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A Vision From Next Door

CHAPTER THREE

Annika’s POV

It was late afternoon when Annika heard Daniel’s car pull into his driveway. He’d been away eight days. Where had he been? She watched him awkwardly slide out of his jeep. Was he injured or just stiff from driving a long distance? He pulled a gym bag out of the back seat. It definitely wasn’t full. Not much luggage for an eight day trip. Didn’t Daniel need any clothes where he worked? Her mind ran riot with that. Jokingly she thought, maybe he's some sort of gigolo. She let that scenario play out, but while she liked the idea of seeing him naked, she most definitely didn’t like the idea of the women he would be getting naked for.

Hathor chose that moment to pounce on her unsuspecting foot almost making her drop the figure she was working on. "That’s it. You can spend some time outside. I need to get this finished." Unceremoniously she pushed her out the door. "Go play in the yard." She watched the puppy glare at the closed door, give an indignant bark then trot over to one of the chew toys Annika had gotten her.

After washing her hands Annika spent the next couple of hours finishing the figure. By then it was almost dark outside. She went to the porch and called Hathor in. Normally the puppy came bursting through the door ready to devour her food. Tonight there were no sounds of little paws on steps.

"Hathor, come and get your dinner."

She lasted a minute before her heart began to pound. Where was she? Had she gotten out? Annika had been careful to block all the possible escape routes. She began to search the perimeter looking for tell tale signs of a newly dug hole. When she got to the fence between her yard and Daniel’s there was a fresh mound of dirt and a hole under the fence just big enough for the puppy to fit through.

She eyed Daniel’s house. Lights were on in two rooms. If she was lucky she would find the puppy and be gone without Daniel knowing. As much as she had thought about her handsome neighbor this week, she wasn’t quite ready to speak to him just yet. She looked down at her clothes. Splotches of icing sugar covered her shirt as did splashes of food coloring. Nope, definitely not ready to talk to him again.

Quietly as possible she climbed over the fence and began creeping around the yard. Trying not to look like a peeping Tom she managed a quick peek into the house. There was no sign of Daniel.

"Hathor, where are you?" she called softly around the empty garden. "Hathor, come here right now!" She tried to sound stern, hoping the puppy would respond to the command in her voice, but she was talking to thin air. Where the hell is she? Annika was about to start searching the bushes when her ears caught a soft scraping coming from under Daniel’s porch.

Getting on hands and knees she crawled around the base of the house looking for the source, occasionally calling Hathor’s name in a vain attempt to get her to come out. By the time she’d checked two sides Annika was not a happy camper. Her hands and knees were covered with dirt, and stones were digging into her soft skin. An outdoorsy type person she definitely was not. As she made her way around the third side she heard the scraping again. She crawled even closer and could barely make out the outline of Hathor crouched under the house.

"There you are. Come on, I’ve got your dinner waiting for you," Annika coaxed, "lots of nice mushy biscuits in milk, how does that sound?" She tried to squeeze under the house but being only a few inches off the ground it was a failed attempt. The best she could manage was to reach her arm as far as it would go, however, the pup was still about a foot away.

The puppy gave a slight wag of the tail before continuing to munch on whatever it was she had found. What is she chewing? It didn’t look like any of her toys. A feeling of dread filled her. It must be something of Daniel’s. She hoped it was something replaceable. "Come on, Hathor. Be a good girl."

The dog ignored her.

Annika lost her temper. After muttering a few choice swear words she forgot about keeping quiet. "You bitch, get out here now!"

"Lost something, have we?"

The sound of Daniel’s voice directly behind her almost gave her a heart attack. She jumped back, banging her head on the overhang.

"Holy crap, you frightened the shit out me!" She blushed and was eternally grateful for the darkening sky to hide it. She was mortified. Way to go, Annika, what a way to impress a guy! He’s heard two sentences from you and you were swearing in both! Classy, really classy! "Sorry. You just startled me that’s all."

"Consider us even. I didn’t expect to find a cursing woman trying to crawl under my house." He sounded amused. "Looking for something?"

"No," she groused rubbing her head where she knocked it. "I found it but she won’t come out." Ducking back down she tried one last swipe at catching the dog. "Hathor, if you don’t come out here this instant I’ll wring your scrawny neck."

"Hathor?"

She glanced up at the tone of his voice. Even in the twilight she could see he’d turned pale. "Are you alright?" she asked concerned.

He nodded. "Uh, yeah." He seemed to force himself to respond. "You say that Hathor is under my house? Hathor the Egyptian goddess?" His voice was strangled.

