Part: 7/11
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CHAPTER SEVEN – THE BEACH
The shower was wonderful and just what he needed. The golf course had been dry today, and almost too hot at some places out of the wind, and he had built up a sweat working with the course. He also had managed to bring away a good amount of that damn sand trap back in his shoes that he hadn't noticed earlier.
Scrubbed, cooled down and clean, he dried himself off only to realise that his clean clothes were in the other room. Securing a towel around his waist, he cracked open the door and slipped out into the bedroom and made his way quickly to the study/game room. She was still downstairs – he was okay. He shut the door securely and changed. He chose some more shorts, supplied by Mattie, from the bag, despite Teyla's comment earlier today about him wearing them. It was still too humid. He pulled on one of his own shirts though, the soft white shirt making him feel more relaxed somehow. He picked up a light coloured jacket out of the bag, shook out most of the creases, and put on far more comfortable, and sand free, shoes than he had worn to the golf course.
He checked his cell for emails from O'Neill as he returned the damp towel to the bathroom, and then headed downstairs.
She was still in her lovely dress, now sat on the couch, so that its hemline had risen partly up her thighs. It was yet another example of enjoyment mixing with torture that was defining this vacation/mission.
"It's still hot out, so I'm going with more shorts, okay," he warned her as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
She looked around with a smile, her eyes dropping to his legs. "They look very nice," she reported. He wasn't entirely sure if she was referring to the shorts or his legs. He chose not to ask.
Twenty minutes later, they were settling into a booth in a cosy corner of a local restaurant. It was busy, but they had managed to nab a great seat thanks to the previous couple leaving just before they'd arrived. John could even see the clubhouse at the golf course from his seat, though admittedly he couldn't make out much detail from this distance. He might be able to recognise a car leaving along the private drive, at least until the sun started to go down. Which made him realise something.
"You didn't happen to notice next door's car did you?" He asked Teyla, carefully not mentioning Salisbury's name. He couldn't even remember spotting a car.
Teyla looked up from her menu and frowned delicately. "I do not recall seeing one." John nodded with her. "Though perhaps it is parked behind their villa?" Teyla added. "Their driveway runs between our buildings, surely it leads somewhere behind their villa."
John hadn't thought of that. "Seems a bit suspicious," he considered out loud. "Or, maybe they get driven wherever they want."
"Perhaps Teresa drives him wherever he wishes to go," Teyla suggested in what John could only describe as a cheeky tone.
He looked at her pointedly, and she peered over the top of her menu with transparent innocence. She smiled as lowered her eyes back to the short, but well stocked menu. He wasn't sure he should like this continuing teasing from her, because it implied that she had no problem with other women being interested in him, while he was finding the excessive attention she was receiving from men really irritating. What was even more irritating, and starting to get to him, was that he knew he had no right to feel that way, and it wasn't right to start resenting her for not feeling for him what he felt for her.
Only she had seemed more than happy in his arms in that future vision.
Not that there was any guarantee that it had even been their future – it was probably another reality completely, in which Teyla actually wanted more than friendship with him.
Maybe Kanaan didn't exist in that other reality. Maybe Michael had gotten rid of him.
John felt bad for thinking that.
He glared grumpily down at his menu, wishing he was a nicer person and that she would keep her menu in front of her through the entire meal so that he couldn't see her distracting cleavage.
She set the folded menu aside. "I think I will have the spicy lentil soup and the roasted lamb."
John nodded and realised that he wasn't actually paying attention to the writing on his menu. "Sounds good, I'll have the same," he decided and set his menu aside, glad he didn't have to bother reading it anymore.
He looked off through the window overlooking the end of their booth, which afforded him the view of the golf course.
"What did you think of…Jeff?" she asked, purposefully not using his full name in case those seated close by might know Salisbury, which was probably quite likely in this small community.
John didn't reply immediately because the waitress returned, took their order and left.
"Think Mattie summed him up pretty well in that file. Confident, suspicious, kind of uptight."
"I do not recall that last description being in the file," Teyla replied with a smile.
