Monkey-ing Around

[maevebran]

Title: Monkey-ing Around

Author: Maeve Bran

Rating: FR18

Summary: Buffy and Daniel have a talk about the night before.

Disclaimer: I own neither Stargate SG-1 nor Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I
am just having a little fun with the characters.

Notes: Part of the New Job series. Set after "Ripple Effect" 9.13. Also
written for the Ninja Daniel challenge that Michael Shanks has issued
at several conventions.

Wordcount: 2682 words.



Daniel woke with an unfamiliar weight on his chest. He opened his eyes
and saw a blonde head pillowed there. Then the memories of the previous
night entered his mind, and he smiled.

He tried to withdraw his arm, which was going numb, without waking
Buffy. Apparently, however, the Slayer slept lightly because he had barely
moved when she awoke.

"Hi, Daniel," Buffy said sleepily as she looked up to meet his gaze.
*He is even sexy when he wakes up*, she thought.

"Good morning, Buffy," he replied as he sat up. "I suppose we should
talk, but I don't know what to say."

"Same here," Buffy said as she clutched the sheet to her chest and
moved to gather her clothes. When she had finished dressing she turned and
found him clad only in his underwear and pulling on a pair of BDU
pants.

"Daniel..." she started to say, fighting the distraction he presented
in his current state of undress.

"Yes?" He turned to face her.

"Can ask you a very personal question?" Buffy asked, fighting back a
blush.

"This sounds serious, but go ahead," Daniel replied, not sure he really
wanted to answer whatever the question might be but figuring she
deserved an honest answer.

"Why me? After all this time since your wife, why me?" Buffy inquired,
curiously.

Daniel quickly put his black tee shirt on, then sat down on the bed and
took a deep breath before answering. "Mostly it was just timing. After
Sha're, I didn't want to get hurt again. Eventually, I started to date
Janet, but she got killed before we did much more than hold hands.
After that I gave up, figuring any woman I dated would die or become a host
so I would not place anyone else in danger."

Buffy moved to sit beside him and put an arm around him. "Janet. Wait,
wasn't she on one of the teams that got misdirected here?"

"Yep. That team was the luckiest SG-1. Janet was alive. Sam was married
and on maternity leave. Martouf was alive. And luckiest of all was that
Daniel. That team was in desert BDU's because they had just come from
Abydos. Not only was Abydos still around, but that Daniel had managed to
save his Sha're. That team managed everything I hadn't," Daniel said on
the verge of tears.

After Daniel pulled himself together, a few moments later, Buffy got up
and started to pace. "Weirdly enough, I know how you feel," she said.

"You do? How?" Daniel asked as he watched her make circuits of his
room.

"When I returned from Heaven, I started to have these dreams that felt
more like memories. They were of a day spent with Angel," Buffy started
to explain with tears shining in her eyes.

"A day? Isn't, I mean wasn't he a vampire?" Daniel interjected.

"Exactly. Except that there was this demon that healed him and made him
human. Apparently we had a day together. In the dream memories, I
remember listening and marveling at his beating heart. When I met with Angel
after my return, I asked about the dreams. He said we had had that day
but he had asked the PTBs to take it back," Buffy continued.

"Why would he do that? Who or what are the PTBs?" Daniel asked,
confused.

"The Powers That Be. In the original timeline he tried to help me fight
the demon again and almost got us both killed, apparently. So he
realized he wouldn't be able as a mere mortal to sit by the sidelines as I
fought and that he still had a lot to make up for. So he went to the PTBs
and had them take back the day. The whole twenty-four hours were erased
and only Angel could remember them. It was his burden to bear alone
until I got ripped out of Heaven with the memory of a perfect day that
doesn't exist. It's not the same, I know, but still, according to Sam
there is an alternate reality out there with a Buffy and a human Angel."
Buffy stopped talking and faced Daniel. He looked stunned at this latest
revelation on her part.

Daniel didn't know what to say. Buffy's life really did parallel his in
many ways. He had finally found someone who understood his deepest
pains because she had had similar tragedies in her life.

"I'm sorry, Buffy. I don't know what to say," he finally said.

"There is not much to say." Buffy looked at the clock on the nightstand
and noted the time. "Sorry, Daniel, but I've got to run if I'm going to
get dressed in time for my 0900 briefing. But I'll see you tonight? Or
are you going offworld?"

