Better Not Pout (for meeshy)
Title: Better Not Pout
Author: chase_acow
Recipient: meeshy
Genre: Sam&Vala / Team fic
Rating: G
Summary: A trip to the mall for SG-1.
A/N: Thanks so much for the prompts, Meeshy, I enjoyed trying to work something out that I thought you'd like. : )
The mall was a gigantic three-floor monstrosity located in the busiest part of Colorado Springs. There was just enough snow covering the grass and chill in the air to bring out the glory, and the shoppers, of the holiday season. The weekend before Christmas and the desperation for the perfect last minute gift hung low in the air. The battle for a parking space was almost worse than the dogfight over Antarctica.
That Saturday, flyers covered every stationary surface proclaiming in shiny red and green lettering that for one day only - Santa will be visiting the mall. For the low price of fifteen dollars each a child can sit on his lap and have the chance to tell Santa exactly what they want for Christmas. Optional pictures included only at a higher price.
"What did you do that for?" Vala asked, watching Sam with wide scandalized eyes as Teal'c held open the door for them. A handful of snowflakes clung to her hair, but swiftly melted in the heat of the store.
Sam pulled off her gloves, shoved them in her coat packets, and shrugged. "Tis the Season," she answered, looking up at the high ceiling and the throngs of people moving through the halls like water through a riverbank.
"So, if I dress up in a funny red suit and ring an annoyingly high-pitched bell, then people will give me money?" Vala's eyes flashed and her cheeks, already flushed from the cold, became twin bright spots on her pale skin.
"Keep dreaming, honey," Cameron drawled, unwinding the scarf from around his neck. He twitched his shoulder under his jacket, and lifted his arm up to look at his watch. "All right kids, the time is now thirteen hundred hours, we will assemble back at the food court no later than eighteen hundred hours to make it to the movie on time."
Vala bounced, smiling and tugged on Teal'c's arm, "Will Smith is yummy. I still think we should invite him to join SG-1."
"Right, sure, whatever," Cameron continued, pinning Vala down with a stare. "Try not to get kidnapped, killed, or start another incident that leads to a declaration of marriage or war."
The other four members of SG-1 widened their eyes, looking at Cameron to see if he was joking, but he only quirked an eyebrow at them meaningfully.
Vala raised her hand and coughed delicately into the silence.
Daniel clapped his hands together, startling them. "Okay then," he said with readily apparent false gusto, pursing his lips and looking at Teal'c, "and . . . break."
The men instantly took off, scattering in three different directions and getting lost in the crowd in moments. Sam tried not to sigh as Vala linked their arms and smiled like a Cheshire cat on crack. It was impossible not to at least grin back in the face of Vala's glee, so Sam stifled a small smile, and steered them toward the right-handed corridor.
"Wouldn't this look lovely on me?" Vala asked for probably the millionth time in the space of two hours. She had already collected three bags and had somehow conned Sam into carrying the heaviest of them.
Sam didn't even look up from the scarves she was fingering as she answered, "You do remember that the point is to buy presents for other people, right?"
So far, Vala had bought Daniel a basket of hand lotion, and Teal'c matching golf club covers that she though he could use on his staff weapons. She was still looking for just the perfect gifts for Cameron, Sam, and General Landry. Of course, she'd also bought herself new makeup, perfume, jewelry, and a brew your own beer set.
"What's the fun in that?" Vala teased and set the hat back on the shelf. She tossed one pigtail over her shoulder and smiled at the clerk behind the counter. "Who are you buying for again?"
"Cassie," Sam said, setting aside the brown one as too scratchy and picking up a multicolored pastel scarf instead. "She insists on getting older every year, and every year it's harder to find something she wants."
"I've heard that diamonds are a girl's best friend," Vala said, twisting her hips and winking at a nearby teenage boy who was flushing through deep shades of red the longer Vala grinned at him.
Sam tugged Vala out of the store, rolling her eyes. "Remember that talk we had about jailbait?" she asked, scanning the line of stores for their next likely choice. "Besides, I am not buying Cassie diamonds."