"It went unsaid," John pointed out, forcing himself not to look below her neck. He reached for the salt and pepper in the middle of the table, and lined them up with the bowl of two different types of sugar and the menus. "I wouldn't be surprised if he ran a search on me tonight."
"What did you say to him?"
"Nothing," John replied immediately looking up from his rearranging of the condiments. "His handshake was too short."
Teyla frowned a smile at him.
He smiled back. "His handshake," he continued, trying to explain what he had sensed about the guy in the split seconds they had shaken hands. "He doesn't like touching people," he concluded. "He looked like he didn't trust me. Or else he was just jealous of my sweet swing," he added with a smirk.
Her smile widened into a nice grin. "I am sure it was very sweet," she replied, her arms crossing in front of her on the table. John made sure to look up and away from her arms and the way their folded position lifted her breasts in the dress. The waitress fortunately returned with their drinks. John gratefully thanked her for the beer, and he wrapped his hand round the cool chill of the bottle and took a long swallow.
He looked at Teyla to see her smile at him with amusement. "It's been a long day," he explained.
She angled her head in agreement. "At least you had some exercise; I had to remain in one seat the entire afternoon."
"Looked like you two were getting along," he remarked as he watched her sip her fruit drink. There were three paper umbrellas in it.
"Well enough, she seemed a somewhat sad person," Teyla remarked.
"Because of Jeff?" He asked and watched her frown as she considered her answer. She seemed honestly upset for Annette.
"It seemed to me that she had so much she wished to do in her life, but she has pursued none of it because of her husband, and, despite my suggestion that there was plenty of time to change that, I doubt she will."
John smiled sadly at her. "Couldn't help yourself trying to fix it for her, huh?"
She gave a slight shrug, a bare golden shoulder lifting as she glanced away to the window. She had her hair pinned up at the back, which meant he could see her neck completely, and where the straps of her dress were secured at her nape.
"I like to believe that it is never too late in life to make changes. Just because one has done something one way all their life so far does not mean that they cannot change," she replied philosophically as she glanced down at her hands on the edge of the table, and John got the impression that she was talking about herself. He couldn't imagine anything she hadn't already achieved in life.
"Maybe Annette doesn't believe that," John considered, feeling he should say something.
Teyla lifted her eyes up to meet his. "Perhaps she is not courageous enough."
John thought it a strange thing to say, especially if she was indirectly talking about herself – she was one of the bravest people he knew.
She looked away to the window. "I suppose her life is so different from mine that I find it difficult to understand," she added, clearly forcing herself out of her brief low philosophical mood. John wanted to push and ask her what she had meant about herself, but he didn't. It wasn't any of his business.
"She's still human," John replied, simplifying things. "And she made her choices in life." He considered the immaculate woman he had seen in the clubhouse. "She's more than intelligent enough to know what she would need to do to change things."
"And she had chosen to place things and an elegant lifestyle over what might make her truly happy," Teyla replied.
It was an argument that John realised was in sharp contrast to Teyla's life. She had grown up under the constant threat of a culling, all she had wanted was for those she cared about to be safe from the Wraith. To desperately want the best coats and shoes likely seemed crazy to her.
He wondered how best to help her understand. He set his hands around his beer and leant his forearms on the table. "One thing about living…here," he said carefully, making sure she understood he meant Earth. "Is that often the only way to survive, to have enough food and water, is to have money," he explained. "Without it, people literally end up dying." He met and held her eyes.
She angled her head thoughtfully, listening to him intently and with a soft focus that felt new between them.
"Its something I know probably sounds alien," he continued, "but here, for my people, to know that they will be financially secure for life, is sometimes more important than following their personal dreams which might risk leading them to end up having nothing."
She lifted her eyebrows and pondered his words. "I suppose I can understand that, but…it still seems…sad to me." Her voice was soft and careful, as if she was concerned she might insult him perhaps.
"It is," he agreed, dropping his gaze to his beer. "I've seem some places on this world where people have nothing except dirty water to drink and a tiny patch of ground to live on. And still, there's someone who wants to take that away from them." Memories flowed across his mind's eye, still painful and raw despite the years that had passed.
