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A Vision From Next Door

CHAPTER FIVE

Twenty minutes later Annika had arranged to meet the prospective bride and groom the next day so they could have a look at the type of cakes that she did. She was ready to go to Daniel’s and had just picked up his surprise cake, when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

Most people took this as a sixth sense warning that something horrible was about to happen, the fight or flight syndrome. Annika had learnt over the years that for her that wasn’t necessarily the case. Yes, it was a warning something was going to happen, but more often than not that something had turned out to be good. One thing was for certain, for the next few hours she would be on psychic overload until whatever was supposed to happen happened.

She briefly thought of canceling her dinner with Daniel. His house, or rather his possessions, were literally ancient. The artifacts had been passed down from generation to generation with each person leaving an imprint that in her current state could very well overwhelm her. Then she looked down at the cake in her hands and realized that whatever was going to happen involved Daniel. Her decision to go to Daniel’s had prompted the warning. She had to go.

Annika put down the cake pondering her dilemma. How could she go to Daniel’s and survive the evening without wigging out from the onslaught she knew was coming. Not going was not an option, so that only left preparing herself. She glanced at the clock and grimaced. Daniel would have to wait, self preservation had to come first. She hoped he would understand.

Needing to be as relaxed as possible, she decided that a hot shower would help. It wouldn’t be as relaxing as Daniel’s massage, however it would have to do. Lighting an oil burner she rested it on the bathroom vanity, added a few drops of vanilla into the bowl and turned on the water. As the needles of hot water soothed the outside of her body, she let the vanilla work its magic on the inside. While lavender and rosemary were traditionally used as herbal relaxants, the smell of vanilla had always produced happy memories for Annika and usually worked best for her.

After a few minutes she stopped the flow of water and slowly dried herself. Still in the now steamy room she laid the towel on the floor and sat on top of it. She centered on her breathing and step by step led herself through the deep meditation she had learned to control her gift.

A half an hour later she felt calm and in control. Quickly she dressed in another pair of jeans and shirt, picked up the cake and headed next door.

As she walked up the path Daniel opened the door with a relieved expression on his face. She noticed that he too had showered.

"I thought you might be having second thoughts."

Instantly she reassured him with a kiss. "No. Never that."

He looked curiously at the box she was carrying. "Is that what you were working on last night?" He tried to steal a peek.

She slapped his hand away. "Not yet."

"Please?"

He turned those big blue eyes on her and she laughed. "You are as bad as Hathor with those puppy dog eyes."

Daniel grinned. "My mother always told me to use the gifts I’d been given." They started back towards his house and he very gentlemanly offered to carry her burden for her.

"Nice try."

The look he gave her was one of pure innocence and she burst out laughing. She knew he wasn’t going to let up, so once they were in the kitchen she told him to turn around and close his eyes.

"Why?" he asked obligingly turning his back.

She rolled her eyes. "Don’t you know presentation is everything? Now, no peeking." Carefully she lifted the cake placing it in the middle of the table and then arranged the blue scarf around it.

"Is it ready yet?" He sounded like an impatient kid.

She gave the cake a final critical look and then stood in front of him. "Okay, you can open your eyes."

Daniel’s lids sprang open and he went to spin around but Annika stopped him. He was itching to look behind him, however he gave her his attention.

"Last night I felt bad about what Hathor had done to your shoes…"

He opened his mouth to reassure her that she needn’t feel guilty and she silenced him by gently placing a finger to his lips.

"…So using a spin off on the old pearl of wisdom of the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach…"

He grinned wickedly. "So you started with brunch and moved on to dessert?"

She blushed, knowing that the dessert he referred to had nothing to do with the cake behind him. "I guess that’s one way of looking at it," she said pretending to miss the play on words. "Although technically the dessert was ready before the brunch."

Daniel chuckled at the innuendo pulling her into his arms. "Is this a ‘chicken or the egg’ type thing?"

"Oh, will you just look at the damned cake?"

