"I still think they could have let you out," Daniel groused. "Or at least let me in." It was late in the evening and he once again found himself alone at home.

"They want to be sure that we really aren't infected anymore." Annika tucked the phone receiver between her ear and shoulder to free up her hands. She'd just taken a shower to rid herself of the stench of the Ra'sil'ic smoke. Despite her best efforts she could still smell it. At the moment she was trying to overpower it with a liberal dose of vanilla oil. "Apparently my hocus pocus say so isn't enough of a guarantee."

The Ra'sil'ic was proving to be an efficient combative against the virus. The personnel's recovery had been as rapid as the virus's aggressiveness. By sunset, there were no longer any stage four patients. The most serious case they had was a mid range stage three. Over a third of the infected personnel had recovered enough to be classed as stage two, and were once again walking around, albeit very slowly, on their own two feet. A quarter were only displaying stage one symptoms and ten people, besides SG-1, were completely virus free. However, despite the quick reduction in symptoms, all of them were pretty weak physically. Janet was estimating that it would be at least a week, more likely two, before she'd begin to give the all clear for 'gate travel.

"Damned suits," he muttered. It wasn't the people in the SGC who were insisting they remain in lockdown until double testing took place over a twenty-four hour period, officially confirming they were virus free. It was the IOA. As much as Daniel wanted to think they had made the decision for the greater good, he'd met enough of those politicians to know they were just covering their own asses in an election year. "After all the correct insights you've had, you'd think they'd have some faith in your abilities."

"You can't really blame them," she sighed, kicking off her boots, which she hadn't bothered to lace for the short distance from the locker room, and made herself comfortable on the bed. "If even one infected person slips by...we don't have enough of the tobacco left to treat another outbreak."

There were already plans to grow crops of the tobacco to be stockpiled from the seeds Teal'c had found. The only question was where it would be grown, either on Earth or on another 'friendly' planet.

"I know," Daniel reluctantly admitted. In this instance it really was a case of better to be safe than sorry. "How long before you have to go back on duty?"

"A little over five hours," she replied, glancing at her watch. Jack and Janet had created a new duty roster to take them through the night until the lockdown was over. They now had enough able bodied personnel to work two shifts. Annika was in the first hour of her downtime, before a six hour shift to monitor the remaining patients and help with the full decontamination of the levels of the base. Technically she was supposed to use this time to sleep, but without Daniel she wasn't going to waste her time trying. "I was considering going down to work on some of the artifacts."

"Okay. It'll be the first thing I look for," she promised.

"The file should be in one of the pigeon holes on my desk. Left side." At least that's where he thought it was. He'd read it in the middle of Annika's bout of the flu, so his recollection of that time was a little fuzzy due to his sleep deprivation. It'd be so much easier if he were there to search himself.

Annika could feel her husband's frustration at still being confined topside. It matched her own feelings. As selfish as it was considering that there were still a lot of seriously ill people on base, she wasn't one of them. All she wanted was to go home, make love to Daniel and then snuggle into his wonderfully warm arms and sleep. She craved his touch and the secure comfort his embrace gave her. She felt a pang of longing, though it was difficult to determine if was her own or from Daniel. It prompted a slight diversion in her thoughts. "I was thinking about our bond while I was in the shower."

"What about it?" Daniel asked, not able to stop the pulse of joy at having that link to his wife's heart once again. Ever since she had awoken from the coma it had been steady and firm. It was the longest constant 'connection' since Anubis's attack and he was keeping his fingers crossed that it would remain that way.

"I have a theory as to why it isn't as strong as it was before." She had thought it was because it had been 'repaired'. Any repair with a physical object was never as solid as the original. By that logic, she had applied the same principle to a 'spiritual' repair. Yet for some reason as the hot water had sluiced over her body tonight, she had recalled a random thought of why her mind had created the bond in the first place.

"I'm all ears."

"I was thinking why my subconscious mind first created the concept of the bond." She absently twirled the phone cord around her finger. "When my visions started I had so many emotions and thoughts which didn't belong to me that I couldn't separate them from my own. And I was kind of physically blinded to the emotions of my friends and family."

"You couldn't see their auras?" he asked curiously.

"I could, but it took me a long time to be able to fully interpret what color meant which emotion, and if I happened to have a vision while I was looking at someone it became a jumbled mess. By the time I met Katie, the lady I first bonded with, I was desperate, scared out of my mind that I was going crazy."

"I wish I had known you then." Daniel knew from bits and pieces it hadn't been easy for her when her psychic abilities had started to manifest. Hearing just how bad it had been for her made his heart ache.