He looked up at her, willing away the dark memories, and found her watching him with wide eyes. "I had not realised things could be so difficult here."
"Not so much on this island," he joked weakly, "But even in my own country, there are people who barely have enough to survive."
She frowned worriedly. "And there are wars here, over people wanting each other's land and resources," she asked and he nodded.
She had seen the papers in Atlantis and the ones he had been reading over the last two days. She knew there were several wars raging even now on Earth. She also knew there were earthquakes, tsunami, volcanoes, and drought here. So much happening on just one planet in a galaxy so far from her own. He had never really talked to her about this before, though had assumed that someone else had. He didn't like to tell her of Earth's troubles, there had been enough to worry over in Pegasus, and also, he realised, he had wanted her to think the best of his people. Knowing that there were people killing each other here was hardly something to be proud about. If everyone here knew what real threats there were and had been out in the stars, it might unite humanity together, but it would be some time until that happened.
She frowned and let out a heavy sigh. "It seems that life, wherever one lives, is often difficult."
He nodded and smiled at that truth. He wished he didn't feel like something had been damaged with the conversation, that in her talking about the truth of life on Earth had somehow muddied her opinion of him and his own people.
The waitress arrived with their soup. John picked up his spoon as he glanced out at the distant clubhouse.
"It is unlikely you will see him from here," Teyla said with a smile before she drank her first spoonful of soup.
John had to agree with her. "Wondering if we should have stayed there for dinner," he wondered out loud.
"I think we had both had enough of that place by then," Teyla replied.
"True," John agreed as he licked the tasty soup from his lips.
"This has an unusual flavour," Teyla considered.
"I think its cumin," John suggested after another mouthful and she smiled at him as if she found his knowledge surprising and amusing. "You learn anything else from Annette?"
Teyla relayed most of her conversation, including some humorous comments about how when one had a rich husband one should always praise him in and out of the bedroom. John set his empty bowl aside as the main course arrived, and quickly asked another question about Annette.
"I learnt much about the clothing industry as well," Teyla continued as they tucked into their lamb. "It seems that Annette is well versed in what is 'in fashion'." John chuckled at the way she said it. "Apparently my dress is very acceptable for the current fashion."
John found his eyes straying downwards, as if he needed to check for himself. "Well, it's certainly nice."
She smiled at his compliment, and he suspected he had revealed a little too much in the way he had said it.
"Perhaps I should ask Mattie to purchase clothes for me in the future," she suggested. John refrained once more from pointing out that the clothes were not the real reason why she looked so good.
"Not sure, she did the best for me," John replied, more to move the conversation along than meaning it.
"That is a lovely shirt," Teyla replied immediately.
"This one's mine," he replied with a smile, liking her compliment. "The shorts aren't my choice."
"They look fine too," Teyla added with a smile, and he decided he was being a woman to worry over her liking his clothes.
He cleared his throat as he reached for his beer. "Anything else interesting at the clubhouse?"
"No, though Jeff did kiss the back of my hand," Teyla reported, and John paused with his fork partway to his open mouth.
"He did?" He asked surprised.
"Is that not a custom here?" She asked.
John tilted his head one way then the other as he considered his answer. "I suppose, but it's quite old fashioned," he decided. Salisbury kissed her hand did he? John would watch the guy more closely next time.
"He seemed very polite at least," Teyla replied unaware of John's silent suspicions about Salisbury's 'politeness'. "Back home, there are a people called the Apedu, who greet people and compliment them with a kiss to each of their fingers."
"Don't remember meeting them."
She smiled as she wiped her mouth. "They tended to travel frequently between…ports," she amended from saying Stargate. "Some people found them overly affectionate at times."
John smiled at her politically correct description. "I can imagine."
"My father told me that a war was once started because a leader thought his wife was being lulled away into an affair by a man of the Apedu due to his repeated finger kissing greeting."
John was still chuckling about that as they finished their dessert and paid their bill. They made their way out of the restaurant and then slowly back to where he had parked the car. The sky was gradually starting to darken, but sunset would be a while off yet if yesterday's sunset had been any judge.
