A/N: This is the half-way mark!
Driven by hunger, Daniel and AJ finally left the hut about noon. They wandered down to the oasis for a quick shower before they got something to eat. While Daniel was building a fire, AJ stood up.
"DJ, did you hear that?" She turned toward the north searching the sky.
"No. I didn't hear anything. What did it sound like?" Daniel stood and moved next to her, scanning the cloudless sky.
"It sounded like an airplane, only not."
"Yeah, that's defines it clearly." Daniel ruffled her hair affectionately.
"I guess I was just hearing things. What's for lunch?"
"Let's see. We can have rabbit stew with acorns. We can have rabbit stew with pinon nuts. We can have rabbit stew with diced cactus or…you can have rabbit stew with me!"
Daniel snatched her up around the waist and swung her around and around while she hung on for dear life, her arms around his neck. Laughing, he set her down and she pulled herself closer. He leaned down and took her lower lip between his teeth and tugged.
Her eyes flew opened and she wrenched herself out of Daniel's arms, running toward the oasis. Completely surprised, (I may not be Brad Pitt, but no women has ever run from my kiss before) his eyes followed her path and he saw what she was running toward.
Just on the other side of the wadi, a tel'tak was descending.
Daniel ran and grabbed AJ, pulling her back to their hut.
"It could be a goa'uld!"
He snatched up his Berretta and the clips.
"Stay here." His voice was no longer that of the man she knew, but that of a commander, used to being obeyed. So of course, she followed him out of the hut.
Daniel stood just outside their hut, legs spread and both hands holding the weapon pointed at the alien ship. AJ had never seen the warrior side of Daniel. She'd only known the academician and gentle man. She would never have believed that her DJ was capable of turning instantly into the man she saw in front of her. A man who would kill to protect what he valued.
AJ stood just outside the hut's opening watching Daniel, while he watched the tel'tak. Slowly a door opened and a figure descended. AJ sensed, rather that saw, Daniel tense and prepare for a fight. "Get down, AJ, now!"
AJ obeyed and kept her eyes on him, not the threatening ship across the wadi. Abruptly, Daniel relaxed, dropped the weapon, and began running toward the tel'tak. AJ shifted her eyes from Daniel to the emerging figure. Sam!
She rose and ran toward rescue.