"No you don't. I alienated everyone. Pushed everyone who cared about me away because they couldn't understand what I was going through. I felt so alone." She felt his compassion, having experienced the intensity and confusion of her visions himself. Hurried on, not wanting to dwell on that part of her life. "I think the bond happened so I could know what I and the person closest to me were feeling, without the 'intrusion' of the emotions from my visions."

It sounded logical to Daniel. A desperate act of a desperate mind to hold on to her sanity. "But what has that to do with the strength of our bond today?"

"I don't need that 'lifeline' anymore," she said softly. "On a normal day I hardly see your aura anymore unless I concentrate on it. I know what you're feeling just by looking at your face, can read it from the tilt of your smile, the expression in your eyes, the little frown you get. I'm sure of...confident of your love for me and on the flip side, I know my love for you."

There was only silence from the other end of the line.

"Daniel?"

A mix of emotions began filtering through to her. She didn't know what sort of response she expected from him. Annoyed frustration wasn't something she'd even considered. Confused, and admittedly a little worried, she replayed what she'd said in her mind, wondering what had caused it. She could only think of one thing. She knew how much Daniel loved their private link. Had it seemed like she was sorry it had been restored? "Not that I'm not happy to have our bond back again..." Her voice trailed off as the annoyance was tinged with exasperation. "Daniel, I didn't mean to upset you."

Daniel was grateful he'd been sitting down when she'd voiced her 'theory'. He slumped against the headboard of their bed, trying to control the tidal wave of emotions it had caused. "Upset me?" he rasped when he finally regained the power to speak. "You just revealed that because of our love you've overcome what was essentially a childhood defense mechanism. I'm feeling nothing but overwhelming love and pride for you."

She heard and felt the truth to his words and yet... "So why are you annoyed?"

"Because you chose to tell me this pivotal revelation over the phone while the base is in lockdown and I can't get to you."

"Oh." She chuckled at his exasperation. "My sense of timing sucks, doesn't it?"

"Just a little," he grumbled with a grin. His love for her rippled through his body; the need to hold her was a physical ache in his arms. And it would be at least another eleven hours before he'd be able to relieve that ache.

"Tell me what you would do if I were there?" she suggested. If they couldn't physically be together, then the next best thing was planning what they would be doing once the lockdown was over. Her yearning to be with him was just as needy as his.

"I'd start with the biggest bear hug known to man."

"A few kisses?"

"Oh, undoubtedly...I couldn't have your lips so close and not kiss them."

"Where would we be?"

"Well, it's still a bit cool. How does lighting a fire and snuggling on the couch sound?"

"Wonderfully cozy." She could picture the scene in her mind and inevitably she began to think about what would happen next. A shot of pure lust coursed through her. "And we'd spend the rest of the night making love." Annika recalled how their first night together after being separated usually went. "First hard and fast," she murmured, "to take the edge off...and then..."

"Nice and slow," Daniel finished, a tingle of heat converging below his waist at the mere idea. Stifled a sigh. If they didn't stop this conversation now he'd spend his lonely night with a constant hard on. Despite this certainty, he couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut. "Exploring every inch of each other."

"Maybe share a long, hot bath together," Annika voiced another of their preludes to their love life. "A few candles, some bubbles...Irish coffees with extra whipped cream."

Daniel smiled at the memory that particular comment triggered. It had started out as a typical evening, returning home from a mission more than a little tired but too keyed up to fully relax. Annika had suggested a bath to help unwind and he'd gone to grab the traditional bottle of wine to go with it. Somewhere between yawning and looking for a corkscrew, it occurred to him that the possibility of them falling asleep if they were cocooned in the hot water drinking alcohol was pretty high. He'd come up with the compromise of Irish coffees, thinking that the caffeine would counteract the whiskey. The cream had been an after thought purely for presentation. That is until his wife had gotten a hold on the can of white fluffiness. They had made it to the bath. Eventually. "Yeah, lots and lots of extra cream."

Annika was also remembering that night. With her body already tingling from desire, a wicked little voice in her head suggested such desire should not go to waste. Wondered if Daniel would play along. From the trickle of emotions that were being bounced to her beneath her solar plexus, he was already fired up; so much so that she was pretty sure he'd have little choice but to make an appointment with Mrs Palmer and her one hand show at some point tonight. There was no reason that she could see, why they couldn't experience that together...sort of. "Do you recall how that innocent little bath started?"

"How could I forget?" Another piece of his anatomy also remembered and he had to adjust his jeans to accommodate it. Daniel closed his eyes picturing how'd she'd looked as he'd entered the bathroom with the tray of hot drinks. She'd been bending over to light a couple of tea lights, the only illumination the room had. Her nicely rounded butt in those snug fitting jeans never failed to arouse him and he'd been unable to resist. The coffees were placed aside and he'd caressed her through the denim. She'd leaned into him and his hands had crept up around to her breasts...