They climbed into the car and he drove them back to the villa in comfortable silence. As he parked up on the driveway, they both looked from the dark Salisbury house to each other.
"Looks like they're not back yet," John commented.
"Or perhaps Annette is following through on her praising this evening," Teyla suggested, surprising John.
He pulled a wince. "Thank you for that image," he muttered as he shut down the engine, still taken back by Teyla's overt comment, she wasn't usually one for using suggestive comments. "How much did you two drink back at the clubhouse exactly?" He asked.
She looked at him with a meaningful glare. "I had only one alcoholic beverage."
John nodded. "Maybe she had more," he suggested as he pulled the key out of the ignition.
"I suspect she can also hold her alcohol quite well," Teyla replied as she watched next door's dark villa along with him.
"You think she drinks too much?" He asked curious.
"She implied that she often had to hold her own during boring evening events surrounded by businessman," Teyla clarified.
"Some Dutch courage, huh?" John considered. "We'll just have to wait for them to come back."
Teyla twisted in her seat to look through the back window of the car. "Perhaps they went for another walk along the beach?"
"Maybe they did," he agreed.
Teyla twisted back round. "I would quite like a walk, having been the one to work so hard inside all day."
He smiled at her teasing, but memories of the nice sunset lit walk with her yesterday evening lingered in his mind. She was still wearing that dress. "You gonna to be warm enough in that?" He found himself asking.
"It is still very warm out," she replied as if he had just been concerned for her health. He guessed he had been, though perhaps more about his own health.
She opened the car door and the warm evening air flowed in, traitorously emphasising her point. He climbed out of the car and followed her down the driveway to the curb, trying not to look reluctant. He handed her the keys to put in her bag as they crossed the road, and he looked back to see that the Salisburys' villa really was entirely dark, without any hint of any life in it.
They walked through the palms and shrubbery onto the beach once more. The sky was turning faintly orange as they stopped and looked both ways down the narrow beach, looking for any sign of the Salisburys.
"There do not seem to be any fresh footprints," Teyla pointed out with some disappointment.
John nodded his agreement as he looked down both directions of the beach. "Which way do you wanna go? Left or right?"
She took a breath of the evening air beside him and he watched the ocean breeze dance the strands of her hair that had escaped from being pinned up off her neck.
"I do not think I could face climbing up that steep path this evening," Teyla reported which was fine by John.
"Same here," he readily agreed. "I've had enough exercise for today."
She looked at him along her bare shoulder. "I saw those automated carts you were using to travel around the course."
He smiled at that, "They weren't automated, we had to drive them," he pointed out technically.
"If you would prefer to sit inside…" She offered.
"No, no, I'll enjoy a walk along the beach," he replied immediately. Sure he would enjoy another romantic walk along a beach with her in her gorgeous dress, pretending she was his wife.
He had been in worse situations. He offered her his elbow again and she smiled as she slipped her hands around his arm. "Shall we still go to the left?" She suggested, "In case they have gone up the steep steps again."
"Sure," he agreed, making his voice more cheerful for her. "You still got the camera?" He checked. They had transferred the camera from his golf bag to her handbag before dinner.
"Yes," she replied lifting her far shoulder where the bag hung. "Did you capture many on the golf course?"
"Yeah, quite a few, got all of the group Salisbury was with," he replied as they walked at a nice slow wandering pace along the sand.
"I forgot to mention to you that I saw some humorous golf related mugs and other gift items we could purchase for 'Jack'."
They talked joke gifts for a while and then onto some ideas for something for Torren. The sun gradually began to sink behind the headland, the spectacular view from yesterday evening only available on the other side. John felt faintly disappointed but pleased that things were different this evening. He was feeling more comfortable with Teyla that was for sure. They had spent a successful day together, and they still had plenty of their vacation to enjoy.
On the torture to heaven scale, he was currently somewhere in the middle, which was fine right about now.
They reached the base of the steep steps from last night, but this time headed to the surf instead, paddling slightly into the warm water as they turned around and headed back along the beach. John watched the shallow surf swirl around his and Teyla's bare ankles and thought it would make a nice photo, but he kept walking.