She looked up at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding? Hathor is one of my new puppies." She turned her attention back to trying to reach the little fluff ball. "Soon to be ex-puppy if she doesn’t get her butt out here."

Daniel gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Hathor is a puppy." He gave another short laugh before squatting down beside her.

"What’s so funny?" Annika asked confused by his reaction.

"Nothing really, it’s just a strange name for a dog."

Annika sensed that there was more to his slightly relieved laugh than he was willing to admit.

"Oh, I don’t know, it seems to suit her just fine. Wasn’t she supposed to have been nice as pie one minute and then a destructive devil the next?"

Daniel tensed for a second then relaxed. "Actually she was described as being a motherly figure who was loved by all her followers. She supposedly had them wrapped around her finger and they would do anything she asked of them."

"Well then, this fur ball is aptly named. She normally charms her way into getting what she wants from me. Not very good at taking orders though." Because she was trying to work out how to get the puppy out she missed the grin on her neighbor’s face. "Maybe you’ll have better luck, your arms are longer than mine."

Daniel obligingly stretched out his arm but fell short by a few centimeters. Pulling back he accidentally brushed against her bare arm.

Immediately her mind was overcome by a myriad of images. She could only work out a few even though she was bombarded with hundreds of instants all flowing over each other. A man and woman being crushed under a type of stone slab; an upright stone ring with what looked like water defying the laws of gravity rippling inside; a pyramid bigger than the one she’d seen at Giza, set in a place that definitely wasn’t the tourist trap she’d visited; a happy, dark haired woman dressed in brown homespun cloth with a look of love on her face, that same face suddenly changed, turned cold and heartless, her eyes literally glowed and her clothing was replaced with sheer (royal?) gowns; another woman with blonde curly hair dressed in normal clothes underwent a similar transformation; Daniel suffering from severe burns (radiation?) surrounded by people in military fatigues (his friends?), he was dying, had died and his body dissolved into a bright blue light and then vanished; Daniel confused, staring at the same group of people from the military, he’d lost his memory…

Annika gasped from the onslaught that had lasted only a second. Instinctively she jerked back catching her arm on an exposed nail and hissed in pain.

"Are you alright?" Daniel reached to examine her now bleeding arm.

She cringed away, not wanting to see another set of visions.

He looked hurt, but backed away. "I won’t hurt you."

She couldn’t bear to see that look on his face. "I’m okay. It’s just a nick." She knew she had to offer some kind of explanation for her bizarre reaction. "I just don’t like to be touched."

"Oh…uh…okay." He sat back on his heels, giving her the distance she obviously needed, then glanced at the puppy, who was still happily watching them from under the house. "Time for a change of tactics." Her neighbor disappeared into his house and reappeared in a couple of minutes carrying something. He held out his hand to reveal a piece of bacon. "Never known a dog yet to say no to food." He began waving the smoked meat at puppy eye level. "Mmm, look what I’ve got for you, Hathor, a lovely piece of bacon…tastes good…come on, you know you want it…"

Annika couldn’t help laughing as she watched Daniel try to charm the puppy out.

To her relief she saw Hathor’s little paws appear from under the house.

Daniel continued to hold the bacon just out of reach until she’d fully emerged, at which point he picked up the pup that was eagerly licking his fingers to get every last morsel.

Annika suddenly wished to trade places with her pet. Maybe with a bit of whipped cream instead and not just on his fingers…

Her daydreaming was interrupted by a second bundle of fluff bounding up to them.

"And who’s this?" He gave the second puppy a scratch behind the ears.

"Thor."

Daniel gave a snort of laughter and tried to cover it up with a cough. "Any particular reason?"

It was clearly a private joke, however Annika didn’t take offence to him not explaining. "He always seems so serious," she shrugged. "I think I read somewhere that he was a Norse god without a sense of humor. The name seemed appropriate."

"Do you always name your pets after ancient gods?" Daniel asked with genuine interest.

"Nope. First time. The names just came to me," she paused. "You seem to know a bit about the subject."

"I should," he replied. "It’s part of my job. I’m an archaeologist."

Surprise must have shown on her face because he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"It’s just that you don’t look like your stereotypical archaeologist."

He gave another deep chuckle. "Considering what some of my colleagues look like, I’ll take that as a compliment."

She grinned back at him and reached for Thor. As she did so a dark drop stained his fur and their smiles faded. It was blood. They both looked at her arm. A trail of crimson had made its way down her arm. Her 'scratch' was obviously deeper than they thought.

Immediately Daniel was on his feet, pulling her up with him. "Come into the house and I’ll clean it up for you." He ignored her involuntary flinch at his touch.

