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Suggested
Rating: for teen and
older readers
Category: Daniel/Janet friendship, hint of
romance, sort of UST-slightly RST
Setting: during and post-Urgo
Synopsis: Urgo was being a bit more pesky than
what we saw on screen <g>
Author’s
Comments: I’ve
had ideas for an Urgo-related fic from the time I first saw the episode. Let’s face it – a brain
implant that can enhance your senses, read your thoughts, and give you very
powerful suggestions? Is that a
shipper’s dream or what?
Thanks to Sonia for being my ever faithful beta reader – writing
stories is always more fun with your input, my dear.
DISCLAIMER: All
publicly recognizable characters and places (the Stargate SG-1 stuff)
are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created
for entertainment only and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was
intended. Previously unrecognized
characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living
or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
URGO’S GAMBIT
- by
Michelle Lunsford (August 2004)
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“Which might explain why we all just said
‘Hello Urgo’.”
“No, you’re not dreaming.”
“You read our thoughts?!”
“Don’t panic – just the
thoughts you’re having at the
moment.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘I’d
seriously consider beating my head against the wall,’ Daniel mused
silently, ‘except that I doubt it would do any good.’
“No,
it wouldn’t do any good at all,” the unpleasantly familiar voice
replied. “And besides,
what’s the fun in that – beating your head against the wall? Not fun. I know fun, and that is definitely not fun.”
Daniel
propped his elbows on the desk and sighed heavily as he buried his face in
his hands. It had been going on
like this for hours now. When Sam
had begun trying to find a way to shut Urgo off Daniel had returned to his own
office, hoping that he might be able to get some work done. He’d made several attempts to
focus on one of his translation projects, but all the while Urgo kept
rambling on in the background. Is this where you work? What are all these books about? Have you read them all? What are you working on? What language is this? What’s this – what’s
it for? The latter question,
Daniel noted, had been asked many times, since it was always in regards to
some artifact in his collection.
For the most part he’d been able to ignore the endless tirade of
inquiries, but as a result his concentration was pretty much shot. And his patience – well, that
had run out quite some time ago.
“And
speaking of fun,” Urgo’s commentary interrupted his thoughts once
again, “you guys definitely need to have more of it. I mean, come on – I’m
really starting to get worried about the very dull and depressing state of
your lives here.”
Splaying
his fingers apart slightly Daniel peered between them, his voice a little
muffled as he said from behind his hands, “Urgo, we have work to
do. That’s what we do here,
you know.”
Urgo
waved his arms excitedly and smiled broadly. “Does that mean we can all go
out and have fun later, like, you know, when you’re finished with
work?”
“No,”
Daniel replied, rather emphatically.
He sat upright and pointed at the stack of papers and books on his
desk. “Besides, to me this is fun.”
Urgo
rolled his eyes. “Oh,
puh-leeze! This is even more
boring than that scientific stuff little Sammy is working on. This,
this is just…” Urgo
shrugged, stuck out his tongue, and made a half-hearted raspberry sound.
Daniel
shook his head in frustrated resignation. ‘Why am I even bothering?’
he asked himself, turning his attention back to the translation.
Urgo
continued, undaunted. “You
study dead languages for fun?
Let’s face it, Doctor Daniel Jackson, you are Doctor Unexciting,
Doctor Extremely Mundane. Your
work is dreary, and your life is – well, let’s just say that if
your life was a speech it would definitely be monotone – dull, stodgy,
b-o-r-i-n-g.”
Daniel
struggled to focus on the Ancient text written on the page in front of him
and realized that he was grinding his teeth.
“Yeah,
you definitely need some fun in your life. So you see, it’s really a
blessing that I’ve been implanted in your brains, because now I can
bring some real fun to your
hum-drum existence.”
Despite
the fact that he knew he’d probably regret it, Daniel raised his head
and glared at the irritating alien.
‘Blessing is hardly
the word I was considering,’ he thought spitefully.
“Hey,
I know!” Urgo suddenly bellowed, seemingly pleased that he had
Daniel’s attention again.
“What you need is to go dancing!”
“Dancing?”
Daniel sputtered, not really sure he’d heard correctly. He then watched with incredulity as
Urgo did a spin on one foot, ending in a pose that looked like something
right out of Saturday Night Fever.
