The Webworld Stargate

Ribs
A Stargate SG-1 Fanfic by
Wolfen Moondaughter

Rating: PG
Genres: Angst, Romance, mild Hurt/Comfort, Humor, Friendship (SG-1 with each other & Landry, Daniel/Cam in particular).
Summary: When SG-1 takes Vala out for dinner, Daniel gets an earful about dating....
Spoilers: up through "Memento Mori"
Length: About 3100 words -- a little over 7 pages
Notes: Missing scene -- takes place IMMEDIATELY after the end of "Memento Mori", AR to "Company of Thieves". Part of the "Date with a..." series, this story is a prequel to Date with a Pirate Princess, "Date with a Martian Stuntwoman", "Date with a World Traveller", "Date with a Wild Child", "Allies", and "Homecomings and Happy Endings". This series was nominated for an Isis Award in 2007.
Feedback: You may post feedback to this fic either at LiveJournal or devianART, or .

After a lengthy, flustered pause, in which Daniel Jackson insisted that his having taken Vala out to dinner was not a date, he realised he was wasting his time trying to convince the only person who already believed anyway: himself. Everyone else had already left the room. For one spiteful moment, he considered letting them go on to dinner without him -- then chided himself for being so juvenile. They would think what they would think, no matter what he said; he wasn't about to hurt Vala's feelings just to teach them a lesson that they wouldn’t "get" anyway. He hurried after them, abruptly slowing when he rounded a corner and almost ran into them. He tried to act nonchalant as they all eyed him in their peripherals, Vala with an endearing sort of shyness, the rest with barely-veiled mirth -- even Teal'c! Daniel sighed inwardly.

Things got momentarily worse when they got to the parking lot, and they realised they wouldn’t all fit in Cameron's car.

"I can sit in Daniel's lap..." Vala offered coquettishly, hanging on his arm.

"Uh, no," he told her firmly.

Where once Vala would have made a glib remark or innuendo, she now only said a small "Oh," and let go of his arm, looking vaguely embarrassed. Surprised, Daniel felt a stab of guilt. She'd been through so much, maybe he shouldn’t push her away, but ... it didn’t seem a good idea to encourage her, either.

"You may sit on my lap, ValaMalDoran," Teal'c offered, giving Daniel the strangest look. Daniel felt himself bristle inexplicably at Teal'c's words, but if he had come upon the Jaffa on battle, as an enemy, the man's expression would have sent him scurrying in the other direction.

Sam and Mitchell weren't looking too friendly at the moment either.

Landry actually stepped in to save the day. "No one has to sit on anyone's lap. I'm entitled to treat my command now and then; we'll take a limo," he insisted.

Vala pointedly sat between Teal'c and Sam, with Mitchell, Landry, and Daniel sitting across from them. She avoided looking at him the entire way, instead playing with the limo's various buttons for a bit. When she tired of that, she started asking Sam all sorts of questions about some things she'd read in Cosmo. Some of her inquiries were a touch embarrassing, to say the least -- and filled Daniel with a sadistic sort of satisfaction. After the looks Sam'd given him -- the teasing ones over the idea of "dating" Vala and the angry one in the parking lot -- the colonel deserved a bit of discomfort!

Vala had apparently decided he'd been punished enough by the time they reached the rib joint Cameron had mentioned, sitting next to him in the booth. Daniel sat on the inside, Cameron across from him. Sam sat on the outside, next to Vala, Teal'c opposite Vala, and Hank opposite Sam. Daniel felt a little boxed in -- particularly with the speculative glances Mitchell kept throwing at him. Still, by the time the appetizers had arrived, everyone seemed to warm back up to him, their tempers cooled.

Vala got a bit of the dipping sauce on the side of her mouth, and Daniel laughingly wiped it away -- with a napkin, of course, though he did entertain the notion of using a finger, or even his tongue. She ginned, and his heart flipped. Yes, using his fingers would have been asking for trouble; using his tongue would have been asking for something he didn’t dare contemplate.

"Sorry," said the waitress breathlessly, interrupting his thoughts, "but the kitchen staff's a little short-handed tonight, so it will be a little while yet before the rest of your food is ready."

Having recently been in foodservice herself, Vala felt a pang of pity -- and a bit of nostalgia. "Oh, that's fine, we're in no hurry!" Though she was awfully hungry. "Oh! I should call Sal," she told Landry, "let him know I'm all right! And Joe!"