Annika tried to pull away, but though his touch was gentle he wouldn’t let her go. "It’s okay, I can clean it up myself." The same visions pounded her brain again.

"Don’t be silly, you’ll need two hands. And I’ve got a couple spares to your single one."

He flashed that hypnotizing smile of his and Annika felt herself weaken. She took a steadying breath and managed to successfully banish the images. "Okay."

Now that she was controlling her gift a very different sensation was making its way up her arms. The warm tingly feeling where his fingers held hers was almost as distracting as the visions. What is going on? No one had had that sort effect on her before. She was burning up…

Daniel momentarily released her and Annika felt like she lost part of herself that she never knew she had. Tears sprang to her eyes at the sudden loneliness that washed over her.

He quickly picked up the puppies that were happily playing around their feet and placed them on their side of the fence. Before they could scramble back through the hole, he blocked the opening with a spare plank of wood left out from repairs he’d been doing a few weeks ago.

"There, that should hold them for a while."

"They could just dig next to it," Annika said doubtfully. "I guess I’ll have to work on a more permanent solution."

"Come on."

He grabbed her hand again and Annika felt complete once again. Complete? she asked herself. What the hell did that mean? She’d spoken to the man all of five minutes and his touch made her feel complete? Annika, my girl, you’re starting to lose it. Daniel probably had hundreds of girls throwing themselves at him everyday, there was no way he would want you.

She was distracted from her inner lecture when her eyes focused on a lone shoe by his door. Tiny tooth marks could be seen in what was left of the leather and the sole was half detached.

Daniel followed her gaze with a wry grin. "Well, at least I now know what happened to my shoes."

"I’m so sorry," Annika stammered, absolutely horrified. "I’ll replace them for you."

"Don’t worry about it," He waved the offer away. "They were old anyway." He led her through the doorway. "Welcome to my humble abode."

Annika looked around taking in the solid wooden furniture and bookshelves full of what were obviously artifacts. They were crammed in every nook and cranny and she spied some open boxes that had even more in them. "Wow, did you find all of these yourself?" She ran her fingers over an Egyptian looking statue of a man with a jackal head. She should have known better! Her vision blurred with a flash of a being sitting on a golden throne, covered in a black shimmering cloak that hid his face. Pure evil emanated from the image and she gave an involuntary shiver. "Anubis," she whispered. Annika broke out in a cold sweat and quickly removed her hand.

"That’s right." Daniel was looking at her strangely. He took in the sudden sheen on her skin. "You don’t look so good. Come and sit down." He directed her to the couch.

With legs suddenly weak she gratefully sank into the soft cushions, but was immediately assaulted by new visions…Daniel asleep on the couch a strange circular device attached to his temple, the blonde woman with glowing eyes whispering to him trying to seduce him…no, trying to seduce information from him…her eyes flashed…

And fear coursed through Annika’s body. She bolted to her feet, eyes wild.

"What’s the matter?" Daniel was alarmed by her actions.

Desperately she tried to think of an excuse. "I…uh…just don’t want to get any blood on your couch." She saw the entrance to the kitchen. "Maybe we should do this in there."

"Uh…okay." Daniel clearly confused led her through. His voice was concerned. "Whatever makes you comfortable." He pulled out a chair. "Take a seat."

She eyed the chair warily. Dare she sit on it? It looked like an antique. "Is that an old chair?"

The confused expression still on his face Daniel shook his head.

Annika was about to sit down when he said, "I’ve had it about ten years."

She froze in mid air, her butt two inches from the seat. "Ah, I think I’ll just sit here." She moved to the center of the room and sat on the floor. Finally! Somewhere she could sit down without touching anything.

Daniel’s mouth dropped open and Annika lowered her eyes. He must think her a complete lunatic.

For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence until Daniel found his voice again. "I’ll just go get the first aid kit." He paused at the entrance. "You’re sure you’re okay down there?"

She nodded refusing to look at him.

Without another word he left. Annika could hear him rummaging around in what she presumed was the bathroom and she took the opportunity to close her eyes and do a few deep breathing exercises. It had been a long time since her visions were so out of control. It was like when she first started having them as a teenager. Back then everything she touched had her seeing things until she couldn’t tell what was real and what were past events. Another psychic had seen what she was going through and had taught her a number of meditations that helped her gain control of her gift. After a few deep breaths her heartbeat slowed and she found the inner calm that had eluded her since entering the archaeologist’s house. When she opened her eyes it was to see Daniel hovering in the doorway. He seemed reluctant to disturb her.

"Feeling better now?"

She gave him a tentative smile. "Yes."

He moved to the sink and washed his hands. Drying them on a clean dishtowel he sat next to her on the floor.