She talked about a planet she had visited when she was younger where people had built their homes over the lakes and rivers in the belief that the Wraith hated water. They had been wrong, of course. John told her about similar kinds of buildings on Earth, set on stilts over lagoons.
They wandered at a leisurely pace, pausing occasionally when she wanted to pick up a shell or smooth stone to study it. She shook one lovely empty shell out and decided to keep it as a souvenir of the vacation. He suggested that some of that luxury chocolate spread would also be a good thing for her to take home.
She was chuckling at that when she tensed against his arm. "John, they have returned," she said quietly, as if their voices would carry the long distance from where they stood in the surf across the beach, through the palms, across the road and to the now lit windows of the Salisburys' villa.
"They're not going to hear us from here," he pointed out with a smile, as he struggled against a sense of disappointment. As much as he wanted to complete the mission, he had been enjoying just walking through the surf, talking with her as the day turned into dark evening.
"There is a car parked out front," Teyla noted as she pulled her hand from his arm and walked on ahead of him.
He frowned, craning his neck to see between the darkening palm leaves and shrubs to where he could see the outline of the villa windows, but not inside. "Might be theirs," he considered. He looked back round to see that Teyla was a good couple of metres ahead of him now, so he followed, lengthening his strides to catch up.
"Would they not park in the driveway or around the back as we theorised?" she asked over her shoulder.
"Good point," he conceded as he reached her side where she had now stopped. There was a good clear line between trees to give them a decent view now, but with the darkness growing by the second now, the light of the villa's windows seemed all the brighter.
"The area directly in front of their villa is clear of vegetation," she reminded him from their scouting this morning. "From there we might be able to see who is inside."
He felt oddly cautious about that though. "It's a clear line of sight," he considered, peering through the growing darkness ahead. "They'll see us just as easily as we'll see them." The air was cooling slightly, but the humidity was still higher than he liked, but stood at the edge of the ocean, the air felt fresher.
"We are just a couple out walking along the beach," Teyla stated looking up at him.
He frowned at her before he returned his attention to the distant open channel in front of Salisbury's place. "We'll be lit up like Christmas trees stood looking in from the beach." He suspected, looking at it now, that the open view Salisbury had of the beach might not just be so he had the best view of the ocean. It would be hard to spy on the guy through all those wide windows lighting up the area in front of the villa.
"The ocean is safe here, is it not?" Teyla asked.
John looked down at the surf barely covering their ankles. "We're okay," he assured her bemused at her sudden concern.
"If we wade out further, we would be beyond the reach of the light," she suggested indicating the flat smooth stretch of ocean sliding up the beach ahead of them, looking so different in the deepening darkness.
He didn't get to answer because she was already moving forward, heading further out into the water.
"Watch your step," John advised quickly.
The water was deeply dark around John's shins as he followed her, watching the Salisbury villa as he did. Through the breaks in the vegetation as they neared, he could see the suggestion of movement inside the living room. "Someone's definitely in there," he said quietly.
Teyla had stopped heading outwards from the beach and was now walking parallel to it. She was right that the long fingers of light from the lit villa windows didn't stretch out this far. He wasn't so sure that they still wouldn't be noticed though. He recalled Salisbury's controlled suspicious smile back at the golf course. There had been a hardness in his eyes, which gave John no doubt that the guy was capable of causing all kinds of trouble.
He shared that thought with Teyla, feeling oddly nervous about Salisbury seeing them out here. They were supposed to be casually observing, but then there wasn't much chance of seeing who was inside the villa without actually taking a look. After all, Salisbury's villa conveniently had no side windows and he had his own private side driveway.
"This is why we are here," Teyla pointed out from ahead of him as they splashed their way along. The water reached up just over her knees, but it didn't seem to be slowing her. He watched the water swirl around her shapely legs striding forwards, droplets of water splashing up her thighs to dampen the patterned dress she wore so well. In the full darkness now, he could see her well enough, not just because the lights of the villas to the right, but because her pale dress glowed slightly in the darkness. He was wearing a white shirt too – they would be obvious out here. He glanced back down the beach, checking to see if anyone else was out walking who might see them in their spying.
