Cloud Six
By: dvshipper
CATEGORY: General
SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 10 “Memento Mori”
WARNINGS: None
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Thanks to lmichelle599 and aeryn_b for being awesome betas on this. This story was helped along by my love of going to the state fair every year.
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://dvshipper.livejournal.com/
Vala zipped up the side of her leather boots and looked over herself in the mirror. She had gone shopping with Sam the day before to get the new outfit she was wearing. When she had picked out the black shirt Sam had said it was “totally 80’s.” It said AC/DC on it, which was a popular musical band, or so she was told. The jeans she had bought fit nicely and would be sure to catch Daniel’s attention.
They were going to the Colorado State Fair tonight. Colonel Mitchell had mentioned it had started about a week ago and Vala insisted that Daniel take her. He had been reluctant at first, as he usually was with anything Vala suggested. After nagging him endlessly and Teal’c telling Daniel it would be beneficial for her to learn about Earth’s culture, Daniel finally caved in.
Vala grabbed the small purse that sat on her dresser. It held all the items she couldn’t go anywhere without: lip gloss, a small mirror, tiny bottle of perfume, cell phone, some money, and the ring sized Goa’uld weapon she always kept with her. She had gotten the cell phone after losing her memory and the team hadn’t been able to find her for weeks. General Landry thought it would be a good idea to make sure the SGC could always contact her.
Vala stepped out of her quarters and headed down the hall to meet Daniel at the elevator that went to the parking garage near the surface. When she saw him his eyes were fixed on the floor and his hands were planted in his pockets, apparently deep in thought. “A pony for your thoughts,” Vala said as she got closer to him.
“It’s a penny for your thoughts,” Daniel corrected her with a grin as he lifted his head to look at her. He always thought it was cute when she got earth vernacular mixed up. He noticed her outfit and if he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought she was a normal human from Earth. Daniel was glad that Vala had embraced his planet’s culture. He couldn’t imagine going someplace public with Vala in one of her tight leather get-ups. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes!” Vala replied excitedly.
Daniel’s car hummed to life and Vala got comfortable in the
passenger seat for the hour-long ride to
Soon, the silence in the moving vehicle was more than Vala could take. She reached out and turned the radio on, scanning past various stations until she found music she liked. A woman was singing something about wanting a barracuda, but it sounded good regardless of the lyrics that confused Vala. Daniel mentioned that the song was by a band named “Heart” and that the station played the genre of music known as Classic Rock. Vala sat back and watched Daniel tap his fingers against the steering wheel in time with the music.
They turned off Interstate 25 on the exit that was marked 97B and Vala figured they were almost there. Daniel had hardly said anything the whole way. He made a couple of comments about buildings that they passed and songs that came on the radio, but that was it. Vala wasn’t expecting a long in-depth conversation but a little meaningless chitchat would have been nice. She sensed that he was nervous though, which she took to mean that he really did think this was date. She was, of course, proud that she could make him a little jittery.
From the dirt parking lot Vala could see tall structures that resembled the pictures of carnival rides she’d seen on the internet. She turned her attention back to the car when it stopped. Daniel rolled his window down and handed some money to a pimply-faced teenager. The blonde young man pointed in the direction of an empty space and Daniel pulled forward to park. Before opening his door, he turned to Vala and said, “Now, you remember-“
“No talking about the SGC or anything alien. It’s not like anybody would believe me anyway. They’d probably think it was a television show or something,” Vala responded, rolling her eyes.
“Right,” Daniel mumbled as he stepped onto the sun-drenched grass, yellowed from the heat of summer. It felt good to get off the base and yet still be on Earth. To spend the day at the state fair like a normal person was nice, but it was made better by spending it with Vala. Most of the time she was annoying but she was fun at the same time. Having her around was like riding a roller coaster. It made you sick, but you always got back on again with a smile.
After paying at the entrance and going through the joke that was security, the two started browsing through the booths selling various things that Daniel knew most often times didn’t work. Several items immediately caught Vala’s eye including a food chopper, an air purifier, and the tent that offered various piercing services. Daniel promptly said no to all of them. There were certain vendors he had hoped to avoid with Vala. The ones where he would have to ignore her many innuendos about the possibilities of hot tubs, the “bigger is better” mentality of the men who built tractors, and the various sayings that were offered on t-shirts that could be turned suggestive by Vala’s sense of humor.
After a couple hours of wandering through aisles of sellers, Vala decided she was hungry. She led Daniel by the hand, following the arrows that led to the food pavilion. A strange mixture of smells of French fries and spicy Thai food greeted them when they arrived to the circle of makeshift restaurants.
“So, what do you want to get?” Daniel asked as they slowly walked around metal tables and wooden benches.
“That looks interesting. What is it?” Vala asked, gesturing towards a small girl carrying a pink fluffy mass.
“That’s called cotton candy. It’s just spun sugar, in other words not dinner. Let’s see if we can find something halfway healthy,” he told Vala as he guided her toward the stand with a sign overhead that read “BIG JIM’S BARBECUE.” Daniel ordered a plate of ribs, coleslaw, and two corns-on-the-cobs along with two bottles of water before getting a picnic table that wasn’t covered in mysterious sticky substances.
“That was very good,” Vala told Daniel while she licked her fingers. As she looked around she noticed that there were now more couples sitting at tables and walking around than there were families and kids. She figured that the Colorado State Fair must be a popular place to go on a date. Maybe seeing all these people in love would inspire Daniel, though she thought it unlikely.
