In my most insecure and early days or writing fan fiction, I had so many "reviewers" write me, privately, cruel and abusive messages telling me that people only wanted an OC in Stargate if the slant of the story was erotic AND that people were sick of Mary Sues. So, I wrote the original version of this story to intentionally frame Adrienne as aloof and "not perfect."

My message to them, well, now: Then don't read this asshole.

Now, onto the story I wanted to tell…

This story was inspired by Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero"

But the question is, who saved whom?

"JACKSON!" Cameron was shouting as he came to a halt on a large black horse, Vala trailing behind him. He rode frantically, his eyes darting around in an attempt to ascertain the location of the attack, to no avail, turning back to yell at his teammate, "DIAL THE GATE!"

Looking over his shoulder it was obvious that Daniel was surprised by their swift arrival, freezing as if for a moment he had no idea what to do. He had been working, reading and translating something, completely blind to the gunfire erupting all around him.

Shaking his head, Daniel stuffed his journal into his pack, racing to the DHD, his blue eyes scanning furiously as a shot rang out, the gray stone wall he had been reading crumbling before him. He slammed his palms onto the symbols, the familiar mechanics bings and clanks sounding as the gate moved and the wormhole formed before him. He looked back to see Cameron dismount, racing over to Vala who fell from the white steed she had been riding, her left arm soaked in blood. Cameron too was injured, limping on his right leg in what was clearly a gunshot wound of some sort.

"GO GO GO," the Colonel shouted, picking up Vala and limping with her up the ramp, "I don't know how many more of them there are."

A blast went off by the archaeologist's head, shattering a piece of stone wall beside him, and Daniel looked up to see a small band of raiders on horseback, headed their direction. It took him a moment to remember the light grenade that Rodney had given him, something he had asked Daniel to "test in the field", and though the archaeologist had absolutely no intention in doing so, now it seemed like their only way to guarantee their escape. He tapped the button on the top and tossed in their direction. The light was blinding, even as he managed to look away, but it had the intended effect, sending their attackers fleeing.

"I thought they were friendly!" he shouted as he grabbed his head, searching for any areas of contact or bits of rock. Brushing some dust from his hair and scowling, Daniel grabbed his pack, shoving the folder down into it, another projectile nearly missing his foot. He swore again, in Cajun French by the sound of it, pulling his Zat from the leg holster and glancing back at Cam.

"Well that was wrong!" Cam shouted back, Daniel tapping his hands on the DHD.

"Almost got it," he announced, looking to his left and right before dialing the last symbol, "Ad! Get ready we are headed OUT!"

There was a sound of impact, and out of the corner of his eye Daniel saw Cameron struggling to lift Vala to her feet, his face full of sorrow.

"Daniel, she didn't…"

A shot rang out, one that was too close, Daniel thought, his fears confirmed as his friends fell into a heap on the ramp. The archaeologist rushed to help, running much faster the rest of the distance between him and the gate, digging for the emergency supplies he kept in his vest as he slid to his knees, reaching out for the injured Colonel.

"CAM!" Daniel screamed as he rolled Cameron to his side, discovering a blast hole at his shoulder. Not bothering with any first aid supplies, Daniel applied pressure directly with the heel of his hand, reaching underneath the colonel to provide a counter pressure, gripping Cam as hard as he could.

The wormhole opened.

"I've got it, help me get Vala," the colonel grumbled, wincing in pain as another shot landed nearby.

"Cam, go through," Daniel ordered, as he reached for Cam's zat, "Where were you?"

"The village. Someone didn't like us in the village."

"And Addy?"

Another shot rang out as Cam lifted Vala to her feet, Daniel shooting into the space behind them.

"She was on the outskirts, talking to some villagers, when we saw her go down, but Daniel..."

The archaeologist nodded, standing, walking down the ramp toward the shot that had been fired. A lone rider emerged from the woods, one that must not have scattered at the light grenade, his gun pointed at Daniel.

Without a thought, Daniel fired, the man crumbling into an unconscious heap.

"Go, tell Sam that I'm coming."

"Jackson!?"

Daniel turned to face his friends, weak, bleeding, trying to suppress his nightmare vision of Adrienne's condition. His face was stern, as he approached their final attackers' horse, calming the animal as he grabbed the reins.

"Go, I won't leave her."

He would not allow any more discussion, climbing onto the animal's back, lightly kicking its sides and heading back in the direction of the village, and Adrienne.

"Cam, he's…" Vala tried to speak, Cameron pulling her higher on him, his newly shot shoulder on fire.

"He'll find her. Hopefully we were wrong."

He pulled them both through the event horizon.