He opened his mouth and Annika knew instinctively what he was going to ask. She held up her hand to stop him even as her head lowered again. "Please don’t ask. I know I’ve been acting like a nut case but I do have my reasons. I don’t know you well enough yet to tell you those reasons," she paused, "but I’d like to." The last was said in almost a whisper.

The man beside her was silent. His hand rose toward her then stopped at the last moment and she knew that although he wanted to touch her, Daniel remembered her words, ‘I don’t like to be touched.’ "Annika, look at me." His voice was gentle.

Slowly she met his gaze. The mixture of emotions she saw there made her gasp. Worry, kindness, curiosity and more importantly hope and desire.

"I would very much like to get to know you too." It was his turn to study the floor. "In fact I couldn’t get you out of my mind the entire time I was away."

A bubble of happiness burst in her stomach and she laughed. "Well, thank goodness for that. I thought it was only me."

He gave an embarrassed grin. "I thought I was doing a good job hiding it but my teammates knew I was distracted from the word go. They kept ragging me about it."

"I had to redo the piping on one cake three times before I got the spelling right. And that was the least of my errors," Annika confessed. "I baked a cake and couldn’t work out why it wasn’t rising. Then I realized that I didn’t put any flour in it."

"Do you think if we get to know each other we’ll be able to do our respective jobs without distraction?" Daniel asked still smiling.

She shrugged. "The way I see it one of two things will happen. Either we’ll get each other out of our systems or it could become worse."

"I’m willing to find out which if you are."

"Me too."

"But first things first." He opened the first aid kit. "Let’s get you patched up."

Annika gave a small shake of her head, looking down at her arm. "I’d forgotten why I was here in the first place."

Daniel opened some antiseptic wipes then hesitated. "There’s no way to do this without…uh…touching." The concern in his eyes made her heart melt. "I’ll try not to hurt you." Annika didn’t miss the play on words.

"I know that already," she said softly and offered her arm to him. "That’s not why I don’t like being touched."

Though his expression became intrigued he didn’t ask her to elaborate on her cryptic comment. With gentle fingers he first wiped the blood trail from her arm. "This may sting a little." Carefully he cleaned her wound.

Annika barely felt the sting of antiseptic. That wonderful tingly feeling wherever Daniel’s fingers moved was all she could focus on.

"It’s not too deep, but that nail was probably rusty. When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?"

"A couple of months ago," she said sheepishly. "I’m a bit of a klutz. I’m always tripping over something and injuring myself."

He flashed that dazzling smile again. "That’s something we have in common. I’ve lost count of the doctor’s visits I’ve made from self-inflicted accidents." He applied a large band aid to her arm. "There, all done."

"Thank you." Suddenly Annika was shy, unsure about what to do next.

She was saved from breaking the silence by a scratching at the back door. Daniel rose and opened it only to have Hathor and Thor tumble in.

"I guess they dug another hole."

She glanced up at him afraid he was angry. All she saw was amusement on his features. Annika scooped up the puppies. "I don’t know what I’m going to do. If I fill this one in they’re clearly going to just dig another one. They seem determined to get into your yard."

"Don’t worry about it. Just leave the hole as it is. I don’t mind them coming and going."

She cocked her head at him. "Are you always this nice?"

The question baffled him. "I guess so."

"I think I like you already," she admitted hiding a blush as she nuzzled the puppies, then headed to the door. "I’d better get these two home and fed."

"Okay." He let her get halfway across his yard then tentatively called out. "Can I see you tomorrow?"

She turned back. "Sure. Come round for brunch?"

"I’ll see you then."

Annika climbed over the fence and chanced a glance back over her shoulder. Daniel was still watching leaning against the door jam. He gave a wave, which she returned with a grin before going into her own home.

She was on cloud nine right up until she tripped over a rogue shoe in her hallway. She studied the room before her. Housework was not one of her top priorities. The place was a mess! She couldn’t let Daniel see her home the way it was. Determined to have the place sparkling she quickly fed the puppies, fixed herself a fortifying cup of coffee and then spent the next two hours tidying up. Hanging the last piece of clothing in the cupboard she realized that she hadn’t yet had dinner. While she nuked a frozen meal in the microwave she debated over what she’d make for brunch the next morning and decided on ham, cheese and mushroom omelettes.

Watching the puppies play with their chew toys, guilt niggled at her over Daniel’s wrecked shoes. Old shoes or not, she had to find a way of apologizing…Inspiration struck.

