Cabin Fever

Onyx-dreams

I does not own SG-1 or any affiliated characters.

Daniel felt bad for Vala. It was to be her first Tau'ri Christmas on Earth and the woman had caught a strange cold off world that had rendered her quarantined on base. She had been real excited too because Jack had invited the gang out to his house for a Christmas get together.

And Teal'c hadn't helped by giving his rather overly pragmatic observations of what the holiday was all about. Gone was the history and religious story of the birth of Christ (Daniel hated this. It wasn't a Christian holiday at all. Just one that it had absorbed in its crusade to wipe out the existence of any other religion by assimilating it and its beliefs.) and in was the holiday expenditures and parties and gifts.

Oh yes…Daniel had been horrified when he'd heard Teal'c describe Christmas to the space pirate. He saw the cogs work away in her brain as she schemed anew on how to make him the poorest man in the world, poorer than after he had published his career suicide on how the pyramids were alien landing platforms. Poorer than he had been in college eating cup ramen every other day and praying for free food from parties.

But even with his stable financial future in jeopardy, poor Vala didn't deserve to be locked in the medical wing on base. And because he felt so bad watching her talk to Sam about how she wouldn't be able to make it, he made a decision. He called Jack immediately on his cell.

"Daniel."

"Jack."

"To what do I owe the phone call? Are you almost at the cabin?"

"Ahhh…no. See, I called for two things. One, I won't be joining you out the cab-"

"Oh for Christsakes. Are you seriously going to do your nerd work on Christmas and Christmas Eve?"

"Let me finish Jack. I said two things. Second, I need you to pull some of your mighty general rank around and find a way to let me smuggle Vala out of the medical bay and to my house where I can watch over her and still let her have some Christmas cheer."

"…somehow I think she'd rather stay in the med bay then celebrate with someone she knows to be a scrooge to her."

"I love your confidence in my abilities to be a friend Jack."

"I do my best. You really want your number one irritant to be set loose in your apartment?"

"She's sick. How much trouble can she get into?"

Jack had to strangle back a laugh at Daniel of all people saying that. "If I do this Daniel…I want pictures of the mayhem and you don't get to bitch about how destructive, annoying, ungrateful, flirtatious, spiteful, mischievous, conniving, -"

"I GOT IT JACK."

"Oh, and I get to observe from afar that you finish your little date that never got completed due to her getting whisked away from right under your nose."

"…it wasn't a date."

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that. You might believe it one day. So, do we have an accord?"

"Yes Captain Jack."

"Har har. Remember. These are more guidelines than actual rules and so are subject to change."

"See, that was Barbosa."

"I think I make a more stunning Kiera Knightly don't you?"

"I'm being serious Jack. She's miserable. For all my scrooge-like tendencies, even I would feel like an ass drinking egg-nogg while she sits bed-ridden in a mostly abandoned complex. Your cabin would be a people and stress overload from the partying, but with just me if she gets too tired she can go to bed in peace and quiet."

Jack pretended to think about this before giving out an over-dramatic sigh. "The things I do for you Daniel. I can probably arrange for the Odyssey to beam you both up and to your apartment. Let me hang up and I'll get back to you in about 15. Remember, pictures. If not for me, then for Vala to remember her first sickly Christmas locked in a snowed in house with you."

"Your faith amazes me."

"I call 'em how I seem 'em."

Daniel walked into the medical bay to find Vala surrounded by a pile of women's magazines, the ones she'd finished discarded on the floor. Vala looked up and regarded the archeologist with vague surprise. Her cold had fogged her up enough that intense concentration on anything was almost impossible.

"Aren't you supposed to be at O'Neill's? I heard there was a huge snowstorm coming through. You won't make it now."

"I decided not to go."

"You really are a kill-joy aren't you? What text are you trying to translate now?" Vala went back to thumbing non-chalantly through her current Vogue magazine, not really interested in her Daniel's answer.

