One For the Team
Jul. 29th, 2011 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stringertheoryTitle: One For the Team
Rating: PG
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Cameron Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran, Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter
Word Count: 1709
Categories: friendship, humor, drama, angst
Spoilers/Warnings: Set shortly after "The Shroud". Knowledge of "The Quest" duo and "The Shroud" will enhance the experience. Mild spoilers for the same.
Summary: Written for the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sg1friendathon: "Cam, Vala. 'Congratulations. Now you really are one of us.'"
A sharp rap on her door one night brought Vala out of the book she was reading. Not expecting company, and with a reputation to uphold, she snapped the novel shut and quickly shoved it under her pillows. Once settled back with a fashion magazine in hand, she called for the visitor to enter.
The door swung open and Cam's head appeared, the rest of him following it into the room once he made certain she was decent. Vala smirked faintly at his tentativeness. He had been especially careful in visiting her room since two weeks before, when he had barged in after knocking without waiting for so much as a “Yes?” from inside.
“You busy?” he asked, not waiting for an answer. “Good. Come on.”
“Where are we going?” Vala asked, sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.
“Out.”
“Off-world?” she asked, eying his civilian attire with a small frown. They didn't have another mission scheduled for a week yet.
“No,” Cam clarified, “out. Come on.” He glanced around as if looking for something. Spotting the coat tree by the door, he grabbed one of the coats there and slung it over his arm. He waited somewhat impatiently as she pulled on her shoes and crossed the room.
“'Out' where?”
“Out,” he repeated again. “Let's go.”
He motioned with his free hand to the open door. Giving him a look, Vala took the coat he held and replaced it on the rack. Selecting another, she draped that one back over his arm and preceded him into the hall, ignoring the eye-roll he gave her. He pulled the door shut behind him and they made their way down the hall.
“So we're going somewhere?” she prompted.
“Thought you might like to get off base for a few hours,” he said with a half-shrug, “have a little downtime.”
“A little downtime where?” she asked as they joined Lieutenant Parks in the elevator. Vala gave the lieutenant a quick grin and a wink before returning her attention to Cam.
“You'll see,” was Cam's cryptic answer.
Vala filled the time it took for them to ride to the surface and get to the car by guessing at their destination. She began with the relatively small number of places she had already patronized before moving on to the only slightly longer list of places she had heard others talk about, but had not yet visited herself. By the time they got out onto the highway, she was guessing in generalities.
“Fancy restaurant?”
“No.”
“Hole-in-the-wall diner?”
“Nope.”
“Ice cream shop?”
“That's a good idea, but no.”
“Laser tag?”
Cam spared her a quick look as he navigated a turn. “Laser tag?”
“I read about it on the internet. According to the listings I pulled up for our area, there is a laser tag arena in Colorado Springs.” Vala shrugged. “It sounded like fun.”
“It probably would be,” he conceded, his tone thoughtful. “But that ain't where we're going.”
Vala watched buildings float past the window while she puzzled over it more. Their sedate pace and the hum of the engine was making her a bit drowsy. She enjoyed riding with Sam, who drove with a sort of restless abandon that made landmarks whip past in a blur of color and shape. Sam's love of speed that was just this side of reckless was something Vala understood all too well, and she liked how it contrasted against the calm, controlled Sam. Cam, however, was driving slowly enough that she could read the numbers on the houses they were passing. She didn't recognize any of them.
“Are we going to a party?” she asked.
“Sort of,” Cam admitted.
“What sort of a party is it? Birthday, anniversary, random Tuesday...?”
“It's less a party than a get-together,” Cam hedged, slowing even further as he turned onto what was unmistakably a residential street. “Just some friends hangin' out.”
“Some friends—?”
Vala fell silent as they rolled to a stop outside a quaint house with a tidy front garden. Every window glowed and as she looked more closely, she caught a glimpse of Daniel stepping back from one of them. He looked over his shoulder into the deeper parts of the house, no doubt letting the others know that they had arrived. For a second, Vala just stared at what, she calculated, had to be Sam's home.
“Let's go in,” Cam said, his voice kind as he cracked open his door.