"Who are they?" Hank asked.

Daniel tried not to seem overly-interested in the answer.

"Sal was my boss at the deli, and Joe was one of the regulars. He's a cop, and he took me into the station this afternoon, before that Trust operative came in claiming to be Colonel Carter and abducted me again."

Daniel felt his stomach turn; the Trust had captured her twice. Sam was right, they -- he ... wasn't very good at protecting anyone from the enemy....

"So, what-all adventures did you have out there without us, Vala?" Mitchell asked with a bit of his Texan twang showing.

As ashamed as he was for his part in what had happened to her, Daniel couldn’t stop looking at her as she told her story. She was such a strong, resourceful woman -- and yet there was a sweet vulnerability to her. The rough, deceptive edges she'd built up to survive in space had started to wear away, revealing more of the diamond beneath. She was a treasure, and there was no way in hell he was going to let anyone steal her again!

When her tale was finished, Vala noted how somber the group had grown. It made her feel a little awkward, but it also warmed her to see them all looking so fondly on her now. She'd never had friends like this before -- she found she liked it. It was partially why she'd decided to, as Daniel had put it, stop running -- the other reasons being to save the universe and to be with him. She knew without a doubt now that, no matter what happened with Daniel, she was where she belonged. For once in her life, she'd made a good choice.

The mood improved greatly as conversation moved to old missions with Jack -- Cameron had read the mission reports, but enjoyed the personalization of the anecdotes. And Vala was happy to get to know more about her new teammates, even as she was a bit jealous of the adventures they'd had together without her. Best of all, Daniel laid his arm casually along the top of the seat -- she could feel it, comfortingly, against her back.

"So is Jack your father, Daniel?" Vala finally asked.

Her companions scowled in amused confusion.

"Jack's not that old!" Sam protested.

Daniel almost choked on his water. "Er, no, what made you think that?" he asked, laughing lightly.

She immediately seemed contrite. "Your surname. Jackson. Jack's. Son." She shrugged. "Anyway, from how you speak of him in your stories, and how he seemed around you when I met him, I just thought..."

The linguist in Daniel was pleased at the correlation she'd made. He smiled, thoughtfully. "You know, you’re right ... I mean, I'm not his biological son, but my parents died when I was a child--"

Her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, that's right, you told me that already! I'm sorry I forgot!" She bit her lip, eyes worried.

He smiled, and squeezed her shoulder, feeling a flush of pride for her when he felt her new SGC patch against his palm. It took him a moment to remember what he wanted to say. "It's okay, it was a long time ago; it doesn’t bother me the way it did back then. Anyway, my grandfather, Nick ... well, let's just say he was ... distant. So in many ways, Jack is the only real father figure I've ever had."

"I think he'd like to hear you say that, Daniel," Sam told him, touched. "Well, no, maybe he wouldn’t," she said after thinking on it a second. Jack was more approachable than Nick Ballard, yes, but he was still a "Man's Man", and probably would be horribly embarrassed by such a sentiment. "Let me rephrase: he'd be glad to know it."

Daniel smiled fondly, thinking of Jack. "Maybe I’ll send him a Father's Day card." He winked at Vala, who beamed. He hadn’t taken his hand off her shoulder yet -- and found he didn’t really want to.

Unfortunately, Vala had other ideas. "Cam, where is the bathroom?" she asked.

Daniel felt a surge of panic, barely resisting the reflexive urge to hold her tighter and tell her she'd have to hold it till they went back to the base.

"Yeah, I gotta go too," Sam said, and Daniel quietly let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Sam would keep an eye on her.

Mitchell pointed the way, and the girls left the men alone at the table.

Despite the crowd of the restaurant, it suddenly grew very cold. At first, Daniel thought it was just the sudden absence of Vala at his side. Then he realised the men across from him had now adopted the same glare they'd given him at the base's parking lot.

"Jackson, you're walkin' a fine line with my temper," Mitchell informed him, drawing out the "i"s menacingly.

"With mine as well," Teal'c concurred.

"I wouldn’t say I'm the happiest of campers," Landry chimed in.

Daniel was completely at a loss. "Okay, do you want to tell me what I did to get you all so ticked off at me?"