“Yeah,
dancing,” Urgo replied, continuing to gyrate in a spontaneous jig as he
went on, “You know, moving to the music, doing the boogie, getting down
– dancing!” He paused and took a couple steps
closer, waving his hands animatedly.
“Ooh, ooh, you could even invite that pretty little doctor from
the infirmary to join you.”
“Excuse
me?” Daniel exclaimed, reflexively sitting up straighter in his
chair. He blinked as his brain
went off on the tangent, ‘Where in the world did that idea come from?’
“What
do you mean, ‘where did that come from?’” Urgo
intoned. He sidled even closer,
leaned forward, and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “You do think she’s pretty, don’t you?”
“That’s
hardly the point,” Daniel stated, fighting an unexpected sensation of
heat in his cheeks. He quickly
began shuffling through some of the papers on his desk in an effort to
redirect attention to anything other than the insinuations of his annoying
companion.
Urgo
clapped his hands and shouted in triumph, “Ah-ha, you do think
she’s pretty! I knew
it! This really will be fun -
come on, let’s go down to the infirmary right now and visit her. Need an excuse? Want me to help you fake an injury?
“What?”
Daniel fairly shrieked.
‘That’s it,’ he thought. ‘This is getting
ridiculous.” He slammed shut
the book he’d been using as a reference and began gathering his notes.
“Oh
goody, you do want to go,”
Urgo began hopping from one foot to the other. “Yes, no time like the
present. Onward, onward!”
Daniel
stormed out of his office, feeling some of his ire ebb away as he
purposefully pounded his feet against the concrete floor of the
passageway. But he’d only
gone a few steps before Urgo figured out that he wasn’t exactly playing
along.
“Wait
– this isn’t the way to the infirmary,” Urgo declared as he
shuffled along behind Daniel.
“That’s
because I’m not going there,” Daniel bit out the words. He halted mid-stride and turned to
point a finger at Urgo’s chest, even though he knew there was nothing
there. “Unless it’s
to request a very strong sedative so I can get away from you.”
“Well,
aren’t we just Mr. Huffy all of a sudden,” Urgo chastised
petulantly.
Daniel
closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and then slowly released the breath. “This is crazy,” he
whispered, turning to head down the hall again with determined long-legged
strides.
“So
then where are we going?”
Urgo asked as he hurried to catch up.
“I’m
going to work with some of my colleagues in the translation
department,” Daniel replied, although he still didn’t know why he
put forth the effort to carry on any form of conversation with this
irritating being.
“What? Why?” Urgo’s tone sounded
as if he were bemoaning the fate of the entire world. “I thought we were making
progress – I thought we’d reached an agreement about how to help
you have more fun, and thus, help me
to have more fun.”
Daniel
picked up the pace as he rounded the corner toward the area that served as a
general lab for the junior translators on base. Casting a quick glance over his
shoulder he shouted at the image following him down the corridor. “If you don’t like working
on Ancient translation, then you can always go away!”
He turned
his head back around just in time to see the large and very heavy lab door
opening. He attempted to back
peddle even as he realized he was moving forward with too much momentum. The door whacked him solidly in the
face, and as Daniel fell backwards the last thing that registered in his
consciousness was the sound of Urgo’s gloating chuckles.
* ~
* ~ *
~ * ~
* ~ *
~ * ~
* ~
A soft
and steady beeping was the first sound he noted. It was followed by the echoes of
footsteps and voices. Recognition
of light filtering through his closed eyelids came next. The sensation of his SGC uniform and
boots still being on indicated that whatever had happened hadn’t been
bad enough to restrict him to the infirmary. Opening his eyes he squinted and
blinked in an attempt to bring the fuzzy surroundings into focus.
“Finally!”
a voice sounded from somewhere to his right. “I thought you were never going
to wake up.”
A large,
round and bearded face suddenly appeared, completely filling his field of
vision. And as Urgo grinned, the
recent events all came crashing into Daniel’s awareness with a most
unwelcome clarity.
“Will
you just shut up and go away!” Daniel barked.
“Doctor
Jackson?”
Daniel
turned his head to the left, his brow wrinkling as he was rewarded with an unpleasant
throbbing throughout his head.
One of the nurses, who’d obviously been close enough to overhear
his comment, was staring at him with an expression that was somewhere between
confusion and outright offense.
