"Of course I know it. You're just saying that to get me to shut up; of course it's preposterous, I couldn't sleep with you-" Daniel felt nothing but bleary satisfaction at proving that he was right, she was wrong and he hadn't fallen for goading, right up until the words left his mouth.

Not 'wouldn't', which was what he meant to say, but 'couldn't', as in 'something's stopping me', 'would if I could', on and on. Vala was, as he was learning, a lot of things, but unattractive wasn't one of them. If you put pain in the mikta and a bed hog in too. Daniel replayed the exchange. He definitely meant 'wouldn't'. It was a simple brain to mouth mistake. Anyone could've made it. He was tired, more so than he thought. Vala was confusing him. That was definitely it. Daniel wanted to roll over onto his stomach and bury his face in the pillow. Hopefully she was too drunk to pick up the slip or make anything of it.

"Spanish Inquisition," he sighed. "So what you're saying is, the only reason I stayed at the SGC is because I was effectively stuck there?"