Mitchell leaned in conspiratorially, and the others followed suit. "All this 'it's not a date' nonsense--"

"It's not a date--"

"Jackson, you shut the hell up and listen, or you and I are gonna take it outside, mister. This," he waved his hand around the restaurant, "is what normal people mean when they talk about 'co-workers out for dinner'," he emphasized with air-quotes. "Not somewhere like the place you told me and Landry you took her to -- at least, not when you're alone together like that."

Daniel pursed his brow, baffled. "Why not?"

Mitchell rolled his eyes. "Daniel, how does Vala learn about our society? Through the freakin television! Now, I know you're a book man, but on TV, when a couple goes out, the guy usually tries to impress the girl with fancy eats. A 'just friends' sort of night out, on the other hand, is more like a beer commercial than a chick flick -- it's all ... rowdy, and casual-like. And with all the touchy-feely stuff you do with her -- you're sending the poor girl mixed messages, man! If you just wanted to be friends, you should have arranged something with all of us. Something like, oh, I dunno, what we're doing right now?"

Daniel sat back in his seat, staring at his glass. He liked eating at places like the one he'd taken Vala to; he came from a wealthy family (even if he lost it when he was young), so it didn’t seem as extravagant to him. Well, no, that was the excuse he'd used to justify taking here there. In actuality, he felt more relaxed at places like their current location. He knew very well just how fancy the other place was; he'd wanted to take her somewhere nice, give her a special night. She deserved it. He wanted her to be happy -- friends wanted that for each other, didn’t they? It didn’t mean anything ... did it? Wouldn’t he do the same for Sam? Except ... he never really had done something like that with Sam. If they went someplace fancy, it was for a birthday or something, and with other people. Was Mitchell right? Had he wanted to impress Vala? Was he the one getting the wrong idea?

"You're right," he conceded quietly, leaning on his elbow. "That was stupid of me."

Mitchell smiled, pity evident. "Naw, it wasn't stupid, Jackson. Thing is, I think you were sending her the right message -- you just forgot to carbon-copy it to yourself!"

Daniel shot his head up, scowling. "What--"

"Ahhh, there they are," Landry said a little too loudly, as a warning: he could see the girls coming back from the washroom. "We were just about to send out a rescue team!" he called to them.

"Oh, but Sam was with me this time, I don’t think you needed to worry!" Vala insisted.

Landry -- and everyone else at the table -- instantly felt bad. "Oh, er, I was just teasing ya, don't mind me," he assured her. "I used to say the same thing to Carolyn all the time when she was growing up."

It surprised Vala how much it pleased her to hear Landry speak of her in the same context as his daughter.

The food arrived seconds later. Vala was delighted to try all the types of barbecue sauce, making a mess of her face and hands -- but, miraculously, not her clothes -- as she did so. She was rather enamoured of the wet naps, too. "They smell so pretty!" she remarked, and inhaled deeply to illustrate.

"Yeah, lemon is one of my favorite scents," Sam said. "It's a good cleaner, too -- that's why they use it in these things," she added, holding her own nap up.

It was a nice change of pace, having a girl around to talk to.

"It's been used historically this way for ages," Daniel added his two cents. "Throughout time, it's been common to have a bowl of lemon-water at the table to clean your hands -- both before and after a meal."

Yep, definitely a nice change, Sam mused, noting how Vala hung onto her friend's every word. She knew how lonely Daniel was, even if he didn’t notice himself.

Vala's eyes lit up at the song that started playing on the jukebox in the corner. There was a bit of space around the machine, and some people were dancing. "Oh! I love this song! Let's dance, Daniel!" she pleaded.

"Ahhh, I don’t know, I'm pretty stuffed." And, well, he wasn't fond of the song and wasn’t much of a dancer.

"How can you be stuffed? You haven't even had dessert yet!" she insisted.

"I will dance with you, ValaMalDoran," Teal'c offered.

Vala looked to Daniel, a question in her eyes. He felt that inexplicable surge of hostility at Teal'c again, but ignored it. She should dance if she wanted to; why should he hold her back?

"Yeah, you two go ahead," he told her.

There was a flash of disappointment and hurt in her eyes, before she smiled a plastic smile and accepted Teal'c's offer; Daniel realised then that the question she'd been asking between the lines hadn’t been the one he'd thought she was. And he'd definitely given the wrong answer, then.