Vala nodded, not quite able to get words past the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat. She slid out of her seat and joined Cam on the sidewalk. Cam led her up the path with a hand on the small of her back, and the door opened before he could raise a hand to knock. Daniel was there, a warm smile on his face even as he stood aside to let them in.
“About time you guys got here,” he said, helping Vala out of her coat.
“Sorry,” Cam apologized, “I got waylaid by Landry longer than I expected.”
He hooked his coat up beside the others there and led Vala and Daniel into the back of the house. Daniel bustled Vala along in front of him as she attempted to stop and stare into every room they passed. The short hallway opened into a kitchen and den area that looked cozy and remarkably well-lived in for someone who spent as much time at work as Sam did. Sam herself rose from the sofa as they entered, Teal'c doing the same from beside her. She had a glass of wine in her hand and she smiled at them in welcome, the smile shifting into something like a grin as her eyes fell on Cam.
“Landry?” she asked simply.
“Yeah,” he sighed.
“Told you so,” she said as she breezed into the kitchen. She pulled another wine glass from the cupboard and turned to Vala. “Would you like red or white?”
Vala, still taking in the surroundings, blinked at her in confusion. “What?”
Sam held up a bottle of wine in each hand. “Red or white?”
“Oh,” Vala said. “Red, please.”
As Sam poured the wine, topping off Daniel's glass and refilling her own with white, Cam strode over to the refrigerator and pulled it open. He disappeared behind the door for a few seconds, popping up to waggle a bottle of cranberry juice at Teal'c.
“Teal'c, you need a refill?”
It was only then that Vala noticed the glass in Teal'c's hand. It was not a wine glass, and though the liquid inside was red, the color was too weak to be the cabernet Sam had poured. Vala made a mental note of the preference.
“No, thank you, Colonel Mitchell. I am fine.”
Cam bent behind the door again and emerged a second later with a beer in hand. He cracked the top with a sound of satisfaction and joined the others as Daniel handed Vala her wine. Vala realized that they had formed a loose circle in the space between the den and kitchen. She looked around, somewhat bemused, a half smile forming on her face.
“What's all this for?” she asked.
Sam and Daniel shared a quick glance, then looked to Cam, who had apparently been the orchestrator of the meeting. His expression was serious, and for a heartbeat Vala worried that she had committed some sort of egregious wrong and the entire evening was to be a—what did they call it?—a “dressing down” for her actions. But the feeling passed just as quickly as it had come, the foolishness of such a thought rapidly overtaken by her curiosity.
Cam appraised her for a second, his otherwise relaxed demeanor spoiled by an unusually sharp gaze. “It's just the team getting together, doing what teams do,” he said casually.
“Like what—board games?” she replied with a tentative smile.
“You've gone through losing a teammate,” Cam said, tilting his beer in her direction. “This is the getting them back part.”
Vala dropped her eyes to the glass in her hand, deliberately not looking at Daniel, though she could feel his gaze on her. Her stomach twisted unpleasantly, a faint memory of the worry that had plagued her since Merlin's cave. But Daniel's presence beside her, warm and reassuring, with Teal'c on her other side and Cam and Sam just a few feet away, washed out the memory. She felt a smile of relief and joy and belonging threatening to spread across her face, and she bit her lip to hold it in.
“Oh,” she said as nonchalantly as she could manage, “so no board games, then?”
She looked back up to find Cam watching her with a mixture of fondness and exasperation. Sam was beaming beside him, and even Teal'c and Daniel had small smiles on their faces.
“How about a toast?” Sam suggested.
“A toast, yeah,” Cam said, grinning crookedly. He held out his beer, and everyone else did the same with their glasses. Pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts, he swept the group with a glance. “To teams: the family of experience.”
There was a traffic jam of arms as everyone clinked glasses and drank to the toast. Vala savored her first mouthful of a new wine and glanced around the room. She looked back to Cam.
“Now what?”
Everyone shared looks.
“Board games?” Daniel suggested, heading over to an armchair.
“Exactly,” Cam said, following him. “Board games.”
Sam laughed and Vala followed her over to the sofa. As they settled in around the coffee table, Vala met Cam's eyes. His expression was understanding, and he gave her the flash of a crooked smile. She smiled back, holding his gaze for a moment, then turned to build an alliance with Teal'c for their game of Pictionary.
