"Welcome home." General Hammond says, as the Stargate deactivates behind Daniel and I.
"Good to be home, sir." Jack says.
"So the mission was a success?" General Hammond asks, as we follow him out of the 'gate room.
"Yes, sir. Tyler even took out a Gao'uld." Sam says.
"Apophis?" General Hammond asks.
"No, sir." Jack says.
"Oh, well. Doctor Jackson, Ms. Tyler, you two should get down to the infirmary. Colonel, I can hardly wait for that report."
"I'll get right on it." Jack says.
"Dismissed." General Hammond says, and Jack and Teal'c head off in one direction and Samantha, Daniel and I head toward the elevator.
"All right, whom do I have to talk to in order to get the stuff out of my car?" I ask, as we get on the empty elevator.
"You can go get it after you get settled in." Sam says.
"What's in your car that's so important?" Daniel asks.
"Nothing much. Just some clothes, shoes, music, etcetera, etcetera." I say.
"Shoes?" Sam asks.
"Just two spare pair. A pair of boots and a pair of tennis shoes." I say.
"I'm more interested in the music." Daniel mumbles.
"What about it?" Sam asks.
"Kelly, what music stuff do you have with you?" Daniel asks.
"Portable CD player, CDs, and my violin." I say.
"You play the violin?" Sam asks.
"I thought you play the fiddle."
"I play both." I say, nodding.
"I'll see you later." Sam says, as the doors open on our floor.
"Oh my." Dr. Fraiser says, under her breath, as we walk into the infirmary a few minutes later. "This way."
Daniel and I follow her to as set of curtain areas down the corridor and immediately are helped - unnecessarily - onto gurneys.
"So this is where all the good help went." I joke under my breath, getting another little smile out of Daniel.
"Excuse me, you both need to change into examination gowns, but the curtains won't close completely." A nurse says, standing between the foot of our beds
"Go ahead and close them as much as possible." Daniel says, the nurse looks to me.
"We'll make do." I say, the nurse shrugs and closes the curtains to just where they meet at the ends of our beds, effectively closing us off from the rest of the room. We both start to undress after finding those gowns, though I notice that Daniel is moving quite a bit more slowly than usual. "You all right?" I ask finally.
"Well, I'm not doing any worse." He says, slipping on his gown.
"That's something I guess." I say, putting on the gown and wincing a little as I undo my bra to take it off.
"Would you mind, uhm…?" Daniel asks, turning his back to me as I half turn towards him.
"Sure." I say, fastening the back of his gown. "Good?"
"Thanks. You want me to do yours?"
"Sure." I say, turning my back to him and flipping my hair over my left shoulder so that it's out of the way.
"So would you like to go out to dinner tonight?" He asks, as I resist the urge to start giggling.
"Let's see… this is Friday?" I ask, openly amused by the way he asks so quickly. He mutters an affirmative in response anyway. "Sure. I usually cook on Fridays, but I don't really think I want to right now anyway."
"Oh." He says, with a shy smile. "Is something wrong?"
"Hm? Oh. No, my back's just a bit ticklish."
"Oh." Daniel says, fastening the last thingy and resting a hand on my back.
"Thanks." I say, turning around. We share a very significant look, which ends when we both become very aware of our current state of almost dressed. He glances around quickly before we sit down on our respective gurneys.
"I was thinking to go to this little Italian place. It's a little formal, though." He says, clearing his throat, to break the tense silence.
"That sounds great. What time?"
"Oh, uh… how's eight thirty?"
"Sounds good, just enough time to change, right?"
"Yeah, I have to go back to my apartment to change, though." Daniel says.
"And getting there, doing your thing, and getting back will only take an hour and a half?" I ask sarcastically.
"Come to think of it, no…"
"So how 'bout this instead; you go home and change, I'll change here and come pick you up, then we'll go. How's that?"
"That's actually a better plan, let's go with that."
"All right, so who wants thinks they're the more serious case?" Dr. Fraiser asks, pulling back the curtain.
"Well, Dr. Jackson had a two-hour LOC. I did a thorough neurological exam in the field before moving him." I say, glancing over at him.
