Untitled
By: shiny rosie
CATEGORY: UST
SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 10. “Counterstrike”.
WARNINGS: None
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://shiny-rosie.livejournal.com/
It was the seventh time he’d picked up the handset of the
phone only to put it back down into the cradle. He sighed and flopped back onto
the bed; scrubbing at his eyes with one hand. It was
Funnily enough when he looked back he couldn’t remember how this odd little
ritual had begun. They’d just fallen into it somehow. Maybe it had started when
Vala had discovered that by using the phone by her
bed she could bug him even when she wasn’t in the same room with him. Maybe it
had been that weekend she’d caught the stomach flu from Lt. Evens and Dr. Lam
had quarantined her in her quarters. However it had started he’d gotten used to
it. They’d take turns calling, if she called one night he’d call the next. If
he stopped to really think it was really rather absurd. She was, after all,
only two doors down. It would have been easy enough to walk over if he needed
to say something important to her. But that was kind of the thing. They didn’t
say anything important.
She'd tell him about the new trashy love novel she’d borrowed from Dr. Lam. How
that one worked he wasn’t really
sure he wanted to know. Trust Vala to not only make
friends with the least likely person on base, but to also get them to admit
their guilty pleasures. (Note to self, be sure not to use that phrase around Vala…) He was pretty sure that if Carolyn knew that he knew
she’d so much as looked at most of those books his post mission exams would be
much more unpleasant than they already were. Really he couldn’t toss the
proverbial stones. He had a weakness for those stupid adventure movies with no
plot and lots of explosions so he couldn’t really laugh at Vala’s
choice of reading. Besides, they did make for entertaining conversation. He’d
laugh at the ridiculousness of the characters and the melodrama of the plot
lines. And if he was slightly intrigued about how it would end…well he didn’t
have to tell anyone that. Sometimes she’d get him to explain some earth
reference she’d run across (it had taken him nearly an hour to explain “reality
TV”) or she try to weasel his credit card number out of him so she could try
her hand at online shopping.
When it was his turn he’d tell her stories out of earth history and legend. She’d
been particularly interested in Robin Hood and his successful ventures in
thieving and swindling. And her commentaries on the narratives usually had him
laughing so hard it hurt. Other nights he’d talk though his ideas for the book
he was going to write…someday…or he’d describe his encounters with the people
and places of earth that she had yet to experience. Two nights ago it had been
his turn to call and he’d spent a pleasant hour and a half stretched out on his
back on the floor discussing the finer points of the perfect cheesecake and
which Beatles song was they liked the best.
It was her turn tonight. He had known she wouldn’t call. She’d barely talked to
him after post mission debrief and had vanished so fast into her room he hadn’t
had time to try and corner her. Of course he knew she wouldn’t call. But he’d
hoped. Letting out a breath he set down the phone that had somehow made its way
into his fingers for an eighth time. Making sure the alarm was set for a rather
ungodly hour he reached over and snapped off the light.
He was almost asleep when the phone rang.
His heart was pounding in his chest, but whether it was the adrenalin rush of
being jerked roughly from the brink of sleep or something else entirely he
could not tell. He was speaking almost before the speaker was too his lips.
“Hello?” He was greeted with silence, but the lack of a dial tone told him he
wasn’t alone. “Vala?” Still nothing. He weighed his options. He could leap in with
both feet and try to get her to tell him what she was feeling; he could start
to ramble about his newest favorite coffee; or he could wait and see what would
happen.
He waited. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there and listened to her breathe, but at last she spoke.
“Daniel?” And there was something in her voice he hadn’t heard since Avalon.
His fingers tightened on the cool plastic of the handset,
“I’m right here.” He said softly, wishing he could reach through the phone to
her, wondering if he should drop it and go down to her room. Another long silence
stretched out and he stayed where he was; part of him afraid that if he let go
of her now she’d spin off into a void and he’d lose her. After a moment or two
she took a ragged breath and let out a sound that; while choked; was
unmistakably laughter.
“So,” she began, the haunted edge to her voice melting away. “I finished my
book.”
He grinned into the phone and settled himself back against the pillows.
“Tell me.”
** The End **
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