Chapter 35

APOLOGIES

Cassie's morning had been relatively slow. She had woken up just after 08:00, Daniel had told her to take her time coming into work so she had allowed herself a little sleep in. After an argument with Paul about him staying in bed, he wanted to get up and go in to work with her and she had told him he had to stay with May, she had showered and dressed for the day.

Coming out of the bathroom and expecting to see Paul still in bed, she frowned at the now empty bed.

Stubborn man! Where's he gone?

Cassie made her way downstairs and headed for the kitchen. When she arrived she found both Paul and May sitting at the kitchen table with drinks in their hands.

"Good morning May." Cassie said with a smile "Did you sleep well?" She made her way over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup.

"Good Morning, Dear yes, thankyou I did." May replied with a smile.

Cassie came and sat down next to Paul at the table with her coffee. She nudged him playfully before giving him a brilliant smile. "You're not coming with me." she stated once again.

"We'll see about that." He replied nudging her in return and then turned his attention back to May.

"What are you two talking about?" May asked.

"He thinks he is coming to work with me and he's not." Cassie stated ignoring Paul who was shaking his head back and forth "He is staying here to keep you company and to greet his parents when they get here."

"Well that sounds reasonable" May said looking at Paul "we hardly ever get to see you, I think that your mother would like that."

"But…" Paul tried but gave up knowing that he was losing. "Ok, Fine I'll stay here."

"It's REALLY hard for you to take a holiday isn't it?" Cassie said shuffling her chair closer to him so that she could lean against him. He pulled her to him and kissed her forehead.

"I just don't want to be away from you." He said.

"Oh you two are so wonderful together" May exclaimed clasping her hands together in delight "you are making a very old woman very happy!"

Cassie had arrived at the base just before 09:30 and was in the lab looking over her notes for the artefact when Daniel arrived in his 'off world' gear.

"Hey you, how are you feeling?" he asked as he came and sat next to her.

"I'm good thanks, you?" she asked.

"yeah good, we are heading off world in half an hour of so, should be back about 19:00 hours. Will you be ok on your own today?" he said.

Cassie rolled her eyes at Daniel "Yes Daniel, I think I can be left on my own in this little lab like I have been hundreds of times before." She said sarcastically.

"Just checking" he said defensively.

"Ok… have fun off world. I'm going to head home early, since Paul's parents are coming. I only came in so that I'm not there when Mary and John arrive. I don't want them to feel uncomfortable so I thought that I'd let them settle in before I make an appearance." She said looking back at her notes.

"I just want to try and make some headway on this machine's translation. It's really starting to bug me and now that I have a clearer mind I intend to solve it." She added full of confidence.

"Knock your self out! I've had enough of the damn thing" Daniel said with a smile, it was nice seeing her back to normal. "I'll see you tomorrow, take care" with that he headed for the door.

"Bye, be safe and come back in one piece!" she called out after him then got stuck into her work.

Oh god!!! My head!!

"Grhhh…why can't I solve this thing!?!" she shouted to the empty room.

"That bad huh!!"

Cassie spun around in shock to find Jack standing in the doorway.

"Don't do that!" Cassie scolded as Jack moved in the room.

"Sorry Kiddo" he said then ignoring the death glare from Cassie, took a seat and asked "what'cha doin" as he looked at her notes, turning them this way and that, trying to make sense of them.

"Banging my head against a brick wall" she huffed sitting back in her chair and rubbing her eyes and her forehead.

"You got another head ache?" he asked frowning her.

"Yeah, but I'm just tired." She said looking over at the clock on the wall. It read 14:30.

"Maybe you should get checked out" he said slowly.

"Don't you start! I'm fine. But I think I'm going to head home soon" she said eyeing up the machine in the corner.

"Yeah, go for it, call it a day! I'd join you but I've got hours of debriefings to get through." He said, bored.

"Well that's what you get when you're the boss!" Cassie beamed as she stood and started gathering things together so that the lab wasn't such a mess.

"Yeah, yeah rub it in" he said sarcastically and then stopped as if contemplating something before he added "you seem happier than you've been the last week, I'm glad that what ever was bumming you out is sorted."

With that he left.

Not much gets past you, does it, Jack. Not as dumb as you play it.

Finishing up in the lab she headed home.

Driving up the street she noticed the new car in her driveway straight away. Pulling up behind it she turned off the engine and let out a sigh, bracing herself for this next obstacle. She had decided ages ago that she had no animosity towards Mary but she had no idea how Mary was going to react to her.

