Daniel threw his head back and let the mirth tear out unchecked. Teal'c contended himself with a twitch of the lips and a suspiciously long swig of his beer. Vala leaned back against the faded crimson cushions of the booth and preened; accepting Daniel's laughter as just reward for her insightful (if completely untranslatable or repeatable) comment about the boorish town magistrate with whom they'd recently completed a trade agreement.

"What? What did she say?" Mitchell asked looking at his team sprawled around the table. Unwinding at McGinty's after a mission wasn't a solid habit yet, what with his original command only periodically operating under full numbers, but it was getting there.

Teal'c commuted part time from the newly anointed Jaffa homeworld where his son now lived and Sam, since her stint as commander of Atlantis, was really more of an honorary member of SG1. She joined them on missions when her schedule allowed, but was often called away to DC, Area 51 or was just plain too busy with her own line of research. Even her sporadic participation would end when she eventually took command of her own vessel, the General Hammond.

Of course, Jackson and Vala were fixtures of every mission, forming an unconventional but reliable sub-unit within the team. Combining Jackson's glib tongue and impassioned beliefs with Vala's innate BS meter and boundless curiosity created a diplomatic powerhouse for the SGC, one that utilized the pair's silent shorthand of questioning glances, quirked eyebrows, and tilted heads. Mitchell found their collaboration more remarkable since he wasn't sure they realized how much each relied on the other, let alone how much the team relied on them.

Ignorant or not, Mitchell had not been able to lure Jackson out to socialize on a regular basis until after the followers of the Ori were neutralized and the last of the system lords and Goa'uld infiltrators of the Trust were eliminated. Moreover, if Jackson wasn't going, well, Vala coincidentally found herself less interested in the prospect.

Life at the SGC hadn't exactly settled down, but since Jackson's return last year from Atlantis to recuperate from yet another brush with death, a post mission session at McGinty's was suddenly a much easier sell. Maybe Daniel was finally buying into that saying Vala was fond of repeating. She might as well have had "Life is too short" tattooed on her…well, tattooed somewhere.

He glanced over at Jackson, still chortling and wiping at tears in his eyes. Oh, she was rubbing off on him all right. "Seriously guys, what did she say?" Teal'c's gaze was inscrutable and Jackson was too busy smirking to answer him. Sam watched Daniel with a curious smile. "Sam?" She shrugged and mumbled something about not being familiar with that particular Goa'uld dialect.

Teal'c set down his pewter beer stein; an elaborate affair with hand painted gold banding and an intricate relief of a heavily muscled man defeating a dragon. The proprietors kept the ornate contraption behind the bar for his use alone, a courtesy he was afforded after a brief chat with the bartender. He nodded gravely toward Mitchell. "Indeed. Vala Mal Doran has invoked an obscure Goa'uld adage. One virtually meaningless on earth, contextually being biased against bovine companions and anatomically impossible."

Peels of laughter rang out from their former space pirate and mingled musically with Sam's giggles and a howling Daniel Jackson. Mitchell wagged his finger at Teal'c and sputtered, "Wait. That's… that's a joke!"

Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow. "Indeed." Fresh gales of delight rolled over the table's occupants.

Vala punched Teal'c companionably in the shoulder. "Muscles, I knew you had it in you." He smiled his enigmatic smile and sipped from the gift she had bestowed upon him when the team regularly began going to McGinty's again.

"Well it's just creeping me out and I still don't understand what she said." Mitchell tossed back the rest of the beer in his long neck bottle, pushed his chair back from the table, and pointed at the warrior seated across from him in booth section. "Ok funny man; let's see if you are still amused after I kick your butt in darts."

"I accept you challenge Cameron Mitchell." Teal'c rose and went to gather the equipment. Sam snagged Cam's sleeve when he would have followed.

"Cam, you've never beaten Teal'c at darts, not even when Vala had him blindfolded."

He shrugged. "The big guy is making jokes. Clearly he is off his game." Cam eagerly rubbed his hands together and called over his shoulder as he walked away, "I'm feeling lucky tonight!"

