Vala eased into a more comfortable position against the couch armrest, the thing digging into her back. "Careful." Mitchell called from where he lay on the floor connecting wires and various other things to other…things. "Okay, next step?" He continued a few moments later.
"'Affix'…Now there's a strange word if I ever heard one. 'Affix'. Cameron, what does 'affix' mean?" Vala looked up from the wiring guide in her lap to give her companion a curious look.
"It's just like if the book says to put something together with something else. Two wires need to be affixed, Vala. Which two?" He paused in the repair job and waited for her answer.
"Yellow to green. The book says once that's done, the affixed, there's that word again, the affixed parts should be operational once more. However, I don't believe it will. Main reason, you are using a butter knife in place of a flathead screwdriver. I can't foresee anything but distress for that outcome. In your case, anyway. Mine is only hilarity. Unless I have to get up, and then you're on your own." She teased.
"Flatheads are at my other place, and Jackson seems to have the whole stalking thing down, watching it like a hawk. I figure I'll lay low until Landry calls me back in. Place could do with a little fixing up anyway." Cam's eyes gleamed with inner light when he raised his head. "I used to dream about being an architect, before I joined the military. I always liked seeing something I'd design grow to be a home or something, you know? When I joined the military, I couldn't keep up the courses and all for that, so I started buying houses, fixing them up, then selling them. Made enough money after a few years of that to buy a house and keep it, fixed it up the way I wanted, made that my starter home. Course, that was about fifteen years ago. This is only the fifth one I've owned and actually kept. I want to take that wall out, completely. Knock down the stairs, make them into a spiral staircase. That would give me more room here in the entryway, living room, and den area. I also want to knock down the walls in the four rooms upstairs and make them into one large open game room. Theater seats, panel tv against one wall, total man cave up there." He explained. Vala could see he enjoyed the thought of the hard work it would take to turn the large house into his dream home. "Once I get it all fixed up, I'm going to move out of the place I live in now, maybe sell that one, but who knows. You got any plans?" He asked. Vala shrugged once and stared at the book open in front of her. "If Daniel still denies me and the baby when he's born, I'll opt for living quarters on base. Two other single mothers have done that, and their children are fine. I'll be able to go off world and still be a mother to him." She replied.
"You might want to ask Landry if you could paint the rooms a more family oriented color, not the drab concrete stuff. You need help with the paint job, I'm your man." Cam smiled over his shoulder.
"Now what?" he continued.
"Flick the switch. It should be fine now."
Cameron replaced the wires and outlet cover before plugging the lamp in and switching it on.
A shower of sparks, a tongue of fire licking up from the wall, and a snap as all the power in the house was cut off were the only things that happened.
"I know you're going to blame this one on me, but in my defense, I did warn you that this would happen." Vala said after a moment of stunned silence.
"Yep, yep, you did. Got the flashlight?" Cam sighed heavily. He heard the squeak of the couch as she sat up and began feeling around in the darkness for the light.
"Are you standing?" He asked sternly. "Sitting up, nothing more. Not going to risk my baby again, darling." She countered from somewhere on the couch. Cam fumbled on the floor for his lighted screwdriver, a gift from his grandmother the year before she died. When his hand closed around it, he pressed the switch to illuminate the darkness and help Vala locate the flashlight.
"Probably just a blown fuse. I'll go turn everything back on." He sighed once they had lit a few hurricane lamps. While he was gone, Vala touched her stomach with tender fingertips.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen. You and I are going to have some fun times when you finally get here. I'll teach you how to protect yourself, how to fight and how to cry on cue. Although, since I'm about ninety-nine percent sure you're a boy, maybe I won't teach you that one. But I can also teach you so many other things. You won't even know until you get here all the things I have planned for us to see and do together." She spoke as if her child could hear her, wanting to cement the bond she had already begun in her mind.