Apparently someone else agreed; he felt a sudden, sharp pain in his leg as Mitchell's steel-toed boot connected with his shin. He bit his tongue to keep from crying out.

Landry had taken Sam over to the dance floor. Seeing the look in Mitchell's eyes, Daniel wasn't sure he'd survive the absence.

"There you go again! God, for having a PHD, you can be a real moron, you know that? You do know you were supposed to object, right?"

"Why are you so insistent that I should play the jealous boyfriend, anyway?" Daniel snapped back.

A passing pair of women halted and blinked at the outburst. They exchanged glances and started giggling as they walked away.

"It's not -- he's not -- we're not -- ah, hell!" Mitchell rolled his head back, as if in pain. "Dammit, I hope they weren't regulars here!"

"Teal'c seems interested enough in her," Daniel pointed out, glaring at the Jaffa from across the room, "so why foist her on me?"

Mitchell studied Daniel's face a moment, then grinned. "Maybe you've got the jealousy thing down after all..."

"What?! No!"

Cameron pursed his lip. "Teal'c's not interested in Vala, Daniel; he's just picking up your slack and trying to goad you into doing something about your own! He said he feels he owes it to you!"

Daniel looked at his friend like the man was speaking another language -- one that, for once, the linguist was unfamiliar with.

Cameron looked at the table and started pushing the water beaded on the wood around with a finger. "Teal'c ... he told me he feels responsible for your losing Sha're ..."

Daniel flinched at the mention of his late wife.

"... and he's trying to make sure you don’t lose another opportunity for happiness." Cameron looked him square in the eye, and the protest on Daniel's lips died, stifled by the knot of grief that had lodged in his throat. "Sha're herself would have asked it of him, and you know it," Cameron continued. "I didn’t even know her, and I know that -- any good person would want their loved ones to move on and be happy. She wouldn’t want you to be alone forever just because she can’t be with you." Mitchell shook his head, feeling a little teary-eyed himself. "You're your own worst enemy, Jackson. You're attracted to Vala, and you feel guilty for it, so you just keep pushing her away. It's like you're punishing her, for making you feel this way!"

The protest on Daniel's tongue flared to life once more -- only what came out wasn't the words he'd intended. "She doesn't feel the same way about me, anyway, so what does it matter?"

Cameron arched his brows in surprise. "Ooooh. There's some of that too, is there?"

"Some of what, Dr. Freud?," Daniel asked, rolling his eyes.

Cameron leaned forward. "Jackson ... Daniel ... I know that, for a long time, Vala gave you plenty of reason to doubt her intentions. And you may very well have been right to -- back then. But if you could see how she looks at you from where I'm sitting? You wouldn't. Just like none of us could have watched you these past three weeks, how you worried about her, the relief you felt when you found her and held her again ... nobody could look at you and not know how you feel about her. Maybe you need to remember the reason you gave me when I asked you three weeks ago what you were doing taking her to dinner in the first place."

Daniel had told Cam and Landry as many details as possible about the night of Vala's disappearance, but he hadn't realised just how much they might read between the lines -- mostly because he hadn’t read between them himself. He looked at Cam blankly, trying to remember just what he had said in that regard.

Mitchell sighed in exasperation. "You said that you were thanking her for making the effort to be a good person! Now, if you really think she's changed for the better, then put your heart where your mouth is, Daniel."

It's already there, Daniel thought as he watched her from across the crowded room.

"No one's saying you have to make like bunnies tonight," Cam added, making Daniel blush and enjoying every second. "Just let her know that you need to take it slow, instead of trying to pretend you’re not interested at all."

As if in emphasis, the music changed to a slow song.

"I think .... I think it's time I got on the dance floor, don’t you?" Daniel asked his companion as he slid out of the booth, giving Mitchell a small, nervous smile in gratitude.

"Atta boy," Cameron said into his glass as he watched Daniel tap Teal'c on the shoulder, then take a beaming Vala into his arms.

Arriving back at the table with Carter and Landry in tow, Teal'c grinned broadly and announced to Mitchell,

"Mission accomplished."

~ FINIS ~

Go on to the sequel, Date with a Pirate Princess.

Ribs A Stargate SG-1 Fanfic by Wolfen Moondaughter

Ribs
A Stargate SG-1 Fanfic by
Wolfen Moondaughter