Rating: PG
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Cameron Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran, Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter
Word Count: 1709
Categories: friendship, humor, drama, angst
Spoilers/Warnings: Set shortly after "The Shroud". Knowledge of "The Quest" duo and "The Shroud" will enhance the experience. Mild spoilers for the same.
Summary: Written for the
sg1friendathon: "Cam, Vala. 'Congratulations. Now you really are one of us.'"A sharp rap on her door one night brought Vala out of the book she was reading. Not expecting company, and with a reputation to uphold, she snapped the novel shut and quickly shoved it under her pillows. Once settled back with a fashion magazine in hand, she called for the visitor to enter.
The door swung open and Cam's head appeared, the rest of him following it into the room once he made certain she was decent. Vala smirked faintly at his tentativeness. He had been especially careful in visiting her room since two weeks before, when he had barged in after knocking without waiting for so much as a “Yes?” from inside.
“You busy?” he asked, not waiting for an answer. “Good. Come on.”
“Where are we going?” Vala asked, sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.
“Out.”
“Off-world?” she asked, eying his civilian attire with a small frown. They didn't have another mission scheduled for a week yet.
“No,” Cam clarified, “out. Come on.” He glanced around as if looking for something. Spotting the coat tree by the door, he grabbed one of the coats there and slung it over his arm. He waited somewhat impatiently as she pulled on her shoes and crossed the room.
“'Out' where?”
“Out,” he repeated again. “Let's go.”
He motioned with his free hand to the open door. Giving him a look, Vala took the coat he held and replaced it on the rack. Selecting another, she draped that one back over his arm and preceded him into the hall, ignoring the eye-roll he gave her. He pulled the door shut behind him and they made their way down the hall.
“So we're going somewhere?” she prompted.
“Thought you might like to get off base for a few hours,” he said with a half-shrug, “have a little downtime.”
“A little downtime where?” she asked as they joined Lieutenant Parks in the elevator. Vala gave the lieutenant a quick grin and a wink before returning her attention to Cam.
“You'll see,” was Cam's cryptic answer.
Vala filled the time it took for them to ride to the surface and get to the car by guessing at their destination. She began with the relatively small number of places she had already patronized before moving on to the only slightly longer list of places she had heard others talk about, but had not yet visited herself. By the time they got out onto the highway, she was guessing in generalities.
“Fancy restaurant?”
“No.”
“Hole-in-the-wall diner?”
“Nope.”
“Ice cream shop?”
“That's a good idea, but no.”
“Laser tag?”
Cam spared her a quick look as he navigated a turn. “Laser tag?”
“I read about it on the internet. According to the listings I pulled up for our area, there is a laser tag arena in Colorado Springs.” Vala shrugged. “It sounded like fun.”
“It probably would be,” he conceded, his tone thoughtful. “But that ain't where we're going.”
Vala watched buildings float past the window while she puzzled over it more. Their sedate pace and the hum of the engine was making her a bit drowsy. She enjoyed riding with Sam, who drove with a sort of restless abandon that made landmarks whip past in a blur of color and shape. Sam's love of speed that was just this side of reckless was something Vala understood all too well, and she liked how it contrasted against the calm, controlled Sam. Cam, however, was driving slowly enough that she could read the numbers on the houses they were passing. She didn't recognize any of them.
“Are we going to a party?” she asked.
“Sort of,” Cam admitted.
“What sort of a party is it? Birthday, anniversary, random Tuesday...?”
“It's less a party than a get-together,” Cam hedged, slowing even further as he turned onto what was unmistakably a residential street. “Just some friends hangin' out.”
“Some friends—?”
Vala fell silent as they rolled to a stop outside a quaint house with a tidy front garden. Every window glowed and as she looked more closely, she caught a glimpse of Daniel stepping back from one of them. He looked over his shoulder into the deeper parts of the house, no doubt letting the others know that they had arrived. For a second, Vala just stared at what, she calculated, had to be Sam's home.
“Let's go in,” Cam said, his voice kind as he cracked open his door.
Vala nodded, not quite able to get words past the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat. She slid out of her seat and joined Cam on the sidewalk. Cam led her up the path with a hand on the small of her back, and the door opened before he could raise a hand to knock. Daniel was there, a warm smile on his face even as he stood aside to let them in.