"It was something like this...wasn't it?"

At the husky whisper Daniel's eyes sprang open. Her voice had not come from the phone pressed to his ear but from directly in front of him. Standing at the foot of the bed was the ghostly image of his wife. Though fully clothed, she had cupped her breasts in her hands.

"Like this?" she repeated.

His mouth suddenly dry he nodded.

"And then what did you do?"

"Brushed my finger tips over your nipples..." Daniel was mesmerized as her index finger grazed back and forth over the cotton of her shirt, causing the nub beneath to pucker into a tight pebble. Her other hand copied the first.

"And now?"

His eyes darkened in anticipation with a smidgen of bemusement. "Are we really going to do this?"

She had never even considered doing this before. Phone sex had never been a part of her sex life, let alone 'astral' sex. Sure she had done the twin thing, but that had been with Daniel in the room. She had never gone solo before, at least not with any sort of an audience. So she was slightly nervous when she said, "Well, neither one of us are going to get any sleep apart...especially not in the...um...state we have accidentally worked ourselves into."

"Relieving the 'pressure' sounds like a good idea." His heart had already sped up at the idea. Wondered how he'd gotten so lucky to have a wife who was willing to be inventive to any occasion. However, Daniel could see that while it had been her idea, she was a little anxious, not only about how he would react but at 'performing' the act. "For both of us."

His answer melted away most of her self-consciousness. A cheeky smile touched her lips. "And I recall the idea of you watching me going solo is a bit of a fantasy."

"You have a very good memory," he complimented. That fantasy had been revealed very briefly, in a temple, if his memory served him.

"Only for the important stuff," she quipped.

"But ideally you would be in the same room so that I could have my wicked way with you at any time," he mock grumbled.

"I can always stop." Her fingers that had continued to brush against her nipples halted and she dropped her hands to her sides.

"No, don't!" He automatically reached out to her then a little sheepishly grinned. "Please?" His smile faltered a little. "Are you strong enough for this? I don't want you to relapse..."

She gave him a firm nod. The members of SG-1 were the exception to the recovering personnel, which wasn't really surprising given their bizarre reaction to the virus. Whatever that light had been, which none of them were able to explain, it had given them a boost of energy to go with their physically well bodies. "I'm feeling revitalized. I haven't felt this in control of my abilities in a long time." A smile played on her lips. "I think Jack and Sam are feeling it too. They snuck off to the VIP room a little while ago."

"Perhaps we should also make this a private conversation?" He gestured to the phone. Primarily he made the suggestion because he knew the lines from the facility were monitored. Though the conversations were only randomly checked in usual circumstances, it would be their embarrassing bad luck that this conversation would be picked. Running a close second to that was not having to hold the receiver would free up both of his hands. And since they had a visual and aural 'display', using the phone wasn't needed.

"Good idea." Her astral image nodded. "Don't want Big Brother getting his rocks off too!"

With a chuckle Daniel held down the button on the phone disconnecting the call. Placed the receiver beside it rather than in its cradle, to ensure no one could ring in at an inopportune moment. He watched as Annika did the same, then saw her ghostly image take a couple of steps away and twist her hand at something unseen by him. That he could see this pantomime of her locking the door in their base quarters sent a thrill of desire through him. It meant that she wouldn't be simply undressing her astral self; she would be mimicking what she was physically doing. He knew her astral body could move and think independently from her physical body, that hadn't changed with the recent alteration to her abilities. Renewed concern for her well being resurfaced. "You're mimicking...if this is too draining on you to maintain, you'll say so, won't you?"

"I will," she assured then gave her reasoning for why she had deliberately chosen this method, which was basically reverting back to her 'beginners' attempt at astral projection. "One mind..." She slowly ran her hand down the side of her neck, traveling down between the valley of her breasts, her stomach and then drifted over her hip to her thigh. "What you see will be an exact reflection of what I do." She walked closer to him stopping by the side of bed and looked down at his reclined body. "So if you see me do this..." Her hand resting on her thigh moved inwards over the top of her pants, her fingers brushing over the seams of the crotch, paused for a second on her mound before rubbing back and forth. As her hand returned to its original position, she leant forward to whisper in his ear. "You'll know I'm feeling every single caress."

Her voice was like velvet and it sent another thrill of anticipation through him. "Can you do that again?"

"With or without any barriers?" she asked. Daniel enjoyed teasing her as much with her clothes on as off, gradually working up to stripping her completely. She wondered if voyeuristically he'd want it the same way.

"With...for now."

Well, that answered that question, she thought, repeating the movement. "You start off feather light..."

"Then a little harder..." he said softly and she increased the pressure of her strokes. When he did this to her, it wasn't long before she began to squirm for a deeper more direct touch. He was curious to find out if she would have the same response to her own hand. Her hips unconsciously bucked forward, sating his curiosity and a teasing smile tweaked his lips. "And right about now I'd move on."

