SGC/SG5 - Back to Normal - [Murphy/Sawyer]

[Katie Young]

Simon turned carefully down his street, thankful again that he had opted for an automatic instead of the slightly sexier and more fuel efficient manual transmission. Shifting would have been a pain one-handed. Not impossible, just annoying. A familiar car sat in front of his house and, as he approached--the summer sun still up even this late--he could see a familiar shape on his porch. Her dark, shoulder-length hair was down and she wore something simple, yet suitable to Washington DC. He smiled a little as he pulled into the driveway and got out of the car.

"Aidan," he said, simply. "It's good to see you. I didn't expect you back today."

"I didn't expect to be back so soon either," Aidan smiled at him and walked over, taking his appearance in. He looked exhausted and worn down, the injuries likely running deeper than just the obviously broken arm. "Is it okay I popped over?" She frowned a little in concern, "you're not too tired? I just wanted to see you."

"No, it's fine," he said, smiling and unlocking his door. He opened all three locks, then stepped in and disabled the alarm before it went nuts and called the cops. "Come on in, please," he said. "I only finally slept here last night for the first time, so, excuse the lack of fresh food."

"Please, like there's ever any fresh food at my house," Aidan said with a soft chuckle, remembering the look of disgust on his face the last time he was over and he'd discovered her milk had turned to cottage cheese.

Once they were safely inside she rested a hand on his good arm and tugged him to her for a soft, warm kiss. "I'm really glad you're safe," she murmured softly, hugging him gently and avoiding his bad arm. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," he said, a groan of desire mingled with a sigh of relief. He had no idea if he was even capable of a 'welcome home' celebration at this point, but even just a night of snuggling with the sexy field team member would be beyond welcome at this point. "God I'm so glad you weren't there."

"I really wish you hadn't been," she murmured into his shoulder, mortified to find her eyes were pricking with tears. "I wish nobody had been there, that it hadn't happened. It all just seems so bloody pointless."

"There was some kind of point to it," he said, rubbing her back with his good arm and trying not to hurt her with the cast. "They came looking, they came after something. You should see how badly they wrecked the archives. I think they would have set them on fire if one of the field teams hadn't come up and driven them off again."

"Oh god," Aidan held him tighter, "I was so worried about you. About everyone." She knew in a way her dissociation from the events was not as bad as being there, but bad enough that she found it difficult to relate. There was just a distance between what had happened and what her imagination had made of it and that in itself was difficult to cope with. But there was no denying, the survivors had it worse and she wanted Simon to be able to relax tonight.

She pulled away and wiped her face clear of the traces of almost tears then smiled gently at him. "Are you up for food? I can order us something if you'd like. Or go to the supermarket and get something that I can attempt to cook but we both know that can have dire consequences."

Simon leaned close to kiss her forehead, then took half a step back. "Let's just order in. You've had a long day too, I'm sure, and I don't want to make you go to the market, or cook." She beautiful, a relief in what had been a week of dreariness. And thank goodness she had been in a position to help cut through the bullshit in Washington and get some help sent their way. He might still be fighting down there if it hadn't been for her, or worse.

"And you really don't want to eat my food anyway," she smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "You go and get comfortable, change, shower, whatever. I'll get us some food and pick a movie." Clearly some of her Washington assertiveness had lingered past the journey home but Aidan figured Simon might need that right now. "Deal?"

"Sounds perfect," he said and kissed her softly before heading off to the bedroom to grab a t-shirt and some lounge pants, then into his bathroom to start the shower. A plastic bag hung from a hook next to his towel and, once he'd struggled out of his uniform, he wrapped that around the cast to keep it dry.

While he was upstairs Aidan turned the lights on in the kitchen and sitting room then called in an order for Chinese food, knowing him well enough by now to know what he liked. Then she picked out a movie before heading to the kitchen to scare up some wine.

It was there she noticed the build up of dishes that he obviously hadn't been able to get to, and probably couldn't because of his arm. So she waited for the shower to stop running before she filled a sink with hot water and piled the dishes in, the simple domestic task helping her to feel a bit more connected to the world again.

Simon came back down, reasonably clean and well-groomed and having run over the edges of the cast and his hand where he could get at it with a baby wipe before dressing in his lounging-in clothes and putting the sling back on. It seemed unnecessary, but Montalvo had been insistent. He found Aidan in the kitchen, just finishing the washing up. He stepped up behind her and kissed the back of her neck. "You didn't have to do that."