"Well, if you're going to be a sour puss I guess I'll go by myself to my house. The Odyssey will be coming in 30 minutes and they were supposed to beam up 2 people. But you seem to be more interested in being here." Daniel shrugged but knew Vala was going to take his bait. He turned as if to walk out of the medical bay. She hated being cooped up on base more than anything. The sound of her magazine being put down on her bedspread was his cue.

"Wait…what did you say?"

Daniel stopped and turned half way to face her. "Oh nothing. Only got Jack to approve you to leave base and come to my house for the next couple of days to recuperate. Seems like you'd rather be here reading magazines alone though." Oh he had her hook, line, and sinker now.

"No! I'm good! Please get me out of the dreadful place Daniel. The idea of sitting here for two days with no one here and nothing to do is driving me nuts!" She immediately began to neatly collect her magazines into one pile and place them on the bedside table. She swung her legs off the bed and attempted to stand up but was immediately hit by dizzy spell. One of the first things this little off world cold messed with was inner ear function. It was like being drunk with all the inability to walk but none of the fun.

Daniel was immediately beside Vala. He gathered up her magazines from the table then looped an arm around her shoulders to help stabilize her. "Come on drunkard. Let's get you packed."

"God I wish I was just drunk…"

Watching Vala pack had been a combination of amusing, horrifying, and embarrassing. Even while sick as a dog the woman was determined play the vamp. He had to watch her sift through various lingerie items which he was sure she was making sure he saw them, all while picking out underwear and bras. That affair lasted about 15 minutes until she was done packing. To his surprise though, he saw her pull out a wrapped gift from one of her drawers and place it in her overnight back.

She turned and gave him that cheeky grin she always had when she was plotting something. "I was going to give it to you at Jack's cabin but now I'll just give it to you at your house on Christmas. Well, I'm done packing. Shall we make our way to the briefing room to wait?"

Daniel didn't ask what the gift was, though now his interest was peaked. Thankfully he didn't feel like an ass because he had actually gotten a gift for her for Christmas. What with Teal'c's little explanation of what the holiday was all about there was no way he was going to be able to avoid it.

"We shall." Daniel picked up Vala's bag which was mercifully light considering her normal packing tendencies, then again wrapped his arm around her shoulders so he could steer her straight through the hallways.

After much stumbling on Vala's part through the hallways they made it to the briefing room and sat down on the chairs at the table. Daniel made sure to keep his grip on Vala's bag so it would be beamed up with him. He watched her as she sagged down in the chair in gratefulness. Some light sweat had broken out on her forehead. Another symptom of the cold. Well, two symptoms really. Weakness and a light fever. He'd make sure that he kept a fire going in his fireplace and that she was basically smothered in blankets if he could help it. He didn't want her to get any sicker.

"I'm pissed that none of you got this damn cold. Just letting you know. I'm going to cough on all of them when we get back to the SGC and hope they catch it. Especially Mitchell. He was having way too much fun taunting me on my inability to walk straight." She scowled at the table a little bit before turning to Daniel and giving him a smile. "So, what do you have planned for us at your house?"

"Well, I have a few Christmas movies, and I made sure to get a real pine tree this year once I decided to spring you out of this place. It hasn't been decorated yet though, so you can help with that if you want. Also a lot of people bake cookies for the holidays. We can do that too."

He watched as Vala's smile brightened with each of his suggestions. Inside, he felt himself glow with pride that he could make this woman happy by just suggesting activities to do together. He was also proud that he could actually get her out of this place and make her feel less alone on a holiday when no one should ever be alone on Earth.

He felt the familiar tingle of the Asgard beams and grinned at Vala as she dematerialized at the same time as him. Somewhere in the back of his mind though, he knew this whole venture had the potential to become a regular Vala disaster. He was prone to stupidity when it came to the woman, he just prayed that it wouldn't strike on this occasion. He didn't want to spoil her first Christmas. He wanted it to be the standard she set all of her Christmas's to.

