*Biologically perfected. That's us!* Red leered from his peanut gallery in between fresh cackles of laughter. *And yeah, she smells good when she's scared shitless. Makes me wanna pounce!*

*Yeah. French is a pretty good language for swearin' in.*

*Talkin' dirty in, you mean. Wonderin' if she sounds like that in the sack, myself.*

*Since when did you think about sex?*

*The stalk is my foreplay, buddy. That got me hot enough to substitute the horizontal mambo for my usual preference.*

*Just when I think I can't be disturbed by you anymore...*


"Doc, that was worth me spendin' the next thousand years working to make a time travel device, just so I could come back and do it again." Dec grinned at Yseult as he stepped out into the clearing, moving with the grace and poise of a jungle cat. "The look on your pretty face and the swearing en Francais was icing on the cake." He grinned over at Livy, throwing her a wink before turning his smile back on Yseult. "You ain't alone, though. Ask Livy about when I ambushed her, Gwyn and Major Caine on our first group exercise. She didn't cuss as much, though. Or scream as loud."

Chuckling, he pulled out a Snickers, tearing off the wrapper with strong white teeth before biting into it. He nodded over at Charlie in greeting, even as his lifeless-seeming quicksilver eyes studied the new guy with chilly attention to detail that was at odds with the amiably curious expression on his face.

"New Specialist?"

Gwyn had been heading back towards the clearing when he heard the shriek from Yse. Going Dense he accelerated into the clearing, looking for the source of the attack on Yseult. Finding only the Specialists and Yseult starting her barrage of insults at a madly grinning Dec, Gwyn come in to land starting to join in Livy's laughter.
"So what happend here?"

"Declan was playing again," Olivia said to Gwyn, then looked over at Declan. "This is Sgt. Charlie Cole, from another universe. Kinda like Kyria, only he was here, too. Our Charlie Cole was killed in the liberation of the NID facility. He's got all sorts of interesting tales to tell, I'm sure." She gave Declan a wide grin. "Apparently, I was a very bad girl over there. I ran off." She left off the bit about Vinny; she really didn't want to think about that. She knew that he was capable of violence; even before the Air Force had hardened him, he'd been quick to leap to her defense. Not unlike the man in front of her, whose silver eyes Olivia could meet without fear.

Charlie nodded as Olivia gave the account, then picked up as she finished. "Pretty much everything that needs to be said... except you forget to add that Declan's the same old hell-raiser."

The grin was one of familiarity, though the Declan Charlie knew wasn't this Declan, at least in terms of being from the same universe as he.

"Some things don't change, then. Me bein' a hell-raiser and Livy misbehavin'." Dec said as he sauntered over to shake hands with Charlie. A thousand questions flashed through his head in a nanosecond. Was there another Red, too? Was the other Dec the same in every detail? What was happening with the other Livy? Was the other Dec helping her? And so on. He got himself under control. It wasn't this Dec's business. If there was another Dec, then he'd be handling shit just like he was here.

"So what brings you all out into this neck of the woods." he asked as he finished wolfing down the candy bar, then tossed a mischievous glance at Yseult. "Other than needin' a little excitement, that is."

Yseult gave Declan a wry grin and a miffed snort, though her lips were still curved faintly. "We are deciding that a trip to the Beta-site, for some practice and to see what the new Charlie Cole is capable of, it was a good idea, yes?"

Yseult ostentatiously looked around, glancing around the tree that Declan had materialized from, then quirking an eyebrow up at him, turquoise eyes vivid and amused. "And what of you, Sgt, Perault? The SGC, they are letting their dog off his leash to play, yes?"

The reaction to Yseult's banter was instantaneous, Dec's happy grin faltering as though he'd been slapped. Blinking, he looked away from the others for a moment, his body tense. His mind replayed the hurtful words with crystal clarity.

"The SGC, they are letting their dog off his leash to play, yes?"

"...dog off his leash..."

He forced himself to concentrate on the tone, the context. Yseult was joking, the tone lighthearted. There was no malice in her tone or posture. She wasn't trying to be cruel, of that Dec's hyper-efficient analytical brain was sure, from a thousand and one tiny cues. She didn't know, probably hadn't heard the Airmen whisper as he had when they thought themselves out of earshot. Many of the understandably uneasy humans rationalised Dec's freedom and even his life as simple pragmatism on HQ's part. "Why waste a high calibre attack dog?" he had heard on one occasion, accompanied by nervous laughter.

Just words. She's jokin'. But the words hurt. He took a soft breath, then let it out before looking back. The whole process had perhaps taken a second, but his mood was definitely deflated in spite of the smile he kept on his lips.

"Yeah. Guess they figured I'd not jump the fence if they let me run around and howl for a bit." he tried to joke, but it fell flat even to his ears.

Olivia knew Declan about as well as anyone did, save perhaps the telepath, and she had heard the whispers. Smiling quickly but with clear strain, she said, "We're always glad to have you with us." Whether that was true for everyone wasn't important. What was important was to remind Dec that he wasn't just a dog to those who mattered.

Grinning, she asked, "Do you wanna test out how poorly I'm emulating Charlie's powers, or do you want to tear into the source?" Her words were deliberately chosen and her wicked smile admitted that.

Yseult sighed. Since being released from isolation, with all the field work and the rest of the specialists had been so very engaging and welcoming that she had almost forgotten that she preferred the solitude of research and a lab. She was not cut out for witty banter and repartee, at least not with anyone beyond her husband. I miss him.

Yseult offered Declan an apologetic smile and shrug, but didn't mention her inconsiderate comment or his poor attempt at nonchalance. She nodded at the others, then began to head back to the StarGate. "All of you, thank you for the excitement and comradeship, but there is some more progress I can be making on the goa'uld anti-toxin. If you are excusing me, I will be talking with you later."

She had been working on the damned thing off and on for the last six years. With great strides taking place lately, she just wanted to finally get it done.

"You just got here!" Olivia protested softly. Yseult did spend a lot of time in the lab; being out and about would do her some good. It was clear that she hadn't meant to hurt Declan with her words, not as deeply as he had been hurt. "You should stay a bit longer. We don't get to get off base much." That wasn't true. Yseult could leave base far more than she did.