Vala snorted at his bravado and slid out of the booth too. "This night needs music." She dug in her small silver sequined clutch and came out with a paper clip, a nickel and a gum wrapper. "Hmm, I thought I had…Daniel, do you have any silver money? Not the little ones with the ridges or the medium ones with a smooth edge, but the other larger one, named after that hamburger."

He shifted in his seat and pulled a handful of coins out of the front pocket of his jeans. "Hold out your hands," he instructed. Vala cupped her hands together and caught the cascade of quarters. She beamed at him before sashaying off to the Jukebox.

"Huh," observed Sam. When Daniel just continued to smile softly at Vala's back she cleared her throat and repeated herself. "I said, huh."

He blinked a few times before scrunching up his forehead and swiveling his head around to look at her. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

Sam smiled knowingly and shook her head. "Suddenly things are much clearer."

Daniel paused and took a sip of the beer he'd been nursing all evening. Produced by the country's second oldest family run brewery, McGinty's stocked the Minnesota variety specifically for Jack. Daniel didn't really care for any beer, but he liked the historic connections. "What things?"

Instead of answering his question, she asked her own. "How long have you and Vala been together?"

He looked down at his bottle and picked at the corner of the red label on his Schell's Original. A wry smile played on his lips, "When haven't we been together."

"Daniel, while that might have been your most astute observation, I'm not talking about the oblivious years. I knew you cared for Vala more than you let on back when she was pulled into the Ori galaxy." He raised an eyebrow, challenging her assertion. "I read the reports. Your collapse wasn't tied to the separation effect lingering from the bracelets. Not enough time had elapsed. Still," she shrugged, "It wasn't until after the Trust kidnapped Vala that I realized how deep you were in denial."

"It still wasn't a date," he insisted matter of fact, "it was just two friends and co-workers…" Sam waved him to silence.

"I'm not referring to your aborted 'not a date'," she said making use of air quotes and continuing before he could protest. "The weeks she was missing you never left the base except on the two search missions. You halted research on anything unrelated to Qe'tesh, the Trust, Athena or her mythical treasure and despite all my badgering and nearly a direct order from Landry, I'm fairly certain you never made it back to your quarters to sleep. The decisive factor? At the warehouse you held on like you weren't planning on letting go and that you didn't until we were back at the base."

"It was only her arm, you make it sound…"

"Daniel," she gently chided.

He smiled and answered her original question, "Since I returned from Atlantis."

Sam leaned forwarded, her blue eyes shining and squeezed his hand. "I'm very happy for you both."

"But not surprised obviously," he said going back to fiddling with the label, slightly embarrassed to be having this conversation. Above them, the strum of a guitar signaled the start of Vala's first selection. Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" came out of the speaker and a small shout of approval went around McGinty's. Vala always began with that song, claiming it staved off any complaints about the selections that followed. If that didn't work, a few glowering looks from Teal'c did the trick.

"A little surprised I didn't figure you two out earlier." Sam leaned back and tucked a shoulder length strand of honey colored hair behind her ear. "And I am very surprised Walter didn't fill me in on the best SGC gossip."

"I don't think that we are together is public knowledge." Daniel removed his glasses and began polishing the lenses. "We haven't been exactly broadcasting our relationship."

"Oh." Sam chewed on her lip. "If you plan on keeping it under wraps, you need to stop smiling so much." Daniel smiled in spite of her advice and shook his head.

"We're not exactly hiding it either."

Sam frowned. "Explain."

"We work together."

"Fraternization restrictions don't apply to civilians," she recited.

"Technically true, but if General Landry thought it was a problem, technicalities wouldn't stop him from making a change. Think of the last few months as a preemptive strike, something we can point to as proof that the changes in our relationship won't put the team at risk or change our ability to work together."

"How is that not hiding your relationship?"

"It wouldn't take much investigation to notice all our free time coincides or that we typically leave the base together. We just decided to maintain a sensible level of decorum around the base."

"Vala agreed to that?" Sam asked incredulously.

Daniel frowned. "Her idea actually."

"I imagine you were pleased."

"Yes, I should be." He mumbled under his breath, frowning again.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing," he rushed on. "So Vala hasn't said anything, done anything?" He trailed off, fishing for information.

"No, nothing. I mean, yes, we've talked, but Vala didn't hint at this at all."

