Title: A Little Light Coercion.

(Originally posted on LJ for the Daniel/Vala 5th Anniversary Contest - Took 2nd place!)

By: Bkwurm1

Pairings: Daniel/Vala, some Cam/Lam, mention of Sam/Jack and Teal'c/Ishta

Rating: PG-13 to be safe

Summary: Vala plans a much belated celebratory spring break/anniversary at the cabin with the team, only to find her friends conniving behind her back with matchmaking on the mind. Toss in too much mud, a shared shower, and a rather pleasant misunderstanding and Vala won't ever forget the fifth anniversary of the day she and Daniel first met.

Part 5

Vala was through being considerate. Daniel was the one who insisted on barging into her bedroom. What happened next was on his head. She dropped the towel she had wrapped around her body, reached for the hem of her green camisole and pulled it up over her head. By the time her vision was unobstructed, she was alone in the bedroom. Apparently, her instincts had been correct. One wrong move and he was ready to retreat.

Vala sighed, but quickly finished changing into the dry set of under things. She stared at her luggage. Daniel was right. She didn't have anything suitable to keep her warm this week. She could slip on a pair of jeans, but right now all she wanted to do was curl up by the fire, so she instead pulled the quilt off the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. She peeked in the bunkrooms as she passed by. Daniel was in neither, nor was he in the bathroom. Just where had she sent him running?

She heard a car door shut and something tightened in her chest. He was leaving? She yanked open the front door calling his name. "Daniel!" She raced out into the heavy night before her eyes could adjust to the dark…which is why she almost ran into him on the porch. "Oh. There you are."

Some of her panic must have lingered on her face. He dropped the bags he was carrying and clutched her arms. "Is everything alright?"

She plastered on an unconcerned smile. "Of course, I…I just wanted to make certain you didn't stay out here too long and catch a chill." She glanced down and gestured to his lack of attire. He'd shoved on unlaced boots and still wore his towel slung low on his hips. Her bravado didn't fool him. He lifted his hand and brushed the back of it along her cheek.

"I'm not going anywhere." She closed her eyes, feeling a level of tension drain that she didn't want to justify, and leaned into his touch.

"Good," she sighed and then stiffened. What was she thinking? "Oh, good," she repeated more briskly. "I mean, naturally it's late and you had long drive and..."

"Vala it's only seven o'clock."

"Oh, well, it feels later, so dark and all."

"Maybe we should go inside?"

Sometimes a quiet retreat was the only answer. "I'll get the door."

She escaped inside. Despite the quilt around her shoulders, she was feeling the cold so she gravitated toward the hearth and the blazing fire licking its grates. The logs she'd decided to add when Daniel's arrived would keep the cabin toasty for the rest of the evening. She pulled an ottoman up close, closed her eyes and basked in the warmth. It was still second rate compared to the heat she'd found in Daniel's arms.

He set his bags down, unzipped one, and reached in to pull out a pair of sweats. He handed them to Vala. "Here, put these on," he instructed and then retrieved his bags and disappeared down the hall.

Vala thought about pulling on the softly lined blue sweatshirt, but it would reach midway down her thighs. Better to save it to sleep in. The powder pink camisole was no more revealing than many tank tops and she had the quilt to cozy up in so her arms didn't get cold. She did slip on the accompanying bottoms. She swam in them as well, but they had a drawstring she adjusted to keep them from falling off and her legs were chilled enough for her not to balk at the unflattering lumpiness they added to her hips. Dressed, she rewrapped the quilt and sat back down next to the fire.

Daniel joined her in the living room a few minutes later, dressed in a sweat suit set similar to the one he'd handed her, and clutching in his hand her forgotten pair of white socks. He pulled a footstool up to her chair and reached for her foot. Without a word, he smoothed on the first stocking.

"Thank you." Vala said politely.

He took her other foot and encased it with the remaining cotton twin, still not saying anything.

"Daniel." He paused from rising and sat back down, waiting for her to continue. "Why are you here?"