“Sorry,”
he apologized. “I, um, wasn’t
talking to you.”
The nurse
nodded, although her expression remained guarded. “I’ll just let Doctor
Frasier know you’re awake then.”
“Yes,
you do that,” Urgo added as he made a shooing motion at the retreating nurse.
“Where
are my glasses,” Daniel mumbled as he squinted at his
surroundings. He spotted them on
the nearby rolling bedside tray and reached, the throbbing in his head
ratcheting up a notch with the effort.
“Oh,
so that’s why everything was looking so blurry,” Urgo exclaimed
after Daniel had slipped the glasses on.
“Urgo,
I have a terrible headache.
Can’t you leave me in peace for just a few minutes?”
“What,
you want peace? I can be
peaceful.” Urgo held his
hands out to his sides, fingers forming an “o” shape as he began
chanting.
Daniel
leaned farther back into his pillow and shut his eyes. “What did I ever do to deserve
this?” he groaned.
“I
was just thinking something similar,” the voice of Janet Frasier
sounded beside him.
“This
was not my fault,” Daniel replied adamantly. Opening his eyes he scowled at the
figure hovering near the foot of his bed. “It was Urgo’s.”
“That
remark is unfair,” Urgo said, his face reflecting an overblown
expression of indignation. He
tugged on the edge of his shirt sleeve and began dabbing at imaginary
tears. “And after all
we’ve been through.”
Daniel
merely rolled his eyes in response.
“How
are you feeling?” Janet asked.
“Like
I have a symphony of jack hammers in my brain,” Daniel replied.
Janet pulled
a small paper medicine cup from her pocket and handed it to him. “I figured as much,” she
said, reaching for a Styrofoam pitcher and pouring him some water. “This should help.”
“Oh,
isn’t that sweet,” Urgo’s tone became almost
sing-song. “The pretty
little doctor is going to make you feel all better now.”
Daniel
swallowed the pills. “Got
anything stronger? Something that
will knock me out so I can get away from Urgo’s incessant
babbling?”
“Hey,”
Urgo interjected. Standing
straight and proud he declared, “I do not babble.”
“No,”
Janet said, failing in her attempt to hide a slight smile. “But I’m sure Sam will
figure out a way to shut him off before too much longer. Now, do you think you can sit
up?”
Slowly
Daniel eased into a sitting position.
This time the pain in his head remained at a steady level. Very carefully he swung his legs over
the side.
“No
dizziness,” he told her.
“I don’t see any spots either.”
“Ooh,
would you like to see spots?” Urgo asked, maneuvering around the bed to
stand behind him.
“No,”
Daniel answered rather emphatically.
Janet
eyed him quizzically.
“Sorry,”
Daniel said. He jabbed a thumb
over his shoulder.
“Urgo’s here.”
“Ah,”
she replied and then expertly shined the beam of her penlight in his eyes.
“Why’s
she doing that?” Urgo asked.
Seemingly
reassured by what she observed, Janet switched off the light and reached for
his wrist.
“And
why’s she doing that?”
Urgo asked again, although Daniel noted his tone was much more suggestive
this time.
Daniel took
a deep breath and continued to ignore him.
“There’s
still time for us all to go dancing,” Urgo jabbered on, and although
Daniel couldn’t see him, he just knew the image was acting out some
ridiculous dance moves behind his back.
He fought the urge to grind his teeth again.
“Good
grief,” Urgo suddenly huffed behind him. “You really are no fun!”
‘Then
maybe you’ll go away and bother someone else,’ Daniel thought as
he watched Janet make a few notations to his chart. For added emphasis he jerked his head
in the direction of the infirmary exit.
“So
far so good,” Janet commented, setting her clipboard aside and reaching
for her stethoscope.
For a few
heartbeats the room was blissfully quiet, and Daniel dared hope that just
maybe his unwanted companion had finally taken the hint. Janet was studiously listening to his
heart and as she leaned forward slightly to reposition the stethoscope he
discerned a light and pleasant scent.
Reflexively his eyes fluttered shut and he inhaled deeply. Without warning his senses were
bombarded by a delightfully heady fragrance.
“Wow,
you smell really good!” The words were out of his mouth before
he realized it. Snapping his eyes
open Daniel saw the stupefied expression on Janet’s face and knew that
she’d heard him. “I
mean…” he stammered, not entirely certain how to follow up on his
uncharacteristic outburst. Just go with honesty, a voice
whispered in his head.
