Three Months, SG-1, Sam/Vala
Three Months
a Stargate: SG-1 story for forensicgater
Sam/Vala
rated PG-13
mild references to 10.07 Counterstrike, otherwise no spoilers. thanks to skripka for the beta, and sffan for the bunny encouragement.
1300 words
Cameron is in the cafeteria when Sam finds him, his macaroni and cheese barely touched. Files are stacked to the right and left of him, in creased manila folders.
"Mal Doran," he asks her when she sat down, without hellos or preamble. "How is she doing?"
"Mission reports?" Sam asks him.
"Evaluation." He glances up, and looks down again, scratching notes with his pen. "Three months."
Sam starts. "Has it been that long?"
Cameron grins, a spark of white teeth. "Feels longer, don't it?"
"You still don't trust her."
He shrugs. "Do I think she wants to help? Yes. Do I think she would sell us down the river for the next best offer? Also yes."
Sam thinks of smooth, pale hands, and thinks, maybe we just don't know her yet. Cam takes a breath, and a large gulp of his Diet Coke.
"Do I think she's got things in her past likely to jump up and bite us at least twice? Also yes."
"That's true of everyone on the team," Sam points out.
Cameron nods. "Maybe she just takes some getting used to."
"Like new shoes?" Sam asks him.
*
They've all got a history, ghosts of battles fought. The tracks of rope scars are faded, but Sam can see them when they are side by side in the locker room, as Vala slides her shirt - non-regulation, purple and stretchy - over her ribs.
"It's alright to stare, Princess," Vala says once, when she catches Sam looking, "but those aren't even the most interesting bits."
Sam feels the blood flooding her face.
"I could draw you a diagram," Vala adds, easily. "Point you in the right direction. I know you like diagrams."
Sam doesn't have an answer to half the things that Vala says.
*
Rumours in Cheyenne have the velocity of freight trains, and once the one about Daniel and Vala got started, it never slowed down. Daniel finds it funny, sometimes.
"We'd kill each other," he says. "And not in the fun way. I like her, but..."
Sam cuts him off, leaning over his desk, neither of them pretending to be working. "You don't like her."
"I don't hate her," Daniel points out, evenly. They're both alike that way, with an argument for everything. Like having a discussion with Google, Cam tells her.
"Would that matter, though?" Sam asks him. "Or would the sex make up for it?"
Daniel tilts his head, amusement curling his lip. "Do you think about that a lot?"
"Think about what?"
"Sex with Vala."
Sam thinks about it all the time. But she doesn't tell Daniel that.
*
It's not the girl thing that makes her keep silent. Daniel knows about that. He's the only one on base that does. Cameron and Teal'c are her friends too, but there are things about Earth that Teal'c still doesn't get. And there are days that Cameron is just another soldier, days that increase in number as the Ori threat grows stronger.
It's the teammate thing, and all the rest of it. Vala doesn't think anything of it, when she's flirting, and her eyes move to the next target with a swiftness that Sam can't help watching. Her eyes run up the line of Vala's thighs, the two women crossing paths in the showers. Slick, taut skin, and the ash and dirt of another mission disappear down the drain. There is a metaphor there somewhere, about stolen glances. Vala is the thief, though, and Daniel is the one who is good with words.
*
She and Mitchell don't finish their conversation until two days later. That happens a lot, these days, and Cameron picks up the thread of a lost topic with a speed that makes her miss General O'Neill slightly less.
"I think she's doing well," Sam says. She catches him in the hallways, files underneath his arm. "We need it. A different point of view."
"And all the help we can get, I know. That's pretty much what I said." Cameron nods. "But do you think that she's going to stay?"
Sam shakes her head.
*
"I don't understand." Vala dips her pinky finger into the tube of makeup, and smears another coat of Caramel Crush over her mouth. "It smells like candy. But it doesn't taste like candy."
Sam glances down, at her open makeup kit on the locker bench. She doesn't remember taking it out. "You're not supposed to eat it."
"But the name is misleading. It sounds like a dessert." Vala frowns, and the carefully screws the cap back on. She presses her lips together, and then grins. "How do I look?"
Sam just shrugs, and averts her eyes from Vala's mouth. She isn't surprised, two days later, when the lipgloss disappears from her closed locker. She goes to the drugstore on the way home and buys another one, this time in Dangerous Plum.
She puts a second tube in her basket, on the way to the counter, almost an afterthought. Just in case.
*
The tents are standard issue in an off-world pack, but when it's not raining they all prefer to skip the work and sleep on the ground. Vala brushes her hair out after dark, wrapping it carefully in plastic curlers.
