Okay kiddies...it's winding down. Keep reading, keep reviewing. I love the little boost in the morning when I see I've got a new review - good or bad, it's just nice to know people are reading it.

Thanks for the support!

"There is every possibility that this will push us over the edge," Carolyn said with a devious smile.

Cameron shrugged. "I don't know about you, but I'm kind of past the point of caring."

"Well, then, shall we?"

They raised their forks and each took a bite of the gigantic piece of chocolate cake the waiter had brought for them to split. Judging by the look on her face, Carolyn was just as happy with the dessert as he was, if not more so.

Dinner had been good. The wine had been good. The conversation and the dessert were excellent. Other than Sam, his interactions with intelligent women were limited. He'd dated prom queens and homecoming queens in high school and the occasional sorority girl in college, but there was never a MENSA candidate among them. Intelligent conversation had always consisted of lengthy discussions about the best way to dye blonde hair to red without shocking the world.

Carolyn Lam was not that kind of girl. She used words Cameron had only ever seen in print. She knew enough Chinese that she'd been able to carry on a short-lived conversation with him about the best places to get Szechwan chicken in Colorado Springs. She was also really good at Scrabble, or so she claimed, and worked on the New York Times crossword puzzle every Sunday morning, during breakfast.

She loved really bad science fiction movies, read trashy romance novels while on vacation, and refused to drink anything that came with an umbrella and fruit attached to the glass. In the span of two hours, at an Italian restaurant they'd found by accident, he hadlearned more about her than he knew about most of SG-1. In fact, there were only two subjects that stayed off limits: her relationship with her father and his experiences in the Gulf. Neither were necessary topics and it seemed they had an unspoken agreement to that fact.

"This cake should be illegal," she said with her mouth full.

He grinned. "It probably is. Place like this is probably run by the mob."

"In Colorado?"

"What better place to hide?" He took another bite.

"Valid point." She took one last bite and put her fork down on the plate. "Have you ever been to Acacia Park at night?" she asked.

He paused with the fork almost to his mouth and his eyebrow raised. "No…why?"

"Just curious." She finished her wine, looked at him with a bright smile – the smile he couldn't say no to. "Want to go, walk around, play some shuffleboard?"

He looked his watch. "It's almost eight o'clock."

"So? Do you have another date after this one?"

She'd called it a date. He'd put on a clean shirt and clean jeans and manly sandals and he'd met her downtown. He'd thought that it was maybe a date, but he'd never expected her to actually admit to it being a date. This was big, possibly huge. He was on a date with Carolyn Lam…the General's daughter.

Could a game of shuffleboard with the General's daughter get him a court martial?

She was looking at him expectedly. "You're not afraid I'll kick your butt at shuffleboard, are you?" she teased.

It was all the prodding he needed.

He grinned widely. "You're on, Doc."

They paid the bill (actually, he paid the bill before she had a chance to even open her purse, for which he was rewarded with a thin frown and a slap on the arm) and made their way out of the crowded restaurant and onto the street. He honestly had no ideawhere Acacia Park was so he let her lead the way. They walked side by side, slowly, through the maze of downtown streets, their arms brushing against each other as they moved along the sidewalk.

"You seem to know Colorado Springs pretty well," he said.

She smiled. "I went to college here, a long time ago."

He heard the note of sadness in her voice and, on impulse, took her hand in his. When she didn't pull it away but instead squeezed his hand, he smiled back at her.

She pointed to something in the distance and he followed her line of sight to a lighted blue and white mushroom-like structure, surrounded by jets of water.

"What the hell…?" he asked as they crossed Bijou Street.

"That's Uncle Wilber Fountain," she explained.

"It looks like Uncle Wilber was on acid."

Carolyn laughed and pulled him deeper into the park. As they neared the shuffleboard building, it became apparently clear that it was closed down for the season. She stopped a hundred feet or so from it and frowned. "Now what?" she asked with disappointment.

An idea popped into his head. "How does a movie at Kimballs sound?"

"What's playing?"

He shrugged. "Does it matter? We could always stand here and wait until June for shuffleboard…" She again slapped him on the arm. "Come on. We'll walk down, see what's playing, and if it isn't anything good I'll take you home."

"Or you could just take me home," she suggested.

He looked at her, saw something in her eyes that convinced him home was a good option, and grinned. "Or, I could just take you home."

"And you could come in," she said.

"That I could." He frowned. "Might change some things, though."

She smiled at him, shrugged. "I like change."

"Well, I was certainly hoping you'd say that."