Vala just danced across the center walkway where tired fathers collapsed on benches watching while their children ran back and forth, bubbling with energy she only recalled vaguely from her own youth. Vala called back over her shoulder, "I like diamonds!"
Laughing, Sam followed, "I'm not buying you diamonds either."
"That's not very 'tis the season' of you," Vala teased and pouted for a moment, but then she was off again, "Hey what about that one?"
The storefront was darkened, and from her vantage point, Sam could see a sign that proclaimed all shoppers should be over the age of eighteen. She groaned and followed Vala, rolling her eyes at the matching "Naughty" and "Nice" Mrs. Clause suits hanging in entryway.
"Well, isn't this cozy?" Vala said sneaking open the door and smiling widely as Sam squeaked and held up the blouse she had just been trying on to cover up her chest.
Sam's face went red and her mouth flapped before she managed to get out an outraged, "Vala!"
"What?" Vala asked hanging up her armful of clothing on the peg in the wall
"You're supposed to find your own dressing room!"
"They were all full, plus this way you can zip me up," Vala winked and smirked at Sam's reflection in the mirror while she pulled the sleeves of her blouse down over her arms. She arched her voice and added, "Or down."
Eighteen hundred hours rolled around and found the three men sitting at a table in the food court with neither of the girls in sight. They'd already taken their scant packages out to the car and grabbed a quick snack.
"We're going to be late," Daniel said with a sigh looking at his watch. He shoved his chopsticks back in his empty box from the Shanghai Express and reached his hand up to adjust his glasses.
Glancing back from scanning the people passing by, Cameron shrugged and winked at Daniel's hangdog expression, "Naw, I've got it covered. I padded the afternoon with an extra hour, so as long as they show up in the next forty-five minutes we're gold."
Teal'c and Daniel exchanged a look. Under his stocking cap, Teal'c's eyebrows drew together and he asked, "From where did you procure such an extra hour?"
"I borrowed it from tomorrow," Cameron answered, flashing a grin up and slinging his arm back over the edge of his chair. "So we're going to have to cut short the meeting with Dr. Lee and head straight for dinner instead."
"It's sad how much I'm willing for that to make sense," Daniel said, rolling his eyes at himself and straightening up in the chair.
"Guys!"
They turned and saw Sam struggling towards them through the crowd burdened by a multitude of bags clutched in each hand. Quickly, Teal'c got up and took the bags, blocking for her against the press of bodies. Daniel stood up and she slumped into his vacated seat.
"I lost Vala half an hour ago," Sam said, resting her head in the cradle of her hands. "I was in the line at the Cinnabon kiosk and when I turned back around, she was gone."
"Where?" Cameron asked shortly, leaning forward as the humor drained from his face.
"Second floor, right wing," Sam answered, getting her wind back and looking up alertly.
Cameron nodded and stood up, "All right people, we're going to go with search pattern gamma. Teal'c and Sam, you take the left while Daniel and I take the right. Fifteen minutes and then we call the SGC to track her transmitter."
"I don't think that's going to be necessary," Daniel said, his words slurring together as he spoke fast and pointed behind Teal'c. "I found her."
In the middle of the mall, skylights shone down from the top floor, and it was the only space large enough to set up Santa's workshop. There was a line of children looping through a maze lined with velvet waiting on their chance to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Bored looking workers in elf costumes patrolled the lines, but there must have been a hole in the defenses.
Vala was just climbing the steps, ignoring the one female elf that was trying to get her down, and flirting with the male elf showing her to the top. Santa himself was sitting up straighter than he had been for the last hour, and reached out to help her up the last step. She turned triumphantly the second before she settled on his lap and gave the rest of SG-1 a jaunty salute.
"Well," Cameron said finally, while watching Vala lean forward to whisper in Santa's ear, "I guess it could be worse."
That was when mall security rushed past them toward Santa's workshop.
After they were thrown out of the mall, they had to drive twenty minutes before they found a movie theater, but popcorn went a long way in soothing ruffled feathers. Vala settled between Teal'c and Sam, watching the previews with a single-mindedness she seldom exhibited out of life and death situations.
Halfway through the movie, while Will Smith was still trying to save the world, Vala slipped the hand rest up and curled into Sam's side. Her world was just fine.
