CHAPTER TWO - by Verb
CHAPTER TWO
ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2
"Good Morning Campers!"
Daniel's body jolted upward, his chair dancing with the movement. His head, now free of the cradle he had made with his arms, stopped inches from smacking against the lamp that still shone light over the books that littered his desk. He was having trouble coping with the surge of adrenaline coursing through his still technically asleep body.
"Jack?"
Jack smirked at his friend. "Who else?"
"Yes, who else?" Daniel answered distractedly, searching for his glasses. "So, what brings you here?"
Jack walked carefully around the blanket covered couch to fiddle with one of the masks hanging from the wall. "SG-16 found something shiny for Carter and something with squiggles all over it for you." He backed away when a mask shuddered and made an unsuccessful leap for the ground. "I was trying to locate Dr. Webber on my way over. Some of the staff I ran into pointed me in her direction, said you've been taking on a bit too much lately and that she's been helping you out."
Daniel made a furtive glance at the couch. "Um, yeah, she has."
Jack eyes followed Daniel's gaze. Was it him or was that blanket breathing? "That's nice, archeologist solidarity and all that. Science geeks around the world." He carefully sized up what could be a person shaped lump under the blanket. "You should make up a secret handshake."
"Yes, I'll bring that up at the next meeting."
Jack stared questioningly at his former teammate.
"Sorry, the sarcasm isn't very sharp this early in the morning." Daniel shrugged, taking up the search for his glasses. "And for your information, Abbie's a cryptographer, not an archeologist, and I haven't seen her today." Daniel tried not to smile. It was sort of true – he had just woken up and, technically, had not laid eyes on Abbie yet. "What do you want, Jack?"
"Just to tell you that we have a briefing at 1000 hours," Jack kept his voice calm, ignoring the wide eyed protest from Daniel once he figured out what Jack was doing, and continued his stealthy advance towards the couch. "Make sure to tell Dr. Webber she's required to attend as well."
"I will. Jack, would you sto-"
"One step closer O'Neill, and I promise you and Thor will have one more thing in common."
Jack smiled as he flipped the blanket down, uncovering to the waist one very rumpled and sleepy looking arecholog- uh, cryptographer. "Hello Doctor."
Abbie rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up. "General. Something I can help you with?"
"Not really. Just be at the-"
"Briefing, 1000 hours. Yeah, I got that." Abbie wiggled uncomfortably as she spoke. Something was poking her in the spine. "Anything else?" she said as she reached behind her and removed the offending item, dropping it in her lap.
Jack smirked as he watched the color rise on Abbie's face. He pointed to her lap. "Just be sure to return those to their proper place."
Daniel pushed the still smug General out of his office. "Bye Jack." After shutting the door behind him, Daniel turned and smiled softly at Abbie "I've been looking for those."
Abbie gave an embarrassed shrug as he walked back to his chair, brushing a kiss on the top of her head as he passed. She handed his glasses to him once he was seated. "I have no idea how they got there."
"I do."
Abbie smacked his arm. "Daniel, what have I told you about using that tone of voice?"
Daniel rubbed the now sore spot on his arm. "That it's to be reserved for talking you out of your clothes and asking favors from Betty at Michelle's Chocolatiers downtown."
"Exactly." Abbie stretched, raising both hands above her head. The move caused the blanket to slip down her body, revealing an article of clothing Daniel was sure he hadn't seen before.
"I think a better question is, why aren't you wearing pants." At Abbie's confused look, Daniel pointed to her nearly exposed hip, then had to stifle a laugh when she panicked, pulling the blanket up to her neck.
"Jack didn't see that, did he?" Abbie's eyes were wide with fear, knowing she would never be able to show her face in front of the General again.
"No, he didn't," Daniel tried to soothed her panicked mind. "If he did, I'm sure he would have made some kind of Bootes constellation reference."
Abbie just rolled her eyes as she stood, careful to wrap the blanket tightly around her middle. She was caught off guard when Daniel reached forward and pulled her into his lap.
"Hi."
She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hi yourself."
He placed his hands on her back, rubbing in small circles. "You going to tell me where you bought those underwear?"
Abbie grinned. "Nope. Why?"
Daniel kissed her neck, making his way with his lips up to just beneath her ear. "I was going to go back and buy you every color they have."
She smacked his arm again, a small voice in the back of her mind reminding her that his office was not the place for this discussion, but ignoring it anyway. "What, you don't like the ones I have on now?"
Daniel gave her a lazy smile. "It's not that I don't like the purple polka dots, I just think that blue is more your color."
"Well, if you're good at the briefing, I might just take you to the store myself." Abbie smiled again when something a little wild flashed behind his eyes. She resisted his protests and managed to stand up, straightening her makeshift skirt and grabbing her shoes from behind the couch. "I should get going – must find something to wear pants-wise to the briefing. How much time do I have?"
Daniel adjusted his glasses and glanced down at his watch. "About an hour."
"Excellent. Time to grab a shower and find some pants." Abbie reached down and gave Daniel a soft kiss, pulling away reluctantly to make her way to the door. "Promise me you'll grab something to eat for breakfast?"
"Do brownies count as breakfast?" Daniel spun in his chair, trying to maintain a straight face. "Guess not. Go, find your pants and I'll see you in the briefing room."
Abbie nodded and exited his office, the quiet slap of her sock feet echoing in the empty corridor.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Daniel picked up his coffee cup up off the desk and made plans to head to the commissary once he had gathered his files for the briefing. Hopefully, this time SG-16 had brought back something useful, instead of an alien version of a Monopoly board.