Wait for it....

As they pulled away from the Taylors, Daniel looked over at Jennifer. She had a fitful look on her face, as if she wanted to laugh. "So," he said casually, "I'm really 'all that,' huh?" he finished with a sideways grin at her.

That was the last straw. Jennifer put her head down and started to giggle uncontrollably. Daniel grinned, enjoying watching her giggling fit; it was another reminder of the innocence he liked so much about her. They laughed about some of the more classic moments of the whole scene. They pulled up in front of the bike shop and had to sit in the car until the giggling subsided.

They spent about an hour in the bike shop, getting her outfitted. The boys that were working there were somewhat in awe of her, not only because she was in the Air Force, but because she had walked away from what had obviously been a violent collision. "Oh, dude, you are SO lucky to be upright after that," the one named John said as they brought in the remnants of her old bike.

They helped her pick out a new one that would be covered by the insurance, which was generous, enthusiastically pointing out all the cool features it had, and then helped Daniel get it secured to the car. Normally, Jennifer would have wanted to do all of this herself, but she was content today to stand back and only assist as needed. She was enjoying watching the boys being boys; it was a welcome change from watching boys being soldiers.

As they left the bike shop, Daniel looked around at the beautiful October day. "Seems a shame to waste an afternoon like this in a theater," Daniel said. "Why don't we take the new bike for a spin and then catch the early evening show of the movie? If you'd like," he added.

Jennifer smiled. It would be a good day to do that. "Sounds like a plan," she replied merrily.

They drove to his apartment building. He took her new bike down from the rack, and she waited with it outside while he fetched his own from the basement of the old Victorian building where he rented his flat.

When he came out, she was already on her bike, making lazy circles in the street, her jacket temporarily discarded in his car, and she looked like she was ready for business. "Come on, let's go!" she said impatiently.

He grinned impishly at her. "Now, I'm going to show you the finer arts of bicycle riding, young lady," he said in his best playful condescending tone.

She grinned wickedly back at him. "We'll see who shows who what, Dr. Jackson," she said, in her best mock respectful tone.

He got on his bike, and looking at her for a second, took advantage of the moment of distraction to pedal easily away, towards the mountains, where there were several wonderful trails that they could follow.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be," she said playfully. She stood up on the bike and began pedaling purposefully. She overtook him, gliding seemingly effortlessly past him with a smile.

As they raced each other in this fashion, she could feel her hairpin coming loose, but she didn't care. Racing each other towards the top of the mountain trail, passing each other, laughing, she didn't notice as the hairpiece worked its way loose, then fell out completely, freeing her unruly mane into the wind around them. They were closing in on the top of the mountain; the liberating motion of her hair coming down made her feel even more powerful.

She stood up again, pouring all of her remaining strength into the last drive up the hill. She passed Daniel, he could see the purpose and determination in her eyes. She reached the top of the trail and stopped. She stood there with her bike, the wind blowing and the sun shining. Daniel finished the last few hundred feet, panting slightly. She was basking in the glory of the day, enjoying the feel of the sun and the wind and the view from the top of the hill.

"Hey, that wasn't supposed to happen – you just had an accident yesterday," he pouted. She giggled at the look on his face.

"Well, if I'd known it meant so much to you, I'd have let you win," she said in her own playfully condescending tone.

He stopped next to her; they stood there, enjoying the view for a few minutes. They'd seen lots of beautiful views on other worlds, but somehow, none compared to home.

Then Daniel grinned wickedly. "Well, I'm glad I let you win, because I'm going to win on the way back." He pulled his feet up and began racing back down the mountain for all he was worth.

"Oh, you are just evil," Jennifer hissed laughingly, as she began pedaling her own bike after him.

He did win on the way back, stopping in front of his building and waiting for her to finish, smiling broadly, laughing. Pedaling with all her might to catch up, she was laughing, her hair streaming behind her as she drew up next to him. "Oh, you cheated, you jump started," she chided him.

"Hey, whatever it takes," he said, still giggling at his victory. "How do you think I felt getting whupped by an injured girl on the way up?" he said with just the right emphasis to annoy her. She rewarded him with her characteristic glare.

He laughed, then looked at his watch. "Hey, if we park the bikes right now, we'll have enough time to walk to the theater from here for the early evening show." The theater was a few blocks from his apartment; given the amount of time he liked to spend there this proved very convenient.

"Okay," she said breathlessly, dismounting from the newly broken in bike. Together they secured both bikes in the basement of his building and walked down to the theater, arriving about 15 minutes ahead of show time. They took their time getting in and getting a decent pair of seats in the middle of the theater. They chatted idly until the previews started, then settled into their seats.

They enjoyed the movie, laughing and exchanging glances at pivotal points. Daniel noticed tears on Jennifer's face during the final embrace between Charlotte Johannson and Bill Murray, the words his character whispers to her in that moment remaining forever a mystery. He took her hand and squeezed it lightly, charmed by her display of raw emotion. She squeezed back, liking the feel of his hand around hers.

