TITLE: "Dinner & Dessert"
AUTHOR: Me! Oh, uh, Verb
RATING: T, I would think. More towards the end, really. I'm no good at this rating thing, but if you're 13 or have the maturity of one, I think you can handle it.
CATEGORY: Humor, Daniel/Other, unapologetic snark.
SUMMARY: Timing Is Everything
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable Stargate SG-1 characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment only and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. This story and other publicly unrecognized events or characters therein are copyrighted to the author and may not be used or reproduced in entirety or in parts without express permission of the author.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Round 4 everybody! Another story for me, different since so far I've always written established characters in the Stargate universe. Thought I'd give this a try. Much thanks to Dessert Blossom-by-the-Sea for a much needed double round of beta'ing as well as encouragement. Please read and enjoy!
Chapter 2 – Timing You
"This makes no sense." Abbie realized that if someone were to enter her office and see her talking to the empty space, she would have been taken straight to the infirmary. She didn't care. She had spent the last two hours trying to make sense of the translation Daniel had given her, and so far all she had gotten out of it was a headache. Frustrated, she pushed her chair away from her desk, needing to get a little distance between her and her work. Closing her eyes, she tried to settle her brain and relax.
"Problems?"
Abbie's eyes snapped open. There was Daniel, leaning casually on the frame of her office door. Great, now my head and my heart are pounding. "Hi, Daniel. Yeah, a few problems." She gestured to the work that was strewn all over her desk.
"I've made very little progress. I think that your translations are basically correct, I just think that the problem might be that the original symbols need to be rearranged before the translation can make sense." She sighed. "Or that's my theory, at the very least."
Daniel smiled, knowing exactly how much it bugged her that she couldn't figure out the text. Just like me. He cleared his throat. "Well, you can just give me the stuff you have so far, and leave the rest of it for tomorrow." He glanced at the clock. "Didn't you say you had to be out of here by five?"
She followed his gaze to the clock. "Damnit." It was almost 5:30. "Well, at least they expect me to be late." She stood up and attempted to smooth out her dress, then reached up and released her hair from the clip that had it pinned up on her head.
Daniel knew he was staring. He knew that he should stop staring. But he also knew that it was physically impossible for him to focus his eyes anywhere else. She had pulled her hair out of the clip keeping it coiled on her head, letting it tumble down around her shoulders. He had never seen her without her hair up and away from her face, since their military surroundings encouraged the civilian women on base to have short hair, or at the very least keep it up above the collar. But he hadn't realized just how long and soft her hair actually was. He couldn't stop himself from wanting to run his hands through it.
"Daniel?" Abbie's soft voice broke through his somewhat rampant thoughts. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, um, I'm fine. You know, uh, just been a long day." Daniel stumbled over his words, grateful that she couldn't actually read his thoughts. "So, got special plans with your friends?"
Abbie moved to grab her jacket from the coat rack in her office. "Not really anything special. My friends and I have jobs that pretty much make getting together impossible. So, we try to have a night for ourselves every month, go have dinner, talk for hours." She made a face. "My friend Wilma calls it 'chick chat' ".
Daniel had to laugh. "Not a fan, I take it?"
"No, not really," Abbie admitted. "These women are my best friends, and I love them to bits, but sometimes they forget that I'm not married. And when they start up conversations pertaining to their husbands . . ." she let the end of the sentence trail off, hoping that she wouldn't actually have to say the words.
Daniel got the message. "Ah. Well, at least you'll be getting out of the mountain for a bit. You could use the break."
"You should come with me." Abbie blurted out before she had a chance to think.
Daniel blinked, clearly surprised by her offer. "Well, I, uh . . .what?"
Abbie blushed. I'm officially a moron. "Well, I mean, you could use a break too, and you have to eat, right? So why don't you just come and hang out for a few hours, and then I can drop you back here or at your house or wherever." She was trying to rationalize her offer to herself as much as she was to Daniel.
"But won't it just be you and your girl friends?"
"Nope," she replied. "This is the husband's month. It will just be my three best friends, their husbands, and me. I get to be the 7th wheel." She shrugged her shoulders. "So, really, you would be doing me a favour, saving me from an entire evening of avoiding questions about my personal life." Not that I even have one. She added in her mind.