"There is nothing overly suspicious about two newlyweds enjoying a walk through the surf," Teyla theorised logically.
"Yeah, except for when we're standing peering into our neighbour's place," John replied as he made himself focus on the villa and not Teyla.
Teyla looked over her shoulder at him with an almost amused glance. She had wrapped the strap of her bag across her body to keep it out of the water, which resulted in the strap sitting across her cleavage, emphasising her breasts. "I believe most would accept that a couple might stop at times on a walk to embrace."
John's eyebrows shot up his forehead, but she was looking away to the villa. Great, now he was going to have to pretend to be 'embracing', because holding her hand had been tough enough.
He really wished he would just snap out of this.
As she strode on through the water, he found himself feeling slightly bitter suddenly about how easily she was taking to this pretence.
"I don't think Kanaan would be too happy about that."
The words had simply poured out of his mouth, and though he had muttered them quietly, they had easily been loud enough for her to hear. And well she should, he thought abruptly, because it was about time that Kanaan's name was actually mentioned. She might not know how tough all this pretending to be married and forgetting what they had seen in their vision was on John, but she had to admit that it would be tough for Kanaan. In that way at least, she would have to acknowledge something.
"It would hardly be of any concern to him," Teyla replied.
"Trust me, Teyla, a guy gets upset when his woman's out cuddling other men, pretending to or not," he replied trying to sound conversational, as he kept his attention on the water between the back of her legs and the front of his as he followed her. God, he was literally following along behind her while complaining about her boyfriend. How old was he?
It felt good to vent though, even just a tiny bit.
"It has been far too long since I was Kanaan's woman for his opinion to matter," she stated clearly into the night as she waded onwards.
John froze.
He stopped in his tracks, the ocean sliding around his knees, as he watched her walking away from him, her body wrapped in her pale dress and her bare arms loose at her sides.
"What?" He asked into the air, his voice slightly higher than he had intended.
"Sharing a child does bind us," she replied sounding slightly defensive, as she continued on through the water. "But that does not mean that our short time as a couple must always influence my life."
John stared after her, his mouth open as he replayed what she had said, just in case he had misunderstood.
"Wait, what?" He repeated, honestly confused, whilst simultaneously suppressing a bubbling sense of hope.
Teyla stopped ahead of him and looked out towards Salisbury's villa, her face in profile, before she looked back towards John. Only she did a slight double take, clearly having expected him to be closer to her. She frowned at him through the darkness as if she was confused as well.
The rush of the tide sounded louder around them than before, but that was probably because they were stood still now and his brain was still trying not to jump to one evitable conclusion.
"Wait," he repeated lifting one hand up. "You're telling me, that you and Kanaan aren't together?" He asked carefully as he began moving forward again, slowly towards her.
She tilted her head as if she was definitely confused. "Not for a long time," she replied as if the answer was obvious.
"How long?" John asked as he neared her, hearing his disbelief plain in his voice.
"Since shortly after Torren was born."
John's shock ratcheted up even higher.
"I thought you knew that," she added softly, seeming shocked herself.
"No," John replied with feeling as he stopped a few feet away from her. "You didn't say anything."
"I assumed everyone knew," she replied as she glanced off towards the villas. "Kanaan had his own quarters, and he spent much of his time on New Athos."
"We thought that was, you know, the work thing. You were on the team, he was helping out your people," John explained, sure that he was missing something because this couldn't be real. "And he stayed with you on Atlantis, when we came to Earth," he argued.
"To be with Torren," she replied. "Kanaan and I spend no time together, John. I spend my time with Torren and you, and the rest of the team. And Jennifer and Carson," she added, her words sliding away.
Now he thought about it, when had he seen her with Kanaan other than when Torren was being passed from one to the other before or after a shift? Teyla spent most of her evenings with him and the others. Why hadn't he realised that before? He had just assumed that she went back to Kanaan at the end of those evenings.
