Complicated Waters - SG-1/BtVS
"Notice anything different?" he hears Vala's voice asks.It is not her first attempt to get his attention. There has been shuffling noises, loud sighs, contemplative hums, even - which made him flinch despite his determination not to react - a book being paged through than unceremoniously dropped. So, this time Daniel finally just looks up.
And blinks (quite a few times actually) behind his glasses.
She is lying on her back on the sofa in his office with her feet propped upon the head of it - and on her feet….oh wow. Deep plum boots that travel up her leg, ending right before the knee. He spends more time than he should looking at the place where soft suede ends and softer skin begins.
When he realized this and his eyes jump to Vala's face he knows he is blushing and she looks quite pleased with herself.
"Are they new?” he tries to ask casually.
"Oh yes," she purrs, "I got them while out with Buffy," and here she waits, dangling the information like a carrot.
And he takes the bait, because it's him; Daniel can't help it, he's always going to be curious. "Buffy?" he asks. "Is she one of the soldiers on base?"
"Nope," Vala shakes her head before twisting around gracefully into seated position, her booted feet hitting the floor with a thunk.
"A scientist or civilian contractor for the program, then?" he asks next.
But she just shakes her head, twirling her dark hair like a little girl - utterly incongruous with the secretive smile on her lips.
Daniel gives a huff of frustration; "Are you going to tell me?" he asks leaning his elbows on his desk.
But she just laughs at him and glides from his office, running her fingers through his hair along the way (he sighs heavily but doesn't try to pull away). And as she passes through the doorway she calls out again, "Nope!"
-------
"Do you know a Buffy?" Daniel tries to ask casually during lunch in the cafeteria with Jack later that day. The question lands awkwardly though, and he winces at his own tone of voice. (The way he comes off like an overprotective father - or boyfriend.)
And his friend’s behavior at the question isn’t any less worrying. Jack’s spoonful of jello stops halfway to his mouth and he instead sets it gently back in the bowl, as if the jiggly food stuff will suddenly explode - and simply stares at it for a moment, his thoughts far away. Then giving a deep sigh, he pokes at it morosely.
"Buffy is-," he begins, but stop himself almost immediately and shakes his head. "Buffy is my own little ‘need to know’ headache," Jack finishes the sentence with a firm nod, resolutely scooping into his bowl and shoving a spoonful of the blue gelatin into his mouth as soon as he finished speaking.
"Well, it seems that she’s Vala’s new best friend," Daniel states bluntly and is perhaps more amused than he should be at the way Jack's eyes go wide and surprised and he almost chokes on his Jello - makes a quick grab for the water in front of him.
"She’s what?" Sam asks from slightly down the table, a hurt tone to her voice. Daniel had not even thought of her as part of the conversation - she had seemed so engrossed with the read outs from the latest experiment she was working on. (Something to do with energy flares, if he remembers correctly.)
"Oh - I," Daniel stutters not knowing how to navigate these complicated waters of female friendships he has just been dunked into
"How long has she even known this woman?” Sam asks. "Who is she, sir?" her eyes move over to Jack, looking for answers.
"Look," the older man says, setting down the glass of water and holding up his hand placatingly. "I can't tell you anything. Buffy and her group were one of those things that were seriously Need To Know - in bold print and underlined twice. It was all red tape and signing forms before people in suits would say a word. And most days I wished they hadn't told me - aliens are enough," he sighed, running his hand through his hair.
"Is Vala going to be in trouble?" Daniel asked biting his lip. As much as she annoyed him at times, he felt incredibly protective towards the woman who had wormed her way into his life so much.
But Jack shook his head right away. "That's not something you need to worry about, Danny. The government has a real 'hands off' policy as far as Buffy and her crew are concerned. They've learned the hard way on that front. If she's decided to make friends with Vala, they aren't going to get involved.
-----
"And who is this gorgeous man with us today? Have you been hiding him away from me?" Vala smiled seductively as she slid into the back seat of the car.
The man in question, who had been turned around from his spot in the drivers seat to greet her, blinked in surprise (with his one good eye), before simply rolling with her forward manner.
"I'm Xander - and I'll be chauffeur for you lovely ladies today," he smiled, wide and goofy.
Beside her, in the back, Buffy snorted. "I still don't see why I can't drive," she crossed her arms and pouted playfully.
"And how many tickets have you gotten, Buffster?" Xander laughed, facing forward and shifting gears. "This month?" he added teasingly, making her huff.
This is what Vala enjoyed about Buffy and the friends of hers she often met, how very free they were with each other. The bickering and banter that reminded her of the SG-1 team.
