CHAPTER 26 – SPIRALS

He didn't speak either – not until he had dragged her through the hallway and pushed her into an empty room. His eyes had flickered around the room, noting that it was some sort of storage area, but it was empty of people, and that was all he was concerned with.

He released her arm when he at last stopped them in the centre of the room, after making sure the door was secure. He took a few moments to run his hand through his hair, then he looked at her.

"There's a little process we have around here. It's called chain of command. Sam? She's pretty much at the top of it – but when it comes to security and military decisions... you see, Jo. I'm it. The boss. So when you start getting these half cocked ideas into that gorgeous head of yours – about setting traps... I get a little... cross."

She widened those silver eyes, wondering what the real issue was here. She would have talked to him first, but she had let him sleep – not really tried too hard to wake him. He looked so peaceful and she knew that he got little enough sleep... so she had simply dropped a light kiss onto his forehead, gotten dressed and slipped out of his room. Her idea had gripped her, and she needed Rodney first, as most of it was technical. The rest? Had come after she had realised what was under the hood – so to speak.

"Ok, John. You wanted to talk? Fine, let's talk. But this is not the real issue, is it? A catalyst maybe... an excuse for you to slam down on me. But the real issue?"

He turned partly away from her and lifted his face slightly toward the ceiling, wondering himself, just what the real issue was. She made him angry and he couldn't even put his finger on the why. Not really. Lack of self preservation perhaps? She had a blatant disregard for her own safety, and while she was military trained, she still took risks that were not acceptable.

And there was the other thing.

Those feelings he was starting to have around her were beginning to war with common sense. When he looked at her he saw only the woman. But when she opened her mouth? She was a soldier, a warrior and someone ready to go in and do battle. With whatever. And if the truth be told, that is what scared the crap out of him.

She had moved closer to him, and slipping her arms around his waist she hadn't waited for an invitation. Simply moved into him, pulling herself tightly against his body and rested her cheek against his chest. Felt the beating of his heart and heard his sigh, and knew that she was not wrong.

"Aahh crap. How are you doing this to me? Last night? Was supposed to take care of this damn tension between us – this tight wire that stretches back and forward, mostly pulling so damn tight it hurts. Last night was supposed to fix that."

He sounded so forlorn that she laughed softly.

"Not such an easy fix, eh John? Could be that it's not just sex with us? Hmmm?"

He dragged his eyes down from the ceiling and rested his chin on the top of her head. She continued.

"I know I should have spoken to you first...hell, John. I know a lot of things. But I don't always think things through before I do or so them. I'm not that kind of person. I do. Then I think. And sometimes the crap hits the fan. But I'm not deliberately leaving you out of the loop – I just get caught up in the moment and it's sink or swim. Mostly I kinda do ok with the swimming part. And if it's sink? My fault, and I accept that and don't blame anyone else."

He cupped her cheeks in his both hands and pulled her face away a little so that he could look down into it.

"I do get you, Jo. I do. But we're a team. This city is a team. You go off half cocked with an idea that hasn't been sanctioned by myself or Sam – the whole team goes down. Are you getting that yet?"

She shuttered those beautiful eyes and he felt a moments regret. She had always been on her own, he knew that. There had never been anyone special in her life – she had never made the time for it, nor had she met anyone who had given her the necessary desire to give up her freedom.

Until now. Opening those eyes again, she tried to convey that to him, and he felt something shift inside him.

"Do you trust me Jo?"

"With what John... Trust is a many faceted emotion. With my life? Then yes. With something else...I don't know if I'm ready for the 'something else'."

He kissed her then, hard and with such a fierce need that she shuddered. When he pulled back so that she could get her breath, his hazel eyes were blazing with something warm and poweful.

"You will be...and when you are? Perhaps I'll be the one waiting for you."

"Perhaps..." she agreed and suddenly her voice hitched a little. His hand, which had been tightly wound around her waist, now dropped lower, so that it curved over her backside and began to knead gently.

"Hey... kinda playing unfair there..."

"Fair doesn't come into the equation... so, this plan... hmmm? While I have you in a somewhat compromising position, perhaps you'll care to enlighten me."

"Mmmmmm... perhaps. But perhaps I'll just enjoy this a little longer." His hand had slipped between her legs and she felt his grin as his mouth rested against her hair.

"Not until you tell me... the plan. Then perhaps... I will continue to indulge you."

She tipped her head up and the sleepy eyes looked up at him causing his resolve to almost shatter and he willed himself to remove his hand to rest gently at her waist again, smiling a little at the disappointment in her eyes.

"'Fess up... At the moment it is still a request. If you don't start talking in the next 30 seconds, I'll change that to an order."

"You know the saying, John... hide something in plain sight?" When he nodded she continued. "We do a little modifying of our own with the 302's... I have a few ideas in that department but I need to liase with Rodney on that. I might have the touch, but he's got the background, so we'll need to work together on that one. But if I can get these modications sorted, then we leave the 302's somewhere... where we know they'll find them. And these modifications that I'm half way thinking about? They'll help in leading these guys right back to us."

"The wraith?"

"Both groups. They're working together – they have to be. We know that both human and wraith were on Lorne's training planet. That indicates each group needs the other for something. I've got a theory on that one, too..."

"I'm not even going to ask..."

"When you interupted me? Before? I had just found something else... and I haven't told Rodney yet. There's something a little different under the hood...organic."

John's glance was sharp. "Organic?"

"Yeah John...if I was a betting woman, I would go as far to say that some of the experimentation taking place? They are finding a way to combine wraith and asgard technology. And why would they do that...?"

John shook his head. She was skipping too far ahead for him to follow. He needed to get her to take a step back.

"Slow down a little..."

"You wanted me to come to you first? Suck it up John – that's exactly what I've done. You're the only one I've said anything to. Think about it. Wraith and Asgard technology combined. It's not earth they're after..."

His voice was quiet. "They're after the Asgard... and the way to take them down. We're small potatoes, nothing. The Asgard? They are the ones with the ability to keep them out of the milky way. The moment they step in there, we will have our protection called into play, and those little grey butts will come down on the wraith like a ton of bricks. Out here? The Asgard have no jurisdiction."

Jo finished it for him. "Take out the Asgard and earth – and all the other planets in the milky way under their protection - is theirs..."