Felt like writing, may delete later, IDK. I own nothing.
Sam was struggling to keep from grinning.
It had taken her a while to get used to Vala Mal Doran. Most of her friends were either the scientific or military types, and Vala was anything but either of those. Sam had never met anyone so aggressively vivacious before, and certainly didn't count a lot of petty thieves among her - good - acquaintances. Once she started getting to know Vala and her good qualities a little more, she couldn't help but wonder what Jack would think of the flirtatious pirate. Up until now, he hadn't really had the chance to interact with the newest member of SG-1.
He looked every bit as bemused as Sam had expected.
They were trying to celebrate Cam's 200th "mission" (really just his 200th step through the gate, she thought, but Cam is the one doing the counting here) with a little party at a local town hall on P2C-106, but Vala was still stuck on making pitches to Martin Lloyd for his now-renewed TV show. Jack had gotten to see her tease Daniel with the prospect of a TV movie wedding and sympathetically offer her condolences to Marty over the cancellation of said film, but now, the woman could smell a real opportunity.
"You know, since the show is being renewed, you really could use more characters," Vala argued, her head, which Sam had turned her attention back to, tilted in a wheedling posture. "Someone to really shake things up. Bring more... glamour." She batted her eyes. "More sensuality."
Sam flicked her gaze from Vala back to Jack. He had raised an eyebrow as he took it all in.
Daniel interjected, his usual frustration with Vala more than apparent. "Or he could add a character with a little more substance. A mature, intelligent character who could bring a little more gravity to the show."
Vala rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Daniel, one can be both sensual and intelligent." Her eyes narrowed. "And some can be intelligent when it comes to books and rather dim when it comes to people."
"Guys!" Cam said, putting his hands up in an attempt to create a cease-fire as he turned from the punch table. "Let's drop the infighting here. Marty can do what he wants with the show."
"Thank you," the writer replied. He tucked into his second slice of cake, clearly using it as a escape route from conversation since his phone was definitely out of its service range.
Vala turned to Cam, looking ready to argue more about the whole situation. Sam saw Jack decide to jump in before there were any casualties.
"Hey, kids," he began. "Isn't there some cool new alien tech to check out in that other room down the hall? The mayor said something about Goa'uld map... things."
Sam cleared her throat and slipped into her familiar role as his ever-informative 2IC. "The Enyclopedic Map Device, General. I've only heard the Tok'ra talk about them before, but apparently they contain the entire Goa'uld map of planetary systems and allow for other planets to easily be plotted in the software. At the press of a button, you can see the map in scale and access documents about the planets. They've got census information, history - the works."
Daniel's face grew more animated and even Vala perked up. "Those are pretty valuable!" she exclaimed. "Even if you don't want to sell them."
Daniel grimaced a bit, but Sam could see Jack smirking as he looked back and forth between Vala and Daniel. Sam suddenly realized that she just couldn't stop looking at Jack, while he hadn't looked in her direction at all since they had arrived at the planet.
He does have quite a show to watch, though. Vala did rather tend to draw attention to herself. Jack seemed to be growing more amused by her than anything else. He did so enjoy anything that got a rise out of Daniel.
Cam piped up. "The mayor also mentioned some ancient weaponry. Might be worth a look." He slapped Marty on the back, who winced a bit. "Might give you some inspiration for your show, too."
Walter, who still looked pretty excited to be off-world, was quick to voice his support for going to see the town's collection.
Cam clapped his hands together. "That settles it. Come on, team. Let's check it out." He began leading the team out, but Jack leaned back against another table in the room. Sam could see he wasn't going anywhere just yet.
She sidled over to him as Cam walked the others out the door. "What do you think of Vala?" she said, keeping her voice low as their friends disappeared.
Jack finally looked right at her. His mouth quirked upwards. "Well, I'm glad she's Daniel's girl and not mine."
She raised an eyebrow. "Daniel's girl? What do you mean by that?"
Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow. "C'mon, Carter," he said, his voice gravelly but warm with humor. "It's pretty clear those two are practically married. Even if Daniel is totally fighting it."
Sam's eyes widened. Daniel and Vala? Really? Are we looking at the same people? "Are you sure?"
Jack smirked. "Oh, yeah." As she shook her head, he continued, "Believe me, I don't get it either. She'd drive me crazy... And not in a good way."
Sam laughed. "Not your type, huh?"
Vala poked her head back around the corner she and the others had just rounded. "What's so funny?"
Sam and Jack spoke simultaneously as they turned to her. "Nothing."
Vala's eyes narrowed as she tilted her head, clearly ready to challenge the answer. Thankfully, Daniel interrupted, calling for Vala to come look at some fascinating find he'd made. With one last, skeptical look, she walked back in the direction she came. Hopefully, she doesn't realize we were talking about her. And makes it farther down the hall this time.
Jack turned back to Sam. "She's got some spunk, I'll give her that. And she seems to have a good heart." He spoke more haltingly, "Deep... down..."
Sam only giggled a little bit in case Vala could still hear her laugh. Before the curious woman had shown up, Sam hadn't realized that her laugh was pretty noticeable. Vala was quick to ask about anything she was missing out on, especially when she thought it might have something to do with her.
Jack gave her a small smile before growing a bit more serious. "I've been reading SG-1's mission reports, you know. She seems good. Not military, and not someone I'd have picked for my team, but she seems to work on this one. She's made some smart moves out here."
Sam nodded. "I agree. It was quite an adjustment to add her in, but she adds a new dimension for all of us."
Jack nodded in return. "So to answer your question, she's not my type - I'm more into blondes."
Sam's mouth only twitched, but her smile was in her eyes. "Oh?"
Jack slid a bit closer to her, maintaining eye contact with her. "Oh, yeah. Blondes with big brains. Blue eyes are nice, too."
She smiled fully now. "Hmm... Tell me more about your type."
"Well," he hummed, assuming a comfortable stance as he pretended to think about it. "I like a woman who can really... arm-wrestle you."
Sam laughed. Vala could apparently hear her laugh in the other room, however, and they could hear her high voice wondering aloud as to what on earth Sam was laughing about. Thankfully, it seemed Daniel was still doing his best to monopolize her attention with the Goa'uld device.
Jack grinned and continued. "I want a woman who can shoot straight and then go fishing with me. And..." he leaned towards her secretively. "It's especially nice if she can blow up a sun."
Sam swallowed another laugh. "I can't imagine you run into too many women who meet all of those qualifications."
He shrugged, suddenly dropping the eye contact as he scratched the back of his neck. "Well, by some wild chance, I found one. She's pretty great. She's blown up a sun along with many, many enemy aircraft. Blows my mind on a pretty regular basis, too. In fact, she's blown a lot of things."
Sam practically strangled herself to keep from laughing before he even realized just what he'd said. The last thing she needed was for Vala to ask her what she was laughing about this time.