SG-3 was waiting for them as they crossed over, covering their entrance, in protective gear as the side doors opened, Dr. Cassie Frasier tearing into the gate room, a stretcher and orderlies trailing her.

"Who's hurt?" she asked even though it was plain to see that Vala was barely conscious, held by an also injured Cameron, a line of blood streaming down the gate ramp. Despite her small stature and youthful appearance, Cassie took charge instantly, pointing and commanding the orderlies to take Vala from Cam and get her onto the stretcher, rushing over, shoving the stethoscope buds into her ears, shouting over her shoulder for a second stretcher for Cameron.

"What about Daniel and Addy?" she asked, hoping for the best since she could only focus her attention on Vala right now, who was losing blood fast, the white sterile bandage already a deep red.

"Addy, we lost Addy but Daniel went back for her," Cam answered. It was then that the colonel noticed the sirens were going off all around them, and he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose to ward off the headache that was taking shape between his temples. He heard the gate begin to shut, preparing to close.

"WALTER!" Cam screamed, "HOLD THE GATE!"

"But sir," the gate tech tried to argue, "if you were attacked, protocol..."

"HOLD THE GATE OR I WILL DO IT MYSELF!" Cam screamed back, staggering and sitting on the stretcher that was wheeled quickly behind him.

"What happened?" Mitchell heard a shout in his direction, opening his eyes to confirm it was Sam, today wearing standard SGC blues, rushing toward them, "I thought everything was clear."

"No," Cam answered, "We weren't in the village five minutes before we were attacked. Seems they didn't want Addy looking at whatever she and Daniel went to hunt down."

"Where are they?" Sam asked as Cassie yelled for Vala to be taken straight surgery, "And Cassie, Vala?"

"She's lost a lot of blood, but her vitals are good," the young doctor shouted over her shoulder as shots rang out in the gateroom.

"Ma'am," Walter came over the loudspeaker, "we're taking fire!"

"Cam," Sam held up her hand, as SG-3 took their positions to defend from any intruders, "What are their chances?"

"It's Addy," Cam said with a wince, "he'll find her or die trying."

Sam nodded in agreement, knowing especially, given the incident a few months ago, that Daniel would do just that.

"HOLD YOUR POSITIONS! SOMEONE CALL THE JAFFA CADETS!"

"But ma'am!" Walter stood from his desk, looking down into the gateroom as Sam raced back up the stairs to the observation room.

"I SAID HOLD THE GATE!" she ordered, Jaffa pouring in the room, a mixture of staff weapons and Terran firepower pointed at the gate. Walter looked frightened, unable to remember being yelled at in such a fashion by Sam before, but he complied, taking his seat and looking forward.

Daniel had heard raiders in the distance, ducking his horse into the woods and hoping he remembered enough of riding various exotic alien creatures to manage to navigate the brush and stay both mounted and hidden. They shouted in some bastardized version of the Jaffa tongue, urging one another to the gate. A branch smacked his cheek, cutting it, blood dripping into his mouth. He spat, leaning more closely to the beast, hoping that he would find her in time.

He kept to the path in the woods the best he could, trying to remember the layout from the presentation. Cam said that they had been overtaken on the outskirts of the village, so he tried to ride as close as he could to the main trail, hoping to find her where the forest met the settlement. Adrienne would most likely be hidden if she was able to drag herself to the woods.

She HAD to have.

He rode and scanned, hoping that she was still alive.

The world was hazy, Adrienne aware that her pain and, possibly, blood loss were causing her to lose consciousness. She tried to stand, failing, succeeding only in crawling to her knees, her head wringing from the blow of slamming it into the tree trunk when she fell. She remembered Vala's voice, Cam yelling for someone to put down the gun, and a voice answering something in a language Adrienne was still learning the finer points of, something about a violation in the eyes of the gods. The next thing she remembered were the sound of popping, gunfire, it was gunfire, and pain in her chest.

When she awoke she was alone, unsure as to whether her friends had escaped, been taken prisoner or worse. She heard shouting in the distance, in the direction of the gate, and she shook in fear. Daniel was back there, and if Cam and Vala made it to the gate, them as well, and these men didn't seem to be interested in talking.

She coughed, bringing her fist to her mouth, only to see blood splatter onto her curled fingers. The world spun again, Adrienne willing herself to remain on all fours, to stay as upright as she could to crawl for help.

Help, she thought, internally laughing, as there was no help to come. This was it; she had taken her dream job, made the friends she had never had in her entire life, and now she was going to die of a gunshot wound on a distant world, alone.

A tear trickled down her cheek and rolled partially down her face, splashing to the ground. She picked her aching head up, her vision still blurry, but she was alone.

