A/N: I know it's been a while. A very long while. lol. so i'm sorry for the horribly long wait. I encountered a terrible case of writers block. but here it is, the next chapter!
When Daniel woke up, he looked down at the mass of dark hair sleeping on him. Again, he couldn't get over her beauty. He planted a kiss on the top of her head. She slowly blinked and turned her head to look up at him.
"Good morning." He said, smiling down at her.
"You mean good afternoon." She replied, looking over at the clock which now read 12:30 PM. He followed her gaze and saw it too.
"you're right." He laughed.
She stretched and he got up, pulled on a pair of sweats, and smiled to himself, thinking of the previous night.
Suddenly, the phone rang. Daniel sat back down on his bed and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hiya Daniel. How are things?"
"oh, hi Jack."
"Is that Jack O'Neil?" Vala asked, and when she received a nod she yelled, "Hi Jack!"
"Things are good." Daniel replied.
"Was that Vala? Daniel, where are you right now?"
"bed." The word was out before he realized the implications. 'shit.'
"Whoa, way to go Danny boy!"
"Jack! It's not like that…"
Vala chose that exact moment to ask, rather loudly, "Daniel, have you seen my shirt? I can't find it…"
Daniel could hear Jack laugh on the other end of the receiver.
"Of course it's not. Well, took you long enough."
Daniel paused for a second before deliberately changing the topic, "So, obviously you had a reason for calling, what was it?"
"Hey, I see what you're doing, don't think I'm letting you off easy, but you're right, I did have a reason. Sam and I are at the cabin, and we were wondering if you wanted to come up."
"Let me ask Vala."
Daniel put his hand over the phone and turned to her.
"Do you want to go up to Jack's cabin?"
"Will Sam be there?"
"yes."
"Oh, ok then. Sure!" she said with a smile.
Daniel uncovered the phone and told jack, "Yep, she's game."
"So, I'll see you two love birds here tonight?"
Daniel sighed and rolled his eyes. "yes."
"m'kay, hey, I think you've done good Danny boy. She quite a catch. Take it easy."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Daniel hung up the phone and turned to look at Vala who was laying on the bed, toying with her hair, smiling at him.
"That had to be the most awkward conversation of my life…"
"Oh, I'm sure it wasn't that bad. Imagine if it had been General Landry on the phone. That would have been much worse."
Daniel laughed in reply. It was amazing how relaxed she made him feel, now. He looked at her, with her hair all mussed from sleep, and felt something inside of him, something he hadn't felt for years. He got back on the bed and crawled over to her, so he was over her. She reached up a hand and caressed his cheek. There was so much affection in her eyes; Daniel was captivated. He bent down and kissed her. She wrapped her arm around his neck, deepening the kiss. He longed to kiss her forever, to get lost in her, but his mind caught up with him, and he pulled away. She pouted at him.
"We have to pack, and get ready to go Vala."
"I know…" she replied reluctantly. He smiled at her and gave her another quick kiss before getting off the bed.
"Come on, let's eat something, then we can pack."
Vala sighed and reluctantly got up, heading towards the kitchen.
Four hours later they reached the cabin. They were greeted by a cheery Jack and Sam. Jack showed them to their room, they unpacked and headed back out to the living room where Jack and Sam were sitting.
"So," Daniel started, "I thought you two were in D.C."
"We were," Sam replied, "But Jack got a couple days off and decided it be better to spend the time here."
Sam then gave Vala a look, turned to Jack, and said, "I'm going to go show Vala the lake, while you two catch up."
Vala smiled as she was led outside, leaving Jack and Daniel quite alone.
"So…" Jack started.
"So," Daniel replied.
"Want a beer?"
"Sure."
Jack went and got a beer for Daniel and one for himself.
"How's… everything?" Jack asked.
"Good. How's…?" and Daniel motioned with his bottle toward the two women sitting on the pier outside, giggling.
"Good. Really good." He smiled. There was a silence until Jack broke it.
"I'm retiring." Daniel looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Really?"
"Yep." He paused again, "Daniel, we're getting married."
Daniel broke out into a huge smile, "That's great, Jack! I'm really happy for you."
"So," Jack asked, "You wanna be my best man?"
Out on the dock, Vala and Sam we're having their own conversation about the past couple of days.
"He asked you to marry him?!"
Sam nodded.
"Oh! I'm so excited! A wedding!"
Sam clasped Vala's hands, "and you're going to be the maid of honor, of course."
Vala smiled widely and pulled her friend into a hug. "Oh Sam, I'm so happy for you!"
Sam pulled back and looked at Vala, "Ok, now it's your turn to spill. I couldn't get anything out of Jack this morning. All he told me is that you two were coming up, and you'd be sharing a room. What's that all about?"
Vala broke into the biggest smile as she answered, "We're together!" and then added as an afterthought, "…I think."
Sam looked at her, "What do you mean 'I think'?"
"Well, neither one of us said they love the other, but I do Sam. I care for him more than I've ever cared for anyone before. And, he never officially asked me out, but, well," She looked up at Sam, putting extra emphasis on her next words, "I'm pretty sure Daniel's not a one-night-stand kind of guy."
Sam gasped, "You didn't!"
Vala smiled goofily, "We did."
"Wow, I'm amazed. And really happy for you too! You're right, Daniel would only do that with someone he's very committed to."
"I just hope he knows that I'm just as committed to him…"
"So, Daniel," Jack continued, "How serious is this?"
Daniel looked up at his friend and back own at his beer bottle with a warm smile, "Jack, it's very serious, I mean, at least for me. I love her, I've been falling for her for years, but, something happened this week, something inside myself, that I finally stopped pretending and just went for it. And now, now I feel like the luckiest man in the world."
"wow," Jack said after a pause, "and how does she feel?"
"…I don't know. But I'm pretty sure she's not messing with me. This is for real."
Jack looked at him again, "Well, here's another question: Does she know how you feel?"
Daniel sat there and stared at his beer bottle, pondering Jack's question. He was about to answer when his train of thought was interrupted by Vala coming in the room, running to Jack, and giving him a hug with a squeal of "congratulations!"
A/N: hope you liked it! i'll try and update as soon as i can :) sorry again for the long wait!