Obligingly her hand skimmed upwards, lingering at the top of her pants. She studied his face, trying to guess whether he wanted her to start to remove them or keep going up. Tentatively she tugged her t-shirt free and traced along the hem. The gleam that sparked in his eyes told her she had made the right choice. Slowly she drew the shirt up.

Blue eyes were glued to her ghostly image the higher the t-shirt went up. As much as he loved to do this job himself, it was damned seductive to watch her strip for him. Lifting her arms to totally remove the shirt caused her breasts to thrust forward, pulling against the confines of her bra. His hands itched to be filled with their plump softness.

"I love it when you tease me this way." Her finger traced along her bra strap, following the edges of the top of the garment. "I never know when you'll let your finger slip off the edge to touch my skin." She zigzagged her finger from the lacy trim to the top of her breast. "Or when you'll move over the lace..." Her nail circled the cotton, spiraling inwards until it skimmed over her nipple. "Slowly driving me insane with the need to feel your touch skin to skin."

Daniel automatically leant towards her, seeking that close contact she described, forgetting for a moment that she wasn't physically there. "Your body is so wonderfully warm and inviting. It takes all my willpower not to ravish you every moment of every day...to cup those beautiful breasts in my hands, to tease and caress them..." Another shot of desire raced through him as she mimicked his words, gently massaging those glorious mounds in front of his face. "There's only so long I can hold out before my mouth demands to replace my hands...to feel your nipples hardened between my lips."

His husky voice and the very pronounced evidence of his arousal emboldened Annika. "One of my favorite things you do is when you use your teeth to remove my bra." She let the strap slip off her shoulder and tugged at the cup of the intimate apparel, peeling the material off. "Your breath so hot against my body...if you haven't shaved, the tickle of your beard when you nuzzle makes me..." She pinched at her nipple, causing it to pucker and a soft moan sighed from her throat.

Daniel hadn't made a move to try the role playing on himself, other than a couple more adjustments of his jeans, simply because he'd been too engrossed in the erotic show his wife was putting on. But now his body was crying out be a part of the act. "When you touch me, it sends my heart racing. Your butterfly kisses are direct infusions of desire." He danced his fingers over his chest in much the same way she did with her lips when they were together. "When your teeth nip..." he grazed his nail over his nipple and it hardened into a tiny nub, "I feel it down to my toes." His fingers fanned out to travel across his ribcage. "When you hair falls across me, it's like an angel's breath, my nerve endings are aware of every single strand."

While she listened and hungrily watched Daniel run his hands over his body, she had undone the clasp of her bra, letting it fall completely away. When her breasts bounced free she continued to play and tease at her nipples, loving the way Daniel seemed to drink in her every movement. She could see his hands creeping closer to the bulge in his pants. Let him get as far as undoing the first button when she murmured, "I take my time to undress you."

His hand paused at the second button. "Not always."

"Irish coffee night I did," she said innocently.

"Nuh uh, you whipped these babies off quick as lightning," he fibbed. His erection was straining against the thick denim, begging for release.

"Your memory, Doctor Jackson, deceives you." She gave a low chuckle, knowing precisely why he'd told the white lie, yet she knew just how much he could take before the constriction became painful. "First I ground myself against you, feeling your arousal through our clothes." Her hands slid down her sides to cup her backside and she slowly wiggled her hips. "While you were indulging yourself..." One of her hands returned to their former place to resume playing with her breast. "I slid a hand between us, stroking you, lightly squeezing, reveling in you becoming harder and harder..."

"It's coming back to me now." Like he was in a hypnotic state, Daniel's hand glided over the front of his jeans, acting out her words; a slight tremble to his fingers as he battled to go slowly. "And then just when I couldn't take anymore..."

His eyes pleaded with hers to 'allow' him to continue and she couldn't deny him. "I finally went is search of a more intimate touch."

"Hey! You cheated," Annika playfully pouted. "You went commando."

"I didn't know we were going to play tantalizing games tonight," he grinned, lifting his hips and tugging his jeans down. Lying as he was, his movements weren't exactly graceful, yet from the way Annika's eyes devoured him she didn't appear to mind. The undiluted desire turned her violet depths into sparkling amethyst and he felt his skin tingle wherever they languidly perused him.

Seeing him lying in all his naked glory pooled the heat between her legs and what remained of her own clothing was suddenly constricting. She fumbled for the buttons of her BDUs. "I'm a little overdressed." The lust in his eyes made her knees turn weak and she had to sit down on the bed to fully remove the trousers.