When they were beamed back down the first thing Daniel registered is that his dumb ass didn't leave any lights on in his house and it was dark outside. "Dammit…"

Vala stumbled forward after she was beamed down and her shins slammed into his coffee table as she attempted to regain her balance. Daniel very swiftly moved next to her and caught her before she fell over. "Are you a vampire Daniel? It's damn dark in here."

"I know. My mistake. I wasn't thinking about it being dark when I when I left to the SGC today. Here." Daniel walked Vala around the coffee table and sat her down on his couch. He placed her bag next to her. "Stay put. Going to turn on the kitchen light and lamps in this room."

"Daniel dear, I can't walk. Short of crawling I'm not going anywhere." Daniel rolled his eyes in the dark at her humor.

"Yeah yeah." He walked carefully, avoiding where he knew things to be and using the limited night vision he had to gauge where they were. Eventually he made it to the kitchen first and turned on the overhead light. Now able to see into his living room a bit, he came back and turned on two lamps in the room. He was not a huge fan of bright overhead lighting, preferring subdued lamp light instead.

He saw Vala looking around his living room with interest. "It's almost the way I had imagined it. Some small differences. Lot neater than I thought it would be. Your office is usually mess and I thought it would translate here." She laughed as she saw her Daniel shake his head.

"I'm not that messy. Besides, I spend more time at the SGC than I do at home. I'm sure if I actually lived out of my house it'd be a little messier." He moved over to sit next to Vala on the couch. "I have a couple chores I need to get done before we can start on any sort of Christmassy activity. I have to drag the tree inside and also start the fire in the fire place. Power has a tendency to go out in big snow storms and I don't have a generator so it's best I have a fire going constantly just in case. Would you like me to show you to the guest bedroom so you can start unpacking a little?"

Vala nodded her head. "That would be peachy."

Daniel then stood up, collected Vala's bag, then helped her up from her sitting position on the couch. With his arm wrapped around her shoulders they made their way down the hallway where there were four doors. Two on the right, one on the left, and one on the end. All of them were shut. Daniel led Vala to the door on the right and opened it, flipping the light switch as they entered.

In the room was a queen sized, four poster oak bed. It actually had curtains hanging down from it that could be slid shut. The room had a Victorian décor, with a matching armoire and dresser. There was a massive but simple oriental rug on the floor with twisting flowers and vines done in light pastel colors.

"This is the room you'll be staying in. The bathroom is across the hall from your door. The door next to it is the linen closet. You can find towels and extra blankets in there. At the end of the hall is my room. I'd forbid you to go into my room but I know you'd go in there anyways."

Vala gave him a grin but it faded a bit when she saw he was giving her a very serious look. "I'm giving you free access to my house and everything in it. But just like how you have things in your past that you don't discuss, there are things I don't discuss or am not ready to in my past. So if you find something that interests you and you ask me about and I don't answer, don't get angry or upset. It's simply something I don't want to talk about. Do you understand?"

Vala nodded her head. Daniel then broke his serious gaze and smiled.

"Okay then. Happy unpacking and hunting while I go get this tree set up inside and get a fire started."

Vala wandered over to the armoire first and opened it to find a few empty hangers to her surprise. She was afraid that she was going to have to fold most of her clothes up into the dresser. She turned toward the bed and leaned forward over it to grab her bag and drag it toward her. She opened it and began taking everything out, laying them in neat folded piles. She took all her blouses and sweaters that she had brought and hung them up, enjoying the cedar smell that the armoire was putting out. Next she tottered precariously over to the dressers, her hand balancing her on the bed. She transferred her jeans and underthings into the drawers and placed her small amount of jewelry on the top of the dresser.

Grabbing her toiletry bag, she stumbled her way across the hallway and opened the door into the bathroom, her first exploration of Daniel territory on her own.