"Right," he answered with an edge to his sarcasm that Sam completely missed, "it was my smiling problem that gave us away."

"Big clue, but really, it was the quarters. Saving up for the Jukebox was very sweet and very much a boyfriend thing."

A tinge of pink highlighted his cheeks. "I, ah, just picked up a whole roll from payroll."

Sam got to her feet and gave him a peck on the cheek, "Like I said, sweet." She gestured toward the small ring of observers forming around the dart area. "I think I'll go check and see how the contest is going." Daniel let her go without comment, his attention immediately going to the dark, far corner of the bar.

Vala remained engrossed in making selections on the bar's Wurlitzer. The machine was a reproduction and so played CD's instead of records but from what Cam had informed him, while the song selections dipped back into the Fifty's, they didn't rise out of the early 90's.

Still, most of the songs were new to Vala. Most were new to Daniel as well. Some though, were hard to have missed, like the one currently way oh way ohing over the sound system. In spite of himself, another smile curved his lips. Daniel suspected "Walk Like an Egyptian" was chosen in his honor.

Color from the bubbling tubes arching around the top of the Jukebox bathed Vala's face in a succession of neon blues, greens, and yellows; alternately casting her mood in somber to sunny tones. The changing lights reminded him of how Vala kept altering place in his life, refusing to be just a problem, or a means to an end, or a colleague, or even simply a friend. Try as he might, he couldn't relegate Vala to an easily identifiable niche.

He had led a solitary life since childhood, always slightly apart from those around him, but Sha're and his year on Abydos taught him what he was missing. As a member of SG1, he'd found friends and, yes, a sort of family; a family that had understood his need to get lost in his research as a way to shut out the pain of a daily world where hope was tested, tried, and eventually broken. Each of them: Jack, Sam, Teal'c and himself, all had wounds the rest of the team respected as off limits.

Somewhere along the way, the distance he had once needed just to survive started working against him. He too often played it safe instead of risking his personal emotions. He could be impassioned about the ills of the universe without risking that kicked in the gut, how am I supposed to keep breathing feeling. Time healed to an extent and while his rebuilt walls left him stronger and kept him safe from a debilitating pain, they also kept out a true measure of joy, the kind found only between two people.

Vala brought back the joy. It was that simple and that complicated.

He leaned back and took a sip of beer, not tasting the yeasty brew and continued to watch the woman who crashed into his life, and when he wasn't looking, through all his walls. With a high kick, she entered his world, catapulted him out of his comfort zone and dropped him into a conflicting morass of feeling.

From that first encounter, there had been an attraction, a kind of fascination, and even weaved among the lies and hair pulling frustration, a seed of a shared connection he scarcely admitted to himself. Nevertheless, when she unexpectedly returned to his life, he couldn't ignore the connection existed. Nothing had been the same since.

Vala did not respect boundaries or rather her definition of what those boundaries should be was very different. Whether he'd initially liked her seemingly overly familiar tendencies or not, they forced him to see the pieces missing from his life. For a long time, a combination of fear and stubbornness kept him from realizing or admitting Vala was the one who matched his empty spaces.

The trip to Atlantis had been as much about gaining distance and perspective as unlocking another mystery of the Ancients. He'd come home thinking about regrets and choices, lost opportunities, the brevity and unpredictability of life and the courage needed to tell someone how you really feel.

The lesson was still good today.

Daniel set his beer aside and walked to dark corner where Vala stood. She glanced up to see him coming. "Ah, Daniel, perfect. I've already picked something called "Yakity Yak" for Teal'c, you know, the irony and "Danger Zone" for Mitchell from that movie he likes with Katie Holms' husband before he was a couch jumper."

She tapped a finger against the glass protecting the song lists. "However, for Sam I can't decide between "Maneater", which I can only assume has little to do with cannibalism or the more obvious choice, "She Blinded Me with Science". What do you think?" Daniel hesitated and Vala nodded. "Ok, Blinded Me with Science it is."

She punched in the final code number on her selection as Daniel stepped close behind her, wrapped an arm around her waist and dropped a kiss on the nape of her neck.

"Daniel!" She hissed in a whisper, twisting to see if the rest of the team was watching. "Someone might see."