She looked away to the light of the villas, and he just stared at her, trying to process that this was really happening.
"I can see partly into their living room," she reported. He automatically looked to the lit windows with her, dragging his attention back to the mission. "There is at least one other person inside," she added as she moved away, her attention fixed on the villa.
She was wading forward again, away from him, making her way towards the break in the vegetation that would afford them an uninterrupted view of Salisbury's late evening guests.
"So, just let me get this right," he asked as he followed. "All this time, you and Kanaan haven't been together?" He asked, just once more to be sure.
She looked over her shoulder and he saw a strange expression cross her face before she looked away. "No, we have not," she replied.
The simple blunt answer hit John squarely, and the relief was physical, mixing with a heady exuberance, but also with a good touch of something very close to annoyance.
"So, all last week, these last two days," he continued, "you've been single?" He asked to be absolutely sure there wasn't some other guy and just shocked at the irony that all through the time following their future vision together, she had actually been single.
"Yes," she replied and as she looked back at him briefly, and this time he saw an amused, almost shy, smile. Suddenly the whole cove, the villa, Kaua'i, and Earth dissolved away until there was just the space between them as she walked ahead and he followed her through the water.
"Through all of yesterday evening, sat in the most romantic spot ever?" He pushed again, feeling his own smile pulling at his cheeks.
She had reached the edge of the finger of light stretching out from Salisbury's windows across the water. She turned to look at him directly, her expression shifting as he neared her. He thought he saw a frown, a wince of embarrassment as well maybe, but also something that mirrored his own disbelief and an awareness of a new tension in the air between them. Only it wasn't the heavy smothering tension from the last week, where both of them had been on tenterhooks, not moving too close and not really knowing what to say to each other.
This was now a light, sparkling kind of feeling, and as he locked his gaze with hers, he was almost certain he saw something open and inviting there.
"Yes," she replied to his question, and it held a question of her own as much as her definite answer.
He slowed to a stop directly in front of her, consciously aware of how close he was from her, what it said.
She was single.
Potential crackled through his thoughts and veins, pulling and teasing him towards a hope that was suddenly very real. Looking into her eyes now, he thought she looked slightly surprised, and maybe, just maybe, a little hopeful too?
The light across the water shifted next to them and they both glanced round. The long stretch of artificial light out from Salisbury's window had a shadow moving through it. John's attention snapped back to the mission, especially as he realised that he and Teyla really were completely in view. The shift of shadow through the light had been by one of the two guests in Salisbury's living room walking in front of a lamp, and John recognised both of them instantly.
"It's just Teresa and that's Terry," John reported.
Teyla nodded as she watched alongside him. "I saw him briefly with you at the golf course," she replied quietly.
John wondered when she had been watching him, liked that she had been, but he kept his eyes rooted on the villa. Salisbury stood with his back to the windows, further back towards his kitchen, whilst Teresa stood to one side, and Terry was sat on the couch, looking as worriedly attentive as usual.
John was aware that his heart was beating a little too fast, and there was no way simply spying on some possible criminals was the reason why. Though he kept his eyes on Salisbury's turned back with a cautiousness born of recognising a dangerous adversary, the rest of him was acutely aware of Teyla next to him. Was she standing closer to him or was it just his imagination?
"Surely Annette must be unaware of his affair with Teresa, to let her into their villa so willingly," Teyla whispered so lightly that her voice was almost lost to the breeze and the sound of the surf, but he heard her. He also thought he could hear some annoyance on her part for Annette, or at Annette for ignoring the 'other woman' in her villa.
Annette was nowhere to be seen, but there was a light on upstairs. "It does look like a business meeting," he replied. There were files stacked up on Salisbury's coffee table and Teresa was gesturing to them.
Beyond the table, Salisbury began to turn, responding to something Teresa was saying.
John tensed up, reaching out towards Teyla next to him, ready to beat a hasty retreat. The warmth of her bare arm under his hand was a sharp source of heat and distraction, but he kept his eyes on Salisbury. A delicate brush of sensation against his shirt registered as Teyla's hand settling on his upper arm, ready herself to move away at a moment's notice. However, they hadn't been seen, so they both stayed where they were, the surf swirling around their legs.