"Well, yeah, but she's the one that's bleeding."
"He fell out of a tree."
"And we have a winner." Dr. Fraiser says, going over to Daniel's bedside. As Dr. Fraiser checks out Daniel, I let Beethoven's Appasionata play in my mind.
"What is that?" Daniel asks a little while later, as Dr. Fraiser leaves the room.
"Hm?" I ask quietly.
"What was that that you were humming?"
"Oh, uh… Beethoven's Appasionata, but uh… I was humming?"
"Yeah." Daniel says smiling. "How did you not notice?"
"Was I loud, then?"
"No, not particularly."
"Then I don't know. How is it that guys don't usually notice their own down fly?" I ask jokingly.
"Seriously?" Daniel asks, obviously a bit surprised.
"No. Recent memory just flitted through my mind."
"Uh, how recent?"
"That first morning in Evermoon. Don't worry, I don't think anyone else noticed."
"Oh." He says, after letting it sink in for a moment.
"All right, Ms. Tyler, your turn." Dr. Fraiser says, coming back. "Oh, and a nurse noticed something around your collar that she couldn't identify."
"Oh, peppermint."
"I see." Dr. Fraiser says, making a note in my chart. "So how did you hurt yourself?"
"Well, evidently I got whacked in the head at some point, other than that I'm fine."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing serious. Couple of minor scratches."
"Okay." Dr. Fraiser mutters, as she examines my forehead and eye. "I don't think an orbital series in necessary."
"Good things."
"Is there anything else you want me to take a look at?"
"Nope, I'm good."
"All right." Dr. Fraiser says, as she makes another note on my chart. "I'll let you both get dressed and then you can go."
"Okay." Daniel says, and I nod. Dr. Fraiser takes our charts and closes the curtains behind her as she leaves the room again. "How's your ankle?"
"Good, so good that I forgot about it."
"Oh, good." He says, as I start to get re-dressed.
"Well that's strange…" I murmur a few minutes later, after Daniel and I got to the point that we could pull back the curtains.
"What is?" Daniel asks, as I search my pockets.
"Hey guys." Sam says, as she comes into the room.
"I had a necklace…"
"What's up?" Sam asks, as I search the bed.
"Kelly lost a necklace." Daniel says, a bit uncertainly, as I look on the floor near the bed.
"Hi Sam." I say, working the chain free of the hinge it's caught on.
"You know, there are reasons you're not supposed to wear jewelry on missions." Sam informs me sarcastically.
"I know, but it can't slip off and the catch is rusted shut. I took it off incase Dr. Fraiser wanted to get a CT or something."
"Do you wear it a lot?" Daniel asks.
"Got it!" I cry victoriously, holding it up as I opened the clasp. "I almost always wear this. Memento of home an' all."
"Its nice." Daniel says.
"Is it real?" Sam asks, sounding doubtful.
"Yep." I say, admiring the amber and aquamarine in the pendant.
"Cool." Sam says, as I put it back on and slip it underneath the collar of my shirt. "General Hammond wants me to show you to guest quarters, and he asked to see Daniel in his office."
"Why does he want to see me?" He asks tenetively.
"I don't know, he didn't say."
"All right." He says, heading for the door. "I'll see you later, Kel'."
"Yeah." I say before he leaves.
"This way." Sam says, ushering me out.
"So what should I expect? This is my first time really staying on any sort of military base, and I know it's no Montecito hotel, but it's also not, like, the Baldwin Motel, either."
"Well, you're right, I guess. I suppose accommodations are closer to Caesar's cheap rooms. What's the Orpheus?"
"A Vegas casino. Not as nice as some, but better than others."
"Nicer than Caesar's?"
"Yeah, I took a bottle of Nonoxil 9 and a black light with me to Caesar's, my friend took one to the Orpheus, my sister took some to the Mirage, and one of my brothers took some to the Montecito one weekend. We all wound up staying at the Montecito."
"Really? I gotta take some of that with me next time."
"Nah, just give me a buzz."
"I really wouldn't want to bother you."
