Chapter 19
When Noli arrived the next morning everyone was hanging around Sam's lab, waiting for some fine tuning to be finished so they could embark on their expedition. Jack and Daniel were seated at the least cluttered table while Teal'c was acting as a caddie for Sam and her tools.
Noli wore a hazy expression of sleepiness and joy. Her insides were singing with anticipation and the vibrations she was picking up from everything she came across; everything felt agreeable today and she had her 'matter focus' skipping around from one thing to another like a stereo set on 'intro'.
"Hello, my darlings," she greeted in a husky voice, making her way into the room. Sam and Jack gave her each a "Morning" and Daniel leaned back in his chair, looking up at her with a light smile. She passed the table to get to the shelves in the back, rounding it behind him. Her hand landed casually on his shoulder as an addition to their greetings, like it often did. Looking down into Daniel's face, touching his warm shoulder, she felt a surge of tenderness towards this man and his subtle way of caring about her the day before. Without thinking she leant down and pressed her nose and lips against the top of his head, inhaling deeply. It only took a moment and then she continued up to the shelves and started rummaging through tools and pieces of half-finished equipment. It took her several seconds to realise she was holding her breath, trying to keep the scent of Daniel's hair in her lungs, and silently let it out.
Daniel felt something flutter inside of him. Noli's brief, friendly touches was something he'd gotten used to, though they still invoked a strange sense of warmth and calm every time. But feeling her lips suddenly brush against him, be it only on the top of his head, was different. He found himself wondering what those soft, curved lips would feel like on his bare skin. On his lips.
"Daniel!"
Apparently, someone was calling his name. He awoke from his involuntary daydreams with a start, looking around to identify who it was that wanted his attention.
"What?"
Jack was standing in the doorway, looking a little annoyed. He repeated, slower this time: "I'm going for coffee, do you want some?"
"Sure. Actually, I'll come with you." Daniel got up and walked towards the door, scratching the back of his head. He needed to distract himself from these, well, distractions.
He caught up with Jack in the hallway.
"Hey, Jack..." he said, sounding indifferent as he did when something was bothering him.
"Yeah." Jack was pushing buttons to try to make the coffee machine work.
"You know Noli?"
"Ye-es?" Jack was lightly banging on the machine.
"Does she usually, like, touch you? You know, like..."
"Daniel", said Jack and turned to him, "I know it might feel a little weird but it's just something we all have to get used to."
"We all have to get used to", Daniel repeated to himself. The disturbing thoughts slipped from him like air from a balloon. Noli was affectionate towards everyone, he knew that, and there was no reason for his thoughts to be running off with him like that. Don't even go there, there's no point, he told them.
"That and the names", continued Jack. "Hey, by the way", he said and handed Daniel half a cup of coffee, "Do you know what the hell "abwa naasifah" means?"
Daniel looked up at Jack.
"She calls you an improvised explosive devise?"
Jack thought about it for a moment.
"That's the best one yet".
The three days that had passed since Noli had officially been included in the mission statement she had spent on reluctant weapons training, general preparations on what it meant to go off-world - and trying to perfect the new naquadah battery she and Sam had been working on. They were going to hook it up to a MALP and bring it with them to let it roam around for a while - if the battery proved to be working as planned they would have a very small, nearly inextinguishable power source for smaller crafts and equipment.
After a few minor adjustments and last checks Sam and Noli took the battery down to the storeroom where the MALP was waiting and rigged the machine to run on their little creation, while the men went ahead to gear up. Sam worked quickly and methodically while Noli was mostly spinning around, tapping her fingers on the MALP and listing things for Sam to check off.
At last Sam finished and shut the hatch. She turned to Noli, who was dancing discretely.
"Excited much?" she asked with the hint of a smile. Noli had never been afraid to let her giddyness over anything new show around Sam before, but this time it was unusually obvious even to her.
"You know it, cookie."
"You do know it's going to feel like you've been through six weeks worth of gravity training at NASA?"
"Like the roller coaster from hell, huh?" Noli answered as they proceeded to the changing room to gear up. "Well, I love a good ride."
Sam just smiled. She was sure anyone else would feel just as sick as she had done the first times of going through the gate, but she wouldn't be surprised if Noli happened to be the exception.
The men were waiting in the gate room when they arrived, Sam maneuvering the MALP and Noli following closely behind. Noli must have been sporting a sillier grin than usual, because she was met with indulging little smiles from all of them.
"I see they trusted you with a nine millimeter", observed Jack. "Should I be worried?"
"Hey. I can get past your metal detector... Don't mess with me and my Beretta" Noli hummed and contemplated taking the gun out to show him her new pistol spinning skills, but decided it was probably best to leave it in the holster. It would be a huge mistake to shoot someone on her first day. Instead she looked around at her friends. She had seen them dressed up in these airforce attires countless times before, but she always thought they gave them a different air than when they were loitering around the base in t-shirts and pants. While Jack looked like he had only temporarily left that uniform and was now back to his normal self, it made Sam switch from science wiz to someone with no problem getting down and dirty, authoritative in a more immediate way than in the lab. Teal'c just looked as if someone had tried to dress down his demanding precense and failed miserably. And Daniel, well... His kind appearance and the masculinity of the uniform and its weapons somehow emphasized each other until the person who stood before her resembled a deceptively domesticated watchdog - happily skipping around amongst the archaeological findings and trying to make friends with the natives, believing good about everyone; but with an underlying potential to unleash a strength and aggressiveness in the face of danger that made him seem secretly manly. The endearing impression he made on her when doing things like opening impossible jars without the hint of an effort easily rose to the power of ten when he donned his bandana and automatic weapon.
And oh yes. She had noticed how the holster strap clung around his thigh in an alarmingly sexy fashion. She had put it down to a general fetish for men in uniform, but as she now glanced him over she had to reassess how general that fetish really was - was it just her or did Daniel actually look hot today? His face was gleaming with anticipation even as he was studying his fingernails, and the wreckless way his clothes hung on his frame seemed boyishly charming.
She forgot that thought as they all turned their attention to the gate when the control room started dialing out. One after another the chevrons engaged as the great wheel of intergalactic fortune spun around with a scraping murmur. This procedure she had also observed dozens of times, but it always instilled a sense of awe in her to witness the activity of a technology so beyond her knowledge that it seemed like magic. She had spent many a lunch break sitting beneath the ring as if picknicking under a tree, with one hand around a cup of coffee and the other on the surface trying to get a grip of its constitution. The refreshing tingling of naquadah had become very familiar, but the construction of the gate was just too complicated to go through that way. She estimated it would take at least a day of uninterrupted, energy consuming concentration to even get close and there was no chance of that as it was always in use.
As the event horizon made the plunge into the room and its shimmering surface appeared the group prepared to embark.
"SG-1, you have a go", said general Hammond's voice over the speakers. Sam maneuvered the MALP up the ramp and followed it through the gate, closely followed by Jack and Teal'c. Before going after them Daniel leaned over and asked quietly:
"You got a soundtrack for this yet?"
Noli smiled into the blue puddle.
"It's playing in my head as we speak."
They walked the final steps towards the gate, crossed the event horizon and demolecularized.