"If we get attacked in the middle of the night," Cameron says to her, "you're going to look real silly."
Vala smiles lightly, and smacks him on the hand with the back of her brush. She sits on her sleeping bag, just a little further away from the fire than everyone else."I'm going to have good hair in the morning. You're the one who is going to look silly."
Sam laughs, but into her cup of decaf, so that Cameron can't hear her.
Vala looks up. Sam counts the strokes of her brush, fifty-eight, fifty-nine. "I'd do yours too. If you had longer hair, that is." She raps Sam's arm, the vibration spilling drops of coffee on Sam's BDUs. "Why don't you? Have longer hair, I mean."
Sam shrugs. Still counting strokes, sixty-six, sixty-seven. "I guess it never occurred to me."
"You'd look pretty," Vala says.
Daniel, barely out of reach of the light thrown by the fire, gives Sam a look that she ignores.
*
Teal'c heralds the first rumours, and the other SG teams follow, one after the other bringing the same news. A young woman of incredible power, leading the Ori army on its march across the galaxy.
Vala manages to look just as worried as the rest of them, no more and no less. Daniel asks her how she is, and Vala only scowls at him, then ignores them all until he apologises. Ten years in this job, Sam thinks. By now, everything shouldn't feel nearly this new. By now, she should know what to say.
*
"This is yummy." Vala clutches the paper cup, leaving lipgloss marks on the rim, a distinctly purple shade that Sam recognises. She pats the empty spot on her bed, and Sam hesitates before sitting down. "What's it called?"
"Chai." Sam can hear the unsteadiness in her own voice. "It's a chai latte. Steamed milk and syrup."
"Milk?" Vala sips again, and smiles. "Teal'c didn't give me the impression it was quite so delicious."
Sam's own cup is hot enough to burn her fingers, and she sets it carefully down on the ground. She could kiss Vala right now, she thinks, with the door locked, and no one would ever know. Vala would probably kiss her back, and her mouth would be sticky and sweet, and Sam could rest one hand on Vala's hip, on dark blue jeans, and stay still long enough to take a breath.
"Hey, Princess." Vala reaches out with one painted fingernail and pokes her sharply in the arm, jolting Sam back to the present. "What are you thinking about? Something good, I hope."
"Yeah." Sam smiles, at her lingering thoughts, and at Vala's touch on her arm. "Maybe."
~fin.
a Stargate: SG-1 story for forensicgater
Sam/Vala
rated PG-13
mild references to 10.07 Counterstrike, otherwise no spoilers. thanks to skripka for the beta, and sffan for the bunny encouragement.
1300 words
Cameron is in the cafeteria when Sam finds him, his macaroni and cheese barely touched. Files are stacked to the right and left of him, in creased manila folders.
"Mal Doran," he asks her when she sat down, without hellos or preamble. "How is she doing?"
"Mission reports?" Sam asks him.
"Evaluation." He glances up, and looks down again, scratching notes with his pen. "Three months."
Sam starts. "Has it been that long?"
Cameron grins, a spark of white teeth. "Feels longer, don't it?"
"You still don't trust her."
He shrugs. "Do I think she wants to help? Yes. Do I think she would sell us down the river for the next best offer? Also yes."
Sam thinks of smooth, pale hands, and thinks, maybe we just don't know her yet. Cam takes a breath, and a large gulp of his Diet Coke.
"Do I think she's got things in her past likely to jump up and bite us at least twice? Also yes."
"That's true of everyone on the team," Sam points out.
Cameron nods. "Maybe she just takes some getting used to."
"Like new shoes?" Sam asks him.
*
They've all got a history, ghosts of battles fought. The tracks of rope scars are faded, but Sam can see them when they are side by side in the locker room, as Vala slides her shirt - non-regulation, purple and stretchy - over her ribs.
"It's alright to stare, Princess," Vala says once, when she catches Sam looking, "but those aren't even the most interesting bits."
Sam feels the blood flooding her face.
"I could draw you a diagram," Vala adds, easily. "Point you in the right direction. I know you like diagrams."
Sam doesn't have an answer to half the things that Vala says.
*
Rumours in Cheyenne have the velocity of freight trains, and once the one about Daniel and Vala got started, it never slowed down. Daniel finds it funny, sometimes.
"We'd kill each other," he says. "And not in the fun way. I like her, but..."
Sam cuts him off, leaning over his desk, neither of them pretending to be working. "You don't like her."
"I don't hate her," Daniel points out, evenly. They're both alike that way, with an argument for everything. Like having a discussion with Google, Cam tells her.
"Would that matter, though?" Sam asks him. "Or would the sex make up for it?"
