Summary: Jon and Hermione are separated from SG-1 and he becomes consciously aware of something deeply personal.
Prompt: LJ Community 20_fics - 010. "Lose the pants."
"Move it. Move it. Move it. Move it."
Hermione winced as she obeyed Jon's chanted orders. Her hands were scraped raw as she scrambled for handholds, for leverage, into the cave and out of the cold drenching downpour. She crawled forward on her hands and knees, deeper into the dimness, feeling along the rocky walls for the back of the cave. Once she hit it she allowed herself to collapse on her arse panting hard. Hermione knew she couldn't compare to the military personnel in SGC but she had considered herself generally fit and in good shape. She hadn't realized SGC teams used a whole other set of muscles scrambling up and down rocky surfaces, to safety and away from enemies.
The darkness receded when Jon turned on the battery powered lantern to quickly examine their surroundings for alternate exits and unpleasant surprises.
"Don't bother." Her voice was low and hoarse. Hermione slipped her own backpack off her shoulders and began digging through it. She needed to take a dose of pepper-up to stave off illness. But first… "Ha!" She produced a glass jam jar charmed to be unbreakable and cast a very familiar spell. The Bluebell flames charm. Carefully she manoeuvred the globe of blue fire into the jar and closed it. Now they had a safe near permanent light source.
As Jon turned off his own lantern and put it away Hermione examined their surroundings. The makeshift shelter wasn't even worthy of the name cave; it was more of a narrow crack in a granite cliff face just twelve feet deep, three feet wide with a ceiling height of seven feet at the highest point.
"Lose the pants."
Hermione blinked, uncertain she had actually heard what she thought she had. She turned to stare at her companion.
"Excuse me?"
"Lose the pants." His tone was patient but unrelenting. Seeing her shock he expanded. "You are wet and cold. A strong candidate for hypothermia. You need to get warm and dry. And I'm sure they don't feel pleasant either."
Hermione huffed. "You know I'm witch, don't you?"
"Yeah. So?"
"So I don't need to strip." She glared at him before using her wand to cast a series of cleaning, drying, and warming charms on herself. Less than two minutes later, she was clean and dry. She grinned at Jon. "Do you want me to do you?" She was confused by Jon's broad playful grin. Then she blushed realizing how her ill considered words could be construed. "Sorry, do you want me to dry and clean your clothes?"
"Please."
And he was still as she cast the spells on him. As she cast a few more spells clearing the debris in their temporary shelter and alarms in the event of natural and other intruders Jon unrolled the camping mats and set up their sleeping bags next to each other.
"Fire?" She held her wand ready to cast the necessary charm.
"No." He shook his head. "There is only one exit. I don't want to risk being suffocated."
She nodded her understanding and sat down on her sleeping bag and toed off her hiking boots, watching Jon dig through their bags for ration bars. They were of magical make and more pleasant to eat than the regular military fare.
After they had both eaten and drank some water then slipped into their own bags.
"Does this happen often?" She asked softly.
"Yeah." Jon admitted. "Weather on other planets can be unpredictable and unpleasant. Sometimes we do meet the natives and stay in the local inns but most of the time we have to rough it."
Hermione nodded. "It's not too bad." She admitted. "Next time I will charm our clothes for water repelling ahead of time. We could use something similar to a miners hat for light."
"Bad idea. Light usually attracts attention."
Hermione frowned. "You don't use night vision goggles?" She inquired.
"They can be too easily compromised by a flash grenade. The rain doesn't help either." Jon admitted.
"I'll see if I can find a magical equivalent." Hermione promised. "Or make one."
There was silence for a while.
"This isn't too bad you know." Jon's voice broke the quiet. "We aren't being chased by Jaffa or hunted by local predators. We're warm and dry and relatively safe."
"And separated from the rest of our team." Hermione pointed out dryly.
Jon shrugged. "Hey, you can't predict mudslides. Besides I know they can look after themselves. We just have to wait for the daylight before we go looking for them." Then he grinned broadly. "You know this is usually a teenagers dream. Being alone with a pretty girl in a forest with no one around."
Hermione snorted. "Go pull your other leg."
"Hey. I'm being serious here."
"Don't be silly Jon. I'm not the type guys drool over."
Jon blinked and twisted in his sleeping bag to stare at his companion. "What on Earth do you mean?"
She looked in his direction then away. "You know, tall gorgeous slender blonde."
Jon's tongue worked before his common sense could censor his thoughts. "You know one out of four isn't bad."
"Excuse me?"
"You are gorgeous."
Hermione laughed. "Thank you. It's sweet of you to say that. Even if it isn't true."
Jon opened his mouth to protest then shut it quickly. He had meant what he just said. He really did believe she was gorgeous and truthfully he had always preferred curvy to skinny. Any guy with sense would. Skinny was anorexic and fragile and weak.
Troubled by these new realizations he settled down in his sleeping bag and tried to sleep.
It was a long time before he finally managed it.
...ooOoo...
TBC…