Chapter 20

WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?

Before Cassie even opened her eyes, she knew she was in a foreign place. Three things gave it away. 1 the sun generally was not that strong on her face when she usually woke up. 2 there wasn't a pesky little Burmese cat meowing at her looking for her breakfast, and 3 there was someone else in the bed with her.

She cracked open one eye and looked over her shoulder to get a look at who was beside her. To her relief Paul was snuggled behind her snoring ever so slightly. She studied his face as best she could from the position she was in and noted that he looked completely at peace. She turned back and smiled to herself at the sight.

She shifted again to get a better look at the clock on the bedside table. 930hrs.

Damn. I'm going to have to make a move. Maybe finding some coffee would be a good start.

After detangle her self from Paul, doing her best not to wake him, she headed into the bathroom to freshen up and then made her way to the kitchen. She picked up her phone from where she had discarded it the night before and checked for messages. Sure enough there were several.

The first was from Nelson who was complaining about the injustice of being left out of the loop of his best friend's life. The second was from Daniel letting her know that they had made it back from P3X- what ever and that he had rung the General's house to find her not there, and the third was from Aunt Heather who just wanted to check that she was alright because she wasn't there when they got back and that Daniel had called looking for her.

All three messages had been received within the last hour so she decided she better respond.

She decided to text Nelson first. I'll ring you tonight and fill you in on all the details.

Then she rang Aunt Heather and explained what had happened with the rain and that she would be back soon. And then she dialled Daniel's lab number.

"Hello" he answered quickly, his voice lased with tension.

"Hey, it's me." She answered cheerfully "you rang."

"Cassie! Oh thank god! Where the hell have you been? I rang General Hammond and he said that you hadn't come home. We've been worried sick." He said the relief evident in his voice. Cassie rolled her eyes as she busied herself locating the kettle.

"Daniel I'm fine. It's not like they didn't know sort of where I could have been. I mean I left the house with Paul." she berated him for stressing out.

"Well General Hammond doesn't know where you are." He said trying to justify his worry. Cassie rolled her eyes again as she thought back to the previous night and how Uncle George had been completely oblivious to the reason why Paul would had been standing in his door way. She was certain that Heather had had to explain it to him once they were upstairs.

Then again maybe she didn't.

"Well of course he didn't. He's a bloke. He had no idea what happened last night he was completely clueless to the whole situation. But Aunt Heather does."

"Oh. Well I only spoke to George. So where are you?"

"Where do you think I am Daniel?" she hissed in to the phone getting rather frustrated.

My God! Men can be SO dense sometimes.

Calming herself down and filling the kettle, she continued, "Look, we have had this conversation before. You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself. I am completely safe. I promise."

She heard a sigh from the other end of the phone in defeat. She couldn't help the smile that crept over her features as she realized that she might just have won this argument.

"I know you can. I just panicked a little. I'm sorry. So what happened? Are things ok?" Daniel said.

"There great actually. Well we did have a slight problem with communication but I will explain that later… my god! Where on earth does this man keep his coffee?" She said looking through the cupboard in search of the coffee.

"So you are at Paul's then?" he asked carefully trying not to sound like he was prying.

"Yes Daniel. I am at Paul's." She said triumphantly locating the coffee and trying to now find the cups. "This place defiantly needs a woman's touch. I can't find a damn thing."

She heard Daniel stifle a laugh. "Why don't you just ask him where they are?" he inquired.

"He's still asleep." She said.

"No, I'm not" came a voice from behind her. She spun around in surprise at the voice and then smiled as she saw a slightly sleepy looking Paul coming towards her.

"No, he's not." She said into the phone to Daniel. "Hey can you pick me up at the airport in a few hours?" she said

"Sure. I'll see you there." Daniel said.

"Thanks. You're the best. Bye." She said waiting for his fair well and then hung up.

Paul had made his way into the kitchen whilst she had finished the conversation with Daniel, and had taken over the coffee making duties.

"Good morning. I hope I didn't wake you." She said after putting her phone away.

He reached over and kissed her quickly then answered, "You didn't, in fact I can't believe I slept that long in the first place. I'm usually up at 500hrs."

"Me too. Sleep is not something that comes easily," she said as he handed her a cup of coffee.

"Hey how do you know how I take my coffee?" she said looking down at the drink before.

"Daniel." He said.

That makes sense.

The expression on his face all of a sudden became very serious.

Uh oh!

"Cass, about last night…" he started.

Oh god! He's going to run again.

"… I didn't mean to push you so far…"he was about to continue but was stopped by Cassie pulling him toward her and kissing him.

She pulled away and looked him in the eyes. "You didn't. Why would you think that?"

"I don't know I just…" he trailed off.

This is odd. This whole commitment thing seems to be a real issue for him.

"You didn't" she reassured him cupping his face with her palm.

He looked back into her eyes "OK. But you are to tell me if I do. Deal?"

"Deal!" She said reassuring him. "Now that we have sorted that out, I unfortunately need to go. I've got a plane to catch." She said all of a sudden really miserable.

"When are you due back in Colorado Springs?" she asked.

"Not for another two weeks. I think. I'll have to check." He said.

"Great." Cassie said sounding like she couldn't be less pleased if she tried.

"Hey, don't get all sad on me now. We will just have to email and ring each other for the next couple of weeks." Paul said pulling her to him in a hug.

She pulled away slightly and looked into his eyes. "Promise?" she said pleading with him.

The last time we tried that it nearly ended in disaster

"Promise." He reassured her. "Now, I should be getting you back so we can get your stuff. You have a plane to catch." He said.