She was tired and weary of trying to read the mixed messages she was getting. "I don't mean here making sure my toes don't get cold." He opened his mouth, but she held up a hand and interrupted again. "And let's not pretend that your arrival and everyone else's departure is any kind of coincidence."

"No," a wry smile played on Daniel's lips. "I won't pretend otherwise."

She closed her eyes, feeling even more tired. A tiny part of her had still been hoping he'd deny being coerced into coming. "Right. Good. So, again, just to get everything out in the open, why are you here?"

Daniel hesitated and Vala pressed on, staring morosely at the fire, "On Wednesday you were quite articulate about not having any intention of joining the team and me at the cabin. So in order to get you to not only change your mind about coming to the cabin, but also be willing to subject yourself to our friends blatant matchmaking as they scattered to the five winds, I have to assume that whatever they bribed you with must be extraordinarily important to you. Therefore, if you just tell me what it was, I can decide if it is worth playing out this charade or if I should feel free to leave tomorrow.

"Bribe me? Nobody bribed me."

She slanted him a disbelieving look. "Right, so I bring up the idea of a little anniversary get away and you spent weeks nit picking the date of our first mission together, complaining about going mix crazy, categorically refusing to join us at the cabin before slinking off without a goodbye all so you can, what, make a grand entrance?"

"Mix crazy?" He rubbed at his temple. "You mean stir crazy. Look, I admit I reacted badly." He leaned forward and took her hand in his. "When you'd brought up the idea of taking a vacation, an anniversary vacation, I thought you wanted to spend some time with me. When I found out you'd invited the whole team I didn't handle it very well."

Vala shook her head and frowned in confusion. "I don't understand. I did want you to take some time off with me, so of course I invited the whole team, how else would I convince you to come?"

Daniel scrunched up his forehead. "Why would I want the whole team to come along on our first vacation together?"

She went still. Her heart started to race. She carefully moistened her lips and asked, "Are you trying to say that you wanted us to… start dating?"

"Start dating?" He squinted his eyes and looked at her as if she was crazy. "What are you talking about?"

Her hopes plummeted. "No to dating. Got it." She tilted her head, considering, "So, this is just about sex?"

Daniel's cheeks puffed out and turned a lovely shade of pink. "This is not just about sex!"

Vala pulled her hand out of his grasp. "Well, you're the one who doesn't want us to start dating!"

Daniel scrubbed his hands over his face. "Why would I, when we've already been dating for the last six months!"

"What!" She jumped up and stumbled away, leaving the quilt behind. "We have not." She hissed over her shoulder as she made to leave the room.

He rose and came after her, catching her before she reached the hallway. "Then what do you call the concerts, the plays, the dinners, the movie nights." He counted off their outings on his fingers.

She batted at his hand. "What you told me to call them, nothing but a few innocent jaunts between two friends and co-workers!"

"Vala, I only said that one time, years ago when you were kidnapped by the Trust." He approached her again, more slowly and then gently grasped her bare upper arms. "You had to know what we had was something more. This wasn't just one isolated dinner date. We ate together at almost every meal, got dressed up and went out three or four times a month, we have season tickets to the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, hell, we did karaoke two weeks ago."

"Actually, I did karaoke while you just watched," she corrected, letting her hands rest on his chest. He moved closer.

"But I was there." he slid his hands up and down on her arms, "And I was there holding your hand while the ugliest man on the planet crooned the most beautiful rendition I've ever heard of 'Wonderful Tonight'." He touched her chin and tilted her face up so she was staring into his mesmerizing blue eyes. "You can't tell me in that moment you were thinking we were just friends and co-workers."

"I hoped there was more but…" She swallowed and shook her head. "If what you are saying is true and you wanted us to go away together, then why did it take the combined efforts of all our friends to get you here?"

His hand brushed her cheek and then over her hair. Something tender lit his eyes. "You have it backwards. I'm not here because everyone else schemed to force me to come." His other hand rose so he could cradle her head in his hands. "I'm the one that forced everyone else to leave so I could have you to myself."

Her heart leapt. "You want to be here." She said it as a statement, not a question. Her pulse was beating fast and her blood singing through her veins.