“I’m sorry.
Okay, I admit it – I do think you smell really nice, but…
well, the intensity of it just caught me off guard, is all. I think Urgo may be fiddling with my
senses again.”
Janet
continued to eye him warily for a few seconds before finally dropping her
stethoscope back in her coat pocket.
“Alright,” she said, her manner definitely in medical mode. “Is he having any other
detectable effects on your sensory perception?”
Daniel
met her gaze, slightly disconcerted by the intensity he saw reflected in
those large brown eyes. Large, and very warm brown eyes, the
thought abruptly went through his mind, leaving him wondering why he’d
never really noticed before just how attractive his doctor was.
“Daniel?” Janet’s steady voice broke his
momentary stupor.
“Sorry,”
he mumbled, shaking his head slightly in an attempt to get a rein on his
surprisingly errant thoughts.
“Um, no – nothing else that I can detect.”
Janet
crossed her arms, leaning her weight slightly on one hip as she continued to
study him. “Are you
sure?”
Daniel knew
that her actions were born of medical expertise and friendly compassion, but
for some reason he was finding all of her mannerisms surprisingly
alluring. Offering what he hoped
would be interpreted as a reassuring smile he said, “Uh, yeah,
I’m sure.
Her
expression remained unconvinced and she took a step closer. “There were no signs of
inflammation earlier,” she commented before beginning a tactile
examination of his head.
“Have you noticed any contusions since you woke up, or any other
indications of a possible concussion?”
Daniel
caught a whiff of her perfume again even as he became acutely aware of her
proximity. And the feel of her
hands working deftly through his hair was having an effect that he was fairly
certain Janet hadn’t intended.
Without a second thought he reached up and gently grabbed both her
wrists. He caught the flicker of
confusion in her eyes as she retreated slightly.
“Daniel?”
The
undeniable concern in her tone drew his attention toward her voice – or
more precisely, the source of it.
His eyes became fixed on the enchanting curve of her lips and before
he was even aware of it Daniel pulled her against him, covering her mouth in
a kiss.
He felt
her resistance, but despite the tension in her muscles there was a satisfying
warmth in having her this close – a warmth that Daniel wasn’t
prepared to release just yet.
And either he’d completely lost his mind, or else the opposition
he’d initially encountered was slowly lessening with each passing
second. As for the kiss itself, he
couldn’t remember anything being so absolutely exquisite. If this was drowning then he happily
would go under.
Eventually
the need for oxygen began to press in upon his brain. Reluctantly Daniel broke contact,
pulled away, and slowly opened his eyes.
Janet was
standing very still, her face disconcertingly impassive. And as the seconds ticked silently by,
full awareness of what he’d just done finally dawned on him.
“Oh
no,” Daniel groaned.
Automatically he reached out to Janet, but she took a quick step
backwards. “I’m so,
so sorry,” he said, sincere remorse flowing in every word. “I don’t know what I was
thinking – obviously I wasn’t
thinking--”
Janet
simply stood there, motionless and unresponsive.
The
beginnings of a soft giggle became barely discernable from behind him. ‘Urgo,’ Daniel thought,
feeling his spirit sink even further.
He didn’t dare turn around to look at the image of his current
demon. It was no use attempting
to blame this on Urgo, even if he was primarily responsible. Daniel knew that somehow, somewhere,
that crazy computer program in his brain had managed to find the trace of a
random thought and bring it to fruition.
At least some part of him must have wanted to kiss Janet Frasier or
else Urgo never would have given him the idea in the first place.
“I’m
sorry,” Daniel said again.
He forced himself to meet her gaze. “I know that doesn’t
excuse my behavior, and I don’t expect you to forgive me. But I do want you to believe that I am sorry.”
Janet
said nothing, her expression still a blank slate. Finally, with a shake of her head, she
turned and walked away. Daniel
was still staring after her, at the empty spot where she’d exited, when
a nurse finally came and told him he was free to go.
Urgo,
apparently unable to keep his chortling under control any longer, let out a
whooping guffaw. “Now
that--” he paused, pointing a finger at Daniel, only to have to quickly
cover his mouth again in a vain effort to hold back the snickering. “That… that was fun.”