Eagerly she mixed up her favorite cake recipe, popped it in the oven and set the timer. She knew from past experience that not setting the timer led to disaster. Settling down at her workbench Annika started kneading some sugar paste. Totally engrossed in her project she had no concept of time, (except for when the timer announced the cake was baked,) and worked well into the night. It wasn’t until her back cried out to be stretched that she looked at the clock. Was it really three a.m.? She rose, massaging aching back muscles and walked around the room to get the circulation going. Glancing outside she noticed a single light still on at Daniel’s house. So he was a night owl too. Something else they had in common.

Fixing a final cup of coffee to unwind, Annika studied her newest creation with satisfaction. In the morning, or rather later on in the morning, she thought ruefully, all that was left to do was ice the cake. If all went well her plan was to give it to him that night. She fell into bed excited about what the new day would bring.

A A A

Daniel’s POV

When Daniel pulled into his drive he gingerly climbed out of his jeep, trying not to reopen his wound. The last thing he wanted was to go back to the SGC and have Janet decide stitches were needed after all. Lord knows he had enough scars already. Grabbing his bag he spared a sideways glance at Annika’s house and saw the lights on. So Annika was home. He wondered what she was doing.

He half noticed that the shoes he normally kept on the porch were not as he left them. One was AWOL and the one remaining was almost shredded. What had happened to them? Tucking the question away he focused on more important matters, such as different excuses to unexpectedly drop by on his neighbor. Can’t be too obvious. What if she wasn’t interested in him? He thought back to when he caught her staring through her window, remembered the look in her eyes. Daniel was ninety-nine percent certain that she was…but what if she wasn’t? Doubts were plaguing him. He wasn’t exactly Casanova. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d asked someone out on a date. In fact in the past he had been so wrapped up in his work that it had always been the woman who had asked him out. Even Sha’re had been 'given' to him. Nope, this will take some careful planning.

Daniel made himself a coffee and played out different scenarios in his head, each one more pathetic than the last. Frustrated he began sorting out of the numerous boxes of artifacts stacked in the study. Maybe by concentrating on something else other than his neighbor, the answer would magically come to him.

After two hours the archaeologist resisted the urge to throw the ancient tablet down in disgust. It was a basic script, in a language he’d read hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times before, but he’d had enormous difficulty translating it. Finally he worked it out only to find it was a repeat of a tablet he’d already translated weeks ago, and he hadn’t even realized it. He had to do something, he was going to go out of his mind if he didn’t, or worse he could put the whole team in jeopardy on their next mission. Maybe he should just let Jack shoot him and put him out of his misery.

Determined he rose to go see Annika right away. He still hadn’t figured out what he was going to say, but dammit, he’d worked on hundreds of first contact situations, was renown for working out treaties with alien races…how hard could asking a normal woman out on a date be? Daniel caught sight of himself in the hall mirror and stopped. He hadn’t washed at the SGC, preferring to use his own shower. Apart from where Janet had cleaned his wound, he was still covered in the grime from the mission. A brief whiff of an underarm had him wrinkling his nose. He wasn’t fit to go to the local shop, let alone make a good impression on someone he wanted to ask out. He spun on his heel heading for the bathroom. Shower first, Annika second.

While the hot stream of water took care of one of his problems he purposefully kept his mind blank, trying to convince himself that he would be able to wing problem two.

As he was pulling on a fresh pair of jeans and t-shirt he heard something outside the window. He stilled. There it was again. Someone was creeping around his yard. Instinctively he reached for his gun, remembering all too clearly what had happened to Sam. He knew the NID and other unsavory organizations wanted to get their hands on him especially since he had Descended.

Daniel heard leaves crunch under foot. Whoever it was they were not very professional. Maybe it was a normal everyday prowler.

Silently moving to the back door he heard a loud whisper. Had he really heard what he thought he’d heard? Nah, couldn’t be…He waited in the shadows, ears straining. The whisper came again. This time he was sure the voice was calling for Hathor.

Hathor? Hathor was dead…she was a frozen popsicle…unless… someone somehow managed to put her in a sarcophagus and revive her. Had she come back to Earth for some reason? And why was someone looking for her in his yard. And who was with her? Sure she had used his DNA as a template for all her little Goa’uld larvae, but surely she wouldn’t risk coming back to try again…would she?

Gripping his gun tightly Daniel made his way around the side of the house. A string of curses assaulted his ears. Clearly his prowler had given up on stealth. When he peeked around the next side he saw his neighbor on hands and knees trying in vain to reach something under his house. He had a lovely view of her rear end in tight jeans.

He tucked the gun into the back of his jeans, just as she lost her temper.

"You bitch, come out here right now!"

Daniel could keep silent no longer. "Lost something, have we?"

She jerked back, knocking her head. "Holy crap, you frightened the shit out of me!"