"How else are you going to find the web page?"
"You put pictures on the Internet?"
"Yeah. We gave all of the businesses a fair fortnight's notice that if they didn't call us and ask us to take them down the pictures would stay up permanently. We gave them our numbers, the site address, and our email. They all had a fair shot."
"And?"
"And no one called. We started ranking hotels based on cleanliness and casinos based on a poll we had up, sending out congratulations letters or naughty-naughty letters, and no one called."
"Wow." Sam says, as we stop outside a door. "Well, this is it. Clothes are in the dresser. Housekeeping comes twice a week, and the bathroom is stocked with toiletries."
"Nice door. Thanks." I say.
"If you need me, I'm in D-728." Sam says, opening the door.
"All right." I say, as I take off the scabbard for my knife. "I guess I'll get my luggage later."
"So what are you doing later?"
"Dinner, actually. With Daniel."
"Oh really? So I can get details later."
"We'll see." I say slyly.
"All right." Sam says. "Oh, and here." She hands me a laminated photo ID.
"Oh, thanks." I say, slipping it into my purse. "I've gotta get going. I'll talk to you later."
"'Bye." Sam says, just before she closes the door, leaving me to my own devices.
An hour and a half-later, after a long, hot shower and a change of clothes, I go up to my car and retrieve two suitcases and head back to my room. I start to relax with a book and my CD player and then someone knocks on my door. I mark my place in the book and pause my music as I get up to answer the door.
"Hey." I say, after opening the door to see Daniel standing there, cleaned up and straightened out.
"Hey. Can I come in?"
"Oh, yeah, of course." I step aside to let him in and close the door behind him. "What's up?"
"Just wanted to see how you were settling in."
"I'm good. Would you like to sit down?" I motion to a chair to his right, which he takes as I sit on the edge of my new bed.
"Occurred to me a little while ago that you might want to know how to get to my place." He says.
"Right, somehow I thought I had more time, but now is fine." I say with a little grin.
He gives me directions to his apartment and leaves to let me get dressed. I find my favorite violet dress and my purse. I change and fix my hair and put my wallet in my purse. I decided to wear the black heels I came in with since the dress was violet and not purple - the difference being that what I call violet is dark blue with tints of purple. I put on a set of crystal earrings with a matching cross on a silver chain. I take one last look in the mirror, make the cut on my forehead disappear, and head down to the parking garage. I get there, find my car, and get through security within twenty minutes. I follow the directions Daniel gave me to the letter and half an hour later I'm waiting for Daniel to answer his door.
"Hi." Daniel says, after opening the door.
"Hi." I say, as he ushers me in.
"You look great."
"Thank you. I was worried it was too much." I say. "You look very nice yourself."
"Thanks." Daniel says with a smile. "We should go."
"Right." I say, turning for the door, which he opens for me and he grabs his keys. We take the elevator down to the main floor and dead directly for my car. We get in, Daniel sets the radio after I start the car, and I pull out onto the road.
"This is a really great car." Daniel says, as he directs me to the restaurant.
"Thanks. It was a present from a friend." I say.
"Good friend?"
"Yeah. He has a blue one and bought me this one for Christmas so that he'd have someone to race against."
"Ah." Daniel says, probably not too pleased that I get the car from a 'he'. "There's the restaurant, 'La Sera'." I park away from the door after the pulling into the lot, and set the alarm as we get out of the car. He opens thee door for me as we enter the restaurant and the hostess comes directly over to us.
"Bonjourno. I am Serena, your hostess. Do you have a reservation?" The tall, olive skinned, curly haired, gorgeous brunette woman says.
"No." Daniel says, only a little bit of nervousness showing through.
"Lucky for you, our best table is open. Come, this way." Serena says before Daniel can say anything else, she seats us just to the right of the fireplace, right next to a window with a great view. "I'll send the waitress right over."
"Thank you." I say, as she sets menus on the table and Daniel pulls out my chair. She smiles and walks away an Daniel and I sit down.
"I've never gotten such a good table here before." Daniel says softly. "You must be good luck."
