Daniel and Vala

[more_flexible]

Jack walked out of Vala's place into the cold evening air. He had his gloves and hat and scarf, and layers to guard him against the cold. The coat Logan had given to him for Christmas helped to cut the chill wind that blew. His breath puffed white as he walked along, still full from dinner and her unending spread of 'snacks'--gods but that woman could eat-- but he stopped when he heard his name. Vala ran up behind him in combat boots and a hastily thrown on dressing robe that couldn't possibly keep her warm for long.

"JACK!" she hollered, the cold amplifying the sound.

"What?" he chuckled, turning to face her and pulling her into his arms in an attempt to keep her from freezing.

"I forgot to tell you..." she said softly and rose onto her toes to reach his ear, her whisper crystal clear and the cloud of breath rolling past his face.

"Vala!" he laughed, long and loud, then bent down to press a kiss to her cheek. "You're nothing but trouble," he said, not caring much if they were being too loud in the middle of New Atlantis. He wasn't even worried about just whose hut they were in front of.

Comments

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel ran out in boxers, a jacket, and nothing else at the shout. He stared at the scene in front of him a minute and finally groaned. "Vala. Next time you..." He wasn't sure he wanted to know. "Don't yell like there's something on fire. Is there any reason I'm freezing my ass off?" Or other parts of his body that he was using even less frequently.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

I turned my head and grinned as I curled closer to the man who had been so helpful. I had a very good idea exactly what sort of picture the two of us made, standing in the cold.

"Probably because you failed to put on proper clothes for the climate, Daniel," I said. I felt Jack laugh softly but it made no sound. I gripped his coat and dragged him to Daniel's doorway. "Did you really think there was a fire?"

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I have no idea what I thought," Daniel said, heading back inside, but leaving the door open. One or both of them was likely to follow him, which was why he also pulled on a pair of pants. His dog tags were off. He hadn't worn them since the fight with Mitchell and they were sitting at the head of his bed, by the lamp.

"If either of you is coming in," he called over his shoulder, "would you mind shutting the door? It's freezing out there."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack didn't have much of a choice with Vala's fist gripping the leather tightly as she clomped along in her heavy boots. She went through first, of course, and he closed the door behind him.

"Feeling a little naked, there, Danny boy?" he asked...which was promptly rewarded with the back of a hard fist. "...Daniel?"

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

I shot Jack a glare and then looked back at Daniel. I'd seen him without his shirt far more times than I could count, now. Enough times that it hardly registered. But the lack of his dog tags was so painfully apparent that he did, indeed, actually look naked.

"Why aren't you wearing your tags?" I asked bluntly. "You never take them off. You're never supposed to take them off, Daniel."

For some unknown reason, Jack laid his hand against the small of my back. I'm not sure what he was doing...maybe preparing to hold me back.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"No, actually not, Jack. Apart from my lack of pants." With Vala's question, it kind of wasn't hard to figure out what Jack was probably asking. "Because believe it or not, I've actually been in just boxers around both of you before." Less with Jack.

He sighed a little. "Do we really want to get into this argument again in front of the children, Vala? You know Jackie-boy doesn't like to see Mommy and Daddy fight."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Oh, don't mind me," he grinned, then leaned in over Vala's shoulder. "Kick his ass, mommy."

He patted her on the ass but she only turned around to face him. Rather than smack him again, something flashed in her eyes and he looked down at her and smiled, a secret shared with hardly more than a glance. When she finally turned to face him again, Vala was all smiles.

"What's the fight about today?"

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I'd decided I'd had enough of Mitchell being an ass when he decided to ruin my Christmas and tell me about his breakup with Morgan. A month after I already found out from Morgan herself." Daniel lifted an eyebrow at Jack. "Off the topic completely, have you checked your mailbox, yet?"

That was as important as the way that Vala was smiling at him. The smile that made Daniel take a step back uneasily.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

I cut off Jack's 'no' when I interrupted with a rather loud, "You what?"

He stepped back and I took a step closer. I'm sure the fact that I thought he'd finally lost his mind was perfectly clear on my face, but there was a slim, although very slim, chance that my eyes didn't quite convey the proper sentiment.

"Daniel! Have you lost your mind? He's team!"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack had started to say no, but with Vala cutting him off, coupled with what they'd been talking about in her place, Jack got the sudden feeling that maybe this wasn't a fight he wanted to see. Of course, there was also the morbid fascination of seeing just what she'd do with what he'd told her.

