"Three across, four letters, begins with K."

"And?"

"And? And what's the answer?"

"I can't tell you the answer if you don't give me the clue now, can I?"

"Really, Daniel," Vala piffed over the edge of the folded down newspaper and then raised the flap to obscure her face. "That general friend of yours said, and I quote, 'Daniel is so good, he's clueless,' which I took to mean that you obviously don't need to be told the clues to understand these cross-wordy things. So, with that in mind, come on Mister, 'I don't need the clues,' what's the answer to three across?"

The clock on the far wall taunted him; glared at him with an evilness as it ticked over to 8am, meaning the day had only just officially began and Vala had already sucked the life out of him… metaphorically.

"I don't think Jack meant clueless to mean that I can give you the answers to a crossword without knowing the clue."

Vala peeked around the page and smiled. "Really? Then what did he mean?"

"Well, um, he meant 'clueless' as in…" Daniel let the rest of the sentence hang in the air and turned back to his translation.

"Daniel?"

"Hmmm?"

"You trailed off there."

"I did?"

"Uh, huh."

"Oh, well, I've lost the thread of the conversation now. You know, all this work to do and not enough time to spend doing crosswords with you. Busy, busy!"

"Right." Vala dropped the newspaper to table top and flattened it out with her hands. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"Tell you what?"

"What the answer to three across is. You know: four letters and starts with K?"

"Nope."

"Because you're clueless?"

"Yes. No!"

"Which is it? Yes or no?"

"No. I'm not clueless."

"Oh, so you do know what the clue is without me having to tell you? Goody!" Vala picked up her pen and held it above the crossword box. "Okay, starts with K. I know you can do this."

"No I can't."

"No? Why?"

Daniel pushed his laptop away and looked at her over the top of his glasses, long and assessing. "Because," he started, brow furrowing, "I can't help you with the answer if you don't give me the clue."

"Really, darling, I thought we'd sorted this whole clueless issue."

"Clueless issue?"

"What about it?"

"No, you said… clueless issue."

"Yes, well, despite my penchant for forgetting things within moments of saying them, I've still got that little sentence… oh… nope, it's gone."

"Vala," Daniel warned. "You said 'clueless issue' which is decidedly different from the issue of being clueless. Really," he held his arms wide, "big difference."

Vala frowned, biting down on her lip. "While I generally have no idea what you're talking about, even when I am trying to understand, I have to say, Daniel, you've completely lost me here."

"Ah! So you would be feeling… oh, I don't know… clueless maybe?"

"Me, clueless?" She looked down at the crossword. "No, I have the clue right here in front of me. Three across, four letters, starts with a K – To touch with the lips or join with the lips."

Daniel smiled and answered, "Kiss."

"Ha! You only knew that because I gave you the clue. Honestly, Daniel, I'm not so sure General Jack's assessment of your intelligence is accurate, are you?"

The end