Coming out of the theater, they were dismayed to see torrential rain. The weatherman had been right; the line of storms that were predicted had arrived while they were in the theater, and neither of them had seen fit to wear a jacket as they had both been warmed by the sun and the exercise.

"Well," Daniel said, "We could grab a cab back to the apartment." He looked at Jennifer, who had just a hint of mischief in her dark eyes.

"Come on, it's just a little rain, I'll race you back," she said. Then she grinned at him. "Ready, go!" she said and took off in the direction of his apartment at a dead run.

"Hey, that's not fair!" he yelled, jogging behind her, trying to catch up.

They reached the apartment building at the same time, laughing, he grabbed her as he finally caught up to her and they stood laughing in the rain. He had a sudden urge to kiss her, and she willingly returned it. They stood there in the rain, laughing and kissing and catching their breath.

"Maybe we should go in," Jennifer said, still giggling at the sheer silliness of their actions and the rush of adrenalin from the race back to the apartment. He led the way, opening the door to his second floor flat and gallantly ushering her in.

"Let me get a couple of towels" he said, heading off to the bathroom to retrieve the towels. She took off her boots and looked around the apartment. It was part of a pleasant old Victorian, with beautiful oak hardwood floors and trim. From the front door, she could see into the bedroom, where there was a beautiful small balcony with French doors. The small kitchen to the left of the bedroom was sparse but neat, with an old style double ceramic sink and apartment sized appliances. The floor of the main living room where they had entered had an Oriental rug surrounded by a worn, brown leather sofa and two matching armchairs. The small coffee table was strewn with copies of Archaeological Digest, and covered with rings from coffee mugs carelessly set down on its veneered light oak top. Directly across from the couch, there was a television set on a stand that looked as if it had been hastily assembled and existed mainly as another place to set books and magazines. Underneath the TV was a generic looking entertainment unit, with a DVD player and stereo set, standard items for any single person, she thought to herself.

"I've got some sweats in the bedroom, if you want to borrow them. We should really get out of these wet clothes, not least because my landlady would 'have a cow' if I mess up these floors," Daniel called jovially from the bathroom.

Jennifer crossed the room to the bedroom. The rain had soaked through everything she was wearing, and she was beginning to feel a chill from the dampness. Instinctively she peeled off her jeans and top shirt; her Stargate mission training had taught her that remaining in sopping wet clothes was never a good plan. She turned on the lamp beside the bed so she could look for the sweats.

Daniel returned from the bathroom. She wasn't in the living room, only her boots were there. The sudden flash of light in the bedroom caught his eye and he turned to see her just as she was turning on the bedside lamp.

The sight of her in her dripping wet clothes, with the unruly curls of her hair shiny and vivid from the dampness, caught him off-guard, he couldn't help but stare at her. The scrapes and bruises from her accident were particularly obvious as she stood there in her very wet military issue tank top; it works on her, somehow, he thought to himself quizzically, leaning against the door frame, openly admiring this sensuous sight of her.

As the lamp came to life, Jennifer looked up and saw Daniel in the doorway. The sight of him bare-chested and sockless caught her off-guard, impacting her senses in a primal way. She was suddenly aware of feelings, both physical and emotional, that she could not remember having had in a long time. She stared at his attractive physique, enhanced by the intense physical exertion that offworld missions usually entailed.

She noticed then that Daniel was staring back at her, leaning jauntily against the door frame, his mouth slightly open, as if he was seeing her for the first time.

For reasons she later decided she would never understand – maybe it was the assault, maybe it was normal, self protective caution that might otherwise accompany such occasions of sexual tension between two people who are getting to know each other – the look of raw desire in his blue eyes suddenly elicited from somewhere in the back of her mind images of the incident with Jameson, the way he had looked at her.

But Daniel is NOT Jameson, she screamed at her mental projectionist, furious at the further imposition on her life that the ordeal seemed to be having. Yet the reminder of the fear that she had experienced would not be denied, suddenly clawing its way back up into her throat. She looked down at the floor and squeezed her eyes shut against this recollection, hugging her arms around herself, as if trying to squeeze the image and its associated fear away, ending the moment that had just passed between them.

Daniel suddenly realized the effect his staring was having on her; she had started trembling, much like she had that day in the lab, he realized. He felt badly that his unabashed staring had made her uncomfortable, and struggled to find a way to brush it off without seeming insensitive. "Oh, hey, you must be freezing," he said, throwing her the towel.

"Thanks," she said quietly as she caught the towel and ran it over her hair.

He rummaged in the dresser, withdrawing two pairs of sweat pants and a couple of t-shirts, quickly struggling into one of the latter. He retreated to the bathroom, shutting the door of the bedroom as he left so she could change in privacy.

Having traded in his own wet denims for the comfy sweats, Daniel went into the kitchen and a growl in his stomach reminded him it had been a while since they had eaten.

