came out of his mouth. Now, was not the right time…not when he couldn't concentrate enough to say things the way he needed to because his bladder was screaming at him and his stomach was demanding food. Or because he didn't have the stamina or even the mobility to show her physically how he felt. He figured that given how vehemently he'd rejected her physical advances in the past, the only way she'd really believe and understand what he was telling her was if he showed her with his body. With the muscle relaxants he was currently taking, his body's inability to rise to the occasion, so to speak, wasn't going to convince her of anything. Much better to put this conversation off a while longer.
He leaned back into the pillows sighing. "Vala, do you really think if Dr. Lam thought I was going to be having any issues with anything other than muscle pain she would've let me come home?"
She shook her head. "No…'sppose not."
"Then would you relax please and get some sleep tonight?"
She dropped her gaze back her fidgeting fingers and nodded.
He reached to stop her restless fingers. "Good. Now help me up...I need to pee."
Instantly she leapt up, making the bed bounce enough to jostle him abruptly.
"Vala!" he gasped at the pain that flashed through his body.
She froze, staring at him uncertainly. "What?"
Letting out the breath he had suddenly gulped he shook his head. "Just…just try moving a little less abruptly huh?"
She shook her head, clearly having no idea what she'd done wrong.
He sighed, easing himself up off the pillows "Jus' the way ya got off the bed made all my muscles jump"
"Oh Daniel," she breathed guilty, "I didn't realize…I.I'm sorry…I didn't think…here," she reached to fluff the pillows, "just lay back to let everything relax."
"Vala," he said in exasperation, trying to fend off her efforts to get him to lie back against the pillows again, "stop fussing. Your movement was just too sudden that's all. I'll be okay… just help me up please…I really don't relish the prospect of wetting the bed at my age."
She froze with her hand poised on the pillow, glancing down at him with an apologetic grimace.
"Right...s...sorry." she stuttered slightly, shuffling away from the bed enough to grasp the covers, flip them off him and then reach to help him ease his legs to the floor.
He sat for a moment clenching his teeth at the ache that flowed up his body. He wondered, not for the first time, if he might have rushed his departure from the infirmary. Although he was noticing the spasms didn't seem to be lasting as long as they had originally. Or maybe that was wishful thinking. Taking a breath and then slowly letting it out again he looked up at Vala. She stood beside him watching him with an air of expectant uncertainty.
"Okay...you ready?" she said softly.
He nodded. Moving closer so that her knees were touching his, she bent forward to drape his forearms over her shoulders and lightly latch her arms around his torso.
She tilted a glance up at him. "On three?"
He frowned. "Yeah…just keep thinking that I'm too heavy for you."
She snorted a laugh. "I believe our past more than proves that I can handle you."
He exhaled a soft chuff of laughter that became a tight grunt as at the count of one she began easing them up to a standing position. Despite or perhaps to focus on something other than the spasm of muscle pain washing over his body, he let himself enjoy the feel of her body against his. It was a unexpected but pleasant result of the muscles relaxants he was taking that he could have her slim, lithe body pressed against his like this without her discovering just how fast his body would normally be reacting to her. He'd spent the last 4 years keeping her at arms' length just so she wouldn't be figuring that out.
The gentle shift of her body away from in front of him to beside him broke his contemplation of having the curves of her body pressed against him.
"Okay…ready?" she asked softly.
"As I'll ever be," he replied, gritting his teeth at the muscle aches that rolled through his body as she guided him down the hallway to the bathroom.
"So are you okay from here." she said stopping at the bathroom door and pushing it open, "or do you need help?"
Daniel shot a wary glance down at her. Time was that kind of question from her would have been an innuendo-laden, thinly disguised attempt to get into his pants and accompanied by a seductive gleam in her eyes. Looking down into her eyes at that moment though he couldn't see anything but a genuine and honest concern for him.
"Uh no, "he said, shaking his head as he grabbed onto the edge of the doorway to steady himself, "I'll manage myself thanks."
"Okay," she replied stepping away from him, "call me when you're done or if you need anything."
He directed what he hoped was a warm, ingratiating smile at her.
"Umm, lunch would be good…I'm starving."
"Sure," she said with a quick glance at her watch, "I am too actually…time for your next round of drugs anyway and you need food with them…I'll go see what I can find for us," she finished with a pat to his arm as she turned towards the kitchen.
"Thank you," he called after her.
She acknowledged his gratitude with a wave of her hand but didn't turn around. For which he was thankful. He wasn't prepared for the repercussions of her catching him eyeing her ass.