Still holding onto her he spun around and his jaw dropped, stunned by what she’d created in so short a time. An icing replica of Hathor chewing Daniel’s shoe sat upon the top of a square cake made to look like part of his front porch. Not only had she captured the puppy’s expression of enthusiasm but the porch itself was a perfect representation, right down to the slightly worn ‘Welcome’ mat the dog was sitting on.

"Annika, it’s wonderful!" He momentarily released her as he bent closer to examine his gift. "Your attention to detail is amazing. You’ve even put the treads and brand name on the shoe!" He walked around the table looking at it from all every angle. "Not that I want to cut it and ruin your work of art, but what kind of cake is it?"

"Chocolate with coffee cream." She could see his mouth start to water. "I already knew you liked coffee, I could smell it some mornings when you had your kitchen window open." She put her hands on her hips in mock indignation. "And what do you mean you don’t want to cut it? That’s the whole point of having a cake! To eat it!"

He looked horrified at the thought. "But all your work will be ruined!"

"You can keep the top if you like, the floorboards, puppy and shoe are made of sugar paste that will harden in a few days. Just lift them off and put them aside to dry out."

He gave her a sheepish grin. "I’m guessing you get that sort of comment a lot?"

She nodded. "Mainly from the parents. The kids can’t wait to start pulling off their favorite parts and start eating." She watched him do another circle around the table. "So I take it you like?"

Daniel pulled her into his arms once again. "Like doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling right now, both for the cake and its creator."

His lips lowered to hers and Annika’s pulse raced. Gods, she couldn’t get enough of him. Every second she spent with Daniel made the need inside of her grow. Gradually she became aware of a ringing in her ears. Distracted she pulled away. What was that?

"What’s the matter?" Daniel hadn’t heard a thing.

She tilted her head listening. "Didn’t you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

The ringing sounded again and Daniel groaned, recognizing the sound of his doorbell. "Ignore it," he said kissing her again. "I plan to."

The next ring was louder and longer than before. Whoever was there was not going to go away.

Daniel sighed, breaking off their kiss. "If it’s some salesman I’m going to be really pissed." He lightly brushed his lips over her forehead. "You stay here, I’ll get rid of them." Grumbling he stalked down the hall. "Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying."

He threw open the door to find a grinning Jack with Sam and Teal’c standing uneasily behind him.

"We come bearing gifts." Jack held up two six packs of beer.

From the look on Sam and Teal’c’s faces Daniel guessed correctly they’d been coerced into coming over.

"What are you doing here?" Daniel demanded peeved. He already had a pretty good suspicion of what Jack’s answer was going to be. "I thought you were going fishing."

"Change of plan." Jack barged through the door before Daniel could object.

The other two had the manners to wait until a frustrated Daniel beckoned them in.

"Knowing our resident archaeologist as we do, we thought we’d help you out with your little distraction problem." Jack caught Daniel’s look and quickly added, "It was all Teal’c’s idea."

Daniel reluctantly grinned at the colonel’s bald-faced lie. "Yeah, right." He managed a quick look towards the kitchen but couldn’t see Annika.

Sam noticed. "If this is a bad time, we can come back another day."

"Nope," Jack disagreed, making himself comfortable on the couch. "We’re not leaving until you’ve at least talked to the girl. I can’t take another mission with you tripping over nothing."

Realizing his teammates, or more specifically Jack, was going to be staying for a while, he gestured for Sam and Teal’c to sit. Stealing another glance at the kitchen, he ran his fingers through his hair. "Jack, you really don’t need to be here."

Jack wasn’t to be deterred. "Now I’ve got a sweet plan all worked out. We’ll say we’re having a party…" he held up the beer, "and ran out of ice. Daniel, you go next door and ask if she has any to spare and invite her over." He saw Daniel’s pained expression. "On second thoughts, don’t want to scare her off, Sam better do the inviting, you look like you’re gonna pass out."

"Jack!" Daniel finally managed to get a word in. "You really don’t need to be here."

"Uh… sir."

"What, Sam?"