It was tastefully done in tans and white. The walls were a light golden brown, and there was a huge counter top with two sinks and a large mirror over it. The flooring was cream tile with a tan carpet laying over it. Opposite the sinks was the towel rack with two fluffy white towels hanging off. She glanced to see that Daniel had foregone the normal bathtub and instead had a huge shower area with sliding glass doors. The showerhead was one that came from the ceiling instead of the wall like the normal Tau'ri showerheads she was used to seeing. Next to the counter area was of course the toilet, which never changed from SGC to Sam's house to public restrooms. Vala placed her tooth brush and paste along with her various hair care products on the countertop surface then took her shampoo and conditioner over to the shower and placed them inside. She squeaked when she almost toppled head first into the wall as she bent over.

"You alright Vala?" Daniel heard the squeak of distress coming from the bathroom as he shifted items around in his living room to make space for the small tree he had bought. The damn thing was already shedding needles like crazy on his rug. This is why he normally had the fake plastic tree if he ever set it up for the holidays. None of this shedding nonsense.

"I'm fine darling. Just a little stumble is all. However if you can make the world stop going topsy turvy every 10 seconds I'd be grateful."

Daniel chuckled a bit. He stood back and decided that the little corner of the room next to the fireplace and the bookcase that he had cleared out was suitable for the tree to go up in now. He had made sure that the base was screwed onto the trunk securely before lifting it off the floor and standing it up straight in the corner. After that he knelt down and put the tree skirt on that would hopefully catch a good amount of any sap and needles that decided to drip or fall off respectively. He heard her walk unsteadily down the hallway back into the living room.

He turned to see her smiling up at the tree he had put up. "It's lovely darling. I'm finished unpacking, but I think I'd like to sit down for bit." Walking unsteadily once the wall was no more, Vala carefully made her way back to Daniel's couch where she plopped down unceremoniously. From her new vantage point she watched as Daniel walked out the sliding door to his back yard to his wood pile. It was already starting to snow heavily as he lifted the tarp to grab a few cords of wood. Mentally she drooled as the snow stuck to his short unkempt hair and across his shoulders. Upon reentering his house though, Vala shivered as the wave of cold air hit her. To her delight Daniel kept a throw on his couch and she immediately tossed it around herself and tucked her legs under her.

Not really one to find fires being lit interesting, Vala snagged the remote off the coffee table and turned the TV over the fireplace on and began channel surfing.

As he placed the cords of wood into the fireplace along with newspaper to help start it, Daniel watched Vala out of the corner of his eye. He could already tell that she was getting very tired though he knew she would never admit it. The way her eyes would occasionally drift shut and her grip would loosen on the remote. She also still looked cold though. The throw on the couch was not what he would really call a true blanket. It was more a decoration than anything. He returned his attention to the fire and finally got the wood to catch after a few minutes.

Standing up he saw that Vala was still halfway fighting falling asleep. "Hey Vala, you look really tired. You ready to go to sleep?"

She snapped out of a nod that was leading to a doze and looked at him in a half confused expression. "Hm? Oh, no. I'm fine darling. Wide awake. Though I admit to being a tad cold. This is a horrible excuse for a blanket."

"That's because it wasn't really meant to keep people warm. I'll grab a better blanket." With that Daniel strode down the hallway to the linen closet. While he was there, Vala decided that she might like to lay down a bit. Her dizziness didn't always strike just when she was standing up. It was a good thing she wasn't prone to motion sickness or else she would be even more miserable than she already was, what with her world deciding to start spinning at random times. Grabbing one of the large and cushy pillows on the couch she placed it under her head as she sprawled out on the couch. Seconds later she heard Daniel walk up behind the couch and place something on the back of it. The throw was pulled gently off her body and she gave another shiver of cold until a significantly heavier and thicker blanket was laid over her. She glanced at it and saw it was a huge blue quilt.

