ACROPHOBIA

They were sitting atop a high plateau, waiting for a supplier rendezvous, and Dingo was bored. Marius was always late and Dingo hated to bring his guitar out to the middle of nowhere like this. For one thing, it'd be difficult to climb the sheer sides of the desert flattop with the instrument strapped to his back. For another, sand ruined the finish. Honestly, he didn't know why Marius insisted on meeting in places like this. Sure, they had the high ground if they were ambushed, but they had to climb down at some point. Still, eccentric quirks were par for the course here on terra firma, and he wasn't about to insult one of his best suppliers over a little extra exercise.

He stood up to stretch his legs a little, wandering to peer down over the edge to the ground far below, and then pulled out his binoculars to look for any sign of Marius' approach. It was difficult to see in the encroaching gloom of near-sunset and he flipped the switch for night vision briefly, just to be on the safe side.

At least the man had the sense not to schedule these meetings for the middle of the afternoon. No amount of ore was worth frying out here like bacon in a pan.

A slight scuffling in the dirt behind him reminded him of Angela's comforting presence, but he kept his eyes trained on the horizon. Maybe she was awake from her nap and they could play cards or something. Or maybe a word game, since it would be dark soon. Didn't want to waste the flashlight's limited batteries.

The sounds of movement stopped and he sensed his partner's gaze on him, though she hadn't joined him. He shrugged it off and made another sweep of the area.

"Hey. I thought you had acrophobia?"

Dingo frowned, lowering his binoculars, and turned to arch a quizzical brow at her. "What?"

"It means fear of heights," Angela clarified. She was standing now, a few meters behind him.

"I know what it means. Why did you think I was afraid of heights?"

Angela blinked at him, expression first confused, but that soon melted into a familiar scowl of irritation. She propped her hands on her hips, which was more adorable than sultry now that they'd gotten her some decent work clothes instead of that barely-there flight suit, but still thoroughly distracting.

"Wh— Because you told me so!" she practically sputtered, color rising.

The accusation genuinely confused Dingo. "What?" He racked his memory, trying to recall such a conversation.

Angela stamped a foot in a show of petulance that he found adorable, though he wouldn't admit it to her anytime soon. "You did," she insisted. "Back during our first mission together. When you made me climb that old skyscraper to survey the area from higher ground. You said you had a bad fear of heights."

Now that she mentioned it . . . that . . . might have happened. "Oh. That."

"Oh that?!" Angela repeated, incredulous. He was pretty sure her jaw was gaping most unbecomingly. Another thing he'd not be telling her – ever. "What do you mean that?!"

She practically spat the last word and Dingo winced. He scratched at the back of his head. "Yeah, well, that was more of a joke. Kind of."

She looked like she might have a fit. "A joke? My lungs were on fire. I practically collapsed."

In retrospect, it had probably been stupid and petty. Especially with her just recovered from that fever. But she kept going on and on about everything being no problem, even after she'd spent four days in bed, and he'd been a touch irritated. He'd wanted to tease her a bit. Also, he'd wanted to see if she could do it in those ridiculous heels. Honestly, what was DEVA thinking when they designed those suits? They were impractical in every way. "But you were so cute. Huffing and puffing, and accusing me of reversing roles." Okay, probably not the best defense he could have offered. Yeah, definitely not judging from the death glare she was now treating him to. A seventeen-year-old body should not be that intimidating. Especially not in worn jeans and an oversized plaid button-down.

"Cute!" She was practically shrieking now. "That's your reason?" She took a menacing step toward him. "Why you lazy, chauvinistic—"

Dingo raised both hands defensively and took a step back. Fortunately, they'd turned to parallel the edge of the plateau, so he wasn't in danger of falling over. He might not be afraid of heights, but that didn't mean he had any desire to die at the end of a long fall. "Hey now. Angela, that was a long time ago." Surely she wouldn't kill him over a bad joke. Not after all these months together. They were partners, right?

She advanced and he retreated. He grew more nervous as the pattern repeated and her anger did not abate, and was just tossing around some ideas to diffuse the situation –ones that wouldn't involving saying something else stupid and his partner pushing him off a cliff– when a cloud of dust on the horizon caught the dying light and Dingo's attention.

Their supplier had arrived. Thank God.

He pointed behind her. "Looks like Marius final decided to show."

Angela stared at him with laser focus. He winced as her hand darted toward him, anticipating a slap, but she only snatched the binoculars from his hands and turned to survey the rising cloud.

"So it would seem," she acknowledged crisply.

It was like a switch had been thrown, and she was suddenly all business. Dingo subconsciously began to relax, but then a backward glare from his partner had him tensing once more. "We're not done with this discussion," she promised.

Dingo nodded obediently, eyes wide. It seemed he'd have to keep working on those plans anyway. Hopefully he could put them into motion before he had to climb down a sheer rock wall with a highly irritated and irrational partner. He didn't think she'd really kill him, but she sometimes still had a shaky grasp of what the human body could and could not withstand. He didn't want to spend months nursing a broken bone (or several) if she misjudged the distance when she shoved him to the ground.

The thought had Dingo looking down over the edge of the plateau with a gulp.

Maybe a little acrophobia wouldn't be out of place after all.

XXXX

A/N: Argh! This movie! Every time I watch it new things pop out at me. And there's so much good material in that scene where she's climbing the stairs in the skyscraper and he's providing tech support. This one takes place roughly one year after she becomes stranded on earth, which makes it about one year until they become a couple in this fic-verse. So Dingo knows he likes her, but she doesn't know that yet. Hope you enjoyed.

reenas-as