Daniel
felt a cold fury begin to stir in the pit of his stomach. But he knew any outburst would be
wasted on the imaginary figure still twittering in the corner. Shaking his head in disgust he marched
out of the infirmary.
* ~
* ~ *
~ * ~
* ~ *
~ * ~
* ~
A light
rap, rap, rap at his doorway caught Daniel’s attention and he looked
up. Seeing the individual
he’d been purposefully avoiding caused a sudden anxiety to settle in
his stomach, and he immediately glanced back to his translation notes in an
effort to appear casual.
“Hey,”
he began, wondering if his voice sounded as tight as it felt. “What can I do for you?”
“I’ve
just been checking up on everyone, making sure there are no residual effects
to having the implant removed.
You haven’t noticed anything, in the past twenty-four hours
since returning from Togar’s planet?”
Daniel
shook his head, still not meeting her gaze. “Not really,” he
replied. “I’ve been
feeling fine.”
“I
see,” Janet said. The few
seconds of silence that followed felt interminably long but eventually he
heard her add, “And I was also wondering if we could talk.”
He
paused, his pen halting mid-sentence on the page. Although Daniel didn’t look
forward to this discussion, he knew it was one they needed to have. Sighing lightly he dropped the pen in
the crease of his notebook and gave her his full attention. “Sure – I needed to take a
break anyway. Come on in.”
Her
military pumps made a rhythmic click-clack against the floor, and she kept
her arms crossed as she came to a stop near his desk.
“I
spent most of last night trying to figure out exactly what it was I wanted to
say to you,” she began without preamble.
Slowly
Daniel stood, his gaze never faltering.
Not entirely certain what to make of her comment he simply said,
“So…?”
He
watched as she continued in her rigid posture, scrutinizing him for several
heartbeats. Finally she relaxed
her arms and took a long, deep breath.
“And I still haven’t come to any conclusions,” she
admitted, her eyes dropping to his desk as she absently reached to trace
across one of the artifacts there.
Still at
a loss, Daniel shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry,” he
replied for lack of anything better.
He wasn’t sure how he’d expected this conversation to play
out, but somehow this wasn’t like any scenario he’d imagined.
Janet
nodded, her attention still fixed on his desk. “I just knew I had to come talk
to you, to try and discuss things in the hopes of getting rid of
this—this…” Her
hand ceased its careless dance across the artifact and waved in the air,
attempting to emphasize her point.
“This awkwardness,” she finally finished.
“Right,”
Daniel agreed. The tension
between them had been grating on him as well.
“I’m
not mad at you,” she went on.
“I’m not upset.
I mean, I understand you were under the influence of an alien
device. I know that Urgo had the
ability to make powerful suggestions and then to use extreme sense acuity as
a means of motivating you, but…”
Daniel
waited, but curiosity got the better of him. “But what?”
Janet
looked up, pointedly meeting his gaze.
“I guess I just can’t figure out why.”
Daniel
swallowed against the lump threatening to form in his throat. He couldn’t deny that was a
question that had been running amuck in his own brain the past several
days. On one level it was simple
to understand. Janet was a very
attractive woman, with an abundance of positive qualities. What man wouldn’t want to kiss her? But as he’d contemplated the
issue during the week SG-1 had been under observation, he’d begun to
suspect there might be something else going on there – something at a
subconscious level that he’d never really considered before now.
Shrugging
his shoulders Daniel replied, “I don’t know that I have an answer
to that – or, at least, not a complete answer.” The next part, he knew, wouldn’t
be so easy to admit.
“Although I think part of the answer lies in the fact
that…” He shrugged
again. “Well, that I think
some part of me just really wanted to kiss you.”
She
managed to hold his gaze, although her cheeks flushed slightly. “Thank you for being honest with
me.”
He nodded
and shifted his weight slightly from foot to foot. Some of the tension had clearly eased,
but it still wasn’t gone entirely.
“So, is that all that was on your mind?”
This time
her gaze faltered, and she slowly turned away. He watched her casually stroll toward
the long table in the middle of his office before she finally confessed,
“No. No, there’s
something else that’s been bothering me.”
He
considered whether to follow her, deciding instead to allow her some
space. “You want to talk
about it?”
