Cabin Fever Chapter 3 (PG)
Title: Cabin Fever
Author: dvshipper
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: Daniel/Vala and hints of Sam/Cam
Summary: SG-1 takes a road trip to Jack’s cabin for some down time. Everything ensues.
A/N: Thanks to
taraleesg1 for being an awesome beta on this one! This story is a companion piece for my story Just Another Day in Paradise, but can be read on it’s own. Set in late season 10.
Chapter 3: Of Blushes and Paint
Once everyone had finished breakfast Vala made a bee line for the bathroom, after of course grabbing clothes, her toiletry bag, and her make-up bag. Daniel hadn’t really thought about the fact that there were six people and only one bathroom. This problem was only made worse by there being two women in the group. Sam would most likely not take too long, but Vala spent more time fixing her make-up than she did gearing up before a mission. Knowing that they were going to spend the first half of the day in the woods probably didn’t make much difference to Vala. Daniel could be wrong sometimes though.
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Vala stepped into the hot spray of the shower and wasting no time began to shampoo her hair. As she worked the mango smelling liquid onto her scalp, she couldn’t help but remember how Daniel’s fingers had tangled in her long black hair last night. Most people thought of him as the quiet, literary type but now she knew better. The archaeologist had quite the wild side behind closed doors.
After quickly finishing with her hair and shaving her legs, Vala turned off the shower and grabbed the worn out towel that hung on the back of the door. She went through all her morning grooming and hygiene rituals before putting the towel over the counter and laying out her make-up on it. Pausing for a moment, she considered which shades complimented her outfit. The thought occurred to her that for an unknown amount of the day she would be traipsing around the woods. Also, she was on vacation and didn’t have to get all made up if she didn’t feel like it. With that in mind, Vala put her compacts and tubes back in the red bag where they belonged.
Cameron was making his way toward the bathroom to see if Vala was done yet so he could get rid of some of the beer from last night and the coffee he’d drank earlier. The door was still closed, so he knocked a few times. Vala’s voice called from inside, telling him to come in. The door swung open when he turned the knob and he was greeted by a very naked, very smiling Vala. After staring for a half-second, he realized that this was not just a beautiful woman with no clothes on, she was Jackson’s woman. At that thought, he shut his eyes quickly.
“Oh, I thought you were Daniel. Sorry,” Vala told him while pulling the towel up to cover herself, her smile fading a tad.
“Yeah, I thought you were dressed,” Cameron closed the door before opening his eyes again in the hallway. “Just let me know when you’re done.”
Daniel saw Cameron come back into the kitchen with an expression that looked like embarrassment and a grin. His cheeks were also a few shades redder than when he left. “Jackson, you’re one very lucky man,” Cameron told Daniel, sitting down at the table that was now clear of any breakfast foods.
“What makes you say that?” Daniel asked, sipping from his coffee and looking confused.
“Um, never mind,” Cameron said quickly when he saw Vala entering the room dressed in faded jeans and what looked to be one of Daniel’s sweatshirts. Her hair was up in a ponytail, still wet from her shower and her eyelids looked considerably bare with the absence of any make-up.
“At least now you have an accurate picture for your fantasies, Cameron. Bathroom’s all yours,” Vala said with a wink before sitting herself down in Daniel’s lap. Seeing Daniel’s confused look now directed at her, she told him, “Cameron walked in on me when I was naked.”
“Didn’t he knock?” Daniel asked, sounding a bit perturbed. Jack, Sam, and Teal’c however looked completely amused, especially when Cam rushed off towards the bathroom, a noticeable blush on his cheeks.
“Yes, but I told him to come in,” Vala replied innocently, wrapping her arms around Daniel’s neck.
“Why would you do that if you weren’t dressed?” Daniel asked, even more confused.
“I thought it was you, darling,” Vala whispered to him, touching their noses together as she stared into his blue eyes.
“In that case,” Daniel’s face softened into a caring look as he took her lips in a kiss that was probably not so appropriate for the dining room table, especially when there were three other people sitting there. As the kiss became more heated and Daniel moved his hand up Vala’s back, Jack cleared his throat loudly. That prompted a laugh from Sam and even a smirk from Teal’c, which Daniel saw when he broke away from Vala’s lips. Realizing he was starting to make out with Vala at the breakfast table, he blushed deeply, even more so when Vala giggled.