"Maybe." I say softly, opening my menu. "Wow."
"What?"
"I didn't realize you're made of money... No offense."
"Don't worry about it." Daniel says, opening his menu.
"Hello, I'm Andrea, I'll be your waitress this evening. Are you ready to order, or shall I return?" The shorter, olive skinned, straight haired, pretty brunette says from my left.
"Yes, I think we'll have two glasses of white wine and another look at the main courses." Daniel says, as I smile and the waitress nods. She glances at me and walks away. "I hope I wasn't being too presumptuous."
"Not at all." I say simply. "This place is very nice. How is the food?"
"Very good. Reminds me of this little café I ate at in Venice."
"Do you remember the name?"
"I think it was 'La Bella de Italia'."
"Oh, I know that place. I lived in Venice for a little while."
"Really?"
"Yeah, six months with two of my brothers and the twins." I say. "When were you there?"
"A while ago, alone." Daniel says.
"Lucky. I had to keep sneaking off after my sister."
"Not really. I just did the tourist thing." Daniel says, as I decide on a chicken pasta dish. "When did you go?"
"Six or seven years ago. Between college and law school."
"About the same time as me." Daniel says, smiling, setting aside his menu.
"Ready to order?" Andrea asks, setting two glasses of white wine in front of us.
"Yes, uh." Daniel says, looking to me.
"I'll have the chicken alfredo."
"Shrimp scampi, please."
"All right, I'll be right back." Andrea says, taking the menus as she walks away.
"So, which profession did you always think you'd have?" Daniel asks after a few moments of quiet.
"Oh, I don't know. In my family 'party girl' could be a career choice, but it was probably 'singer'." I say, as he sips on his wine.
"So you're really good?"
"Well, I don't know about that, but I think it's one that I enjoy the most."
"Would you give a demonstration?"
"Oh, uh…" I say, glancing around a little nervously. "Maybe later."
"Okay." Daniel says, putting me at ease as I sip my wine.
"'Scusi. I'm a big fan and I just wanted to ask for your autograph." A waiter says, standing to my right, surprising Daniel and I with his request.
"This might seem a silly question, but who do you think I am?"
"You are one of the sopranos I heard at the opera in Milan last year." The waiter says confidently.
"Couldn't hurt, could it?" I ask Daniel in Egyptian.
"No, I don't think so." Daniel replies, likewise in Egyptian.
"May not be worth much, but sure. What's your name?" I say, speaking in English once more.
"Paolo." The waiter says, handing me a clean linen napkin and a pen. I write 'Do what you love and love what you do, Paolo' and sign it. "Thank you." He says.
"No problem." I say, smiling as he takes the pen and napkin.
"I can't believe you just did that." Daniel mutters, sipping his wine, as Paolo walks away.
"I didn't do anything wrong, and why should I have disappointed someone when these people have treated us so nicely?"
"Okay." Daniel says, as I sip my wine. "So you wanted to be a singer, but you went to law school?"
"Yeah. Went as a backup, never really got into the music industry."
"Did you practice?"
"Law? For a while. Criminal prosecution." I say, sitting back and reminding myself to stop taking my anxiety out on my wine glass. "Started stressing out too much, though."
"So you quit?"
"Yes and no. I quit and then told one of he defense attorneys precisely what I thought of his firm. When I quit, though, my boss tried to fire me for losing it with a judge."
"Losing what?"
"My temper." I say, as I catch sight of Andrea with our food.
"Here you go." Andrea says setting one plate in front of each of us.
"Thank you." I say, placing a napkin on my lap.
"If there's anything else let me know." Andrea says.
"All right, thank you." Daniel says, before she starts to walk away. "So how did you lose your temper?" He asks, as I switched my fork to my right hand.
"Oh, ah… I hit him when he grabbed my butt."
"Really?" Daniel asks, chuckling as I nod. "How old was he?"
"Probably forty-five, and married." I say. "I was twenty-three and having a bad day. Knocked him out cold without breaking anything." I smile as he laughs.