He saw
her shoulders tense slightly, her stance becoming slightly more rigid
again. When she answered, her
voice was so soft he barely heard it.
“I
liked it.”
“Excuse
me?” Daniel said, taking a step closer. He wasn’t sure he’d heard
correctly, and was even less sure about what she’d meant.
A sigh of
exasperation escaped her lips as Janet quickly spun around to face him. “I said I liked it,” she
reiterated. She glanced up, but
then her gaze drifted suddenly toward the floor, her own hands seeking the
safe seclusion of her medical coat pockets.
“Oh,”
Daniel replied, feeling a touch of warmth in his own cheeks now. His brain threatened to run down at
least a dozen different tangents as he considered what to do or say
next. ‘Am I supposed to
return the compliment?’ he wondered, while simultaneously the thought
of ‘Of course you enjoyed it – you had Urgo pumping up all your
senses at the time,’ echoed in his mind.
“Listen,”
Janet began into the silence, “this is getting really…
strange.” She seemed more
in control of herself now, more the determined professional Daniel was
accustomed to. She closed the
distance between them and looked him directly in the face. “The main reason I came down here
was because I wanted to make sure you weren’t going to be continually
hammering yourself over what happened, making yourself feel too
guilty.”
Before he
could even attempt a protest Janet raised a hand to cut him off.
“And
don’t even try to tell me you weren’t doing it. I know you, Daniel
Jackson.” She pointed a
finger at his chest for added measure.
“You have a bad habit of taking things far too
personally.”
He knew
her statement was true, but that didn’t prevent it from raising his
defenses a bit. Fixing his hands
on his hips Daniel responded, “I kissed
my doctor – how am I not supposed to take that personally?”
“I
didn’t say you weren’t,” Janet pointed out. “Just that you shouldn’t
beat yourself up over the issue.
Now, can you promise me you won’t
do that?”
Daniel
eyed her, realizing she had him.
But he wasn’t quite prepared to give up all his barricades just
yet. “Maybe,” he
answered, arching an eyebrow at her.
“Daniel…”
Her tone
could have brought down the harshest general but Daniel wasn’t in the
mood to yield. “I’m
sorry,” he said. Crossing
his arms he fixed her with a determined expression. “That’s the best I can
offer.”
Janet’s
eyes narrowed imperceptibly.
“Fine,” she conceded.
“Then that leaves me no choice but to do this.” And without any other warning she
grabbed the lapels of his military jacket and yanked, her mouth finding his
in a surprisingly amorous kiss.
Eventually
she began to pull away, and when she spoke her tone was noticeably breathless. “Now we’re even. So no one need feel guilty about
anything.”
Daniel
could only stand, somewhat dazed, as Janet carefully patted flat the creases
she’d made in his jacket.
Seemingly satisfied, she turned on her heel and headed for the exit. Just as she reached the doorway she
paused, then slowly glanced back at him over her shoulder. To his continued surprise he noted her
expression was playful, her smile almost coquettish.
“For
what it’s worth, I still like it.”
Daniel
gaped at the empty doorway long after she’d gone, totally at a loss how
to interpret what had just happened.
‘Guess you really are even,’ his own voice eventually
murmured in his head as he recalled the way Janet had responded when the
tables were turned a few days ago.
And she’d also been absolutely correct – he couldn’t
continue to wallow in guilt over his actions when she’d chosen to
absolve him in such an astounding manner.
Shaking
his head in bewilderment Daniel slowly dropped back into his seat. Picking up his pen he decided it might
be best for the time being to attempt a refocus on his translating. But even as he began scribbling notes
in his journal a new thought unexpectedly came to mind. ‘That kiss was every bit as
pleasurable as the first one we shared in the infirmary.’ His hand froze, the pen stilled in
mid-stroke. He’d been under
the impression that the incredible nature of the kiss had been due, at least
in part, to Urgo’s ability to heighten his senses at the time. But what had happened just a few
moments ago proved otherwise. He
considered the implications.
“Interesting,”
he muttered aloud, absently tapping the pen against the page. “Very interesting.”
‘And
maybe,’ his inner voice whispered as he picked up the translation
again, ‘just maybe you’ll get more opportunities to test those implications.’
Daniel
felt the small smile that began to tug at his mouth. ‘You never know,’ he
answered himself. ‘You
never know.’
~ END ~
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