And he could always help Daniel out if she decided to lash out with fists instead of that fantastic temper.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"Yes and he's damn well not acting like it. I refuse to have my heart stomped on again and again while he keeps acting like a spoiled child who doesn't get his way." There was an admission, there, but he hadn't told even Jack enough to clue him in on it.

"I've taken the damn gun from his hand, and he still refuses to talk to me. He was going to walk out. After telling me that he'd broken up with her, he was going to walk out without telling me why. I still don't know. I've done nothing by try to help him and every time I do, I get the door slammed in my face."

Daniel pointed at Jack. "Not a word. He's worse than I ever was, knife excluded." And the knife had extenuating circumstances.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack sighed and held up his hands in surrender. He'd quit the whole babysitting schtick when he realized actual children were easier than adults who acted like they were five.

"Not a word," he replied.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"You've lost your mind," I stated. "You've all gone completely wonko, do you realize this, Daniel? Between talking to him and you, I have to say that, and I'm sure I'm not wrong, this place is tearing us apart. What's happened? Without a gate we just...isn't there something that...this isn't how it's supposed to be!" in insisted, punctuating my assertion with a sharp stamp of my foot.

I heard my voice said softly from behind me and then Jack's hand was against the small of my back again. His other hand rested on my shoulder and held me in place. I shrugged once to get him to let go, but it was weak and I had a feeling he wasn't going to. It didn't change the fact that I was watching the only family I cared to claim fall apart in front of my eyes.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know, Vala." Daniel sighed and moved a little closer. "Mitchell told me once that I hadn't changed. But I have. And with a lot of help from friends, both of you included, I finally accepted it. You're changeable by your very nature. But he's..."

He shrugged. "He's the SG-1 junkie. He refuses to let go of his ideal world and fit in with the actual one. And I've tried, god, I've tried and he just won't listen to me."

He very carefully kept his eyes on Vala as he said the next part. "I learned a while ago that you can't choose when you go home, here. Everyone leaves, but the question is when. Sooner or later, we all go home." His expression turned a little sad, thinking of Owen.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"He has a second world in his head, Daniel. One that didn't happen to him. Do you know what that's like?" I hissed, leaning toward him and away from Jack in an attempt at privacy, although, let's be honest, it wasn't plausible. "It's horrible. I don't know what to do to him or for him, but I can't just stand idly by and watch him become some sort of...I don't know what."

I bit my thumb for a second and turned away, wishing I had some sort of answer. Every day it was getting harder and harder not to simply run off. Daniel had understood me better than anyone right from the start. If he knew all the things I was doing here...things that only moderately involved crime, he'd be mortified.

But at least I was consistent. How odd...I wasn't the one losing my mind.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack only knew what he'd picked up at training and what Daniel had told him, but he'd assumed things were best handled by Mitchell's friends. If he'd brought it to Sheppard, Adama, and the XO...who knows what might happen to the man. And Jack knew, maybe better than most, how important it was to have a mission worth getting up for some days.

"Speaking of leaving...I should probably go," he said quietly, letting go of Vala's shoulder.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I've had a lot of things stuck in my head over the years, Vala. If I thought it would help, I'd be begging Jack or Ianto for some retcon. But it wouldn't. I keep trying and I keep running into a dead end and every time I do, it hurts just a little bit more. And I just..." He sucked in a breath before his voice could break.

"Jack, there's something in your mailbox. Go check for it. It's...important." Daniel glanced at his own picture of Owen and shook his head. "Very important."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, okay," Jack nodded. He stepped close and reached around to catch Vala's chin so she'd turn to face him. Leaning down, he kissed her softly and said "You know where I'm at, gorgeous."

And then he had turned on his heel and headed out the door, closing it securely behind him.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

I nodded at Jack and waited until the door was closed before returning my full attention to Daniel.

"Where were we?" I asked, a bit breathless. "Oh. You're giving up on yet another thing?"

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel was vaguely amused that Vala had gotten a kiss and he hadn't, but he ignored it in favor of the way his stomach fell at Vala's words. "You think I want to? He sucks me in. I get into an argument with him and things seem just a little more hopeless."

