Title: Dinnertime
Summary: Daniel and Vala share some sweet moments when dinnertime rolls around.
Rating: PG (just to be safe)
Spoilers/Warnings: Ark of Truth spoilers
A/N: So I'm cutting this pretty close, down to the wire, last minute for my post day today. It was a spur of the moment, fluffy idea that my brabbits made a little bantery. I kinda consider this a 'continuation' of the unspoken storyline I have going with Daniel and Vala (I had them get married last year, then there was the one year anniversary fic...now there's this). Hope it's not too mushy. I'm just glad I finally found enough inspiration to write something!
Trudging up the steps to the house, Daniel could practically feel the exhaustion falling off him in waves. It had been a tough day on the base, the fall of the Ori not reducing the workload in the slightest. There were still too many planets out there, now recovering from not only the Ori, but also still reeling from the fall of the Goa’uld.
He was ready to be done with work for the next couple of days - to spend some time at home with his beautiful wife.
Stepping through the door, any ideas of relaxing fell away. Daniel quickly deposited his stuff in the front hall and made his way into the kitchen, which was belching smoke. The sight that he found both made him want to laugh outright and his heart ache at the same time.
Tear-filled eyes glanced up from a mess-filled lap. “I ruined it.”
Daniel tilted his head, slowly stepping into the room. “What did you ruin?”
Face contorting incredulously, Vala thrust the tray of...well, Daniel wasn’t quite sure what it was…into the air. “Your dinner!” She sobbed.
Kneeling in front of her, Daniel couldn’t help the small smile. “You made me dinner?”
“No, damn you!” Vala tossed the tray aside, scattering blackened goop across the tile floor. She pushed at his chest weakly. “I didn’t make you dinner. I ruined it. Destroyed.” She buried her face in her hands. “So horrible.”
Daniel pulled down her hands. “Hey, it’s okay.” He tugged her wrists lightly to get her to come into his embrace, but she simply flopped against him and continued to cry. Sighing, he shifted her around until she was firmly wrapped in his arms, resting against him sideways.
“I’m a horrible wife.” She mumbled, fingers fiddling with his shirt.
“Stop that.” Daniel muttered, giving her a firm squeeze. “You are not a horrible wife. Actually, the fact that you made me…” He frowned as he tried to figure out what the dish was supposed to be, staring at the mess.”
Vala thumped her head against him. “See? You don’t even know what it is!”
Glancing at her awkwardly, Daniel tried to get her to smile. “Doesn’t matter what it is. The fact that you made it, you…” She pouted indignantly and he took the moment to give her a kiss. “And you were going to surprise me? That’s what means the most.”
“Really?” Vala whispered, giving him a hopeful look. When he nodded, she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. Daniel hugged her tightly, but gently.
When she started to pull back, Daniel began to shift them up to a standing position. Vala went willingly, though she still clung to him tightly. Once on their feet, Daniel pulled Vala into him, grasping her shoulders and kissing her soundly.
“I made a mess in here.” She mumbled as their lips parted.
Daniel left his forehead resting against hers. “I can clean it up.”
Vala still pouted. “And…” She looked down to her stomach, bringing her hands to rest atop the bump there. “I’m hungry.” Her eyes found his again, pleadingly.
He rolled his eyes, but grinned as well. “Guess I can take care of that too.”
---
Daniel tried to snag a piece of chicken from her salad and was met with a gentle stab of her fork. “Hey!”
“Do you want me to harm you?” Vala mumbled around the food in her mouth, her eyes wide and innocent.
“I just want some-”
She shook her head. “My salad.”
Daniel titled his head disbelievingly. “In my lap.” He glanced down briefly to emphasize the point that she was using his lap as her personal table. He found her blinking, again deceptively innocent-like, when he looked back up.
“Still my salad.” Vala smiled, stabbing her fork viciously into the unsuspecting greens, scattered about with pieces of chicken and slathered in ranch dressing. “And don’t you even think,” The fork found home in her mouth. “About touching my pasta, or the cheesy bread, or the two slices of pie that we ordered either.”
Heading flopping back against the couch, Daniel closed his eyes. “And I’m supposed to eat…?”
A finger poked his side. “The food you ordered for you.”
“I ordered most of the stuff for both of us to eat.” He replied, looking back at her again, this time over the top of his glasses.
She shrugged, uncaring. “Not my fault you didn’t prepare ahead.” Her grey eyes stared at him expectantly. “I am pregnant, you know.”
“Unfortunately…” He mumbled good-naturedly and was rewarded with a hard smack to the arm. He only grinned in return as he rubbed at his arm. She squinted at him and jabbed exceptionally hard into the container of salad.
Daniel flinched. “Easy now…there’s not much between your fork and my…” He gestured vaguely to his lower half.
Eyes naughty, Vala took a nibbling bite from the one piece of lettuce on her fork. “Sorry.”
“Ha!” Daniel laughed loudly, taking his beer from the side table and taking a drink.
“It was lasagna.” Vala said softly and Daniel raised his eyebrows, lowering the bottle from his lips. He looked at her curiously.
She was biting her lip, looking at him through long eyelashes. “Your surprise dinner…” Daniel nodded as he caught on. “It was lasagna.”
Daniel could feel her gazing intently, expectantly, at him. “Well, it looked...it looked…” He wasn’t sure what to say. They had a strict honesty policy between them, but he’d seen how upset she’d got after messing it up. With her hormones all over the place… “It, umm…” He took another pull from his bottle.
“It looked…what?” He glanced at her around the bottle to see that her eyes matched the dangerous tone of her voice. He was sure he jumped six inches off the couch when the fork found a hard refuge against the thin plastic still on his lap.
Quickly placing his now empty bottle on the table, Daniel maneuvered out from under the salad and shot up from the couch. “I need another beer.”
Vala shot up rather quickly for a pregnant woman. “Daniel Jackson,” Her voice held a warning tone that had him sprinting to the kitchen he’d been cleaning up not an hour before.
Comments and feedback are definitely appreciated!
~Pip