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The Pricklier They Are

The Pricklier They Are…

Daniel entered the commissary to find Vala sitting at their usual table. Still a tad bleary eyed from too much work/Vala/work, and not enough sleep/coffee/fun, he grabbed his morning fix and joined her.
Vala barely noticed his presence, so intend was she with the pineapple – a whole pineapple in front of her.
“Fibre?”
“What?”
“Pineapple.”
“Oh.” Vala grinned. Daniel rolled his eyes and concentrated on his coffee. “It’s my thing.”
They both knew he’d bite. “Thing?”
“Yes, the object, for my photography course.’
“Photography?” Daniel’s eyebrows rose.
Vala didn’t take her eyes off the pineapple, gaze shifting over its form. “I’m taking a correspondence course. You needn’t worry Daniel, all of my prints are thoroughly checked before they leave the mountain, least I give away any of your precious Stargate secrets.”
“Oh” Daniel said, still slightly puzzled over Vala’s intent.
Over the next few days, various pineapples popped up all over the place, from a particularly prickly number snuggled in Sgt. Harriman’s chair, to a row of them lined up like little soldiers from biggest to smallest on the briefing room table.
The storage room next to Daniel’s office had been converted into an impromptu darkroom with the help of a very enthusiastic Sgt. Siler – turns out he shared Vala’s passion as his mother was a photographer too. Daniel noticed her absence in his office; he was actually able to find things. That, and it was quiet, too quiet.
The next day, Daniel found Vala’s course papers with a giant A+ written in the top corner on his desk. He smiled, happy that Vala had applied herself and done so well. Underneath the papers he found a lone print. In it, a single pineapple sat on the gate ramp. The shot was low, making the pineapple appear quite large and it was framed by the Stargate in the background. The note attached simply read ‘For you to keep, for when I get rich and famous. It’ll be worth something one day.’
Daniel thinks it already is.

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