Sam motioned for the colonel to look behind him.

Daniel followed her gaze and saw Annika standing silently in the doorway, an amazed expression on her face.

A A A

Annika had listened to the arrival of Daniel’s work mates and bit back a laugh.

Her neck prickled again. So this was it. Curiously she stepped into the lounge and immediately squinted at the bright light that assaulted her eyes. Wow. She’d never seen an aura so bright and powerful! Of course she had noticed Daniel’s the first time she'd seen him, as she did with almost everyone she came in contact with. While his had been strong and pure, it was no different from the thousands of others she’d seen. But having these four in the same room almost blinded her. Individually they were good people, but combined they had unprecedented power. Who are these people?

While she didn’t doubt that Daniel was an archaeologist, seeing him standing in the bright blue bubble that surrounded all of them, confirmed that there was more to his job than digging up ancient relics.

Visions began appearing above their heads like a slide show. Well, that's new! She wasn’t even physically touching these people! As the images flickered and kept changing, many of them involving killing of some kind, the only thing that stopped her from recoiling was the blue aura. Yes, all of them had killed many people, many times, but if the battles hadn’t been for good then the aura would be dark and black. She was safe in their company.

All of this ran through her mind in the blink of an eye and she took another step closer. She tried to focus on the people instead of the four mini movies above their heads. "Uh…hello." She gave a hesitant smile.

"Well, speak of the devil," Jack grinned while Daniel cringed. "We were just talking about you." He turned to Daniel. "I take it this is your neighbor?"

Daniel willed himself not to go red. "Yes."

When Daniel didn’t elaborate Jack rolled his eyes. "You know for a linguist you don’t say very much." He jumped to his feet. "Looks like I’ll have to do the honors. I’m Jack O’Neill, two L’s, the chatterbox is Teal’c and the lady beside him is Samantha Carter. I’m guessing you already know Daniel, so that leaves…" he paused to let her fill in the gap.

"Annika Murdoch," she supplied grinning. She liked Jack already.

"…Annika Murdoch the neighbor who has got Daniel tied up in knots. Now that we’ve been introduced let’s have a drink to celebrate!" Jack sat back down and started passing around the bottles.

"Sure you don’t want any ice to go with that?" Annika asked mischievously.

"Nope. Turns out plan A wasn’t needed after all," Jack answered unabashed.

Daniel was watching the banter between them and felt himself relax. For a moment when Annika had entered the room, he’d thought she was going to freak out again, but he’d seen her expression turn from surprise to wonder. In that split second he saw her rein in whatever she was experiencing and come back to his world.

He caught her eye and Annika’s darkened with desire, the byplay with Jack forgotten.

The others would have had to be blind to miss that look.

Teal’c spoke for the first time. "Perhaps Daniel Jackson and Annika Murdoch wish to be alone."

To Daniel’s surprise Annika waved her hand dismissively. "Don’t worry, we’ve got all night for that…" This time he couldn’t stop his face from heating up. "You seem like an…" she flicked a glance above their heads, "…interesting bunch." She turned to Daniel, leaving the final decision up to him.

He tilted his head in question. Will you be okay?

She gave a slight nod. I’ll be fine.

Sam watched the silent communication with surprise. Holly Hannah! They’d only known each other a couple of days and already they were having silent conversations! She saw looks of astonishment on Jack and Teal’c’s faces and knew they were thinking the same thing. She smirked at the colonel. See, I told you he didn’t need any help.

"Well, I guess that settles it." Daniel took a sip of his beer. "We even have cake."

Jack perked up. "Cake? Now we’re definitely not leaving."

"Do you both not want to sit down?" Teal’c asked, and the others only just noticed that Daniel and Annika were still standing.

Annika flashed Daniel a panicked look. There was only so much she could control, she daren’t sit on any of the furniture.

He immediately knew what was wrong. "Hang on a minute."

He disappeared briefly into the kitchen and reappeared with a stool from his breakfast bar.

She sagged with relief. Thank goodness he’s quick on his feet.

