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Casey wiped the sweat from her forehead. Grinned at the group of Marines who stood sweating and panting. "Okay, this time, guys, all the way to the floor!"

Groans filled the air. "We're not as limber as you are!" a voice called out.

She giggled. "Yes you are. You just don't know it yet. We've been doing this every day for two weeks. Your bodies are ready. You just have to wrap your mind around it. This could be important when you're fighting the Goa'uld someday."

"How?" one of the men asked.

"Makes it easier to lean over and kiss your ass goodbye," she retorted, bringing a round of laughter. "Okay…slow…easy, that's the key. Don't jerk, don't try to force the movement. Like this." She demonstrated the movement, making it appear as if she were literally folding her body in half.

"Damn!" someone hissed. Every man in the room moaned, and not all of them were moaning because of what they were expected to do. Several were fighting mental images of what the beautiful blonde was capable of doing outside of the gym…all were feeling various amounts of envy of one Doctor Daniel Jackson.

"Ready?" Casey restarted the stereo, AC/DC blared in the room, and the Marines followed their energetic instructor. She grinned when she caught sight of Daniel standing by the door, arms crossed, a smile on his face as he watched her.

He watched her move. Like a dancer…a ballerina. So much grace. He shook his head mentally. In a perfect world, she would have had parents who cared for her. Parents who would have seen the promise in her. Would have provided her with the opportunities to take that talent to dance, that grace, and mold it into something special. In which case, his brain told him, she wouldn't be working with you in the SGC. She's my Destiny, he argued. With her gift, she would still be here. Maybe, his brain scoffed. If she wasn't on a stage somewhere.

"Much better," she panted. The music had ended, the sounds of men trying to catch their breath filled the room. "Okay, I won't be here Thursday. Major Ferretti has volunteered to see to it that you don't miss any training. I hear he has a nice run planned."

"Can't be any harder than this," one of the young men complained.

"I heard that!" Casey replied. "Just wait until I get back. I have some Latin music I'd like to work with. Nice fast tempo."

"Way to go, asshole," one of the other young men said, hitting the complainer on the back of the head.

She giggled as she watched the group head for the locker room where they would shower away an hour of grueling exercise.

"You are so mean," Daniel said, walking closer.

"I haven't seen you or Jack in here," she pointed out. "I could mention that to General Hammond."

"We work out twice a week. I lift weights with Teal'c three times a week," he countered.

"I could still talk to the general," she teased.

He grinned. "Yeah, well, do that. If he insists that I have to work out with you, I'll be too tired to do anything at all when I got home. Anything."

"Now that's mean," she replied, grinning back at him. "So, what's up?"

"Just taking a break," he said. He reached out to cup her cheek. "Just needed to see you."

She smiled. It wasn't unusual for him to come to the gym when she was working, just to watch her for a few minutes. "I haven't had lunch yet," she said softly.

"Me, either."

"Commissary, in about twenty?"

"I'll be there," he replied. He leaned over to kiss her, just a brief touch of his lips against hers. Enough to send fingers of desire racing up and down his spine.

She kissed him back, let him move his tongue into her mouth. Backed away when her body informed her that she was treading too close to the edge. "I have to shower," she whispered.

"Yeah," he said. His own body was demanding that he stop, or take her completely. One or the other…now. "Twenty minutes."

"Commissary," she said. She kissed him gently again, then hurried toward the small locker room that had been set aside for the women of the SGC.

He watched her walk away, the sway of her hips making him hard and needy. He shook himself mentally, then wandered to the infirmary. He needed to speak with Janet, to cross-reference a particular medicinal plant with the tribe that had introduced them to the tree; make certain that he was remembering correctly, that his notes were in perfect order. When dealing with the Oversight Committee, every report had to be…perfect.

Janet was busy on her computer, printing out her own reports. She looked up and smiled when Daniel walked into the room. "Hey, stranger. What brings you down here?"

He smiled in return. "Hey. I just want to make sure that I have the right tribe for the right plant. It was the Tallorians who provided that anesthetic, right?"