"Are you hungry?" he called to her. He looked at the Avalanche hockey schedule posted on his refrigerator and realized that there was a game just starting against the Vancouver Canucks. "Hey, the Canucks are playing against the Avalanche tonight! We could order a pizza," he said with a note of hope and question in his voice.

She appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. "Isn't the Avalanche a hockey team?" she asked. His t-shirt and sweats practically dwarfed her; she almost looks like a little girl, Daniel thought. He wouldn't dare say that to her, she probably would have decked him for it. Well, that ought to help squelch any other thoughts I might have had, he added to himself with an inward grimace.

"I guess they didn't have a whole lot of hockey where you grew up, eh?" he asked, remembering from the conversation the night before that she had been born and raised in Oklahoma.

The rain pounded loudly in a sudden surge, causing them both to look out the window.

"Wow, it's really coming down out there," Daniel said.

"Pizza sounds good," Jennifer suddenly said. She walked over to the window, peering out at the downpour, the trees dancing in response to their instructions from the wind. "Better the pizza guy than us driving out there," she added. She wasn't anxious to end the evening, her temporary discomfort already banished by sheer force of will out of her immediate consciousness.

"Yeah, and I hate to think about taking you back to the barracks with your brand new bike on the rack in this," Daniel said. "Though it would make a good lightning rod and could really make for an electrifying ride home," he said with a grin. He was pleased that she hadn't immediately decided to go home after their awkward moment.

Jennifer rolled her eyes at the pun, grinning. "So tell me more about this 'hockey', DanielJackson," she said, doing a pretty good impression of Teal'c.

"Hey, it'll be nice to have somebody to watch it with, it always freaks my landlady out when I yell at the television by myself," he said dryly.

The pizza arrived about an hour later; Daniel was swept up in the game and explaining it to her. They devoured the pizza, both famished from their full day. Sitting back on the couch, curled up under a blanket that Daniel had procured from his closet, Jennifer watched Daniel, amused at his antics as the Avalanche skated to a 2-2 tie with the Canucks. She was as comfortable as she had been in a long time, and although the game seemed exciting enough, with all of its violent collisions of bodies, ice and hockey sticks, she felt her eyelids getting heavy.

Daniel looked over as the overtime ended, overjoyed that the Canucks had scored another win. She was asleep in the corner of the couch. Guess it's not all that exciting to girls, he thought to himself, especially those whose day job involves fighting off goa'uld.

He could hear the rain still pounding against the windows. Colorado storms were usually quick and strong here in the foothills; the weather man had said that the front they were riding in on would probably last through the night.

He thought for a moment, then reached over and gently touched her on the shoulder. "Jennifer, the game's over," he said softly.

She awoke with a start, realizing where she was. He smiled at her.

"It's still raining pretty hard. If you'd like, you can stay here and I'll take you back in the morning," he said quietly. Quickly he added, "You can have the bedroom, I've slept on this couch plenty of times. I can fall asleep to the gentle sounds of the sports commentators re-calling the Canucks' splendid victory," he said with a grin.

She smiled. It was late, and although she felt a little awkward spending the night in his apartment, she was tired and thought it would be an imposition on him to ask him to drive her back in this weather. And there was her new bike to consider, not to mention her still damp clothing.

"That's a good idea," she said sleepily. She got up and handed him the blanket. "Good night, Daniel," she smiled sweetly. "Thanks for a really great day," she yawned as she padded over to the bedroom.

He watched her as she shut the door. "No, thank you," he said softly to the closed bedroom door. He settled in for the night on the couch, happily listening to the repeat of the game on the local cable channel.

Jennifer was awake at dawn, the rays of sunlight streaming through the French windows in the bedroom. It was still early, but she was suddenly anxious to take her bike for another spin, and she did have things to do back in the barracks. Having been away for all of Saturday would mean all of her chores would need to be done today. It would only take a short while to get there, and the clouds had cleared, leaving another bright, sunny October day.

Her clothes were dry now, having been hung over the heating registers all night. She dressed quietly and gently opened the bedroom door, treading silently towards the front door. She noticed a pen and paper on the battered old rolltop desk that was on the opposite wall from the television, behind the couch. Stopping on her way to the front door, she wrote a quick note. Then she eased opened the front door, grabbed her boots and turned to shut it behind her. She looked over at him, fast asleep on the couch; she felt suddenly endeared by his sleeping form. He looks comfortable, she thought. Good.

Daniel heard the click of the door shutting. Groggily, he sat up and looked around. The bedroom door was open. He got up and went to the doorway; she wasn't there. The bathroom door was ajar and it was dark. A quick glance in the kitchen told him she wasn't there. Then he noticed the paper and pen sitting out prominently on the desk. He walked over and read the note. Daniel, thanks for everything. See you in the lab.

He heard the door to the garage close shut. He went over to the balcony of the bedroom, just in time to see her pedaling away.