"Yes." He nodded solemnly.

"We've been dating…for months." She played with the term in her mind, letting it slid back and forth. They were dating. They went out on dates. Who's dating in SG1? Why Daniel and Vala! Had the times they'd gone out with Cam and Dr. Lam count as double dates? She'd missed out on enjoying their elevated status for too long. She poked Daniel in the chest. "You should have told me."

A smirk played around his lips. "I thought you at least figured it out January 28th when I showed you the season tickets on the anniversary," he paused, "the real anniversary of the first time we met."

"In my defense, the first time we met I was using a completely different kind of calendar and though I knew the tickets came around the right time, I thought it was a coincidence."

"Maybe I should have said something earlier, but this was too important to me, I needed to take it slow."

A smile brightened her face. "Past tense?"

"Past tense." He agreed.

"So you were upset about the team trip because we weren't going to be alone."

"I overreacted."

Vala raised one of her jet-black eyebrows and Daniel added, "A lot. I overreacted a lot and badly. I am truly sorry." He stroked her hair and unleashed on her a sincere, melting expression that had she had any defenses against irresistible archeologists, would have left her defenses in a gooey puddle on the rug.

She slid her arms up and around his neck, linking her hands lightly. "And now you're here, ready to take it to the next level." She felt a heady mix of excitement and certainty.

He nodded. "I'm ready to go wherever this leads."

"Where do you think it will lead?" She cocked her head and shared with him a sly smile.

"To everything." He told her boldly.

"Everything?" He stole her breath and drove any thoughts of teasing away. She clutched at his back, "Daniel are you trying to say that you...," he interrupted her, threading his hands deep into her damp hair and pulling her mouth to his, giving her an answer that left her without any doubts as to how he felt. Heat and that rare commodity, happiness, rushed through her.

A few heart-pounding minutes later, he pulled back. "And what about you?" He leaned forward and stole another quick taste of her lips. "I know you're playing catch up, but I don't think I could have imagined what I've seen in your eyes."

Vala's eyes fluttered open at the slight strain she heard in his tone.

"That was real, right?" Daniel asked with a hint of vulnerability troubling his gaze.

"Oh, my Daniel." She rained kisses over his face. "The way I feel about you has always been real." She smiled and caressed the nape of his neck. "I thought I was the one waiting for you to catch up."

He gave her full answering grin. "No more waiting." He pressed her back against the hallway wall and kissed her again. Like everything Daniel did, he put his whole soul into it. His passion and affection poured out and she drank every bit up, eager to make certain he knew he wasn't alone.

"Worth it," she breathlessly gasped, "worth however very long you made me wait." She punctuated 'very' and 'long' with two quick pecks.

He brushed a kiss at her temple and then pulled her into a tight hug, sounding smug. "Aren't you glad I didn't leave the keys in the car?"

She laid he head on his shoulder and scoffed. "Please, if I'd had any intension of leaving I would have just hotwired it."

He pulled back just enough so he could look down at the women in his arms. "You weren't going to leave? Even though you thought I was only here because I was forced to be?"

"Why would I leave?" She lifted her hand and used her fingertips to trace the contour of his mouth. "How better to celebrate our belated anniversary than with a little light coercion?"

She leaned forward and nibbled at his lower lip. "At least it was a place to start. I had the whole week to convince you to stay for the right reasons," she lightly nipped at the corner of his mouth, "because you wanted to."

"It's what I want, definitely what I want." His voice roughened and he slid one hand around her waist, his fingers skimming over the tiny line of smooth skin exposed between the silky pink cami and her bunchy sweat pants. "Next time though, can we celebrate the anniversary without restaging the fight?"

She laughed, a deep throaty sound. "We'll have to think of something else to reenact, though I'd rather not shoot you." She arched her back against the wall and pressed up against his solid heat.

Fire flashed in Daniel's eyes and in a quick move she didn't see coming, he heaved her up over his shoulder. "Daniel!" She squealed and laughed his name.

He slapped her lightly on the rear and headed for the bedroom at the end of the hall. "I'm cashing in your rain check. One strip search, coming up."

The End