The petite brunette shuffled through the pile of notes beside the keyboard. "Um…right. So far we haven't been able to detect any noticeable side effects from using that particular plant…they referred to it as the…um…"

"Tree of 'deep sleep'," Daniel said.

"That's it. I've used the processed form of the plant in half a dozen surgical procedures so far," she said.

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure."

"I hate these things," Janet said quietly.

"Me, too," Daniel agreed. "I hate having to tell them what they already know…or would if they paid any attention to the mission reports."

"It would be too much to ask that they actually read what is sent to them," she replied. "Too much like doing the work they're supposed to be doing."

"Like that would ever happen," Daniel grinned. Very few of the politicians who knew about the SGC program bothered to visit Cheyenne Mountain. He was certain it was because of the less than friendly welcome that such visitors received. Thanks to Senator Kinsey, all politicians were viewed with suspicion and thinly veiled animosity.

The diminutive woman snorted. "Heaven forbid."

"It will be interesting to see how things go this time. We have Casey on our side," the young archaeologist said, grinning broadly.

"Let's hope one of them ticks her off. The resulting fireworks would be so entertaining," Janet giggled.

"Let's hope they don't," Daniel responded dryly. "I don't want to visit her in Leavenworth."

The giggles turned into a full blown laugh. "Good point."

"So is Cassie coming with you, or is she staying home?"

"She's coming with. The opportunity to see the nation's capitol is worth missing a few days of school. It's the beginning of the year, most of what she'll miss is just a refresher of what they learned last year," Janet replied.

"I'd like to take Casey sightseeing, too," he said softly.

"You love spoiling her, don't you?"

Daniel couldn't stop the smile from spreading over his face. "Yep. Especially when she fights me about it."

Janet giggled again. "You're good for her…and to her."

"Not as good as she is for me…and to me," he said. "She's my Angel, Janet. She saved me from a life of darkness…loneliness."

"I believe you saved her as well, literally as well as figuratively."

The memory of her 'vision' made him shudder. Had he not arrived in Tacoma when he had, if he had waited just a few days, Kenny Vincent would have killed her. "Yeah, well, Destiny," he murmured. "I need to get going. I'm meeting her in the commissary for lunch. Thanks for the confirmation."

The dark haired woman nodded. "You're welcome. If I don't see you before, I'll see both of you at Peterson in the morning."

"We'll be there," he replied. He squeezed the small hand of his friend, tossed her a smile, and headed out of the door.

Janet turned around to find Lieutenant Mandy Jorgensen, one of the nurses recently assigned to the SGC, watching the man's retreating back. "He's very happily married," she said softly, a hint of warning in her voice.

Mandy started. "Yes, ma'am. I know. He's just so good looking!"

She couldn't help but smile. Knew that Daniel was totally oblivious to the feminine attention that was focused on him from most of the women in the mountain. He always had been. "Yes, he is."

"And so in love with his wife he can't see straight," the young, buxom nurse said. She heaved a sigh. "And Mrs. Jackson is so sweet that it's almost sickening!"

"Casey is a very special woman, all right," Janet agreed.

Another sigh. The nurse returned to her duties. The petite doctor watched the woman for a few minutes. Hoped that there would be no trouble. Mandy was certainly proving to be a much better nurse than Lieutenant Chambers had been. Probably because she was more focused on her job than the much younger woman had been. Janet turned back to her own work.

A   A   A   A   A   A

Casey was waiting on the elevator when it stopped on level nineteen. When the doors opened, Sam stepped into the car. "Hey, Casey."

"Hey, Sam."

"Commissary?"

"Yep."

"He meeting you there?"

The young blonde nodded. "Meeting Jack there?"

"Yep."

"Guess we should page Teal'c, I hate the thought of him feeling left out," Casey sighed.

"If he's not already there. It is lunch time," Sam pointed out.

"True." Green eyes flickered toward the tall blonde major. "So, do you think it's true?"