She let herself cry.

Shots poured through the gate, causing both damage to the gateroom and an increase in sirens.

"Put up the barriers," Sam ordered cooly. Walter looked like he might argue again, tell her that the gate needed to be closed, but he didn't, instead putting up the second layer of glass over the observation room. Thick steel slid in front of various control panels and the Jaffa braced themselves behind shields in case invaders were to enter.

A man came through the gate, on horseback, bearing a gun that he had clearly gotten from another world, shooting at the Jaffa.

He fell off the horse as a zat fired upon him, a young jaffa reaching out to grab the reins of the horse and calm it.

"Ma'am…" Walter finally said, looking up.

"Hold the gate. He'll be here."

More shots rang through the gateroom.

"Come on Daniel," she uttered under her breath, "we can't hold it much longer…"

He rode harder, slipping in the sweat that was forming between himself and the beast. He still heard shouts in the distance, but they were further, which bode well for his escape if he found her…

WHEN, he corrected himself mentally, WHEN I find her.

He worried about the condition she might be in. Would he be able to help her? He had medic training, Janet had seen to that, but would it be enough? He turned the horse to dodge a branch, thankfully causing no further damage to himself, when he saw her.

She had insisted on wearing that orange tank top under her uniform, that damn neon tank top that was not regulation but she would inform him that neither was his bandana or his old leather bag, but there she was, on her hands and knees in that tank top.

At that very moment he was so thankful he let her get away with things like that.

Adrienne sucked in snot, tears and whatever else, only to gag and vomit on the ground. She spat onto the ground, trying to get the taste out of her mouth. Urging herself forward, refusing to give up just yet, she crawled slightly left to not collapse into her own puke should her arms finally give.

She hurt, the throbbing in her chest was making her dizzy, she was losing too much blood and it was getting harder to breathe. The bullet must have hit a lung, or something, because she could feel a tightness that was constricting her air.

She had to hold on, someone would come.

"Ad!"

Indy? She thought but didn't say. It couldn't be Daniel, he was at the gate, unless Cam and Vala had made it, they had lived and despite the shouts of the raiders still echoing in the distance, and Daniel had come for her.

Would he have come for her?

"Daniel," she choked out, forcing herself to look up to see him appear from the woods on a white horse, so cliche she thought, bringing the animal to a halt before running her over.

"Adrienne, thank God, can you stand?" he was on his hands and knees, trying to look her over when he saw the wound in her chest.

"Nevermind, but I need you to trust me," he corrected himself, waiting for her to nod.

She did, slowly.

"Ok Ad, I'm gonna lift you, but once you get your legs under you I just need you to let me lead you to the horse. Then, I need you to lean on the horse while I put your leg over and push you up. Do you understand?"

She nodded, sniffing.

"Ad, can you look at me?" he asked, her dark brown eyes meeting his.

"It's gonna hurt. Very badly."

"I know," she whispered, reaching out for him, "Just do it."

"Try not to scream," he said and pulled her upward before she could have the chance to do just that, Adrienne wincing in pain, tears streaming down her face. He walked her over to the animal, quickly and carefully, making sure that her legs were only used as balance and that he wasn't pushing her too hard. Her chest wound looked bad, worse than he had thought, and it was clear why Cam and Vala thought she had been shot dead. He got her to the horse and draped her arms across the horse's back, racing behind her.

"Hold on the best you can," he ordered, grabbing her left pants leg and throwing her leg over quickly and pulling his hand back to grab her backside, shoving her onto the horse. He heard her grunt as he pushed but he pushed harder, his friend and assistant finally on, facing the rear of the animal. He pulled her forward, Adrienne crying out in pain, more tears on her face. He pushed her arms down slightly before jumping so that he was facing her. He reached forward, pushing her upright and shifted his body forward. She was weak, swaying, and he reached out to bring her to rest against his chest.

"Ad, I'm going to need you to do one more thing, ok?"

"Ok," she whispered. He reached for his side, grabbing his zat and opening her hand, folding her fingers around the handle.

"I need you to shoot, no matter how many shots it takes, ok?" he asked, reaching around her waist and pulling himself closer to him, holding her to his body.

"You shoot, I steer and hold on. Hold onto me if you can, but just shoot, ok?"

She nodded into his chest, Daniel holding her as tightly as possible before kicking the side of the horse, heading back in the direction of the gate.

Two more raiders spilled through the event horizon, the Jaffa stunning them and subduing the animals. The unshielded parts of the gateroom were taking damage, and one member of SG-3 had been taken to the infirmary for a gunshot wound, though Carolyn radioed that it was minor. The red phone, the one connected to her husband's office in Homeworld Security, was ringing like mad, but Sam just stood in the observation room, staring at the gate, not making eye contact with a frantic Walter who was fearing to question her again.