Daniel took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the soft scent of vanilla that lingered on the bedclothes. "Oh gods, how much do I want to take you in my arms right now? To taste your sweet lips..." His gaze dropped down to the bikinis still covering her womanhood. "To drink my fill of your sweet, hot, nectar."

Annika was about to lie back on the bed next to him when there was the sudden sound of little pitter-patters and the next thing they knew there were two bundles of grey and white fluff bouncing on the bed. The puppies had obviously just heard Annika's voice and had come to investigate how they had missed her arrival home.

She couldn't stop her giggle at Daniel's expression as the two puppies tried to jump on her lap then squeaked in confusion when they tumbled right through her. "Guess you should have closed your door too, huh?"

"Come on, guys." Daniel tried to shoo them of the bed. "Private moment and you're not invited."

Hathor and Thor ignored him, too intent on trying to work out the puzzle of their ghostly mistress.

"Come on, out."

Rather than obey the exasperated order, Thor decided that Daniel might hold the answer to the mystery. He scampered across the bed and launched himself onto Daniel's chest.

Daniel considered himself lucky that the inquisitive dog hadn't thought his erection was a new chew toy as he scooped up the dog under one arm and slid from the bed. Hathor managed to elude his second hand. Chuckling at the ludicrous situation he raised an eyebrow at his wife. "A little help before my body explodes with unresolved sexual tension?"

Still giggling, Annika lured Hathor by drifting towards the door, calling her name. Yipping happily at this new game, Hathor trotted over. Annika flittered out to the landing and once the pup had crossed the threshold, Daniel deposited Thor next to her and quickly shut the door. Annika drifted straight back in. Both of them couldn't help their snorts of laughter when almost immediately there were two bumps against the wood and indignant barks as they tried to mimic their mistress's return to the bedroom.

"Serves the little mood killers right," Daniel halfheartedly grumbled.

"Oh, I don't know," Annika leisurely perused his body, which was still very evidently aroused, "the mood looks just fine to me." With a wicked grin she knelt on the bed facing him with her knees slightly apart. Slowly slid a finger beneath her bikinis, coating it with the slick evidence of her arousal. When she removed her finger she waved it languidly at him. "Feels just fine too."

Daniel's mouth began to water, yet his throat was parched. "Oh, those need to come off." His heart thumped and what little of his arousal had waned came back tenfold. "Now."

"I thought you'd never ask." She hooked the underwear with her thumbs and slid them down over her thighs.

"Oh gods, you're so beautiful," he murmured, mesmerized by the image of her. He joined her on the bed, also kneeling but with his backside resting on his heels with his thighs apart. His hand dropped down to stroke himself. "You do this to me. One look at you...one look from you, and I'm yours for the taking."

The tip of his shaft shone with the first drops of precum and she automatically licked her lips. "I love the taste of you...those first pearly drops are like the cherry on top of an ice cream." Her eyes longingly followed his index finger as he swirled his fingertip across the seeping wetness then slowly lifted his finger to his mouth.

His gaze never leaving her face, his tongue darted out, licking it clean before sucking the whole finger into his mouth.

"It's a prelude to the delicious dessert to come."

The breathy hitch to her voice made his erect member twitch and his free hand once again began to rub the length of himself. "It doesn't compare to the honey you let me sample," he contradicted. "It's intoxicating. To taste the evidence of your desire, to run my tongue up the length of you..." he had to pause to draw in a haggard breath when her fingers dipped between her legs, sliding back and forth. "...And swirl around your tiny pearl, coaxing it to reveal itself so that I can hear the song of your orgasm."

She saw that he was tilting his head and realized that he didn't have as good a view of her self-love as he was craving. Bent back until she was lying on the bed, opening her legs wider.

"Oh yeah," he groaned, encouraging her to keep going, unconsciously quickening his pace of his hand wrapped around his shaft. "Long, soft strokes...a finger dipping inside you..."

Following his directions, she slid one finger inside herself, using her thumb to rub circles around her clitoris. Writhed on the bed, feeling the steady tingle of her climax begin to converge wherever her fingers touched.

"But I wouldn't let you come yet."

"Please?" she moaned, her eyes pleading up at him with wanton need. It took every ounce of her willpower to slow down.

"I'd ease off just a little..." His voice was just as ragged as he fought down his own mounting orgasm. He was determined to wait until they were both at the very edge of that glorious pinnacle.

"Please, let me...I must," she gasped, her hips bucking forward into her hand. "I'm going to explode."

The small whimper that escaped from her lips was Daniel's undoing. "Yes." The single word hissed from his mouth. It only took a couple of strokes by each of them for their bodies to shudder with blessed release, their names guttural moans from deep within their throats.

Daniel flopped down on the bed to lie beside her, his spent member still twitching in his hand. Hearts beating rapidly, they both needed a few moments to catch their breath.

