4

Chapter 4

***I do not own anything here, all characters belong to MGM, I just play with them now and again.*****

A/N—this is turning out to be longer than I thought. This chapter also may seem to ramble but isn't that true of life!

Daniel didn't know if he had ever felt like this before. As a child he had been jealous of kids whose parents were still alive, as an awkward teenager in college he had been jealous of the confidence the older guys had, but jealous in a relationship? Daniel hadn't been worried about losing Sha're on Abydos; he felt he was exceptional compared to the other men there. But here, in the SGC, he knew there were men smarter than him, better looking than him, better fighters, and even much richer than he could ever hope to be. He didn't know why he hadn't been worried before, maybe because she was blatant about her attraction to him. But now that she "had him", was she bored? Ready to move on? Daniel slammed his fist on the desk. This was exactly WHY he hadn't wanted to get involved with Vala; he feared she would hurt him. No he KNEW she was just playing with him and would hurt him badly. Daniel held his head in his hands and noticed a piece of pink paper under the edge of the book he had left on his desk last night. He reached for it, recognizing the stationery that Cam's mother, Wendy, had sent Vala for Christmas last year. After her visit a couple of years ago to the Mitchells' home, Vala and Cam's mom had become good friends, with Wendy treating Vala like the daughter she never had; sending little presents through Cam frequently for Vala. Vala adored the gifts and would often beg a ride to the mall to shop for "Mom Mitchell" as she called Wendy.

Daniel nervously unfolded the paper, in Vala's handwriting (she had obviously been practicing) was a message for him; Darling, I need to go away for a bit. Stay out of trouble and don't get blown up. Love Vala.

Daniel let a long breath out, "Darling", she called him "Darling". So she wasn't off with some other guy. He hung his head over the desk and felt his blood pressure return to normal. Ok this was not good, getting all worked up over the whereabouts of a fruitcake! When had it come to this with him? Things had been so good the past few weeks; he had Vala with him all the time, could hold her or kiss whenever the urge struck him, and even taken her out to a few nice romantic dinners in town. They had a memorable long weekend in New Orleans; Vala enjoyed the scenery, the jazz, and the local flea markets. They hadn't taken their relationship to "the next level" yet, Daniel wanted things to go slow and Vala hadn't objected. That, in and of itself, should have surprised him. Vala had not been shy in the past about wanting a sexual relationship with Daniel.

Daniel groaned, oh hell he was confused!

In Sam's lab:

Vala had heard the explosion over her iPod and peeked into Bill's lab to make sure he was ok. She quickly locked the door of the connecting bathroom and sat quietly. The walls were too thick to hear anything distinctly in the hall or Bill's lab. She chanced a quick peek and saw Daniel's backside moving away. She sighed; he has such a nice backside, and a nice front side too if she must be honest. That was the problem really, Daniel was so nice! Too nice for her really, he was going to realize that again and hurt her badly. Vala was unsure by the recent change in Daniel's attitude towards her. He had gone from pushing her away to holding her close in the blink of an eye.

While she enjoyed the touching and kissing, oh yeah the kissing…. being held close to Daniel, breathing in his scent, exploring his mouth with her own, one hand running through his hair, feeling his hard body… oh my now she was feeling hot! Vala got up and quietly walked around the room. What in hell was she going to do???? Daniel Jackson could destroy her composure with one look from those blue eyes of his. He had this way of glancing sideways at her that made her want to start ripping his clothes off. If she caught him at it, he would quickly look away, pretending he hadn't been staring at her. He didn't seem to realize that she could feel him looking at her. She always was aware where Daniel was in relation to her. Yes, usually that was fairly close to her, but still….it was as if she had Daniel-radar. Vala groaned and plopped onto Sam's couch.

She knew she cared for Daniel, BUT and this was a huge but, Vala didn't like feeling so out-of-control and unsure. Daniel was not the type of man she usually got involved with; he wasn't a mark. The last real relationship Vala had was as a teenager, and then Qetesh took her as a host… Vala shrugged away the unpleasant memories. Tomin, while she cared for him, didn't really count as she basically used him.

She needed to consult more of the women's magazines Carolyn read. One of them should tell her how a relationship was to be conducted on Earth. Daniel didn't seem to conform to the men she had read about in the magazines. He wasn't jumping from bed to bed, always looking for the next woman to sleep with. He didn't seem to need a fancy car or be worried about the size of his penis. Vala began to wonder how "typical" of Earth men Daniel was. What she needed was a woman to talk to, not just a woman but an older woman. She jumped off the sofa and headed for the telephone…