They walked into the hotel room unusually quiet. They were on the last leg of their trip and the tension was increasing between the four good friends. Things had been tense for them for a few days now, but they were quickly reaching their breaking point.
It had been a long day; traffic had been bad and they had been sniping at each other for the majority of the day. They were tired, all they wanted to do was unwind and hopefully things would be better in the morning.
The door closed and lights were turned on to brighten the room. The girls set their luggage down and Max flopped onto one bed while Lydia claimed the second while Alex and Crysta joined Max or Lydia.
They were silent, each lost within their own thoughts. The silence was only broken by the sound of Max's phone ringing. Grabbing it, she got off the bed and moved down towards the door while answering it.
The others were silent, listening to the one-sided conversation. Max kept her voice down so it was hard to hear what exactly what was being said. But it was a quick conversation and soon Max was back on top of the bedspread, silent.
"You've been busy talking on your phone these last few days." Crysta commented, breaking the silence. "Care to enlighten us as to the reason?"
Max sighed, she knew that this was going to come up sometime. Sitting on the bed with her legs crossed she said, "You guys are really great friends, you know that, and as much as I love hanging around the apartment all day...I need to find work. That's why I've been sending almost everything to voice-mail; I've been waiting for job offers."
The girls were silent, knowing that there wasn't anything they could do to contradict Max's statement. Of the four of them Max had been the hardest hit; she was the only one left without a job when they were ousted from Atlantis, but they hadn't known she was looking around.
"And the call the other day..." Alex asked, trailing off.
"Was one." Looking at her friends she took a deep breath and continued, "In Maine." Max looked down at the bed-spread, silent. She knew that she could turn the job down and hope that she'd find work somewhere else, but she also knew that something might not come along and then she'd be stuck at the apartment while everyone else got up and went to their jobs. And while she had money in the bank, if she kept up her current record of unemployment it wouldn't last long.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Crysta asked, breaking the silence.
"Why didn't you tell us that you were looking?" Lydia asked as well.
"I wasn't sure I'd get it, but now..." Max trailed off, knowing that they understood what was left un-said.
They sat in silence until Lydia broke it with news of her own. "I've been reassigned to Area 51."
"When?" Alex asked, the first to digest the news and speak up.
"Next month."
"Well, since we're sharing our life-changing plans, I've been thinking about opening a bakery. There's a spot near the Mountain that's for sale and the owner offered to sell it to me fully furnished. If I take it that is."
"…So this is it, huh?" Crysta said softly after what seemed like an eternity of silence.
"Well there'll be visits-" Lydia started to say.
"Yea; a weekend here and there for you, a few days during winter and summer breaks for Max, whenever you guys are in town." Crysta snapped, cutting Lydia off.
"I won't be in Area 51 forever." Lydia said after Crysta was finished. "I'm sure that they'll transfer be back to the SGC sometime."
"And I can try to get a job back in Springs." Max piped up.
"But it won't be the same; just like how e-mails and playing phone tag with time zones will mess things up even more. Max'll be busy teaching and settling in her new place, Lydia will be busy with whatever projects she'll have going on in Area 51, Alex'll be too busy setting up the shop and I'll be busy with my work. Who knows when we'll actually be able to see each other again?"
"I'm sure that we'll figure it out somehow." Alex offered up.
They then sat in silence, each thinking about the newest turn of events and revelations that had been made within the last five minutes.
"We don't have to hug now do we? 'Cause I don't think I can stomach any more chick-flick moments." Lydia asked, looking like she might be sick.
Max, Alex, and Crysta all looked at Lydia silently. Then a slow grin spread across Max's face and she looked at Alex and Crysta, conveying a silent message to them. They must have gotten the message because they each started to sport grins of their own.
Lydia swallowed, suddenly nervous and unnerved by their looks and then all of a sudden the three launched themselves at Lydia tackling her.
"Hey, watch it guys!" Lydia exclaimed, laughing as they fell onto her.