"I'll be here. SG1 isn't scheduled to be off world till next week,"
Daniel answered as he walked towards her. When he reached her, he leaned
down and kissed her lightly. "See you tonight."

"Yeah, see you tonight." Buffy returned as she slipped out of his
quarters and raced towards her own.

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

Daniel was in his lab trying to work but the later it got the worse his
concentration became. He kept glancing at the clock and counting down
the hours and minutes until Buffy would come for their Ninja lesson. He
really enjoyed her company, not just her body. Not that he hadn't
enjoyed that last night, but with Buffy he enjoyed the whole package. He
respected her and her opinions. He didn't doubt her abilities, especially
when it came to fighting. The only question was, did he love her, or
were they just friends with benefits? He wasn't going to dwell on that
right now. Right now he had to get to the gym for his lesson.

The lesson went better than any of the previous ones had. If Daniel had
to give a reason as to why, he'd say it was because neither one of them
was as self conscious as before about where their bodies were. It was
an unexpected benefit of the previous night, he thought to himself.
Always before, when they were sparring he had been aware of her body
position relative to his own, and had had to not make any moves that would
cause her to be aware of how attractive he found her. But since they had
slept together, he didn't feel the need to waste his energy hiding it
any more and thereby had more to spend on defeating her. The lesson
ended with him on top pinning her securely to the mat.

"Do you surrender?" he playfully asked.

"I surrender," Buffy said as she stretched her neck up and kissed his
jaw. "Do you?"

Daniel took the bait. He tuned his face and captured her mouth with his
briefly before replying, "I surrender."

"Good," Buffy made a sudden move and flipped them both over. "Now I've
got you right where I want you," she leaned down and whispered in his
ear.

"Now you've got me, what are you going to do with me?" he asked,
continuing their playful banter. It felt good to be so light-hearted and
teasing with someone again. Maybe his heart was finally healing after all
this time.

Buffy stood and helped him to his feet. She picked up their abandoned
swords, walked over to the benches, and wiped the swords with a cloth
before sheathing them.

Daniel watched with a hunger in his eyes but now that the lesson had
ended he was suddenly nervous. Would she want a repeat of the night
before? Had last night been a fluke? If it wasn't, where was their
relationship heading? Whoa, relationship? Did they even have a relationship?

The answers to these and other questions could only come by taking a
step and seeing where it lead, so Daniel finally moved towards the
benches and Buffy. He moved to stand beside her, close enough that they were
almost touching but not quite so that she could make the decision.

Buffy glanced over at Daniel and saw how nervous he was. It was worse
than the night before. It was almost as if he was unsure of her and
weather or not she would still want him. She decided it was kind of nice to
have a boyfriend who didn't take her and her consent for granted. Whoa,
boyfriend? Was that what he was? She wasn't sure, but it sounded nice.
She realized he wasn't going to make any further moves, so she took
matters into her own hands and reached out and placed her hand on his arm.

At her touch, Daniel turned to face her. "Yes, Buffy?"

"Daniel, would you care to shower with me?" she asked, so that there
would be no ambiguity or subtext in what she was after.

Daniel blushed at her forthright invitation but answered in the
affirmative with a nod. He then leaned down and kissed her.

They quickly gathered up their stuff and soon were on their way out the
door. "Buffy, can I meet you at your quarters? I need to pick up clean
clothes from my quarters. Or do you want to come to mine? You could go
grab clothes from yours and meet me there..."

Buffy silenced him by placing a finger over his lips. "Shh. I get it.
You can come to my quarters in a few minutes." She reached up and gave
him another quick kiss on the lips before heading to her quarters.

Once there she picked up the clothes that were again littering the
furniture and placed it all in pile. Next she took the swords from where
she had set them down on one of the chairs and hung them in their proper
place on the walls. When she looked around to see if anything else
could be done to make the space more inviting, there was a knock on the
door. She ran over and opened it.

Daniel entered and quickly shut the door. He crossed to one of the
chairs and set down the small pack he had been carrying. It was the kind he
took on missions with him so that if anyone had asked he could say he
had been going through it and needed a few things from the supply
closet. It was a nice excuse.

"So," Buffy said, finally breaking the silence. "I think I could really
use that shower. How about you?"

"Uh, yes. I could use a shower," Daniel muttered.

