Chapter 24

Teal'c snook up early the next morning, avoiding to encounter anyone before going to the gym for a dose of physical exertion. Working up a distracting burn in his muscles with the large dumbells used by very few others than him, he tried to let the concentration building in his mind push out the memory of lifeless flesh in his arms, chilling him to the bone. His instincts had found it hard to grasp how someone could be so cold, and yet not dead. The impression of Noli's hypothermal body against his was as if imprinted on his skin; he had felt it all night and could still feel it when he thought back to those few minutes when he had carried her the day before. Dealing with the dead and injured was nothing new to him, but there was something about seeing Noli as the very opposite of herself that had been very eerie. No energy, no warmth. No words. Empty, the flood of impressions from the world drowning all of her own self.

It had been a relief to turn her over to the medical staff. To know that they had done their part, let the next section take over and rest assured in the promise of recovery. He was convinced she would be fine, because there was simply no other alternative. There could be no absense of her.

To him, Noli was a breeze sweeping through the established routines on the base, a curious little companion that turned up at random intervals and sat in his quarters asking for stories of his life, or took him out to movies. He knew she could be trusted, in the same way he had known Jack O'Neill could be trusted before he knew him. Maybe it was the way she treated him with none of the distancing insecurity he recieved from other people. She wasn't the least bit afraid of him, which he found both a little irritating and relaxing in the beginning; it made any attempts to seem intimidating pointless and she found direct access to person he was beyond the stoic pride. The interest she showed in him was honest, as were the opinions she uttered and the feelings she displayed. There was a refreshing lack of... respect. No polishing words in fear of stepping on his alien toes. And on the other hand, no withholding affection and appreciation either. He had accepted her habit of calling him by other things than his name first patiently, then curiously, and finally pleased. After a while the varieties of sweetheart she called him by had narrowed down to a specialized few and slowly they had snook in and settled next to his real name. Only used by her though, only by her... None of the other team members were dumb enough to try to make a joke out of it, but one of the less experienced, more arrogant sergeants once called him Socks, snickered - and was stared down by a look that left his knees shivering.

He thought back to the incident with a smug sense of satisfaction. Their bond was theirs, it was unique and no one could trespass upon it. The trust Noli placed in him every time she called him by a name she had given him herself was not unnoticed.

He had asked if it this way of addressing him was something he was meant to reciprocate. She negated it, saying pet names come from the heart and not from politeness and that they were not supposed to be returned on principle. Only if they were earned, and if one felt like using that kind of jargon. She knew they were different in that respect, and it was quite natural that the rest of the team weren't as 'flakey' as she.

Fact was, no one had really gotten around to calling Noli anything but Noli back, even if a "hon" could slip from Sam when she was in a loose mood or "kiddo" from Daniel if she hadn't been playing too much sock puppets. Jack mainly stuck to "the nut". Teal'c wondered if she hadn't made herself worthy of better epithets, or at least some with more thought behind them.

After finishing his workout and running an errand Teal'c returned to his quarters. He tidied, made the bed, picked dead leaves from his plants. He lied on his bed and read. Hours went by. He didn't feel like seeing anyone or going out to find something to do; if anyone needed him, they knew where to find him.

In the early afternoon, Jack knocked on the door only to immediatley fling it open.

"Hey big guy, we're wanted."

Teal'c looked up from his pastime, a novel that Sam had given him on some occasion. She said it was about being human and the sorts. He found it quite amusing.

Jack sauntered into the room, hands on his hips. He leaned in to take a closer look at the book in Teal'cs hands.

"Watcha reading there, War and Peace?"

"Yes."

"Well, put it down. They're taking great big machines to PX3-113 and they want us as escort to protect them from great bit scary animals."

Teal'c accepted with a nod, closed the book and left it on the bedside table as they left. He was not anxious to repeat the trip that had been the origin of yesterday's ordeal. He could tell from the ever so vague way Jack didn't hurry that he was not either, but the job needed to be done, and so they packed up and saw an array of machinery and a few technicians and archaeologists through the gate back to the planet of mysterious rocks.