Sam bit back her smile. The latest rumor to be flying around the mountain was that a certain Jaffa was seeing…and possibly sleeping with...one of the techs from the control room. "I have no idea." Sapphire blue eyes widened. Casey never listened to the rumors. Too many had been about her. "Casey? What is that radar of yours picking up?"

Radar. Jack had even begun calling her that. It never failed to make her giggle. "Well, he has been…relaxed…lately."

"True."

"It's hard to tell with Teal'c, I mean, he has this way of looking the same no matter what he's feeling inside. I can usually tell, when I look in his eyes…"

"Yeah?"

The slender blonde grinned. "I'd say he's ringing Gracie's bell on a regular basis. I think he has been since Daniel and I got married. Janet said she saw them dancing together at the reception after we left."

The tall blonde nodded. "They were. If I remember correctly," she grinned again. She and Jack had been informed that night that the president was going to bend the rules that had prevented them from being together. She hadn't paid much attention to what was going on around her after that, all her eyes had been able to see was one man. "They left together shortly after you and Daniel left."

"Ding dong, ring-a-ling," Casey giggled.

The comment sent Sam into a fit of giggles as well. When the doors opened on level three, the women were still laughing, to the amusement of the group of airmen waiting to get onto the lift.

Daniel and Jack were sitting at a table, sipping coffee, waiting for the blondes that filled their every thought. Daniel couldn't help but grin when every eye in the room went to the door when Casey stepped through. The soft sound of her giggle filled the air, he swore he could see it shimmering around her as she looked up at Sam and said something, making both of the women laugh harder.

"Well, whatever Carter and Casey are talking about must be funny," Jack mused.

"Must be."

"Think we'll ever know what it is?"

"Probably not."

"Wonder if it's better that way?"

"Probably."

"Us. They're talking about us."

"How can you tell?"

"They're laughing, aren't they?"

Daniel grinned. "Yeah. But that doesn't mean we're the topic of conversation."

"It's highly likely that we are."

The two men continued to watch. Teal'c had entered the room just seconds behind the women. The blondes had linked their arms with his, leading him farther into the room, both of them grinning up at him, talking to him about something. The Jaffa had smiled, shook his head, and then actually laughed at the look of disappointment on the two lovely faces.

"Oh, now I have got to know what that's about," Jack said firmly.

"If I know Case, she just asked him about the latest rumor that's flying around," Daniel said.

"Which one would that be?" Jack asked. He had never paid attention to the rumors, hell, he never heard half of them. Being 2IC probably had a lot to do with that. But since the rumor that had flown around about SG-1, and Casey, he had tried to keep up, so that he could stop any more of the hurtful things being said about that very special woman. So far, there hadn't been a need for concern.

"Seems that Teal'c is keeping company with a certain tech from the control room," Daniel replied.

The first face that registered in his mind was that of the short, gray haired man who spent as many hours in the SGC as his team did. "Walter?" Jack croaked.

He couldn't help but laugh. "There are other techs in there, Jack."

"Yeah, true," the older man replied, sighing in relief. Teal'c and Walter? He shuddered inwardly at the thought. "Which one?"

"Gracie Williams."

Jack frowned, trying to place a face to the name. Her? Nah, couldn't be! The woman was tall, slender, had dark hair and eyes, and a reputation as being a computer wizard. Scuttlebutt had it that she was as talented as Carter when it came to anything having to do with the myriad of computers that filled the control room. She also had the reputation of being 'untouchable'; not so much because she was unfriendly, but because she was so shy. Nearly as shy and 'innocent' as Casey. Jack didn't think he'd ever heard the woman speak. "Virgin Gracie?"

"That's the one."

"And Teal'c?"

"So the rumor goes."

"Couldn't happen."

"Why?"

The older man frowned, then shook his head. "He'd scare her to death."

"Not necessarily. Janet says that they left our wedding reception together."

"They did?"

"They did."

"This has been going on since you and Casey got married?"

"Apparently."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Tell you what?" a familiar feminine voice asked.