Daniel fought back a grin. She was cute when she was embarrassed.

"Sorry you just startled me that’s all."

He couldn’t contain his amusement. I startled her? I’d been ready to shoot her! "Consider us even. I didn’t expect to find a cursing woman trying to crawl under my house. Looking for something?"

"No. I found it but she won’t come out." She reached under the house again giving him another nice view of her shapely butt. Daniel felt himself tighten in response. Her next comment had him stiffening for different reasons.

"Hathor, if you don’t come out here this instant I’ll wring your scrawny neck."

Even though he logically knew the real Hathor couldn’t possibly be under his house, Daniel’s blood still ran cold. "Hathor?"

"Are you alright?" She’d looked up concerned.

Answer her Daniel! She’s gonna think you’re nuts! "Uh…yeah." He tried to make his voice sound normal. "You say that Hathor is under my house? Hathor the Egyptian goddess?"

"Are you kidding? Hathor is one of my new puppies."

Daniel felt himself go weak with relief. He couldn’t stop the embarrassed chuckle from escaping his lips. Hathor is a puppy! Picturing what the real Hathor would have to say about that he laughed again.

"What’s so funny?" She looked confused.

He stifled his grin since he couldn’t explain the joke. "Nothing really, it’s just a strange name for a dog."

"Oh, I don’t know. It seems to suit her just fine," she replied absently, trying once again to reach for the puppy. "Wasn’t she supposed to have been nice as pie one minute and then a destructive devil the next?"

Daniel froze for a second. The real Hathor yes, but not according to the history books. Where did she get her information? "Actually she was described as being a motherly figure who was loved by all her followers. She supposedly had them wrapped around her finger and they would do anything she asked of them."

"Well then, this fur ball is aptly named. She normally charms her way into getting what she wants from me. Not very good at taking orders though."

Daniel almost laughed out loud again as he compared Annika’s comments to the Goa’uld. How right you are!

"Maybe you’ll have better luck, your arms are longer than mine." She beckoned him to join her.

More than willing he knelt beside her and reached for the puppy. He was close enough to catch a slight sniff of…what was that?…sugar?…vanilla? Whatever it was he liked it. Pulling back he unintentionally brushed his arm against hers and felt a fission of heat where they touched. Whoa…Had she felt that too?

He saw her skitter back…Looks like she had…He looked at her face…Maybe not…She looked scared.

Annika gave a hiss of pain and Daniel saw the cut on her arm. "Are you alright?" Instinctively he reached to examine it but she flinched. Immediately he retreated trying to hide the flash of hurt that stabbed through him. What made her react that way? Did she really hate his touch or was it something deeper? Had she been abused as a child or as a wife? He made sure his voice was soft, reassuring. "I won’t hurt you."

The inner torment on her face was evident while she tried to think up a response. "I’m okay. It’s just a nick. I just don’t like to be touched."

He knew that sounded lame even to her, but didn’t push it. "Time for a change of tactics." In more ways than one, he thought jumping to his feet. Daniel went into the house, both to give her some space and to grab a piece of bacon he’d left defrosting on the sink. When he returned she looked at him curiously. Well, at least he hadn’t scared her off. Sitting back down he tried coaxing the puppy out, waving the meat under its nose. Though he felt like a fool, the sound of Annika’s laughter filled him with a toasty glow. He found he wanted to make her laugh all the time.

The little fluff ball eventually crawled out. Daniel picked her up letting Hathor lick his fingers clean from the left over grease. He stole a look at Annika and her expression made his jeans uncomfortably tight. She wasn’t looking like an abused woman anymore. That was definitely desire in her eyes.

A second puppy scampered on her lap.

"And who’s this?" He reached over to scratch its ears. What he really wanted to do was reach for her, but didn’t want to frighten her again.

"Thor," she answered simply.

Daniel looked at the pup contentedly having his stomach rubbed and gave a snort of laughter. He had a sudden vision of the real Thor having his belly rubbed. He tried to cover it with a cough. Another joke he couldn’t explain. He couldn’t help but ask, "Any particular reason?"

"He’s always so serious. I think I read somewhere that he was a Norse god without a sense of humor. The name seemed appropriate."

That was Thor down to a tee. He’d lost count of the times the little grey alien had stared uncomprehendingly at Jack’s wisecracks, however again it wasn’t the historically traditional description of the god. Boy, I’d love to get my hands on her source material. "Do you always name your pets after ancient gods?"

"Nope, first time. They just came to me," she answered. "You seem to know a lot about the subject."

At least this was something that wasn’t classified. "I should. It’s part of my job. I’m an archaeologist.’"