"Oh." Daniel was having a hard time making a decision. He knew that, from a purely professional standpoint, having dinner with his coworker and his department equal was probably a bad move. But the part of him that couldn't deny his attraction to Abbie was slowly winning the fight. "All right."
Abbie's face brightened. "Really?"
"Yes, really." Daniel did not miss how relieved Abbie looked. It let him think that maybe he wasn't the only one experiencing the attraction. "But, on one condition?"
Abbie raised an eyebrow at him.
"I get to drive."
She grinned. "Deal."
Daniel grinned back. "I just need to go grab my jacket from my office." He patted his hands absently at his dress shirt. "Do I need to change or . . .?"
Abbie shook her head. "Nope, you look perfect." She gave him a sly smile. "In fact, I don't think the fact that my friends are married will protect you."
She watched in amusement as his face flushed at her comment. At least I'm not the only one who does that. "I'll do my best to make sure they behave, but no promises."
Daniel, having tried to control his blush as best he could, tilted his head to one side, a motion she recognized from countless hours spent all night working together on a difficult translation. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"
She placed her hand on his arm and gave a small squeeze. "You have no idea."
Daniel smiled at the sparkle that flared in Abbie's eyes. "Well, at least it won't be boring."
"No chance of that." Abbie pulled on her coat, adjusting the scarf around her neck. "Do you want to meet topside in about ten minutes?"
"Sure. I'll be there in ten."
"Great." Abbie shut off her desk lamp and moved to push Daniel in the direction of her office door. When they had reached the hallway, she turned to lock her door, grinning in what could only be described as a slightly evil way. This is going to be interesting.
xxxxxxx
By the time Daniel and Abbie had found his car and made their way past the security checkpoints to get out of the complex, it was five to six. Abbie was in the passenger seat, looking out the window when she let out a soft sigh.
"What is it?"
She shifted in her seat and saw that Daniel was stealing concerned glances at her while he maneuvered the vehicle. "Is there something wrong?" he asked softly.
"Oh, no, nothing's wrong." She twisted her hands as they had fallen to sit in her lap. "I was just thinking that it will be nice to have someone there to help maintain the 'deep space telemetry' cover I've had to use over the years."
Daniel nodded. "I take it your friends don't quite buy that a cryptographer would be needed for a satellite monitoring station."
"Yeah, they're a rather annoyingly intelligent bunch." She gave him a little wistful smile. "Of course, it doesn't help that I'm a terrible liar."
He laughed at the way her face scrunched up when she admitted her inability to lie. "Well, at least I know that you'll always be telling the truth."
She let out a laugh of her own. "I guess so."
They sat in a comfortable silence for the rest of the way to the restaurant, a place called the Ritz Grill in downtown Colorado Springs. Abbie had never been to this place before, but Wilma had and swore up and down that it had the best pasta she had ever tasted. Abbie was starting to feel a bit nervous about all of her childhood friends meeting her sort of boss. My intelligent, witty, well-read, very attractive sort of boss. She took a deep breath.
Daniel parked the car and turned to look at her. "Are you sure that you're ok?"
She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way. "Yes, I am. I'm very glad that you decided to come with me. It's a nice change to spend some time with you outside of work." She took another deep breath. "Ready?"
"Usually." Daniel grinned and opened his door to step outside. "But I still think you should have let me bring a zat," he joked. She shot him a half amused, half annoyed look and made her way out of the car. He and Abbie walked up to the restaurant's front entrance, both of them grateful for the blast of warm air that greeted them when the doors opened.
Abbie walked up to the hostess stand. "Hi. Should be a reservation under Wilma, for 7 people."
"Hey, Nash!"
Abbie turned towards the sound of the very familiar voice. "Wilma!"
Daniel watched as a short Asian woman who looked to be in her early 30's ran across the restaurant floor and launched herself at Abbie, nearly knocking her over and giving her a huge hug.
Abbie and Wilma separated, holding each other at arms length. "How are you? I feel like it's been years!" Abbie exclaimed.
"I know, sweetie, I know!" Wilma replied, "But you know how busy the movie business keeps me. Once a month is just not enough for the chick chat!"
Abbie caught Daniel's eyes and made a face at her friend's mention of the dreaded 'chick chat'. Daniel let out a soft chuckle.
The sound caught Wilma's attention, and she turned around to get a good look at Daniel. "Going to introduce me to your friend, A?"