“About time you guys got here,” he said, helping Vala out of her coat.
“Sorry,” Cam apologized, “I got waylaid by Landry longer than I expected.”
He hooked his coat up beside the others there and led Vala and Daniel into the back of the house. Daniel bustled Vala along in front of him as she attempted to stop and stare into every room they passed. The short hallway opened into a kitchen and den area that looked cozy and remarkably well-lived in for someone who spent as much time at work as Sam did. Sam herself rose from the sofa as they entered, Teal'c doing the same from beside her. She had a glass of wine in her hand and she smiled at them in welcome, the smile shifting into something like a grin as her eyes fell on Cam.
“Landry?” she asked simply.
“Yeah,” he sighed.
“Told you so,” she said as she breezed into the kitchen. She pulled another wine glass from the cupboard and turned to Vala. “Would you like red or white?”
Vala, still taking in the surroundings, blinked at her in confusion. “What?”
Sam held up a bottle of wine in each hand. “Red or white?”
“Oh,” Vala said. “Red, please.”
As Sam poured the wine, topping off Daniel's glass and refilling her own with white, Cam strode over to the refrigerator and pulled it open. He disappeared behind the door for a few seconds, popping up to waggle a bottle of cranberry juice at Teal'c.
“Teal'c, you need a refill?”
It was only then that Vala noticed the glass in Teal'c's hand. It was not a wine glass, and though the liquid inside was red, the color was too weak to be the cabernet Sam had poured. Vala made a mental note of the preference.
“No, thank you, Colonel Mitchell. I am fine.”
Cam bent behind the door again and emerged a second later with a beer in hand. He cracked the top with a sound of satisfaction and joined the others as Daniel handed Vala her wine. Vala realized that they had formed a loose circle in the space between the den and kitchen. She looked around, somewhat bemused, a half smile forming on her face.
“What's all this for?” she asked.
Sam and Daniel shared a quick glance, then looked to Cam, who had apparently been the orchestrator of the meeting. His expression was serious, and for a heartbeat Vala worried that she had committed some sort of egregious wrong and the entire evening was to be a—what did they call it?—a “dressing down” for her actions. But the feeling passed just as quickly as it had come, the foolishness of such a thought rapidly overtaken by her curiosity.
Cam appraised her for a second, his otherwise relaxed demeanor spoiled by an unusually sharp gaze. “It's just the team getting together, doing what teams do,” he said casually.
“Like what—board games?” she replied with a tentative smile.
“You've gone through losing a teammate,” Cam said, tilting his beer in her direction. “This is the getting them back part.”
Vala dropped her eyes to the glass in her hand, deliberately not looking at Daniel, though she could feel his gaze on her. Her stomach twisted unpleasantly, a faint memory of the worry that had plagued her since Merlin's cave. But Daniel's presence beside her, warm and reassuring, with Teal'c on her other side and Cam and Sam just a few feet away, washed out the memory. She felt a smile of relief and joy and belonging threatening to spread across her face, and she bit her lip to hold it in.
“Oh,” she said as nonchalantly as she could manage, “so no board games, then?”
She looked back up to find Cam watching her with a mixture of fondness and exasperation. Sam was beaming beside him, and even Teal'c and Daniel had small smiles on their faces.
“How about a toast?” Sam suggested.
“A toast, yeah,” Cam said, grinning crookedly. He held out his beer, and everyone else did the same with their glasses. Pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts, he swept the group with a glance. “To teams: the family of experience.”
There was a traffic jam of arms as everyone clinked glasses and drank to the toast. Vala savored her first mouthful of a new wine and glanced around the room. She looked back to Cam.
“Now what?”
Everyone shared looks.
“Board games?” Daniel suggested, heading over to an armchair.
“Exactly,” Cam said, following him. “Board games.”
Sam laughed and Vala followed her over to the sofa. As they settled in around the coffee table, Vala met Cam's eyes. His expression was understanding, and he gave her the flash of a crooked smile. She smiled back, holding his gaze for a moment, then turned to build an alliance with Teal'c for their game of Pictionary.
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on 2011-09-18 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-09-19 12:08 am (UTC)