Well she agreed to stay here so it can't be that bad.

Taking another deep breath she got out the car and headed up the path. Opening the front door she chucked her stuff on the hall table and listened for sound elsewhere in the house. Hearing voices in the kitchen she called out so not to startle anyone.

"I'm home!" she called out and waited for a response. With in seconds Paul came from the kitchen with a surprised look on his face.

"Hey" he said coming up to her and kissing her.

"Hey yourself, everything ok? What are you all doing in the kitchen?" she asked after pulling away and moving around him and heading towards the kitchen. He followed her and stopped behind her when she stopped in the door way.

The sight that greeted her was not what she had expected. John and May were sitting at the kitchen table with coffee but Mary was in the kitchen and had taken over. She seemed to be cooking up a storm.

"Hi, what's going on in here?" Cassie asked.

Mary seemed to freeze where she stood not sure how to react but John jumped to his feet and pulled Cassie in to a hug surprising her.

"Hello Cassie, how are you? Good I hope" he said releasing her and stepping back. Before she could respond he continued "I don't know how to thank you for helping my mother the other day, you really didn't have to after... well"

"It was nothing, really" Cassie said a little embarrassed and wanting to change the subject she moved into the kitchen to find out what was cooking.

Smells great!

"What you cooking" she asked. Mary seemed to shuffle about nervously before finding her voice.

"Um… a chicken dish, it's a white wine sauce… you do like chicken don't you?" she asked suddenly alarmed.

Cassie smiled at the older woman "sounds great, I can't wait" she said kindly and Mary relaxed letting out the breath that see had been holding.

"Oh good!" Mary exclaimed then receiving an encouraging look from John she became rather serious and nervous again. She took a breath and began "Cassie…"

"Mary, its fine. Don't worry about it." Cassie said with a smile. Mary smiled too and Cassie once again found herself being pulled into a hug. She returned the hug and couldn't stop Mary from whispering "I'm so sorry" in her ear.

Pulling away she moved back towards the door "I'm just going to dump my stuff upstairs I'll be back in a minute" she announced and headed for the stairs.

She knew that Paul was following her but she ignored him until she was in her room and she turned around as he came through the door. He closed it behind him and moved over to her.

"Well that went better than I had expected" she said as he came to a stop in front of her and placed his hands on her waist.

He tugged her towards him and kissed her. Cassie responded immediately and stepped as close as she could to him and encircled her hands around his neck pulling him flush against her. He deepened the kiss and backed her up to the bed causing her to fall back and squeal with laughter, him following her down. He laughed with her and rolled off of her so that he wasn't crushing her.

"Yeah it did, didn't it?" he said answering her question. "How was your day? You're home early."

"Not too bad, SG1 went off world today so I had the place to my self. Got a bit of a headache though… but that's enough about me how was your day? How long have your parents been here?" she asked.

"A couple of hours, they made really good time. Actually it's been nice just spending a few hours with them on our own. I have rarely been back on my own in the last few years, only ever for family gatherings and you saw what that was like. It's been quite peaceful… but then I get the feeling that you knew that when you forced me to stay here today" he said

"Not just a pretty face, me!" Cassie beamed. "Actually Nana may have mentioned it when we were chatting yesterday." She added with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah well it won't work tomorrow, I have to head back to Washington in the afternoon and Mum & Dad intend to head back home early in the morning." He said gauging her reaction.

Cassie's face fell into a frown and she pouted her lips. "Really? That soon?" she said.

"I'm afraid so. I've got a pretty big negotiation on the go with the Russian's. They will be flying in on Thursday so I need to prepare." He said.

Cassie just groaned burying her face in Paul's shoulder and muttered "stupid Russians" under her breath.

Paul chuckled at her comment and pulled her in to a hug. "Don't worry I won't be gone too long. As luck would have it I'm due back the day after your birthday so I'm going to catch an early flight the afternoon before so I'll be here on the day." He said smiling at her, knowing the mention of her birthday would irritate her but not been able to help teasing her.

"That's not funny, and it's still two weeks away." She said still pouting.

"I know but we've managed before." He said

"Yeah I guess we have" Cassie said sitting up and straightening her clothes. "Come on, your parents will be wondering where we have got to" she said standing and pulling Paul to his feet.

"Mmm.. you know, you're in for a real treat with this chicken dish, it's the best." He answered as they made their way downstairs for a nice dinner.

End of Chapter 35