Daniel sat down and Annika perched herself on his lap, making sure that all she touched was Daniel.

Even Teal’c raised an eyebrow in surprise but a quick warning shake from Daniel had his teammates clamping down on the question they all wanted to ask. While their friend did rest his arms on her thighs, their positioning wasn’t sexual. It seemed almost protective. Sam, Teal’c and Jack gave each other perplexed looks then shrugged. They’d get the low down later.

The rest of the evening was a relaxed affair, with Daniel’s teammates making her feel like part of the family. When they started to move outside to light up the BBQ, Teal’c was the first to see the cake still on the table.

"Daniel Jackson, I do not believe I have seen that figurine before. It appears very different from your usual choice of décor."

Daniel looked at him in confusion. "What figurine?"

Annika burst out laughing. "He means the cake."

"That is a cake?" Sam studied the sugar creation with a touch of envy.

Jack, bringing up the rear only heard Sam’s last word. "Did someone say cake?" He eagerly scouted the kitchen ready to pinch a piece. "Where?"

Sam pointed at the table.

His gaze fell to the cake that like Teal’c, he’d assumed was an ornament. "Hey, that’s cool!"

"Don’t take offence," Daniel said in a loud whisper, "that’s high praise coming from Jack."

Catching the significance of Daniel’s comment Sam asked, "Annika, did you make this?"

She nodded.

"Okay, now I’m jealous."

"Yeah, the closest I’ve seen Sam get to cooking is the Chinese takeaway menu on her fridge," Jack grinned side stepping Sam’s elbow aimed at his ribs. That’s striking a superior officer.

She glared at him. Bite me, sir!

"Annika’s a cake decorator by profession," Daniel explained, embracing her from behind. "She whipped that up in one night."

Annika felt a warm glow at how proud Daniel sounded about her work.

"If it tastes half as good as it looks, you must be up to your eyeballs with orders," Jack was definitely impressed. "Can I sneak a bit now?"

Daniel and Annika fought back grins, both of them remembering her earlier comment about kids eating her cakes.

They continued on outside and Daniel and Jack set about lighting the BBQ.

"What is the significance of the small dog eating a shoe?" Teal’c asked, thinking it was another Tau’ri custom he had yet to learn.

Annika explained, "I recently got two puppies. One of them decided that she preferred Daniel’s shoe to her dinner. I made the cake as an apology."

Jack held out his foot. "She can chew mine all she wants if it gets me a cake like that."

Annika laughed making herself comfortable on the grass. "I’m sure she’ll be happy to oblige."

At the sound of their mistress’ voice the two puppies came galloping across the lawn.

Sam sat down next to Annika and started playing with the little fur balls. "They are so cute. What’re their names?"

"Hathor and Thor."

The mouthful of beer Jack had just taken immediately came spurting back out and he started choking.

Teal’c thumped him unceremoniously on the back making him stagger.

Annika looked up in alarm. "Are you okay?" She noticed that Sam and Teal’c were looking at her strangely. "What’s wrong?"

The three simultaneously turned to Daniel who was trying very hard not to laugh. "I swear I had nothing to do with it. She bought the puppies while we were away and had already named them before we got back."

Sam was the first to recover. "Any particular reason you chose those two names?"

Annika frowned. "Daniel asked that same question."

"And what was your reply?" Teal’c asked stoically.

"I basically said that I’d named her Hathor because she was a little bitch who bewitched me and I named him Thor because he has no sense of humor."

The three stared at her open mouthed and she became self-conscious. "Am I missing something?"

Daniel could hold back his laughter no longer. "It’s kind of a private joke. I can’t explain, you had to have been there." He bent down and gave her a reassuring hug. "Don’t worry about it." He turned to the others and cracked up again. "If you could only see your faces."

Still confused she poked him in the ribs. "What are you laughing at? You reacted the same way."

Her comment broke the tension and the others joined in the laughter.