Daniel walked back around in front of the couch and sat down next to where her feet were. "It was a blanket that my grandmother had made. Very old. Also very warm." He smiled at Vala while she ran her hand over it and smoothed it out, looking at the stitching. Her shivering had toned down thanks to the slow heat that the fireplace was beginning to put out and the blanket.

"Want to watch a movie until you finally admit to being tired?" He watched an indignant look cross Vala's face at being called out but then she smiled and nodded her head.

"What do you have in mind to watch?" She pulled her knees up to her chest with the blanket in tow, and wrapped her arms around them while looking at Daniel.

"I have a ton of Christmas movies. Counter to many beliefs that I am a scrooge when it comes to holidays, I do enjoy Christmas. Any adult who was raised in the States has to be insane to not like the holiday. I think we'll watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer tonight though. Nothing like Hermes and Yukon Cornelius to brighten your night."

Daniel stood up and walked over to his veritable wall of shelves and pulled out a huge DVD folder. He unzipped it and began leafing through it until he came across the movie he had been talking about. Pulling it out and closing the binder again, he walked over to where the TV hung over the fireplace and pressed a button on the side, causing a tray to pop out. He placed the disc in and gently pushed the tray shut. He walked back over to the couch, placed the binder on the coffee table and sat next to Vala's feet again. With remote in hand, he changed the input on the TV to play the DVD and increased the volume. He smiled as he watched Vala as she watched the TV intensely as the previews started. Call him crazy but he enjoyed being here spending time with Vala.

Because he had sat down while Vala's feet had been perched close to her body, he caught her halfway through the movie looking indecisive about stretching out across the couch again. Being the vamp in a public place was one thing for her, in Daniel's personal territory it was something else altogether. Plus she didn't want to ruin her first Christmas on Earth by pissing her host off. To her surprise, Daniel made her decision for her and grabbed her ankles gently and pulled her legs straight over his lap. He made sure the blanket was still covering her. He gave Vala a small smile. "Don't get too used to this, but I'll pamper you while you're sick." She smiled back at him, then returned to the fascinating movie about a reindeer that was horrendously animated. She snuggled into the blanket and before she knew it, she had passed out.

Daniel had known she was going to fall asleep as soon as she had stretched out. She'd been fighting off the sleep nods when the movie his dull stretches. Grabbing the remote, he turned the TV off then had a personal debate as to doing one of three things. He could leave Vala on the couch to sleep, he could wake her up and lead her down the hallway to her room, or he could pick her up and carry her to her room without disturbing her sleep too much. As much as he loved his couch, it had been the cause of some serious neck pain upon waking up on it. And if he woke her, she would insist that she wasn't tired and that they finish the movie. Leaving one option for Daniel to carry out, though he eyed his narrow hall dubiously. He would be the person to accidently bang her head into the wall while carrying her.

Decision made though, he gently picked up Vala's legs so he could stand up. Placing them back down once he was standing, he made his way down the hall way to Vala's room and pulled the blankets and sheets down so he'd be able to lay her down only once. He made his way back to the living room and bent over, sliding his hands around her shoulders and under her knees. He picked her up slowly, trying not to jostle her around too much. Once she was secure, he walked down the hallway, her warm breath puffing rhythmically against his neck in her sleep. Standing next to her bed, he placed her down gently. She immediately rolled onto her side and mumbled something underneath her breath. Daniel frowned as he pulled her sheets and heavy comforter up to her chin.

He'd forgotten about that little detail. It'd been months since SG-1 had bothered to stay overnight on a planet so he hadn't really been privy to it in a while. He knew Sam knew about Vala's little secret, and they had talked about telling others then decided not to.

Vala had night terrors. She never screamed, but many a night in the field, where she would pitch her tent next to his and away from others, he'd hear her muttering frantically in her sleep. On more than one occasion he'd woken up to her crying or unzipping his tent flap and falling asleep next to him in fear of her sleep demons. He never said anything to her about it, just accepted it. The nights when she would sneak into his tent to sleep next to him didn't even bother him. She'd always be gone before dawn when everyone would wake up.