Not the way they always seemed after an argument with Vala.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"Arrrrgggh!" I growled, clomping to his bed and flopping onto it. I kicked my boots off and made myself perfectly comfortable.

"Daniel, do you know what your problem is?"

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"What's my problem, Vala?" Daniel answered, moving back to the bed. He sat on the edge and tucked his still-cold feet under the covers to warm them up a little.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"No. I was honestly asking. I haven't got the faintest idea," I replied.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I've tried. Over and over again and it's slowly breaking me. It's like running into a brick wall. He won't give me anything and when I try to talk to him, he keeps saying it's a mistake or that it's none of my business." Daniel tucked one knee up to his chest. "What do you suggest I do?"

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"Stop trying so hard," I suggested. It was the same advice I'd given to Mitchell ages ago and it had turned out all for the best. Obviously, it was yet one more example of my brilliance.

And I didn't doubt Daniel would be as skeptical as Mitchell had been. There was, naturally, always a plan B.

"Or bake him a pie. That's worked for me so far. Without fail."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I did. It's why I've given him the last month of space to come talk to me about Morgan. You don't think I worried when it was the day after they broke up that he asked for his weapon back? Even if it was just a coincidence." He shifted a little and pressed his back to the wall.

"He's stonewalling me. And I've been trying my best, but it's not just this once. Every time I tried to talk to him about Morgan, he didn't want to hear it. He never wants to hear anything I have to say. Whether I'm trying to help him or just in general."

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"You know, you could talk to him about something else. Honestly, Daniel, not everyone is as open and willing to communicate as I am," I told him. I moved back to be next to him and rested my head on his shoulder. "Mitchell has never been all that communicative. Do you have any idea how long a drive it is from his parents' houe to the airport when only one person does all the talking? I nearly ran out of things to say."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I've tried that, too." Daniel wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her a little closer. "We managed a civil game of basketball, but nothing really changed." He laughed a little at the idea of Vala talking all the way from the airport to...wherever he lived. I just don't know what I can do for him and it hurts when he keeps shooting me down."

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"Do you want to date him?" I blurted. Mitchell had been very clear on the issue, which i could very well see leading to trouble.

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

Daniel stared at Vala. "Do I want to what? No!" Maybe once upon a time he'd been interested in a very vague sort of way, but now? Now the idea was ridiculous.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"Well I don't know!" I exclaimed. "The way you're so hurt that he doesn't talk and shoots you around, I just thought that maybe you weren't getting along because you're...you know...and he's a fairly attractive man. I didn't say there was anything wrong with it."

I paused.

"He doesn't strike me as your type, anyway."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"He's team, Vala. And a friend. Of course it hurts when he won't talk to me. We're supposed to be looking out for each other, right? I get that we're all broken, here. I've been here too long without you guys and Mitchell's cracking under the pressure and you..."

He squeezed her waist. "Out of all of us, you're probably the one dealing the best."

He closed his mouth and then frowned at her. "What do you think is my type?"

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"I'm good at adapting," I said flatly before I turned my head to look at him.

"Someone pretty. Smart. A smaller build than you. Someone who is persistant enough to drag you away from your books but who understands when to leave you alone. Very smart, but not the same way as you so you can teach each other things." I tilted my head to study him for a moment, then said, "A brunette. A brilliant, pretty brunette who doesn't let up. That's your type."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"You're describing Sha're to a T, you know." Daniel looked at her, really looked for a minute. Softer, he added, "Or you." The parallels were pretty obvious if you looked for them, even if the particulars weren't the same. Sha're had never...

No. He wasn't going to go down the baby route with Sha're.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

I snorted and shrugged away from him. "Not me," I declared. "I would never be your type, Daniel."

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"I'm just saying what it sounded like," Daniel said, leaning back and closing his eyes. He opened his mouth to add something, but closed it, leaving the words unsaid.

[unbound-vala.livejournal.com]

"Well, you're wrong," I said emphatically. Time to change and get this off of me. What a remarkably selfless act, if I do say so.

"And so now what? What shall we do with Mitchell?"

[theunascended.livejournal.com]

"And so I don't know. I wish I did. Really. But I'm pretty sure he won't respond as well as I did to the Jack Harkness brand of therapy and that's what helped me. Then you guys showed up and helped even more and he's obviously not responding to us." Daniel shrugged a little. "Or at least not to me."