This is my first fanfic and it hasn't been beta'd so I apologise if it's a bit rough. I have written very little before but this idea came into my head and it wanted to be put down on paper, so here it is! By the way, some of the spellings may look a bit odd to anyone who is not from the UK.

Rating: T (very mild references to sex)

Genre: Humour/romance

Spoilers/Warnings: none

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, names or concepts relating to Stargate SG1. This fiction is written for personal use only and not for any commercial purposes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Trust me, Sam, I'm still in with a chance on this one."

"Well, it doesn't look that way to me. You've only got...what is it - four more days?"

Samantha Carter raised an eyebrow and gave her companion a knowing grin. With his usual optimism, Cam Mitchell was refusing to admit defeat, but she knew he was out of luck this time. "Just face it, you aren't going to win this," she continued.

"We'll see," Cam drawled, looking towards her with what was meant to be an enigmatic expression. The two officers stepped into the lift and their voices faded away as the doors closed behind them. A few seconds later, there was a movement in the recessed doorway that they had just passed and a figure detached itself from the shadows, slipping quietly away down the corridor. The eavesdropper turned a corner and stopped briefly, before entering the office of Dr Daniel Jackson.

"Did you know that Sergeant Harriman is running a book on when we are going to sleep together?"

As the familiar voice shattered his peaceful sanctuary, Daniel resisted the temptation to look up. Instead he kept his eyes focussed on the ancient artefact he was studying and took a deep breath before replying, "Yes, as a matter of fact I did."

He could tell that Vala Mal Doran was not satisfied with this answer, delivered in a casual, flat tone of voice that she was bound to see as a challenge. How dare he react so nonchalantly to her exciting piece of news! She flounced towards his desk and stood over him, hands on her hips in a pose of exaggerated affront.

"Just how long have you known about this?" she demanded accusingly. Daniel took his time in responding, knowing that she would find his lack of interest infuriating. "I don't know," he said, still looking straight ahead, "four or five months I guess."

"Four or five months and you didn't tell me!" Vala squawked, before huffing and going on, "why am I always the last person to find out about these things?" Daniel merely shrugged and rolled his eyes at this absurd complaint. In fact the former space pirate always had an ear to the SGC grapevine and he was surprised that she hadn't heard about Walter's little betting pool before now.

Seeing that her phoney indignation was having no effect, Vala decided to change her tactics. She carefully perched herself on his desk - first checking that she wasn't about to sit on his glasses again - and leaned over so that she was in his line of sight. With her most flirtatious smile, she declared "well, I wish I had known about this earlier. I think it's absolutely wonderful! Do you think the nice sergeant would let me place a bet?" She winked at him cheekily.

Daniel sighed heavily and looked up at her. "I didn't tell you because I knew that you would react like this," he scolded, "I'm not interested in the misguided activities of some of our colleagues. And no, I very much doubt that you would be allowed to bet on this particular outcome."

"Oh, that's a pity," she said with an unrepentant smile. In spite of his censorious manner, she had a distinct impression that Daniel was privately amused by the subject. However, now was not the time to pursue this conversation - she had something else on her mind.

"So, where are we going for dinner?" she asked brightly, wriggling her shoulders in a perky way. She was rewarded with a slightly confused frown and a pause while the archaeologist was obviously wondering if he had forgotten something. "Er...we aren't going to dinner," he replied slowly.

Vala gave a slight pout and put on her best wheedling voice. "But I'm hungry and there's no-one else around," she appealed, "Mitchell's gone to see an old friend, Muscles is off-world and Sam said something about a fishing trip."

Daniel tried to look unimpressed but she could sense that he was wavering and she pushed her case. "You have to eat too, you know. You've been working on that piece of old whatever-it-is all day and I don't suppose you had any lunch."

She was right, but he wasn't about to admit it. "That 'piece of whatever-it is', as you call it, is a very important artefact that could reveal a lot of information about the late Minoan civilisation. Besides it's a bit early for dinner, anyway," he protested, "it's only..." The sentence trailed off as he glanced at his watch and realised that it was much later than he had thought. It wasn't unusual for him to lose track of time when he was engrossed in his research and he was surprised to see that it was after seven thirty. Vala gave him another coaxing look and he could feel his resolve crumbling.

Twenty minutes later, they were sat in one of the side booths of a restaurant not far from the base. They had already ordered and while they waited for the food to arrive Vala returned to their earlier conversation.

"Apparently, Colonel Mitchell bet that we would finally 'get it together' this Saturday," she informed Daniel with a mischievous glint in her eye. "I heard him telling Sam that he thought he still had a chance to win the pool." She smiled at him with an openly lascivious expression.

The look on her companion's face left her in no doubt about his opinion of Cameron's chances. "Well then, he's going to be disappointed," he remarked drily.

"Come on Daniel, you can't tell me that you don't find all this just a little bit entertaining," she teased, "from what I heard, even General Landry has made a wager."

"Yes, I had heard that too," he replied and, although his tone was disapproving, he could no longer hide the amusement in his eyes. Suppressing a grin, Vala feigned disappointment as she continued, "I still think it's a shame that I can't place a bet myself."

He gave her that rare lopsided smile that did something funny to her insides. "I think you might have an unfair advantage," he pointed out logically, "and besides, I don't think you can put a bet on something that has already happened."

"I suppose you're right," she conceded. "So do you think we should let them know? Put them out of their misery, so to speak." The blue eyes twinkled as he reached across the table and took her hand. "Oh, I think we can keep them guessing a bit longer..."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------