Eventually Annika twisted on her side, propping her head up with her hand. "I think that rates as one of the kinkiest times for me."

He arched an eyebrow. "You don't consider silken bindings to the bed or my Christmas present kinky?"

A blush tinged her cheeks and she looked a bit sheepish. "Oh yeah. Well, it was kinky in a different way."

"In a totally mind blowing way." He assured then became playfully thoughtful. "Doesn't help much with our insomnia though."

"Nope," she agreed. "But makes being awake a helluva lot more fun."

Sharing wide, satisfied smiles, their afterglow was interrupted when her head suddenly turned away from him, obviously listening to something at the base.

"What is it?" he asked with a touch of concern.

"Door," she explained. "Shit, I've gotta get dressed."

"At least your mood killer had the decency to wait until we'd finished," Daniel grinned.

"Barely," she muttered. "Hang on, I'll keep you posted." Annika maintained her astral self in case it was something important. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if some new crisis had cropped up, though what emergency could happen when the base was quarantined in lockdown she couldn't fathom.

Back at the SGC, the sharp knock was repeated.

The first thing she grabbed for was a couple of moist towelettes she kept in their footlocker, which had come in handy for quick clean ups after a not so secret rendezvous with her husband. Hastily wiping her hands she called out, "Not a good time, Jack." It wasn't her psychic ability that let her know who was at the door. Only Jack had that impeccable sense of timing to arrive as the Jacksons' were enjoying the afterglow of their lovemaking. She supposed that she and Daniel should be grateful that the general's internal clock wasn't five minutes faster.

"Casper, I need to talk to Daniel."

"How do you know I'm talking with Daniel?" she asked, buying time to scramble for her clothes.

"Almighty General's power of deduction. Your home line is busy and so is your room extension."

"Can I just relay the message?" She cursed under breath, struggling with her bra. It didn't help that Daniel was chuckling at her mad rush. If she had the time and the strength of her previous telekinesis she would have tossed a pillow at him.

"It'll just take a sec." Jack reached for the door handle and was surprised to find it wouldn't budge. "What's with the lock?"

"Can't a girl have a private conversation with her husband?" She yanked her t-shirt on and wriggled into her BDU pants. Looking down to give herself a quick once over she reached for the lock and flicked it open.

When the door swung open, Jack eyed her with perplexity. From her disarrayed clothes, if he didn't know better he would have said he'd woken her up. Her innocent expression made him suspicious. Brushed it aside as he strode over to the bedside and picked up the receiver lying on its side. His confusion deepened when all he heard was static, clearly indicating the line was not in use. "He hung up?"

"Um...it wasn't that kind of conversation." Annika willed her cheeks not to turn red.

"Oh, you were..." he wiggled his fingers, Jack-speak for her astral projection. Which begged the question of why the phones had been off the hook.

"Uh huh." Buttoning her shirt became her most important task. "Daniel's put the receiver back on from his end now."

"You're still there?"

"Yeah." And there was no way she was going to merge back with her physical self now. Annika may have clothed herself here, however, but her astral self was still in her birthday suit and she wasn't going to risk blinking back until she was once again alone.

Jack didn't understand his teammate's embarrassment. It wasn't like he could have interrupted anything... Dialing the phone, he studied his teammate. She looked a little flushed. For a second he worried that she was relapsing and then a few light bulbs went off in his head. Her disheveled appearance, flushed cheeks, the phones off the hook, the little tidbits Daniel had let slip about the inventiveness of his love life. "Hope you remembered to turn off the security camera," he grinned.

Daniel picked up in the middle of the first ring and heard Jack's teasing comment. Also saw the horrified look on his wife's ghostly image and quickly assured her. "The camera in our quarters is permanently angled to look at the ceiling." He'd made sure of that a long time ago.

"They get reset ya' know." Jack made sure his tone was serious though he couldn't hide the mischievous glint to his eyes.

Annika's head shot up to the camera. Heaving a sigh of relief to see the lens clearly pointing away from the bed, she snatched up a pillow and whacked her team leader with it. "You'll keep, General."

Both men chuckled.

"What's up, Jack?" Daniel asked.

The general got down to business. "As soon as the lockdown's over they're sending a containment team to the Cupidian's planet. I figured you'll bound to be the first one through the doors here, so I thought it'd be a nice idea if we went with them and you can say a few words or something since there's no one there left to do it."

"Oh, um...sure." The request startled Daniel coming from Jack. Normally Daniel was the one to make such a sentimental suggestion. "I'll research Hurrian funerary rites. The Cupidian's culture developed independently compared to ours but the basics should be the same."

"They deserve to have a decent send off rather than just being incinerated."