Aidan shivered a little from the kiss and smiled, "I know, but it seemed right. I wanted to help." She scrubbed at a coffee mug and glanced over her shoulder at him. "How's the clean-up on base going? I got the reports obviously but it's not the same. Oh, and there's wine breathing on the counter if you want a glass."

He kissed her neck again then stepped over to where the bottle stood open and two glasses sat beside it. He poured them both about half full then took a sip, savouring the first drink he'd had in a week. "So far so good. But there isn't a level that went untouched. The bad guys went through the top nine levels quick and easy hardly any damage on the first pass but when the SEALs and Delta and whoever else came, the fight to take those floors back was tough. Everything's wrecked and its going to take a while to put it back together."

"That's what the reports have been saying," Aidan said with a nod and drained the now empty sink before washing and drying her hands. "I arranged for extra hands and some repair specialists to come down here and help, freeing up the Mountain personnel to start repairing themselves. I hope."

"They need it, for sure," he replied, handing her the glass of wine and taking a sip of his own. "We all need some time to put ourselves back together. Its going to be easier for some than others, I think."

 

"And you?  What about you?"  Aidan took a sip of her wine and looked at him over the rim over the glass.

 

He smiled back at her. “Well, it’s not like I’m expected to be running back into combat through the Gate or anything,” he said. “I’ve got time, in that respect.” He sighed and took another sip. “Besides, I cannot think of a better therapy than getting my archives organized again.”

Aidan grimaced at that thought, "well if it'll help you then it can't be a bad thing but I think something like that would drive me insane after two days."  She smiled at him then, "though you're already part way there so..."

He smirked at her. "It takes all kinds," he said and sipped a little more wine. "But that really is my happy place, getting everything back in order. Hell, it's what I was doing here in the first place, making sense of the rather chaotic archives."

"True."  Aidan said with a light laugh and was about to continue when she was interrupted by the doorbell.  "Oh, that'll be supper.  Do you want to grab plates while I go get it?  The movie's already set up."  She smiled and headed to the door, grabbing her purse on the way.

A few minutes later she held up the bag and smiled at Simon, "I got you crispy beef and veggie spring rolls, they okay?"

"Sounds scrumptious," he said, bringing out the plates and a couple of serving spoons. He preferred the chopsticks the restaurant sent for actually eating, but you couldn't beat a spoon for actually getting rice out of the container.

Aidan arranged the containers on the coffee table and started to dish up as he gave her the plates.  Suddenly she started to laugh softly, "how very domestic we are.  Who'd have thought it of us?"

"I don't know if I'd call this 'domestic' exactly," he said, laughing a little. "Don't domestic types usually cook their own food, and sit at the dining room table or something?"  He settled back with his plate and his wine, and pinched a piece of crispy beef and some rice. "What movie did you pick?"

"I suppose, and I suppose it would be me doing the cooking while you're at work and you would expect me to clean the house and all of that nonsense."  Aidan shuddered theatrically and picked up her plate of cashew pork and rice.  "No thanks.  I picked Goldfinger, I thought we could continue to work our way through the collection."

"Excellent choice," he said, smiling widely, as the opening scene sprawled across the big TV screen. He set his wine down and continued to eat with his right hand while he massaged her upper back and neck as much as he could with the fingers protruding from his forearm cast.

"I don't know," he said after a moment of silence. "I think you could rock the house cleaning thing... if you did it wearing just heels and pearls."

"Maybe when you're all better," Aidan said with a light smirk.  "Sexist pig."

"Can I help it I'm stuck in the 1950s?" he said, grinning at her, enjoying the 1960s version of a sexist pig on the TV screen.

For her part, Aidan was simply enjoying the descent back to normalcy after the weeks of chaos they had both been through.  Tomorrow they would have to think of serious things again but for now she was content to snuggle on the sofa, watch a cheesy James Bond movie and simply enjoy being in Simon's company again.

Ms Aidan Sawyer

Diplomat

SG5

Becky Sharp: Are you trying to steer me towards an indiscretion?

Rawdon Crawley: Would you like me to?  ~ Vanity Fair

Capt. Simon Murphy

Base Archivist

SGC