"It must be Teresa or Terry's car," Teyla said softly, definitely closer to him now, and her voice had a faint waver to it that suggested she was feeling nervously cautious in their spying.
"Probably," John replied as they watched Teresa pick up a large plastic file from Salisbury's table, open it and begin gesturing over it as if she was upset about something. There was large lettering on the front of the file; he could almost make out what it said. "Can you see what the file's called?" He asked Teyla as he tilted his head and squinted into the light from the windows. He edged forward half a step, intent to make out what the file said.
Teyla's hand tightened on his arm slightly, but she moved forward with him. "Watch the light," she advised as they reached the threshold of the light's reach.
John smiled at the caution in her voice. "You were the one who thought this would be a good idea," he pointed out. "I think it starts with a T," he commented as he squinted harder towards Teresa and her file.
"Perhaps the zoom function on the camera will help," Teyla suggested softly.
"I think we could sell the newlywed couple cuddling in the surf, but taking photos of our neighbours through their window might be somewhat harder to explain," he replied, glancing towards her briefly.
"True," she replied. "They might misinterpret our interest."
He couldn't help smiling at that and glanced away from the villa again to look at her for just a second. She was definitely closer to him than before, but then they were poised together, ready to make a run for it if anyone spotted them.
"If they do, you're the one who's going to explain to O'Neill why we got thrown out of the resort," he whispered back, the sudden new playfulness making him feel light and hopefully again.
She let out a soft chuckle that ramped up the growing teasing excitement thrumming through his body. She wasn't with Kanaan.
Movement from the villa snapped his attention back in a split second. The door of the villa was opening and Annette was stepping out into the small porch.
John felt Teyla tense next to him, her hand gripping his upper arm tightly as they both watched Annette slowly moving out of her front door. They had been so intent on the activity in the living room that neither of them had noticed Annette appear from nowhere.
She wasn't looking in their direction, but from the way she was turning she would see them in a second and there was no way she was going to miss them.
He jumped into action, pulling hurriedly back away from the reach of the light, the surf swirling around his knees, and his hand tight on Teyla's arm to pull her with him. She was already moving with him though, her hand still on his arm as they quickly scurried away as fast as they could through the water, into the darkness back down the beach.
He felt a rush of almost silly childishness in that moment, running away as casually as possible, Teyla at his side, chuckling with him into the night. He also realised that somewhere in the last few seconds, his hand had slipped down from her arm and he was now holding her hand as they quickly waded back the way they had come. He heard her chuckle again as they looked back over their shoulders to check if they had been seen.
It didn't look like Annette had spotted them because she was wandering across her lawn, probably to the garbage bins, so John turned his attention to Teyla. She was grinning and shaking her head at their antics.
She looked amazing, the new faint moonlight across the dark sky glowing across her bare arms and shoulders, her hair gradually falling down from being pinned back so that tendrils of it were falling in wisps around her neck. Her hand was warm in his hand, and a full powerful urge roared through him. It was an urge unchained and newly aware of her single status, of the weeks and months lost in crazy pretence that he wasn't jealous, and that he hadn't been desperately wanting something far too emotionally powerful for him to admit. Yet, that future vision had teased him with the fulfilment of what he had been ignoring. Confirming what he really wanted, and what he really felt.
He couldn't ignore it all anymore in that moment, sliding through the water, the moonlight, and the darkness with her. There was suddenly nothing in the way anymore, there was just what he felt, what he wanted, and the promise, even faint, that she might be feeling something even half as strong.
He had had enough of waiting and hiding what he felt.
He slowed in their hurrying, and pulled on her hand to draw her to a stop with him. As she stopped, looking back at him with the beginnings of a questioning look, he stepped in towards her and reached out with his free hand, sliding his fingers into the dark space between the tendrils of her hair and her jaw.
Warm smooth skin filled his palm as he cupped her cheek and, in the fast flowing moment, he dipped his head and pressed his mouth to hers.
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TBC