#drxjackson

Shuffle Meme || Accepting

“Daniel!”

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d forgotten to lock the door. It was his own mistake, really. He should have expected this. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she had some kind of homing device that went off whenever he was alone. 

“Vala,” he sighed, finally biting the bullet and looking up at her. Uh oh. She looked determined. That was not reassuring. Vala Mal Doran on a mission could be... dangerous. Especially when it inevitably involved him. “What do you want? I’m actually rather bus--”

“I need you to translate something. Something vitally important! I’ve been going over it for hours and - really - I think I’ve just managed to confuse myself further,” she said, settling herself comfortably on the edge of his desk. 

“You? Confused? What were the odds?” he said dryly. 

“Very funny, Daniel,” she said, unperturbed. “Now are you going to help me? Or are you going to do the terribly dull grumpy archeologist schtick until we’ve both gone old and grey?” She finished by raising an eyebrow at him pointedly. 

He glared at her for a second before letting out a resigned sigh. He didn’t have much of a choice. It was the only way to get her to go away... “Fine. I shudder to ask but -- what do you need me to translate?”

With a triumphant grin, Vala reached into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone. That should have been his first clue. There was no way anyone on this base would think giving her her own phone would be a good idea. But the questions of where and how she got it died in his throat as she pressed a button and music began to play.

Well. Music in the technical sense.

         “Mmmbop, ba duba dop          Ba du bop, ba duba dop          Ba du bop, ba duba dop          Ba du, yeah...”Daniel made it all of seventeen seconds before he snatched the phone from her hand and switched it off. He looked up at her with an even deeper glare than he’d had before.

Vala merely shrugged. “What? I have no idea what they’re supposed to be saying! And they repeat it about eighty-four times, so presumably it’s important. And they’re so emphatic about it!” She smirked. “What? Is it beyond your expertise, Dr. Jackson?”

He gave her a tight-lipped smile, determined not to rise to the bait. Determined not to go into some fruitless explanation that it was just a ridiculous pop-song. He just wanted her to go. “Yep! It’s most definitely beyond me.” He was about to stick the phone in a drawer and kick her out when something else - something more entertaining - occurred to him. “But do you know who might be able to help you? Cam. This has Cam written all over it.” Shoving the phone back in her hands, he waved her back towards the door. “He’ll love it. Bye now!” 

Vala made a noise of protest, but after a moment, he could see that the idea of teasing Cam was at least appealing enough to convince her. Thank god. She was halfway through the door when she stopped and looked back over her shoulder, a twinkle of mischief in her eye. “Well, Daniel. You know what they say.. In an mmmbop they’re gone!” she sighed dramatically. With a final grin, she disappeared around the corner. 

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief and turned back the scroll he’d been translating, relishing the newly-restored quiet of his office.

But after a moment, the sound of his own humming broke the silence. 

Mmmbop ba duba bop...