The comment nudged Daniel's mind. "When I was going over the reports yesterday, I noticed in Lieutenant Whittiker's notes he mentioned there were signs of the Hindu religion interwoven with the Hurrian. He could only speculate that some of the original escapees were a mix of the two, with Hurrian being the dominant population."

Jack listened patiently for Daniel to get to the point of this impromptu briefing. There was bound to be one, there always was.

"SG-5 didn't get information on the Cupidian's funerary rituals. A lot of cultures consider it bad luck to discuss such matters with outsiders, however, in our Hindu religion they cremate their dead. We could well be honoring their ways."

"Sweet." Containment procedures would mean cremating the dead regardless of tradition. It was a nicer thought to think they were doing it out of deference to culture than callous self-preservation SOP.

"I'll start working on it now."

Jack finished off the call, flashing a smile at Annika. "Mission accomplished. That should keep Daniel occupied for the rest of the night."

Annika returned the smile, seeing through the light hearted 'excuse'. Jack hadn't asked Daniel to write a memorial service to keep the archaeologist busy. He'd done it because it was the right thing to do. But she'd play along with his desire to keep things light and not make an issue of his compassion. "And what about me? With my husband lost in the world of Hurrian tradition, you just took away my distraction to wile away the night."

"I never said it was a perfect plan," Jack shrugged. "How about we adjourn to the mess and try to figure out what's in the midnight special?"

"Sounds like a challenge," she agreed to the idea. "Just let me find my boots."

Jack saw the footwear clearly peeking out from beneath the bed. Guessed correctly she was asking for a moment of privacy. He headed out to the corridor closing the door behind him.

Back in the seclusion of their bedroom, Daniel had pulled on his pants but hadn't bothered with adding any more clothes. He grinned at the astral projection of his wife, who had perched herself cross-legged on the end of the bed during Jack's phone call. "Tonight was a lot of fun."

"Yeah, it was," she agreed, folding her hands in her lap. "Next time do you think we can go with your original idea and try it while we're in the same room?"

"If you keep sitting there like that the 'next time' will be in five minutes." From the way her eyes widened, he knew she had no idea how enticing she looked sitting there so demurely, while the memory of a few minutes ago proclaimed she was anything but.

"Then I'd better go and let you get to work."

"I'll see you in the morning." Daniel sent a wash of his love through their bond. Though the core reason for their bond may not be needed any longer, that didn't mean they couldn't still enjoy and make use of it.

"I'll be waiting." Her love mingled with his. She blew him a kiss and then flickered from the room.

In their assigned quarters, Annika merged her astral self back with her physical body and in a couple of minutes was reopening the door to join Jack. As they headed for the mess hall, she noticed that the corridors were quite busy considering everyone was supposed to be recuperating. From the slightly tousled look from many of the personnel, it seemed that sleep had been elusive despite the crisis being pretty much over. "I guess Daniel and I don't have dibs on insomnia, huh?"

"I'm thinking there should be a warning for all new recruits," Jack grumbled. "'Sign up for whacky dreams if you're lucky to get any sleep at all'."

"Had a strange one?" She raised an eyebrow.

Stepping into the elevator, the general ran a weary hand over his eyes. "Sam and I were sitting in tree house, which was a fertility clinic of all places, and the doc was saying that we need to plant a seed, water it, and life will grow. Then this kid sprouts from a flower pot wearing a Bonsai tree for a hat, waving her little arms around wailing that she needed more light."

"You and Sam discussing having kids?" she asked, automatically looking for the hidden meaning to the dream.

"Nope. We haven't even set a wedding date yet."

"Could just be instinctual human preservation," she theorized. "I've heard that surviving near death experiences kicks in the biological clock to procreate."

"If that were the case," Jack replied dryly, "this place would be ankle deep with diapers and rattles."

"True," she conceded with a snort of laughter.

Entering the mess hall Annika wasn't surprised to find most of the tables taken. When they made a beeline for the coffee urn, Sam beckoned them over, holding up a smaller pot.

Annika breathed in appreciatively the fragrant smell of the ground roast, recognizing the specialty blend. "Ah, you have a hoard of the good stuff."

"With a splash of something special." Ferretti held his mug, which had a liberal dose of brandy, up in salute. The major had been one of the quickest to recover. His symptoms had originally compounded, jumping two stages in the space of a couple of hours. His recovery had been the same. The eye petechia was still evident but other than that he was symptom free.

"We're speculating that the Ra'sil'ic has mild hallucinogenic properties, stimulating the dream function of the brain." Sam sipped at her spiked coffee. She'd nodded off in Jack's arms and her mind had latched on to the puzzle of the glowing phenomena. In the dream she had been sitting at her computer studying the blood work of SG-1, but her screen kept blinking on and off. She tried to fix what she thought was a loose connection. When she followed the cords the plastic and wires had turned into vines, the plug a tiny root system sucking the power from the electricity point. Each time she attempted to disconnect it there was a pulse of blinding light and she'd find herself back in front of the computer with the blinking screen. She'd woken up more frustrated than anything else and couldn't unwind enough to even attempt any more sleep.