Abbie cleared her throat. "Wilma, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson, one of my coworkers and a good friend. Daniel, this is one of my best friends, Wilma."
Daniel, being the polite and seasoned diplomat that he is, stuck his hand out towards Wilma. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Wilma snuck a quick once over look at Daniel as she reached out and shook his hand. "I assure you, Doctor, the pleasure is all mine."
"Wilma," Abbie said, a warning clear in the tone of her voice.
"What?" Wilma's smile was anything but innocent. "I must say, it's nice to finally meet someone that Nash works with. We've started to think that maybe that top secret job of hers was all in her head."
Abbie rolled her eyes and her friend. "Yes, well, trust me when I say the paychecks are anything but." She gestured to the main dining area of the restaurant. "Are we the last to arrive?"
"As usual," Wilma laughed. "But we figured you would be, so we ordered for you. Jason insisted in getting here exactly ten minutes early, you know how he is."
"Jason is Wilma's husband." Abbie explained to Daniel. "He's an entertainment lawyer, and he can get a little . . . "
"Freaky?" Wilma supplied.
"I was going to say 'time-conscious', but he's your husband, so I guess you could call him 'freaky' ".
Wilma shrugged her shoulders and addressed Daniel. "He's a bit on the crazy side, that husband of mine, but I love him anyway." She grabbed Daniel's arm and started to pull. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the crowd. Maybe you can help shed some light on the male preoccupation with time for me." Glancing at Abbie, Daniel gently untangled his arm from Wilma's grasp. "Ok, but maybe I should go and check my coat first." He turned to Abbie. "Would you like me to take yours as well?"
"I'll go with you," Abbie said as she started to shrug off her coat. "We'll meet you at the table, ok?"
Wilma nodded her head. "We're in the far left corner, beside the window." She stole another appreciative glance at Daniel. "I'll snag another chair for you, Doctor."
"Thank you. And, please, call me Daniel."
"Daniel," Wilma repeated as she tilted her head and looked at Abbie with a mischievous grin on her face. "I'm timing you." Then she turned and walked back through the crowd to the table.
Abbie could feel her face starting to flush. Maybe this whole "Bring your boss to meet your friends" thing was a bad idea. "We should go and drop off our coats."
Daniel just nodded and followed her to the coat check. He could tell just by the few minutes of interaction he had seen that Abbie and Wilma had a lot of history and friendship, the depth of which he was sure he would never fully uncover. But, Wilma's last comment had obviously meant something to Abbie, and was having an effect on her, as she was now sporting the sexiest blush he had even seen. And when did you start thinking a blush was sexy, exactly? His mind questioned. Probably since you started noticing that Abbie blushes quite a bit when you're around.
He gave his head a small shake and focused for the moment on handing the clerk both his and Abbie's coats. While waiting for the ticket to retrieve their jackets later, Daniel decided he needed to ask something. "So, why did Wilma say she'd be timing us?"
"Oh, that." Abbie blushed a little harder. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask that."
"Sorry," he said with a smile, "I'm an anthropologist. Asking questions is what I do."
"I suppose that's true." Abbie laughed. "Last year when our friends Mark and Elisha got married, you'll actually be meeting them tonight, both Wilma and Jason volunteered to check everyone's jackets." Abbie let her gaze drop to the floor. "We were waiting for a good hour before they reappeared at the table. They got a little, uh, 'distracted', or at least that's how Wilma described it." She fought the blush that threatened to take back over. "She was just trying to be funny, she doesn't know that we're not, uh, well, together."
"I see." Daniel couldn't help but grin as Abbie tried to explain without making him feel uncomfortable. He could admit to himself that the idea of being 'distracted' by Abbie had crossed his mind.
Abbie cleared her throat. "Yeah, so, shall we go and introduce you to the rest of the asylum?"
"I think so." He gestured for Abbie to lead the way, placing a hand on her lower back to help guide her.
If Daniel noticed Abbie's breathing speed up, he didn't mention it. It took almost all of her concentration to walk in a straight line.
xxxxxxx
A/N #2 Much obliged to Romulus Magnus and janissima who reminded me that I forgot to mention this story takes place sometime in the eighth season, since Jack's a general. Plus, thanks for the reviews everyone! Hope this chapter was a good continuation on the first. And, yes, there is plently more to come. Thanks guys!
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For those about to review, I salute you.