He wrapped his other arm around her middle and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Would that really be so bad?"

"What?" Vala turned around in his arms to face him, her hands falling lightly on his chest. "I don't understand."

"She figured us out. Sam. She knows about you and me."

"I didn't say a thing, I swear. I told you," she said with a poke to his chest, "I told you that you were smiling too much."

The crease between his eyes deepened, "It doesn't matter how she found out, but hasn't this gone on long enough?"

Vala stiffened. "What are you saying?"

"We both knew carrying on like this could only be temporary." He shook his head. "I know I've had my fill." Vala flinched within his arms. "It's been three months. That's long enough."

"Long enough?" She echoed incredulously.

"We work together, we sleep together, and with the exception of nights in the field, we are practically always together."

"And you're saying you need space," she stated, her tone dark and silky smooth.

Daniels eyebrows shot up. "Space? What?" His head jerked back. "No. No. What are you talking about?"

"Me?" She stiffened indignantly. "You're the one trying to break us up." Vala crossly blew a loose strand of midnight hair out of her eyes. "Well, I won't have it," she informed him, stamping her foot for emphasis and then clenching her fists in the front of his navy blue t-shirt. "We've been good together. I'm not going to let you throw us away just because Sam found out and you are panicking."

"Vala."

"No. Don't you Vala me. I'm not…mmmhhm." He silenced her with a deep kiss, using one hand to hold the side of her jaw and the other to knead the tense muscles in her neck. She made a tiny humming noise in the back of her throat. He pulled back after a moment and rested his forehead against hers.

"I'm not trying to break up with you. I'm not looking for space. I'm not panicking because Sam found out."

"You're not?"

He trailed the tips of his fingers around the curve of her cheek and raised his melting blue eyes to hers. "Vala, I've never felt surer of anything. You and I, we're here to stay. Got that?" In answer, she pushed up on her tiptoes, flung her arms around his neck and melted against him, not coming up for air until she wrenched a groan out of him. Somewhat mindful of their surroundings, she contented herself with that for now.

"So what were you saying?" She linked her hands lightly behind his neck and peered up at him expectantly. Daniel groaned a second time, but following her lead resettled his hands on her waist and returned to the original topic.

"Sam knows. I want the rest of our friends to know. I want the rest of the base to know."

She bit her lip anxiously. "If we asked her, Sam wouldn't say anything. Are you sure this is the right time?"

"Three months of missions should be enough to prove we can work together while in a relationship. Vala, I don't want to plan a weekend using code words. I'm tired of sneaking back to a cold room at precisely 4:45am in order to take advantage of security being distracted during their habitual third donut run and I don't," he paused and reached for Vala's hand, bringing it to his lips before holding it over his heart. "And I don't want to have to stop and remember where I am before deciding if I get to hold your hand."

Vala sighed dreamily. "Daniel, that's the most romantic thing you've ever said to me."

An impish grin tugged at his lips. "Well Valentine's Day is coming up in thirteen," he glanced at his watch and noted it was well past midnight, "no, make that in twelve days."

She leaned forward to nibble on his lower lip and murmured, "Decided to brush up a little bit?"

"A little bit." He murmured back before placing a kiss on her forehead. "So we tell everyone? No more hiding?"

"Sounds wonderful to me."

He gave her hand a little squeeze. "Letting everyone know still doesn't mean making out in the halls." A twinkle appeared in her eyes.

"How about in your office?" He raised an eyebrow. "My office?" She offered instead.

"You don't have an office."

"About that…wait," she pulled back, "you said twelve days until Valentine's Day. That makes today Feb the 2nd. Isn't that some holiday in of its self?"

Daniel cocked his head to the side. "I don't know if I'd call Groundhog's Day a true holiday."

"Groundhog's Day, yes, I know all about Groundhog's Day," she excitedly told him. "Mitchell picked it for movie night. Something about a large rodent with bad teeth and doing the same thing over and over until you get it right?"

"That was the movie. The actual Groundhog's Day tradition originates with sixteenth century German settlers and a tradition known as Candlemas Day which fell halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Superstition held that if the weather was fair, the second half of winter would be cold and stormy.