After throwing away the remnants of their dinner, Daniel and Vala ventured to the carnival section of the fair. The orange and purple sunset to the west brought night along with a full moon. Like stars in the sky sparkled, the lights of games and rides blinked and moved. Vala nudged Daniel and pointed to one of the games that she wanted to try.
“Why don’t you win the lady a prize? We’ve had a dozen winners already today!” the man behind the counter exclaimed as they approached. At the back of the tent hung a piece of paper with a red star in the middle and at the counter behind which the man stood sat a BB gun.
Daniel put a five dollar bill in front of the guy and picked up the gun, handing it to Vala. He watched the man become confused when Vala brought the rifle up to her shoulder. Daniel just grinned as she squeezed the trigger. He looked back into the tent just in time to see the little red star float gracefully to the floor. He looked back at Vala who had a wide smile across her face.
“I’ll take that one!” Vala told the shocked worker as she pointed to a large giraffe hanging from the ceiling. The man unhooked it and handed it to her. She tucked it beneath her arm and walked with Daniel down the row of lights and bells, leaving the man staring at the paper with a star shaped hole in it.
“I’m not sure I want to know where you learned to do that,” Daniel said as they walked past people popping balloons with darts and hurling baseballs towards stacked milk bottles.
“One of my many natural talents, darling,” Vala replied looking up at the Ferris wheel at the end of the lane of games. “Daniel,” she said after a short pause, “Let’s go on that.”
“Let’s not,” Daniel told her.
“Oh come on, it’ll be fun. I promise.”
“Interesting, every bad idea ends with ‘it’ll be fun, I promise’.”
“Daniel…”
“Vala…” Daniel looked at Vala with an expression of warning, telling her not to push the issue. She looked back with an equally potent look between pouting and the face she wore when she knew she’d get her way eventually. “Fine! Just promise you won’t try anything when we’re up there, okay?”
“Why Daniel, I would never,” Vala said, being deliberately ambiguous.
Vala and Daniel stepped up to the ride car and sat down, her arm hooked around his. The operator gave Daniel a wink as he brought the safety bar across their laps. The large wheel started to turn giving them a greater view of the lights below them. Daniel heard Vala giggle a little as their seat started to sway from the movement of the ride. He grinned to himself, enjoying watching her experience something that he would have never thought could be so exciting. She laid her head against his shoulder as the wheel stopped turning when they’d reached the top. Daniel glanced down towards the bottom and saw a couple getting off the ride below holding hands.
Vala sighed looking out across the fairgrounds feeling the warm breeze on her face. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day; unless Daniel decided to kiss her, which though unlikely, was still possible. He took her on ‘dinners’ but he never acted as if he was on a date. Sure he was always a little nervous, but didn’t seem as if he was attracted to her. It was as if he tried his best to act nonchalant whenever she was around him. She’d tried every way she knew of getting his attention, some working better than others. But she didn’t ever get more than a smirk. Daniel could read people’s expressions well, she knew that, however she wondered if he actually knew how much she cared about him. Maybe he couldn’t see past the obvious vixen in front of him to see that her actions were rooted in a deeper feeling for him. That same feeling that had stayed with her ever since their encounter on the Prometheus.
Daniel turned his head from the view to Vala. He couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she was with her hair down. She didn’t wear it that way anymore; she always had it up or pinned back. Though she was sexy as hell when he met her for the first time in that black skin tight suit on the Prometheus, he was never more attracted to her than right then, in just a plain t-shirt and jeans. Vala’s advances were always less than subtle but now he wondered if her persistence was more than just physical attraction. He now wondered if her actions had some hidden sentiment that was lost on him at the time. It was almost as if he had been blinded by thinking of her as a thief and a liar. He realized that since meeting her, she’d changed greatly. He now trusted her with his life on a weekly basis; he couldn’t have done that before. Trusting her with his life meant that he thought he could now trust her with his heart because he knew she wasn’t in a rush to leave with it.
Daniel continued to stare at Vala as she raised her head up from his shoulder, gazing into his blue eyes. A single thought seemed to pass between them: I’m not going anywhere. It was that mutual decision that urged Daniel to touch Vala’s cheek and lean in to kiss her. Their lips met and he could feel Vala smiling as she caught his mouth with hers. A sudden lurch caused them to open their eyes. The ride was moving again.
When Daniel and Vala reached the ground, they were holding hands and the operator handed Vala’s giraffe back to her which had been waiting patiently next to him. She gripped it under her arm as her and Daniel made their way to the parking lot. She laughed quietly which got her a slightly confused look from Daniel. “What?” he asked, curiously.
“It’s just that both times you kissed me I was almost literally on cloud six,” Vala said with a grin.
“I think you mean cloud nine,” Daniel replied, laughing at the thought they never had kissed while still on the ground. They made their way to his car and started the journey back to the base.
By the time they got there it was almost
“Hmmm,” Vala groaned as she opened her eyes to see Daniel. She had to admit, it was a nice way of waking up. She grabbed her purse from the floor of the car and got out, closing the door behind her with a thud. Vala leaned on Daniel the whole way down the elevator and through the halls of Stargate Command to the door of her quarters. She had a hand on the cold metal door knob when she felt Daniel brush his fingers against her arm. Turning around, Vala immediately felt his warm lips meet hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Feeling his arms encircle her waist, she didn’t care if any SGC personnel found them. Vala knew however, that to keep Daniel interested in something, you had to surprise him.
Daniel felt the warmth of Vala’s body leave his arms. His eyes were still closed when he heard the door latch closed. He smiled, knowing what Vala was doing. Daniel opened the door to her suite and shut it behind him. She might be a sneaky alien seductress, but she was a damn good one.
** The End **
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