"Look Daniel, if this is too much too soon, I'll take a quick shower
than you can take one afterwards and we could just talk," Buffy offered.

That spurred Daniel into action. "No, this is fine. More than fine, in
fact." He moved over to he and took a hold of her shoulders gently.
Then he leaned down and kissed her while working her shirt up her back
until it was almost off. He only broke the kiss long enough to remove the
shirt completely, along with her bra.

"Umm. That's more like it," Buffy said against his lips as she worked
on removing his shirt.

Daniel slowly backed towards her bathroom while keeping his hands busy
trying to undo her pants. This was complicated by the fact that neither
was really willing to break the kiss. Buffy's hands were also battling
to unfasten his pants as well. They made it just inside the bathroom
before the precarious nature of their position sent them toppling into a
heap on the floor.

Buffy landed on top, knocking the air out of Daniel. She took advantage
of her position to finish undoing his pants and started to pull them
off with a little help from him, but soon ran into the problem of his
boots. Buffy quickly dispatched those along with his socks. Then she
fished with his pants.

"Ooh. That's cold," he said when he regained his breath and his skin
hit the cold tile. She stood up again and gave him a hand up. As soon as
he was standing, his hands went back to removing her pants.

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

An hour or so later, they emerged from the steamy bathroom. Each was
wearing nothing but a towel. Buffy had a second towel around her hair.

"Care for a cup of decaf?" Buffy asked as she removed the towel from
her hair and ran a hand through the wet locks.

"Sure," Daniel said as he went over to his pack. He pulled out a pair
of flannel pajama pants and a grey tee shirt. He also had the blue base
uniform that was on rotation for tomorrow, well technically later
today, in there but wasn't ready to dress in those just yet.

Buffy started the coffee before going to her dresser and pulling out an
oversized sleeping tee shirt that said 'Bite Me' in large red letters.

"So, Daniel, what do we have here?" Buffy asked once she was covered.
She turned to face him to find that he was likewise clothed again.

"Wha- What do you mean?" Daniel asked as he gave her a confused look.

"Are we in a relationship? Are we just fucking? Or are we friends with
benefits?" Buffy asked. "One night I could accept as a fluke, but since
this is the second night in a row this is obviously something."

"I'm not sure, but we aren't just fucking. That is for damn sure. I
don't do that. I would hope you know that by now," Daniel answered, a
little irritated at the implication.

"I know that, but I had to ask. I once made the mistake of believing I
had something more with a guy when all it was for him was just sex,"
Buffy defended herself.

Daniel's face softened at her explanation. "What happened?" he asked.
He didn't really want to hear her whole sexual history, but he didn't
want to accidentally do anything that would remind her of her bad
experiences, either.

"Parker was in my psychology class. He fed me some lines that made me
feel special. We slept together. The next morning, it was revealed that
the sensitivity he had displayed was all an act to seduce as many
freshmen women as possible. I was just another notch on his bedpost. He
added to my list of romantic screw-ups, so I like to have things in the
open," Buffy explained as she fixed the coffee, which had finished brewing
as she talked.

Daniel walked over to her, removed the mug from her hands, and wrapped
his arms around her. He whispered in her ear, "I promise you what ever
else we have, I am not just using you for sex. I don't do that."

She turned in his arms to look him in the eyes. "Thank you. I needed to
hear that." She then placed a hand along side his jaw and kissed him.
The physical fire sprang so brightly between them again, that they wound
up in bed.

When they lay spent sometime later, Buffy curled up to his side. Her
ear was close enough to his heart that she was lulled to sleep by its
steady beat. Daniel lay next to her with his arm around Buffy's shoulder.
He gently stroked her arm with his hand until he too fell into
contented sleep.

Hours later the klaxons sounded, signaling an unauthorized off world
activation. The sound woke them both instantly. Daniel scrambled out of
bed almost immediately, moving swiftly for his pack. He got his uniform
out and was fully dressed by the time Buffy had her underwear and
uniform tee shirt on.

"How do you do that?" she asked as he was tying his boots, while she
was still pulling on her pants.

"Almost a decade of practice," he answered. Then he picked up his
discarded clothes from the night before and packed them away. When he
finished, Buffy was tying her boots.

He picked up the pack and waited for her to join him. Then he dropped a
quick kiss on her lips before leading the way out the door.

-~-