It was then that the realization, and then the horror, of going to the airport hit her. She couldn't help but start to panic.

Me and him at an airport again. No. I barely survived the last time. It will be ten times worse cause I'm the one who has to get on the plane. No it can't do this again. Not just yet. Ahhh…think.

"Um actually I don't want you there." She said turning away and washing out her cup in the sink. That didn't come out right at all.

"Excuse me." Paul said with a frown. She spun around to look at him.

"Sorry, that sounded bad. Came out completely wrong…Um what I meant was that I think that it might be better for Uncle George to take me. In fact, it would probably be best if I made my way back to his place by myself. " She said.

"Why?" he asked, the confusion still evident on his face.

"I need to explain this to him" she said motioning between them. "And well it probably would be best if I did that on my own. He can be a little … 'Gun Ho' sometimes. Like the rest of the SGC he tends to handle me dating someone like he's negotiating with a hostile alien."

Paul's confusion suddenly turned to amusement. "Dating?" he asked.

"Oh I think we can safely say that we are dating. Don't you? You have after all bought me dinner twice now." She said with a smile.

"Ok, but I'm walking to his gate. No buts. This is a new city to you and I will be hunted down if you are not safely deposited back to his house in one piece, weather you have explained our dating status or not."

"Deal. I'm going to get changed. Be right back." She said and headed to the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later they were approaching the Hammond's house.

"So I can expect a little visit from the General on Monday then?" Paul asked as they came to a stop at the gate that led to the front door. Cassie turned to face him and leaned back against the gate.

"Well, I'm going to tell him the truth. I probably owe them that much, I've been a bit moody the last couple of days." She confessed.

"Well considering that part of that was probably my fault, I'm sure I can deal with the 'hurt her and I'll kill you' speech on Monday then." He said with a smile.

"I'll tell him to go easy on you." She said smiling back and looking him in the eyes.

Paul took the opportunity to cup her face with her palm and looked at her like he was trying to memorize every feature on her face. He then looked towards the house and back. "I'd kiss you but we seem to have an audience." He said.

"Oh really? Who?" She asked without turning and not loosing eye contact with him.

"The man in question." He stated. Cassie gave a devilish grin and straightened up.

"Well in that case…" she trailed off as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, pulling him to her by circling her arms around his neck. She relished in the feeling as he deepened the kiss ever so slightly and then pulled away.

"Any more of that and he wont wait for and explanation, he'll just shot me right where I stand." He said leaning his forehead against hers. "I better go he's looking a little irate."

"Ok. See you in a couple of weeks?" she said as she opened the gate and passed through it and closed it again.

"You will. Bye." He said

"Bye" she said and then turned and talked up to the front door. Turning back she saw him walk away, giving her a small wave. She smiled and let herself into the house.

"Hey Uncle George." She said coming into the lounge where he was now sitting.

Before he could respond Aunt Heather came out of the kitchen and spotted Cassie.

"Oh Hello Dear, did you have a good time?" she asked Cassie with a twinkle in her eye.

"Yes thank you, I did." She answered and took a seat across from George. "I'm sorry if I made you worry. We kind off lost track of the time. And then it rained…" she said trailing off.

"You know we, as in my self and SG-1, did everything in our power to stop you from becoming involved with Military personnel. We didn't want you to get hurt again like when your mother died." George said with a blank look on his face. His wife looked down at him and scowled but didn't say anything.

Well I'm sorry but you guys kind of sucked at that. I work at the SGC for Pete's sake, really doesn't get any more military than that.

Cassie remained silent and just watched her Uncle.

"So I'm guessing that the misunderstanding that you had with the Major yesterday was part of what I just witnessed." He asked.

Cassie thought about how to answer this for a moment and then decided on just a simple "yep."

"Well I think you look wonderful together." Stated Heather from her position on the arm of George's chair. He looked up at her in horror.

"He's nearly twice her age Heather and a Major in the Untied State air force." He said

Why is it that the 'adults' in my life seem to think they can discuss MY personal life and completely ignore the fact that I'm standing right in front of them. I'm really getting sick of it.

"Ok look, for a start he's not that much older than me and second what does him being in the air force have to do with anything?" She asked

"Not much older? Cassie, He's thirty…" he trailed of not really having any idea how old Paul was.

"He's thirty-four." She stated. "Look you don't have to worry about me, ok. I know what I'm doing."

"There is a ten year gap between you and myself, dear." Heather reasoned with her husband. George sighed and looked between his wife and adopted niece.

"Do the others know?" he asked.

"Daniel does. I haven't got around to talking to the others yet. Paul and I only really sorted our selves out last night. It was all a bit patchy before then. We've only been out twice and that includes last night." She said. "I know you're worried but you don't need to be. He's a good man and he would never do anything to intentionally hurt me."

"I'm not really happy about this but if it is what you want I can't really do anything about it, can I?"

"Thank you Uncle George, now promise me you will go easy on him on Monday when you give him the 'hurt and I'll kill you' speech." She said after she had reached over and hugged him.

"I would never…" he started

"Oh please, it's the first thing you're going to do when you get to work on Monday. Don't' worry, he's expecting you." She said with a grin on her face.

"I suppose you better get ready to head home, I'll drive you to the airport if you like." He said

She stood and made her way around the couch. "That would be great. I'm just going to pack my things."

"Ok we can leave in about twenty minutes." George replied

"Thank you Uncle George, for understanding." She said before she disappeared upstairs.

I think things may just be going my way for a change.