Both men looked up to see Casey, Sam, and Teal'c standing beside the table. "Tell me that there isn't any roast beef for sandwiches today," Jack replied quickly.

Daniel smirked. Casey and Sam exchanged looks and giggled. Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"Let's get something to eat," the colonel said gruffly, pulling himself to his feet. He glanced at Teal'c, then shook his head. He'd seen the Jaffa in the shower. Gracie? He'd rip her in two! Another glance at his other best friend, who was also hung like a freaking horse, and the slip of a woman he was married to, and sighed. Where the hell did she put it? How could that slender body take that piece of meat? Images from the ceremony he had witnessed flashed through his mind. He mentally shook himself. Those images, and those his mind created, had provided more than enough 'inspiration' for his jerk-off sessions. Which were much less frequent now that he and Sam were practically living together.

Sam led the way, Jack directly behind her. Teal'c had refused to respond to the gentle teasing she and Casey had subjected him to, replying only that he would neither confirm nor deny the suppositions of the rumor. She suspected that it was true, if it wasn't, he simply would have told them that. When Casey had told him that she hoped that it was true, because she wanted everyone on the team satisfied, the Jaffa had laughed out loud. Something he had done more of since Casey's arrival than he had in the five years that she'd known him. In fact, everyone in the mountain smiled more, laughed more, since the young woman's arrival than they had previously.

Daniel had his fingers pushed through the belt loop at the back of Casey's pants. Being near her necessitated touching her. He couldn't help it. She never seemed to mind. If anything, her body would immediately arch toward his hand, maintaining that contact as much as possible. "What's the lunch special today?" he asked the airman behind the counter.

"Spaghetti and meatballs," the young man replied.

"Babe?" he asked softly.

"Too heavy," she replied. "I just want a salad. Maybe a sandwich. And…ooooh! Chocolate cake!"

The announcement brought chuckles from her teammates. Casey's addiction to chocolate was just as intense as Daniel's and Sam's. The three had managed to completely decimate the chocolate supply of the commissary on one particularly gloomy afternoon.

He grinned. Watched as she grabbed a piece of the cake. She put a second one on the tray for him, and took a third piece and put it on Sam's tray. He took a ham sandwich and a bowl of potato salad. It wasn't nearly as good as hers, but it was edible. Nodded mentally in approval as she took a turkey sandwich and a garden salad.

Settled at the table with their food, the team began to discuss the upcoming meetings in DC, trying to give Casey an idea of what she would be facing.

She glanced at the tall black man sitting beside her. She had sensed his…discomfort…in the meeting earlier. "They treat you rather shabbily, don't they?" she asked softly.

"They fear that which they do not understand," Teal'c replied.

"You must scare the bejeezus out of them," she retorted.

"Undoubtedly," the Jaffa smiled.

"They'll hate me," she continued.

"What makes you believe this?" Teal'c asked.

"I’m different, too. They know that. It's in all of the reports. They know that I do searches to protect the teams here." She sighed. "Narrow minded bigots. I've never understood why people have to be so judgmental."

"Like Teal'c said, they fear what they don't understand," Daniel said softly.

"Yeah, well, maybe they'd understand more if they'd just take the time to look and listen," Casey replied.

Jack snorted. "Individuals are more apt to do that. Get them into a group, and mob mentality takes over."

"And intelligence goes right out the door," the young blonde nodded. She sighed again. "People can be so…disappointing."

Sam smiled. "Unfortunately, that's the way it is with humans."

"Maybe someday humans will be a bit more enlightened," Casey said.

"Here's hoping," Sam smiled.

"In the meantime," Jack said, wiping his mouth on a napkin, "we have politicians to deal with. We tell them nothing more than what's in our reports."

"Think we should go over the mission reports, just to…refresh…our memories?" Sam asked.

The gray haired man nodded. "We'll do that this afternoon. I don't want any surprises if we can avoid it."

"We're talking about politicians," Daniel snorted. "They're just full of surprises."

"Never the good kind," Casey grumped.

The group laughed. And began to formulate their defense of themselves, and the SGC.

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