Interestingly enough Candlemas Day has an early origin in the Celtic celebration of Imbolc, whichliterally means "in the belly of the mother", while its original term, Oimelc, translates as "ewe's milk" or "the feast of ewe's milk". Both refer to the turning of winter to spring, as marked by the first milk of ewes as lambs begin to be born aaannnnd you really don't care, do you?"

She patted his cheek indulgently. "Darling the sound of your voice always does lovely things to my insides, but I think I prefer my understanding of the holiday."

"A large bucktoothed rodent and doing something over and over?"

She tipped her head back and pretended to ponder the question seriously. "I don't feel the rodent aspect contributes all that much. How about if we just stick to practicing over and over?"

"Did you have something in mind?" He asked with a sparkle in his eye and a dare on his lips.

"I'm willing to start here." She grabbed the collar of his leather jacket and pulled him closer, diving into the hot depths of his mouth.

"Until we get it right huh?" He panted.

"I can't say we've ever gotten it wrong," she answered while pressing kisses to the underside of his jaw, "but still, due diligence is important."

"Essential." He intoned while tilting his head so she had better access.

"Vital." She agreed while testing the strong chord in his neck with her teeth.

"Well, in the spirit of the holiday..."

**** ***** *****

"Nerves getting to you?" Sam teased from the sidelines. Cam was down to his last dart. Unless he completely missed the board, he actually would beat Teal'c for once.

"Nerves? Ha! There is nothing you or anyone can do or say that will make me blow this. I'm just savoring the moment."

He took careful aim at the dartboard and just as he pulled back to release his missile, Teal'c spoke. "The music has stopped, Colonel Mitchell." The dart clipped the edge of the target and clattered to the floor. Groans went up in the crowd and wager money was passed to the victors.

Colonel Cameron Mitchell paid the disappointed no heed and instead listened intently in the direction of the now silent speaker. "Crap. I don't hear music either." Keeping his head fixed on the dartboard in front of him, he asked casually, "Are they at the table?"

Teal'c turned his head slightly to the right. "They are not."

Cam rubbed at his forehead. "Tell me they're over at the bar."

"I cannot do so Colonel Mitchell."

Cam dropped head to his chest. "They're making out by the Jukebox again, aren't they?"

"Indeed."

"Who?" Sam strained to see past the crowd still encircling the dartboard. She caught a glimpse of Daniel leaning Vala back against the Jukebox, one hand caught up in her hair and the other anchored around her waist. Vala's arms were entwined about his neck and both were completely oblivious to any speculative looks. "Oh my."

Someone in the crowd shifted and she lost sight of the pair. She pointed in their direction. "This has happened before? I thought no one else was supposed to know."

"Seriously? Even ignoring that this is the third,"

"Fourth." Teal'c interjected.

"Thank you, fourth time the Daniel and Vala show played before a live audience, how am I supposed to not know when we've got Jackson wandering the halls wearing a grin plastered on his face?" He shook his head morosely. "I think he even was humming last week."

Teal'c nodded sagely. "Happy Together. As originally performed by the Turtles." Mitchell slid him a long concerned look.

"Does Landry know?" Sam asked wide-eyed.

Mitchell snorted. "The man's not blind or deaf and besides, the General is required to keep track of all," he looked around at the spectators nearby and chose his words carefully, "of all non-native personnel signing in and out of Cheyenne Mountain. He knows."

"And there isn't a problem with them working together?"

"Please. I have bigger problems when I keep them apart. As long as they keep that," he jerked his thumb toward the far corner of the bar, "off base or at least mostly out of sight, nobody cares. Correction, almost nobody cares." He caught Teal'c's eye and warned, "Trouble's headed for our lovebirds from 5 o'clock."

Sam craned her neck and spotted what had Cameron concerned. Four men, each the size of a side of beef and not generally better looking, stood at the bar pointing and sneering. The meanest of the lot knocked back a double shot of bourbon and prodded his group toward the corner. Sam frowned and muttered, "Oh boy."

"Something wrong?"

"No, just that the one in the back, he's part of the reason we were banned from the bar the first time around."

A wide grin spit his face. "Really?" He asked with glee, rubbing his hands together. "Teal'c, pack up your mug. Time to reenact another old SG-1 tradition."