He could tell that was the last thing she expected him to say.

"It’s just you don’t look like your stereotypical archaeologist."

Daniel willed himself not to flush. "Considering what some of my colleagues look like, I’ll take that as a compliment."

It was then that he noticed the blood trail making its way down her arm. She’d said it was only a nick! How bad was it? Instantly concerned he pulled her to her feet, disregarding her aversion to his touch. Her injury could be serious and he was going to check it out! "Come into the house and I’ll clean it up for you." He held onto her firmly, ignoring her protests. She had that same look in her eye and he changed his approach, trying to charm her with logic. "Don’t be silly, you’ll need two hands. And I’ve got a couple of spares to your single one." He flashed the smile that Sam said could sell ice to Eskimos, holding his breath for her response.

She took a steadying gulp. "Okay."

He let her hands go and deposited the puppies on their side of the fence then blocked it with a piece of board. Daniel watched her out of the corner of his eye, half expecting her to bolt. She just stood there as though lost. He caught the faint sheen of tears. Damn. He hadn’t meant to make her cry.

"There that should hold them for a while." He was trying to make her relax with small talk.

It seemed to work. She commented about a permanent digging solution and didn’t cringe when he took her hand again to lead her inside. He brushed aside her apology regarding his chewed up shoe, (at least that was one mystery solved,) then called up a quick mental image of his living room. Housework was not high on his to do list, normally he had better things to do with his time. But he’d only been home a couple of hours, not enough time to mess it up yet. "Welcome to my humble abode."

He was suddenly nervous as to what she would think of his home and anxiously watched her survey his lounge. She seemed impressed.

"Wow, did you find all these yourself?"

He was about to reply when she touched a small figurine. That fearful look was back and she’d broken out in cold sweat. The word ‘Anubis’ came out a strangled whisper.

Concern overrode Daniel’s initial response to ask how she knew who the Jackal headed god was. The fear that flashed in her eyes made him think she’d encountered the real Anubis. But that wasn’t possible. Was it? Even as the thoughts raced through his head he steered her to the couch. "You don’t look so good."

Not a second after she sat she bolted to her feet again. If anything she looked even more panicked than before. What was going on? This definitely wasn’t battered wife syndrome. Her behavior made no sense. "What’s the matter?" He was becoming alarmed himself.

"I…uh…just don’t want to get any blood on your couch."

Daniel accepted the lie. He was totally confused but he didn’t want her freaked out anymore than she was already.

Her desperate eyes found the entrance to the kitchen. "Maybe we should do this in there."

"Uh…okay." He moved towards the kitchen and pulled out a chair for her. "Take a seat."

She seemed to calm down a bit though her eyes turned wary. He watched as she went through some inner turmoil, before asking "Is that chair old?"

This woman makes no sense at all! What a bizarre question to ask at a time like this. He shook his head and she slowly began to sit. "I’ve had it about ten years."

At that point he gave up trying to work out what was going on. Annika had frozen like a statue halfway in the process of sitting.

"Ah, I think I’ll just sit here." She promptly moved to the center of the room, took a cautious look around her and then sat on the floor. She refused to meet his eyes.

Daniel had no idea what to do. Would she be alright for the few moments it would take him to fetch the medical kit? Would she even stay? He felt certain that she would do a runner as soon as his back was turned. "I’ll just get the first aid kit." She regained a little composure. "You’re sure you’re okay down there?"

Annika nodded.

He wanted to ask her if she would stick around but kept silent. After all, he couldn’t force her to remain. Hunting around in the bathroom cupboard he remembered the gun still tucked in the back of his jeans. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t be needing that tonight. Daniel returned it to its place in his nightstand and thanked his lucky stars that she hadn’t noticed it. Who knows what she would have done.

Silently he went back to the kitchen and saw her doing some kind of meditation. Reluctant to interrupt he let her finish. If meditation helped her deal with whatever this was, he planned on letting her sit there all night if necessary.

When she opened her eyes a few moments later Daniel was relieved to see her relax slightly. "Feeling better now?"

She smiled, slightly embarrassed. "Yes."

He washed his hands and dried them on a clean dish towel. He wanted to keep things as normal as possible but his confused mind was bursting with questions.

Annika stopped him before he could utter a syllable. "Please don’t ask. I know I’ve been acting like a nut case but I do have my reasons. I don’t know you well enough yet to tell you those reasons."

Daniel barely heard her next words, however they made his heart soar despite the last puzzling few minutes.

"But I’d like to." She still wouldn’t meet his eyes.

Instinctively he reached to tilt her chin up but at the last moment drew back remembering what she’d said about being touched. Instead he spoke as gently as possible, "Annika, look at me." Please! he begged silently. I need you to look at me when I say this, see the truth in my words.