"Most everyone here has had bizarre dreams." Janet waved her hand around indicating the people in the mess hall. That little side effect had been revealed during her rounds checking on the personnel's recovery. She had been no exception. In her dream the SGC had been in the middle of a foothold situation and she had been skulking through the corridors. Her navy blue uniform had bizarrely turned to a bright electric blue, which now that she thought of it, matched her recent lingerie purchase, and her gun had been ruby red. The 'intruders' hell bent on taking over the world, were chubby little cherubs, armed with tiny bows and arrows with heart-shaped tips. They'd been flying through the corridors, their ridiculously small wings flapping, chanting, 'It's too late, there's no escape'.

Head bobs up and down, though no one was inclined to share what their subconscious minds had conjured up.

Brooklyn was a firm believer that the Ra'sil'ic had prophetic properties, for he was experiencing his dream right now. He was stuck between Janet and Ferretti like piggy in the middle as the two of them pretended everything was back to how it had been before Anubis's attack. Although in Lou's defense he was about ninety percent sure the man didn't remember declaring his love in his morphine induced haze. Seeing Dodger enter with his blonde hair sticking up every which way with slightly spooked, bleary eyes, provided a perfect escape for the captain. "Another victim of the whacky tobaccy!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "Here, take a load off." Much to his dismay, his teammate waved him back down.

"Huh?" Dodger pulled up a chair, hoping no one noticed his wary glance at the base's CMO.

"Crazy dream?" Ferretti asked, hoping the young man would give details so he wouldn't have to wonder about his own dream. He had the horrible feeling that his had been more a memory than a fantasy. He'd been dressed in top hat and tails and had been prancing around like Fred Astaire, singing his love for his partner, which happened to be an IV pole.

Dodger, unknowingly disappointing a second member of his team in the space of a few seconds, only gave a mumbled reply of 'Yeah', without any further elaboration. His eyes unconsciously darted to Janet again, feeling a silly heart thump of relief that her hands were in clear sight wrapped around her mug. It was just plain ridiculous that he was looking for hair clippers, but the dream had seemed so real! He'd been locked in the isolation room immobilized in a straightjacket. The diminutive doctor had steadily approached him with a pair of buzz-cutters, calmly saying, 'If you don't have any hair for a lock exchange, Captain, then you can't commit with my daughter'.

"Well, since none of us are going to use our sleep shift for sleep," Ferretti leaned back in his chair, pulling out his trusty deck of cards from his pocket, "how about a round of Texas Hold'em?"

"I'm up for that," Dodger perked up, rubbing his hands in glee. "I can take advantage of all you convalescents."

"Watch it, kid, don't let this 'I've been deathly ill' routine fool ya'," Jack warned. "It was all an act to trick you into a false sense of security."

"Hey, don't give away our game strategy!" It took every ounce of effort for Janet to add that teasing lilt to her voice. This is what they did after a crisis, how they dealt with it and moved on. She wouldn't let the fact that it was harder for her this time than any other damper her friends' efforts.

"That flash of light must have dulled the synapses to your brain," Sam gave her fiancé's shoulder a sympathetic pat, then grinned wickedly at the others. "Which can only work to my advantage. Count me in."

"Cupid," Ferretti waggled his finger at the psychic, "no using your hocus pocus."

"Whistler," Annika feigned indignation. "I would never dream of using my gifts to wipe the table clean of my friends' hard earned money."

"Yeah, right." Brooklyn wasn't the only one who didn't believe a word of it.

"You're halo's a little crooked, Casper," Jack drawled.

"Yeah, well, you just remember I learned my poker face from Thor."

"Okay, obligatory psych out complete." Ferretti tapped the shuffled deck on the table. "Let's play."

The seven friends, who were closer than family, got down to the serious business of the game. The strange dreams, induced by the Ra'sil'ic, were a handy excuse for them to remain in each other's company. Using the hours of their official down time, they bet, bluffed and bantered their way into restoring their emotional equilibrium so they would be ready to face the new day, whatever it may bring. If a certain psychic was a little distracted during the games, it was because she was also busy with a one on one restorative session with her husband using their invisible link.

There were two other people of the SGC family who were also wide awake, but they could not use the excuses of the life saving plant or separation from a spouse for their insomnia. One lay in her bed, restless with excited and nervous anticipation of the lessons of life and love the future would bring. The other stood by the window in the bedroom down the hall from her, staring blindly up at the moon, contemplating how he would show her.