The rest of the meal goes quickly with exchanges of summaries of life stories and good food. I tell him of my intent to go to medical school, a decision encouraged by my adventures as an ER nurse in a Chicago county hospital, and he tells me of his college adventures. We decide against dessert and arrange for my car to be left in the restaurant parking lot for the night. Neither of us are drunk, only having about two glasses of wine apiece, but neither of us should drive either, so we resolve to walk back to Daniel's apartment, which really isn't that far. Daniel pays the bill, I tip, and we leave.
"You are one of the most unusual people I've ever met." Daniel says, as we walk down the street, hands entwined.
"Yeah, I bet you say that to all the girls."
"No, not at all." Daniel says tenderly.
"Oh, so just the prettiest?" I say without even a hint of sarcasm. He looks down and smiles a little sadly and I stand on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. We share a meaningful gaze into each other's eyes and head inside Daniel's building.
"Would you like to come up?" Daniel asks, before we head for the elevator.
"Yes." I say, and he presses the call button for the elevator. "Daniel, should we be doing this?" I ask, as we get on the elevator a minute later. He looks at me curiously as he presses the button for his floor. "Dating, I mean. Do you think it would interfere with work?"
"Don't you think our feelings for each other are already effecting our work?"
"Good point." I say, as the doors open on our floor. "Especially considering that my attraction to you was nearly instantaneous."
"Really?" Daniel asks, smiling as he unlocks the door.
"Yeah." I say. He opens the door and we go in. "Wow, nice place."
"Thanks." Daniel says, turning on the lights in the front room.
"This might sound completely insane, but I would have never guessed that you live so nicely... No offense."
"I can't take offense to what I don't get."
"Oh, it's just that with every guy who's apartment I've been to - which haven't been many - you could tell that they had cleaned specially for you. I'm not getting that here." I say admiring some of the things as he has out on display.
"Even your brothers'?" Daniel asks.
"Are you kidding? My brothers don't even try to hide anything from me."
"Hm…" He says, with a soft sigh. "So how 'bout that demonstration now?"
"Well, what do you want to hear?" I ask thoughtfully, noticing it was nearly midnight.
"I don't know. Whatever you want is fine."
"All right." I say, remembering that he's kind of into a little of everything and he knows I'm not a songwriter. "Then make up my mind for me; 'One More Minute', or 'Cornerstore'?"
"I'm going to pick 'Cornerstore'." Daniel says. I nod and proceed to sing 'Cornerstore' by Dogstar.
"Wow." Daniel says, after I'm done.
"Thanks." I say.
"No, really wow." Daniel says, and I laugh.
"That was originally done by Dogstar, as far as I know." I say smiling.
"Who's he?"
"A very good rock band. I've met them a few times."
"Cool."
"I suppose." I say, Daniel turns to reach for something and winces in pain, immediately stopping the movement. "What's wrong?"
"Bruised rib." Daniel says through gritted teeth.
"Did Dr. Fraiser put you on any pain medication?"
"No." He says pulling himself together. "I'm okay." I look at him worried, after moving over to sit on the couch next to him. He kisses me passionately, and I let my hands roam around his torso as he holds me around the waist. We come up for air a minute later, our eyes locked, and then, suddenly, Daniel stands up and walks around the couch.
"What's wrong?" I ask, only having a guess as to what he is doing.
"Nothing. I'll be right back." He says, and he goes into another room quickly. I know what's going on as I hear a click from the other room. I slip off my shoes and silently thank the gods that I'd shaved my legs. Before Daniel returns I go check out the view from his balcony.
"Nice view." I say, hearing a footfall behind me.
"I always thought so." Daniel says from behind me. I smile as I turn to him. Daniel walks over to me to stand right in front of me. He kisses me, holding me close with his right arm as I wrap my arms around him. I quickly let down my hair as he attempts to undo my bra. I giggle in his mouth and he pulls away to look at me curiously.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, that just tickled." I say, smiling widely as I unhook my bra for him. He chuckles and I kiss him. We pull each other's clothes off, moving towards the bedroom, kissing and groping all the while. I fall onto the bed, Daniel falling on top of me.