I've never seen anything other than annoyance or friendship from Daniel towards Vala. MM was a lovely, lovely friendhip ep. That Vala still cared so much for Tomin in Line in the Sand and Bounty I thought was awesome and a huge step towards a mature understanding of relationships for her. Having her throw that out the window in three months sucked. Whamo indeed.

Of course I never saw anything but teamy caring from Jack towards Sam until DaC. *eyeroll*

The thing is, having to deal with DaC, I'll handwave that Jack might have had a little crush on top of his 2IC appreciation for a while (whatever), but realized an actual relationship wouldn't work between them -- too incompatible. Sam's continued crush? A disaster. If TPTB had ever made (do ever make) J/S happen? I'll go through the freaking roof of OH HELL NO.

If they had done D/V better in Unending, I could have bought it without the massive horror and handwaving. But nope. As you say, PTB fail at building believable relationships. Argh.

Anyway -- Chulak story, oh yes please! And Langara!