While Jack explained the intricacies of cooking the perfect BBQ to Teal’c, Daniel quickly fixed a salad. If they thought it odd that Annika didn’t offer to help him out in the kitchen, no one mentioned it.

Sam stayed next to Daniel’s neighbor still playing with the puppies. She hoped to find out a little more about the intriguing woman that would explain her slightly offbeat behavior.

"You have an amazing talent," she began. "Jack was right, I can’t cook anything more exotic than scrambled eggs on toast."

Distracted by Hathor who was happily tugging on her shoe, Annika spoke without thinking. "Well, I’m not a whiz with gadgets or computers so consider us even."

"How did you know that?" Sam was surprised.

"Ah…Daniel must have mentioned it," she quickly covered up her slip, however she knew Sam had picked up on the lie. She stole a quick glance at the blonde woman but saw no suspicion. In fact she looked like she was trying to work out a puzzle. Searching for a change of subject she focused on Teal’c who was standing rigidly at the BBQ. Although he was dressed casually in loose fitting pants and t-shirt with a bandana tied around his forehead, he looked anything but casual.

"…But I do not understand, O’Neill, why the meat must be blackened. Does it not taste better without the charcoal?…"

"Teal’c is not from around here, is he?"

"He’s not from Colorado, no," Sam answered vaguely.

"I have the sneaking suspicion that he’s from further away than I can imagine."

Sam shot her a sharp look but remained silent.

"So you and the col…" Damn, I’m not supposed to know that either. "I mean Jack, are you together?"

Sam flushed. "No. We’re in the Air Force. He’s my superior officer. They have strict rules about that sort of thing."

"Pity. You would make a great couple."

"Really?"

Annika heard the longing in her voice. "You know some rules were meant to be broken." She laid a comforting hand on Sam’s shoulder. She had a vision of Jack and Sam together sometime in the not too distant future. "The military could surprise you, may be willing to bend the rules for a special few."

Sam caught the emphasis. "What exactly has Daniel told you about us? I mean about our work?"

Annika didn’t miss the worried tone. "He’s told me absolutely nothing. I’ve guessed that he can’t really talk about what he does and I won’t push him. The last thing I want is to get him in trouble." She paused wondering how she could reassure the woman without revealing her own secret. "Whatever I have picked up will go with me to the grave, I promise." Annika looked earnestly at Sam. "I know how to keep secrets."

"You know more than you’re willing to say, don’t you?"

She nodded. "I know what you’re thinking, and no, I’m not some sort of spy sent to try to infiltrate your group. No one has told me anything about any of you. Until yesterday I didn’t even know that your…team…existed. Please say you believe me," Annika pleaded. "I’m not a threat."

For a moment Sam was torn. With her scientific mind she should logically have alarm bells ringing in her head. Annika had as good as admitted that she knew about the top secret work going on at the SGC. But instinctively Sam trusted this woman. "I believe you. I may not understand you yet, but I do believe you."

Relief flooded through Annika. "Thank you."

After a moment of companionable silence Sam commented curiously, "I can’t believe Daniel hasn’t picked up on your…" she searched for the word, "insights."

Annika smiled, remembering the looks of concern he was continually giving her. "He has. I kind of freaked him out last night," she admitted, "but he said he was willing to wait for me to tell him. He’s been very understanding about it."

Sam saw the tender look Annika flashed towards her teammate.

"One of the most understanding guys you’ll ever meet," Sam confirmed. "He’s very open minded. Whenever you decide to tell him your secret I’m positive he will take it in his stride."

She nodded. "I’m beginning to see that. I’m very lucky to have him in my life."

"We all are."

Daniel deposited the salad on the table. "You two seem to be having a very serious conversation."

Sam and Annika shared a smile. "Yes, it’s been very insightful."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Care to share?"

Both women shook their heads.

"Girl talk," Annika said, standing up to give him a light hug. "I’ll just duck home and feed Hathor and Thor so we can eat in peace."

Much to the amusement of the others her parting kiss left Daniel gasping for breath.