Aeda watched Daniel pack his suitcase from the comfort of her bedroom chair, an old leatheroverstuffed monstershe'd bought at a flea market for fifty bucks when she'd first moved to the city. It was broken in and comfortable and it was the perfect spot from which to watch her archeologist pack up his things. Bear was asleep at her feet, snoring softly in the quiet of the Sunday morning. Daniel's flight wasn't until three, but they were meeting her parents for brunch at eleven and he wanted to be packed before then so they could go straight from the restaurant to the airport.

"Should I be worried about meeting your family?" he asked as he folded a badly wrinkled oxford shirt. She recognized it as the one he'd worn to his keynote speech. She smiled at the memory - no wonder it was wrinkled.

She shook her head. "My parents are very mellow people. Don't let the whole Admiral thing phase you. You're intelligent and I love you and I'm positive they'll love you as well."

"Where are we eating?" He held up a green sock. "This isn't mine," he said.

She grinned. "No, it's mine." He threw the sock at her and she let it land on Bear's sleeping form. He didn't even flinch. "The Blue Room in Cambridge. They have really great omelets."

He put the last of his t-shirts into the suitcase and sighed. "I really hate this."

"Well, it's an old suitcase."

He smiled slightly. "Not the suitcase. The whole leaving thing, the packing and the unpacking and the packing again. The waking up tomorrow morning alone." He frowned. "It…sucks."

"Eloquently put, Dr. Jackson." She stood from the chair and came around to where he was slumped against the suitcase. "What if I told you I'd had a sudden epiphany Friday night?" she asked, straightening his collar.

He eyed her warily. "I'd say, elaborate."

She looked up at him. The curiosity she loved sparkled in his eyes, but his face betrayed nothing. "I've decided I like Colorado."

"I already knew that."

"I maylike Colorado more than I like Massachusetts."

She hadn't actually spoken those words aloud before and now that they were out in the open, they settled between them with tangible weight. She was hoping for some sort of reaction.

She wasn't disappointed.

"No. You're not moving out there." The curiosity in his eyes disappeared and he backed away from her, tripped over the bench at the end of the bed, and landed on the hardwood floor with an audible thump.

She stared at him in surprise. "Right," she said quietly and tears pricked at her eyes. She bit her cheek and willed them to go away.

He must have heard the hurt in her voice because his expression softened and he relaxed on the ground. "That didn't come out quite right."

"I'd hope not." She sat down on the bench, stared at him with her best "explain it to me" expression and waited.

He sighed. "I will never ask you to give up what you have here. I made that promise to myself after the first weekend I visited. You fit in here, you belong here, and I'm not willing to ask you to move away from it, from your family."

"You're not asking me, Daniel. I'm the one suggesting it."

"I know, and I'm telling you no."

She shrank almost immediately. This had seemed like such a good idea two days ago. She had thought he'd want her around, but now it seemed as though their relationship wasn't something he wanted within his immediate vicinity.

He sensed it. "Oh no...no," he said, bringing himself up to his knees and closing the distance between them with lightning speed. His hands cupped her face, wiped away tears she wasn't even aware she'd begun to cry. "No, don't even think what I know you're thinking, because you're lying to yourself."

"We can end it."

"No. God, you're a pain in the ass, Aeda. You're way too easy going." She could feel him shaking."Fight for this. Fight for the whole goddamn thing." There was something breaking in his voice. "I love you too much to let you just go away." He kissed her cheek. "I don't care how close or how far away we are, it doesn't change the fact that I love you and I want you to be happy."

"I am happy," she said as he kissed her forehead, her nose, her other cheek. "More happy than I ever thought I'd be again."

"If you want to move to Colorado, then do it. But do it for yourself, not for me."

He pulled back and she looked at him, saw the truth in his face, felt it in the way he held her. She pulled him back to her, kissed him so hard she left them both breathless. He rested his forehead against hers, their noses touching. It was something that had been coming, building like a storm out over the ocean. She could see it on Friday in the Quad and had hoped it would just go away.

In a way, she was glad it hadn't.

"Have I told you today how beautiful you are?" he asked as the clouds moved away and the sun began to break through.

"I'm pretty sure I'm a mess right now,"she said, wiping tears from her flushed cheeks.

"You're my mess and you're beautiful." He kissed her again, pushed a little so she'd lean back, and began to undo the knot of her robe. "I've never wanted anyone more." His words blew hot wind across her collarbone.

"We'll be late for brunch," she said, not really caring as his fingers roamed. She undid the buttons of his shirt, helped him out of it.

"That seems to be a bad habit of ours."

His mouth skimmed over the swell of her breast and her breath hitched. His hands tickled her sides slightly and she laughed.

Hmm…make-up sex or brunch? A difficult question, she was sure. He kissed her stomach and answered it for her.

They were going to very late for brunch.

A/N: Rating's a little higher on this one, 'cause of the foggy glasses. I hope you liked it. :-)