Further down the road, Xander's eye flicked to her in the rear view mirror - his gaze testing. "Are you cool with teleportation?" he asked with utter seriousness.
"Of course," Vala said pretending to dust off her coat in mock-huffiness. "I'm not an animal."
They both smiled at her answer. "Good," Buffy said, "we wanted another of our friends to come Christmas shopping with us but if she took the normal way - well, it would be days before she got here."
"Better remember to call it holiday shopping, Buff," Xander reminded her with a grin. "I don't know if she's celebrating Hanukkah or Yuleltide this year - but I'm pretty sure she still more than a little huffy about everything being thoroughly Christmas-fied."
"I'm going to get to meet more of your friends," Vala practically bounced in her seat making Buffy laugh at her enthusiasm.
"Yup - pretty soon actually," Buffy said as Xander pulled over into a small park. A few seconds later an alarm on his watch beeped and then the passenger seat next to him was filled with a small woman, thoroughly bundled up (complete with scarf, hat, and glove) against the cold mountian weather.
With a squeal of "Willow!" Buffy all but vaulted over the middle consul to embrace the red-headed woman, and Xander was all ready doing so - instead of feeling left out, Vala joined the group hug as well.
"Well, hello lady," the pixie looking woman smiled at her as they all pulled apart, her green eyes teasing. "Not that I'm complaining about the method of introduction - but I don't think we've met."
"I'm Vala - Buffy's friend," she said simply
"Oh, a friend, huh?" she wiggled her eyebrows in a thoroughly exaggerated manner, causing giggles all around.
"Oh wow," Xander had started to get back on the road but now his expression went distant, "that's a really great place for my mind to vacation."
Buffy leaned forward and swatted him on the head, "Pay attention to the road"
Willow just laughed and while unwrapping her scarf and taking off her hat said, "Even daydreaming and only seeing out of one eye, Xander still drives better than you Buffy."
Before she could respond their phones rang (Xander, Willow, and Buffy's phones that is) - and Vala pushed her head close to Buffy's so she could listen in too.
The call was one on confrence - an over serious man telling them about dangerous occurrences in the area. None of them even tried to interrupt (although there were lots of rude hand gestures and rolled eyes throughout - Vala thought she contributed quite well to this.)
When the call was done, the blonde's face was tight and irritated, her hand's in fists. "Buffy," the red headed woman sighed, leaning between the seats, and touching her hand gently - taking the phone from her grip. The only response Buffy gave to this was another frustrated sigh when she saw the cracks now along the plastic's outside edges.
"Don't worry about it," her friend murmured, passing a hand slowly along the abused areas, leaving smooth in her wake.
"Thanks, Wills," she grinned sadly, taking the phone back and this time carefully putting the delicate thing back into her purse before flopping back. "I'm sorry, guys," she sighed heavily, "I really didn't want tonight to be about work."
"Aw, Buffs - you can't really blame them," Xander said, turning when the light changed. "You know as soon as someone from up top heard we were all going to be in the same place they'd want to unload some of the stuff that they haven't been able to get a team together for onto us. And it's only a small nest - with the group of us here we'll be done with plenty of time for the mall."
"And it can still be fun," Vala added, looping her arm through the woman's next to her. "Violence then shopping - what more could a girl want?"
"That's the spirit," Willow said as they parked in front of an abandoned looking warehouse and all piled out. "All we need is to end the night gorging on junk food while watching incomprehensible television - and it will be a thoroughly Scooby outing."
Popping open the trunk of the car, Xander exposed a variety of weapons. Hefting an axe onto his shoulder with ease, he looked to Vala and smiled, "What's you're poison?"
With an excited grin, she looked over the collection (some of them quite old - all well used and cared for) and picked up twin blades. They were well balanced in her hands (good for throwing) and incredibly sharp, deadly for close range fighting as well.
Buffy had already chosen quite a few different weapons; a couple of different sized blades were placed upon her person, a scythe was on her back, and she held a crossbow in her hands.
"I meditated earlier, so I'm all good," Willow said at her friend's questioning look, power flowing over her - white enveloped the green of her eyes until there was none left.
Buffy checked everything on her one last time and then looked over the people with her. She smiled then, her excitement for the fight (despite it interrupting her shopping) showing clearly on her face . There was something just a bit wild about her friend when she was like this, not entirely human - but Vala was quite at ease with those two characteristics (wild and not entirely human) and smiled back just as hard.
"Let's party," the blonde said, flipping her hair in an exagerated fashion - and Vala joined in when the others laughed, walking towards the warehouse with an excited grin as she watched the door be ripped open by simply a wave of Willow's hand.
The night was getting off to such a good start.