"Back soon." She shot Jack a sly grin. "Okay, you can talk about me now. Will ten minutes be enough time for you to grill Daniel?"

Jack waved her away with a straight face. "More than enough. Just make some noise when you come back so we know when to shut up."

As soon as Annika stepped over the fence, the three descended on the archaeologist.

"Way to go, Space Monkey!" Jack clapped him on the back. "Never doubted for a moment you knew how to catch the good ones."

"Yeah, right," Daniel groused good-naturedly. "You just like her because she makes cakes for a living."

"So how did it happen?" Sam asked. "Who made the first move?"

"Actually it was Hathor…" Daniel proceeded to tell them everything from when he thought he’d had a prowler to when she left last night, including her bizarre reactions to touching him and his possessions.

"What was the cause of her look of fear, Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel shrugged. "She won’t tell me. Not yet anyway. But I swear if I didn’t know better, that when she touched the statue of Anubis it looked like she’d had a run in with the real Anubis."

"She obviously has no problem touching you now," Jack grinned and Daniel flushed again.

"Ah…no…She got over that this morning…"

Jack looked eager to hear the details.

"But I’m not saying anymore than that." Daniel saw Sam looking thoughtful. "You know something, don’t you?"

"Let’s just say I have a theory," she admitted.

"Well? What is it?" Despite his earlier promise to wait until she was ready, Daniel couldn’t help himself. "Any insight would be appreciated. I’m floundering in the dark here. I don’t want her to freak out again."

"Oh, I’m sure she’ll tell you when she’s ready."

"Sam, you’re killing me, what did Annika tell you?"

"Nope, not my secret to tell. Besides," she added, "I could be wrong."

"That is highly doubtful, Major Carter," Teal’c denied. "You are rarely incorrect in your theories."

To Daniel’s frustration Sam remained tight lipped.

"Okay, I’m coming back now!" Annika called from the side of the house.

Jack chuckled. "I don’t care what she’s hiding. I like her."

"As do I, Daniel Jackson." Teal’c nodded in agreement.

Sam’s, "Me too," quickly followed as Annika reappeared.

"So what’s the verdict?" she asked immediately reaching for Daniel who wrapped his arms around her.

"It’s unanimous," Jack declared. "We like you."

"Glad to hear it." She snuggled into Daniel’s embrace. "Can we eat now? Need to keep up my strength you know."

They moved towards the table.

"Planning on running a marathon, are you?" Jack wisecracked reaching for the salad.

Annika flashed him a wicked grin. "Marathon yes, but I doubt running will be involved."

This time it was Daniel’s turn to choke on his beer, causing them all to burst out laughing while he tried to regain his dignity. They’d just recovered only to crack up again when Teal’c added another steak to Daniel’s plate saying, "I believe protein is good for endurance, Daniel Jackson."

When they’d finished Daniel brought out the cake and after carefully setting aside the sugar clone of Hathor, sliced it up.

Jack took one bite and was in heaven. "Annika, you know Daniel’s not all that great…always has his nose stuck in a book, has travel allergies going to the local store, constantly running late…Now I on the other hand, am…"

"Old enough to be her father," Sam quipped.

"I was going to say distinguished…Have a great sense of humor…"

"If you call sarcasm humor," Daniel butted in.

Jack ignored the interruption. "…Have an extensive knowledge of today’s culture…"

Teal’c added his two cents. "If one counts ‘The Simpsons’ as a reference guide."

"Teal’c’s been experimenting with his sense of humor, it still needs work…and have friends in high places…"

"Hear that Sam? Teal’c? Daniel? Bet you didn’t know Jack thought so well of you!" Annika chuckled as Jack was momentarily lost for words.

"Oh, I give up!" he grumbled admitting defeat.

"Sorry, Jack." Annika sent Daniel a tender look. "But I’ve chosen my man. However to soothe your broken heart I’ll bake you cakes whenever you want them."

Jack perked up. "Sounds great to me," he whispered loudly in Sam’s ear for all to hear, "See, my plan worked. I just got a lifetime supply of cake!"

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