When he snapped out of his thoughts, he found his hand had strayed out and tucked a loose strand of Vala's hair behind her ear. His body often expressed feelings he knew he had purposefully shoved into the dark recesses of his mind. The subconscious had a funny way of doing that. Sighing to himself he walked out of Vala's room and closed the door until there was just a sliver of light from the hallway leaking in. He meandered into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from his fridge. He wasn't tired yet so he might as well get a small amount of work done before he went to bed. He walked out into the living room and pulled a few old books and a notebook out from his backpack and sat down on the couch to do some translations.

Vala bolted up in her bed, choking down tears and screams. Yet again, even with Qetesh gone from her body, all the horrible memories she left continued to plague her almost every night. The few times she got any respite from them were when she drank herself to oblivion or those very few nights she snuck into Daniel's tent when they were off world. There was a sort of aura he gave off that no one else seemed to. It soothed away her terrors. Maybe it had to do with the bracelets she'd used on him or even the communication device. Something about being in his presence calmed her fears.

She shivered as she finally felt the cool air pool around her back because of the light sweat on her body. She didn't want to be alone right now. This would be another of those nights where she would swallow her pride and seek out Daniel's company. Damned be the time of night. Keeping the quilt wrapped around her shoulders, she stood up unsteadily and stumbled her way to the door. Mercifully Daniel had left it cracked open so light from the hallway could leak in.

Stepping into the hall and using the wall heavily to guide her down to the living room, Vala had to give a small smile at the sight that greeted her. Only her Daniel would work himself silly even on a holiday. He had passed out on the couch with his notes and books sitting in his lap and next to him on the furniture. The fire had almost died out, with only a few red embers left in testament to its prior existence.

Steadying herself for a second, she then lunged lightly for the back of the couch. Her impact hardly stirred the archeologist from his slumber, causing her to give a sigh of relief. She carefully worked her way around the couch until she sat down quietly next to him. She didn't want to wake him. He looked to peaceful and the worry lines that normally marred his forehead were smoothed away, making him look even more handsome to Vala. His glasses had slipped halfway down the bridge of his nose and she carefully took them off and placed them on the coffee table in front of him. She then began to mark the pages in all the books he had sitting around him and placed them on the coffee table too. The next bit was going to be tricky. If he kept sleeping sitting up, his neck was going to hate him in the morning and then she'd have to deal with a grumpy Daniel.

She took the quilt she had wrapped around her and placed it on the back of the couch for now. Sliding off the couch, she knelt next to him and reached up and placed her hands lightly on his shoulders and began to slowly push him over sideways until he was finally laying on his side on the couch. The only indication he'd given to this disturbance the whole time was a light snore. Vala then struggled and managed to get his legs propped up on the couch also. Once he was laid out on the couch, Vala tugged the quilt off it's back and spread it over Daniel's sleeping form, making sure he was all covered except his head.

She smiled at his sleeping form and then couldn't help herself. She leaned forward pressed a light kiss onto Daniel's forehead. "Sleep well my Daniel."

She crawled along the floor and systematically turned off all the lights in the living room before crawling over to the hallway and down its length. Once she reached her room she suddenly decided that she didn't want to be in bed by herself. But she couldn't very well fit herself on the couch with Daniel either. She eyed his door at the end of the hallway. "Oh why the hell not. He said I had the run of his house."

Mind made up, she made her way to his door and slowly opened it. She gave a cursory glance around, not really interested in exploring at the moment. She was still very tired. She finally spied his own queen size sleigh bed and crawled into it, pulling the covers up to her chin. She pulled one of his pillows close and took in his light scent that covered it. It only took seconds for her to drift off to oblivion, into a sleep that was not haunted by Qe'tesh.

A/N: Day one Daniel and Vala lock up. This is turning out really good.