Daniel tilts his head, amusement curling his lip. "Do you think about that a lot?"
"Think about what?"
"Sex with Vala."
Sam thinks about it all the time. But she doesn't tell Daniel that.
*
It's not the girl thing that makes her keep silent. Daniel knows about that. He's the only one on base that does. Cameron and Teal'c are her friends too, but there are things about Earth that Teal'c still doesn't get. And there are days that Cameron is just another soldier, days that increase in number as the Ori threat grows stronger.
It's the teammate thing, and all the rest of it. Vala doesn't think anything of it, when she's flirting, and her eyes move to the next target with a swiftness that Sam can't help watching. Her eyes run up the line of Vala's thighs, the two women crossing paths in the showers. Slick, taut skin, and the ash and dirt of another mission disappear down the drain. There is a metaphor there somewhere, about stolen glances. Vala is the thief, though, and Daniel is the one who is good with words.
*
She and Mitchell don't finish their conversation until two days later. That happens a lot, these days, and Cameron picks up the thread of a lost topic with a speed that makes her miss General O'Neill slightly less.
"I think she's doing well," Sam says. She catches him in the hallways, files underneath his arm. "We need it. A different point of view."
"And all the help we can get, I know. That's pretty much what I said." Cameron nods. "But do you think that she's going to stay?"
Sam shakes her head.
*
"I don't understand." Vala dips her pinky finger into the tube of makeup, and smears another coat of Caramel Crush over her mouth. "It smells like candy. But it doesn't taste like candy."
Sam glances down, at her open makeup kit on the locker bench. She doesn't remember taking it out. "You're not supposed to eat it."
"But the name is misleading. It sounds like a dessert." Vala frowns, and the carefully screws the cap back on. She presses her lips together, and then grins. "How do I look?"
Sam just shrugs, and averts her eyes from Vala's mouth. She isn't surprised, two days later, when the lipgloss disappears from her closed locker. She goes to the drugstore on the way home and buys another one, this time in Dangerous Plum.
She puts a second tube in her basket, on the way to the counter, almost an afterthought. Just in case.
*
The tents are standard issue in an off-world pack, but when it's not raining they all prefer to skip the work and sleep on the ground. Vala brushes her hair out after dark, wrapping it carefully in plastic curlers.
"If we get attacked in the middle of the night," Cameron says to her, "you're going to look real silly."
Vala smiles lightly, and smacks him on the hand with the back of her brush. She sits on her sleeping bag, just a little further away from the fire than everyone else."I'm going to have good hair in the morning. You're the one who is going to look silly."
Sam laughs, but into her cup of decaf, so that Cameron can't hear her.
Vala looks up. Sam counts the strokes of her brush, fifty-eight, fifty-nine. "I'd do yours too. If you had longer hair, that is." She raps Sam's arm, the vibration spilling drops of coffee on Sam's BDUs. "Why don't you? Have longer hair, I mean."
Sam shrugs. Still counting strokes, sixty-six, sixty-seven. "I guess it never occurred to me."
"You'd look pretty," Vala says.
Daniel, barely out of reach of the light thrown by the fire, gives Sam a look that she ignores.
*
Teal'c heralds the first rumours, and the other SG teams follow, one after the other bringing the same news. A young woman of incredible power, leading the Ori army on its march across the galaxy.
Vala manages to look just as worried as the rest of them, no more and no less. Daniel asks her how she is, and Vala only scowls at him, then ignores them all until he apologises. Ten years in this job, Sam thinks. By now, everything shouldn't feel nearly this new. By now, she should know what to say.
*
"This is yummy." Vala clutches the paper cup, leaving lipgloss marks on the rim, a distinctly purple shade that Sam recognises. She pats the empty spot on her bed, and Sam hesitates before sitting down. "What's it called?"
"Chai." Sam can hear the unsteadiness in her own voice. "It's a chai latte. Steamed milk and syrup."
"Milk?" Vala sips again, and smiles. "Teal'c didn't give me the impression it was quite so delicious."
Sam's own cup is hot enough to burn her fingers, and she sets it carefully down on the ground. She could kiss Vala right now, she thinks, with the door locked, and no one would ever know. Vala would probably kiss her back, and her mouth would be sticky and sweet, and Sam could rest one hand on Vala's hip, on dark blue jeans, and stay still long enough to take a breath.
"Hey, Princess." Vala reaches out with one painted fingernail and pokes her sharply in the arm, jolting Sam back to the present. "What are you thinking about? Something good, I hope."
"Yeah." Sam smiles, at her lingering thoughts, and at Vala's touch on her arm. "Maybe."
~fin.