Slowly she looked up at him.

"I would very much like to get to know you too." Now he lowered his eyes, worried that he would scare her off with the depth of emotions he couldn’t stop from showing. Shyly he admitted, "In fact I couldn’t get you out of my mind the entire time that I was away."

Her burst of laughter had him swinging his head back up to watch her.

"Well, thank God for that. I thought it was only me."

Happy to see her smiling again he continued with his true confessions. "I thought I was doing a good job of hiding it but my teammates knew I was distracted from the word go. They kept ragging me about it."

He couldn’t stop the grin as she told of her own misadventures.

"Do you think if we get to know each other we’ll be able to do our respective jobs without distraction?" he mused out loud.

Annika considered the question, and reached the same conclusion as him. "The way I see it one of two things will happen. Either we’ll get each other out of our systems or it could become worse."

At that moment Daniel desperately wanted it to be the latter, despite the problems he knew it would cause. "I’m willing to find out which if you are."

"Me too."

Glad to have come to some sort of agreement, he opened the first aid kit. "But first things first. Let’s get you patched up."

She gave a startled shake of her head. "I’d forgotten why I was here in the first place."

Me too, Daniel thought opening the antiseptic wipes. He reached for her arm and hit a snag. He didn’t want to see that fearful look again but saw no way around it. "There’s no way to do this without …uh…touching you," he paused, "I’ll try not to hurt you." Adding silently, and I’m not just talking about cleaning your cut.

She understood the double meaning. "I know that already." As though sensing his indecision to start she held out her arm and added, "That’s not why I don’t like to be touched."

Now that’s an odd statement, he thought as he carefully began wiping the blood away. Daniel didn’t think he’d get her to elaborate, at least not tonight anyway, so he pushed the cryptic comment to the back of his mind to think about later. "This may sting a little." He moved to the actual cut itself. She barely flinched as he cleaned it.

Suddenly he was having trouble concentrating on the task at hand. His fingers tingled where he touched her. She gave a slight shiver and he knew his neighbor was feeling whatever it was too. He cleared his throat in an attempt to clear his head. "It’s not too deep, but the nail was probably rusty. When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?"

Annika looked sheepish as though admitting a great sin. "A couple of months ago. I’m a bit of a klutz. I’m always tripping over something and injuring myself."

Wow, something in common! Daniel grinned confessing his own clumsiness. Applying a band aid he had a horrible thought. If they were both accident prone by themselves what trouble would they get into together? Out loud he said, "There all done." However his mind was already picturing the potentially embarrassing accidents they could cause and how they would explain them at the emergency ward.

He was interrupted by the sound of scratching at the door and rose to open it, already deducing it was Hathor and Thor looking for their mistress. "I guess they dug another hole."

She looked worried as she picked up her pets. "I don’t know what I’m going to do. If I fill this one in they’re obviously going to just dig another one. They seem determined to get into your yard."

Daniel waved it off. "Don’t worry about it. Just leave the hole as it is. I don’t mind them coming and going." Considering what he dealt with everyday he had bigger problems to worry about.

Annika was looking at him as though trying to make out if he was real or not. "Are you always this nice?"

The question threw him. Then realizing she had no idea what he did for a living, that his work at the SGC had certainly made him get his priorities straight, he searched for a suitable answer. The best he could come up with was, "I guess so."

"I think I like you already."

Her reply made his stomach do a flip flop.

She headed for the door. "I’d better get these two home and fed."

Annika was halfway across the yard when Daniel realized they hadn’t made plans to see each other again. The urge to spend more time with her was strong and she hadn’t even technically left yet. He needed to see her and soon! "Can I see you tomorrow?"

She turned back to him "Sure. Come round for brunch?"

"I’ll see you then." Completely happy he watched her until she disappeared into her own house.

He knew he should be exhausted. Technically he’d been on the run for days on their last mission, his body should have been ready to collapse. But he was on too much of a high. True it was one of the more bizarre encounters of his life. Annika clearly had secrets, but then so did he. Boy, do I have secrets! He wondered what tomorrow would bring. She was unlike anyone he had ever encountered before, both on or off-world. He felt like he was on a rollercoaster blindfolded, each new twist a total surprise. It was a wonderful feeling.

Happily Daniel eyed the artifacts that had so frustrated him an hour ago…had it only been an hour?…and started going through them again. There was no way he was going to sleep any time soon, so he may as well do something useful. He had the distinct feeling after tonight he wouldn’t be getting much work done until reporting back to duty in a few days time. At least not if he had anything to do with it

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