Cameron returned from the bathroom with still a trace of pink in his cheeks and sat down next to Sam. Seeing everyone smiling he asked, “What’d I miss?” That caused everyone to laugh and giggle, leaving Cameron very confused.
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After everyone was showered and dressed, they met in the backyard which led into the pine trees. Jack had set up all the paintballing gear on the grass and began to explain the rules. There were to be two teams of three, one yellow and one orange. The game rules were that of capture the flag. Flags were to be placed in the middle of the field at the far end of each team’s zone, their spots marked by orange tape. The boundaries he had marked the day before with orange markers. As far as elimination went, only hits to the stomach, chest and back would get you ‘killed,’ seeing as that was more realistic. All that was left was to gear up and choose teams.
“Daniel, you’re with me,” Jack said as he grabbed one of the CO2 powered guns and filled the attached container with yellow paintballs.
“Teal’c, you’re coming with me big guy,” Cam motioned for the Jaffa to join him. Cam was an expert at choosing people for teams; big, strong guys were always first. Elementary school had taught him well.
Daniel joined Jack and filled his own gun with matching projectiles. Vala sat next to him and began filling a gun for herself as well. “One woman to a team, right?” Vala said to Daniel before standing up and putting the mask on her face.
“That’s you, always keeping things fair and equal,” Daniel’s voice dripped with loving sarcasm. Seeing the ‘orange’ team assembling their stuff and strategizing made Daniel realize he wasn’t going to get his chance to shoot Jack. After the morning’s events though, shooting Cam wasn’t such a bad idea. Even though it had been an accident, the caveman side of Daniel said, “Cam saw Vala, my female, naked and for that he must die.” The ruling intellectual side of Daniel’s brain found his protective nature both startling and hilarious at the same time.
“You guys are so going down! Right, Sam?” Cameron looked over at the mask clad blonde next to him.
“Oh yeah,” Sam replied before following Teal’c into their assigned side of the woods to protect from flag stealers. As she walked, she playfully nudged Cam with her elbow. A smile formed on her face when he nudged her back with slightly greater force.
Jack led his team to the opposite side of the tree line. Daniel and Vala trailed a couple paces behind, glancing at each other occasionally when the other wasn’t looking. After a very long minute of silence, Daniel spoke up. “Vala, you’re not wearing any make-up and you haven’t said a word about your hair. Is there something wrong?”
“Don’t be silly, Daniel. What’s wrong with me not getting all dressed up for one day?” Vala asked, slightly defensive. She began to wonder if Daniel didn’t think she looked good without charcoal and petroleum product accenting her features.
“No, no. Nothing’s wrong. You’re just not the type to do anything simply,” Daniel commented as they arrived at the spot where they were supposed to plant their flag, which Jack did.
“And what exactly is my type? The one who makes everything complicated and messed up?” Vala was now fully perturbed and turned to Daniel face to face, hand fixed firmly on her hip. Jack seemed almost amused at the whole squabble. There was an air horn in his hand, but he hadn’t pressed the button yet.
“The type who thinks she needs fancy clothes and eyeliner to make her beautiful. But really you don’t need them,” Daniel stepped closer to Vala, hoping to quell her insecurities. Reaching his hand up, he touched her chin.
“Really?” Vala asked, anxiously waiting for what Daniel would do next. She stepped closer to him making the space between them only a couple of inches.
“Yes,” Daniel whispered before lowering his head, intent on kissing Vala. His attempt was thwarted however, when the visors on their masks collided and their lips stopped just short. Grinning and thinking on his feet, Daniel brought her hand up and kissed it, as if he was one of the chivalrous knights of old. Then he turned and said, “Jack, why couldn’t you have gotten the ones without the visors?”
Jack just shrugged. “They looked cooler.”
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“So what’s the plan?” Sam asked as Teal’c planted their flag in the ground. They needed to decide what they were going to do because she knew O’Neill would blow the horn just when he thought they weren’t ready.
“Jackson and General O’Neill will probably try to flank us, so we better get to them first. Me and Teal’c will split off to either side while you guard the flag,” Cameron looked at Sam with a wink and his signature flyboy grin before venturing off to the left while Teal’c headed toward the right.
As Sam was dreamily watching Cam’s six disappear into the trees, she heard the sound of an air horn. “Let the games begin.”