Author: chase_acow
Recipient: meeshy
Genre: Sam&Vala / Team fic
Rating: G
Summary: A trip to the mall for SG-1.
A/N: Thanks so much for the prompts, Meeshy, I enjoyed trying to work something out that I thought you'd like. : )
The mall was a gigantic three-floor monstrosity located in the busiest part of Colorado Springs. There was just enough snow covering the grass and chill in the air to bring out the glory, and the shoppers, of the holiday season. The weekend before Christmas and the desperation for the perfect last minute gift hung low in the air. The battle for a parking space was almost worse than the dogfight over Antarctica.
That Saturday, flyers covered every stationary surface proclaiming in shiny red and green lettering that for one day only - Santa will be visiting the mall. For the low price of fifteen dollars each a child can sit on his lap and have the chance to tell Santa exactly what they want for Christmas. Optional pictures included only at a higher price.
"What did you do that for?" Vala asked, watching Sam with wide scandalized eyes as Teal'c held open the door for them. A handful of snowflakes clung to her hair, but swiftly melted in the heat of the store.
Sam pulled off her gloves, shoved them in her coat packets, and shrugged. "Tis the Season," she answered, looking up at the high ceiling and the throngs of people moving through the halls like water through a riverbank.
"So, if I dress up in a funny red suit and ring an annoyingly high-pitched bell, then people will give me money?" Vala's eyes flashed and her cheeks, already flushed from the cold, became twin bright spots on her pale skin.
"Keep dreaming, honey," Cameron drawled, unwinding the scarf from around his neck. He twitched his shoulder under his jacket, and lifted his arm up to look at his watch. "All right kids, the time is now thirteen hundred hours, we will assemble back at the food court no later than eighteen hundred hours to make it to the movie on time."
Vala bounced, smiling and tugged on Teal'c's arm, "Will Smith is yummy. I still think we should invite him to join SG-1."
"Right, sure, whatever," Cameron continued, pinning Vala down with a stare. "Try not to get kidnapped, killed, or start another incident that leads to a declaration of marriage or war."
The other four members of SG-1 widened their eyes, looking at Cameron to see if he was joking, but he only quirked an eyebrow at them meaningfully.
Vala raised her hand and coughed delicately into the silence.
Daniel clapped his hands together, startling them. "Okay then," he said with readily apparent false gusto, pursing his lips and looking at Teal'c, "and . . . break."
The men instantly took off, scattering in three different directions and getting lost in the crowd in moments. Sam tried not to sigh as Vala linked their arms and smiled like a Cheshire cat on crack. It was impossible not to at least grin back in the face of Vala's glee, so Sam stifled a small smile, and steered them toward the right-handed corridor.
"Wouldn't this look lovely on me?" Vala asked for probably the millionth time in the space of two hours. She had already collected three bags and had somehow conned Sam into carrying the heaviest of them.
Sam didn't even look up from the scarves she was fingering as she answered, "You do remember that the point is to buy presents for other people, right?"
So far, Vala had bought Daniel a basket of hand lotion, and Teal'c matching golf club covers that she though he could use on his staff weapons. She was still looking for just the perfect gifts for Cameron, Sam, and General Landry. Of course, she'd also bought herself new makeup, perfume, jewelry, and a brew your own beer set.
"What's the fun in that?" Vala teased and set the hat back on the shelf. She tossed one pigtail over her shoulder and smiled at the clerk behind the counter. "Who are you buying for again?"
"Cassie," Sam said, setting aside the brown one as too scratchy and picking up a multicolored pastel scarf instead. "She insists on getting older every year, and every year it's harder to find something she wants."
"I've heard that diamonds are a girl's best friend," Vala said, twisting her hips and winking at a nearby teenage boy who was flushing through deep shades of red the longer Vala grinned at him.
Sam tugged Vala out of the store, rolling her eyes. "Remember that talk we had about jailbait?" she asked, scanning the line of stores for their next likely choice. "Besides, I am not buying Cassie diamonds."
Vala just danced across the center walkway where tired fathers collapsed on benches watching while their children ran back and forth, bubbling with energy she only recalled vaguely from her own youth. Vala called back over her shoulder, "I like diamonds!"
Laughing, Sam followed, "I'm not buying you diamonds either."
"That's not very 'tis the season' of you," Vala teased and pouted for a moment, but then she was off again, "Hey what about that one?"
The storefront was darkened, and from her vantage point, Sam could see a sign that proclaimed all shoppers should be over the age of eighteen. She groaned and followed Vala, rolling her eyes at the matching "Naughty" and "Nice" Mrs. Clause suits hanging in entryway.
"Well, isn't this cozy?" Vala said sneaking open the door and smiling widely as Sam squeaked and held up the blouse she had just been trying on to cover up her chest.
Sam's face went red and her mouth flapped before she managed to get out an outraged, "Vala!"
"What?" Vala asked hanging up her armful of clothing on the peg in the wall
"You're supposed to find your own dressing room!"
"They were all full, plus this way you can zip me up," Vala winked and smirked at Sam's reflection in the mirror while she pulled the sleeves of her blouse down over her arms. She arched her voice and added, "Or down."
Eighteen hundred hours rolled around and found the three men sitting at a table in the food court with neither of the girls in sight. They'd already taken their scant packages out to the car and grabbed a quick snack.
"We're going to be late," Daniel said with a sigh looking at his watch. He shoved his chopsticks back in his empty box from the Shanghai Express and reached his hand up to adjust his glasses.
Glancing back from scanning the people passing by, Cameron shrugged and winked at Daniel's hangdog expression, "Naw, I've got it covered. I padded the afternoon with an extra hour, so as long as they show up in the next forty-five minutes we're gold."
Teal'c and Daniel exchanged a look. Under his stocking cap, Teal'c's eyebrows drew together and he asked, "From where did you procure such an extra hour?"
"I borrowed it from tomorrow," Cameron answered, flashing a grin up and slinging his arm back over the edge of his chair. "So we're going to have to cut short the meeting with Dr. Lee and head straight for dinner instead."
"It's sad how much I'm willing for that to make sense," Daniel said, rolling his eyes at himself and straightening up in the chair.
"Guys!"
They turned and saw Sam struggling towards them through the crowd burdened by a multitude of bags clutched in each hand. Quickly, Teal'c got up and took the bags, blocking for her against the press of bodies. Daniel stood up and she slumped into his vacated seat.
"I lost Vala half an hour ago," Sam said, resting her head in the cradle of her hands. "I was in the line at the Cinnabon kiosk and when I turned back around, she was gone."
"Where?" Cameron asked shortly, leaning forward as the humor drained from his face.
"Second floor, right wing," Sam answered, getting her wind back and looking up alertly.
Cameron nodded and stood up, "All right people, we're going to go with search pattern gamma. Teal'c and Sam, you take the left while Daniel and I take the right. Fifteen minutes and then we call the SGC to track her transmitter."
"I don't think that's going to be necessary," Daniel said, his words slurring together as he spoke fast and pointed behind Teal'c. "I found her."
In the middle of the mall, skylights shone down from the top floor, and it was the only space large enough to set up Santa's workshop. There was a line of children looping through a maze lined with velvet waiting on their chance to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Bored looking workers in elf costumes patrolled the lines, but there must have been a hole in the defenses.
Vala was just climbing the steps, ignoring the one female elf that was trying to get her down, and flirting with the male elf showing her to the top. Santa himself was sitting up straighter than he had been for the last hour, and reached out to help her up the last step. She turned triumphantly the second before she settled on his lap and gave the rest of SG-1 a jaunty salute.
"Well," Cameron said finally, while watching Vala lean forward to whisper in Santa's ear, "I guess it could be worse."
That was when mall security rushed past them toward Santa's workshop.
After they were thrown out of the mall, they had to drive twenty minutes before they found a movie theater, but popcorn went a long way in soothing ruffled feathers. Vala settled between Teal'c and Sam, watching the previews with a single-mindedness she seldom exhibited out of life and death situations.
Halfway through the movie, while Will Smith was still trying to save the world, Vala slipped the hand rest up and curled into Sam's side. Her world was just fine.