"Sam, we can't…" she heard Cameron's voice behind her, looking over her shoulder at the SG-1 lead, heavily bandaged, limping into the room.

"Cam, I thought you…"

"Flesh wounds, and yeah Carson made the Python jokes already," Cam hobbled to her side, "Sam, we have to close the gate…"

"I can't," she said, "he's coming."

"Sam," Cameron tried to reason, "We can regroup and send a rescue team. But we have to shut the gate before something worse than bullets and thugs on horseback comes through."

"Just a little longer," the general stated, though Cam and Walter could hear the uncertainty in her voice. She wouldn't let them see it in her face though, staring ahead at the still open gate.

Daniel and Adrienne burst out of the forest and into the open, the former holding onto the latter for dear life. He had no idea what they would be riding into, but evidently it wasn't good as he felt Adrienne clench his jacket and the sound of the zat firing going off beside him. He pulled her tighter as she shot again, keeping his gaze ahead and toward the gate.

Sam tuned out the world and stared forward, knowing that soon her husband would storm in, and, as much as he loved Daniel, and even liked the newest member of SG-1, he would order the gate closed and a rescue team formed.

In her head, she urged her friend to hurry.

He was only a hundred yards from the gate when he saw that it was still activated, his friends who had crossed before him holding it open for his return.

He also saw a group of raiders guarding the area, which while he didn't need to stop and dial home, he still needed to get through to even go through the gate.

"Ad," he whispered in her ear, "Ad, we're close, but I need you to give me the zat and hold on. No matter what, don't look and don't let go of me."

"Indy I can't…"

"Yes, you can," he assured, the distance shrinking, as he removed his hand from her and grabbed the zat.

"Ad, please, hold on and get as close as you can to me."

She nodded into his chest, and Daniel held onto the reins with his right hand and the zat in his left. In what seems to be only a fraction of a second, they were maybe fifty feet from the gate. He fired wildly, taking down two raiders right away before the others noticed his approach. Shots fired in their direction, Daniel feeling a tear in his left shoulder, a tear he was certain was a bullet, but he fired again, taking down another and clearing the ramp. He wouldn't be able to get the others, but he had to hope it was enough, Daniel racing the horse up the ramp and through the glimmer of blue…

The Jaffa had their weapons pointed at the gate when a white horse leapt onto the ramp, but this horse was carrying two doctors of archaeology rather than raiders.

"SHUT THE GATE!" Sam shouted, Walter not hesitating in activating both the iris as well as deactivating the wormhole.

"I need a doctor!" Daniel screamed, the arm holding a zat wrapping tightly around Adrienne who did not appear to be conscious. A team was already outside, Dr. Carolyn Lam rushing in and over to the horse. Teal'c was behind her, taking the reins from Daniel who helped pass Adrienne over to the orderlies.

"Gunshot wound to the chest, Samuel, we're gonna need to prep her for surgery stat!" Carolyn ordered, a young nurse running down the hall to do just that. She peered up at Daniel, who was covered in blood.

"You?"

"Superficial," he answered, dismounting, "But she's lost a lot of blood."

"We've got her," the doctor yelled over her shoulder as she raced behind the team taking Adrienne to surgery. Daniel followed, holding his shoulder when he saw Sam running toward him.

"What happened?" the General asked. Her heart stopped as she could see what looked like blood dried onto his black uniform, "Are you hurt?"

"That's what I'd like to know! What happened?" he shouted, not at her but in general, throwing up his hand, his face red with rage.

"The analysis of the MALP video not only gave us the all clear, but the advance team reported that the villagers were friendly. Instead, we nearly lost two members of our team!" he was screaming in the hallway drawing a number of stares.

"Let's go check on Vala while Adrienne is in surgery and you can tell me what happened along the way," Sam quietly instructed, reaching her hand to his arm to comfort him.

Nodding slightly, Daniel took a deep breath, following Sam to the infirmary.

Daniel lasted nearly five minutes in the infirmary before Carolyn kicked him out. He wanted a full run-down on Adrienne's status, wanted to watch from the observation room, wanted to weigh in on the procedure, wanted to help his friend who lay there, seemingly lifeless on the operating table.

So, Carolyn did what any good surgeon would do in her situation.

She has security escort the head archaeologist out.

Frustrated, worried, and sick to his stomach, Daniel went back to the lab to pull Adrienne's files to see where in the hell this had been royally screwed up. Of course, nothing was on paper, so he grabbed that iPad thing of hers, firing it up with a tap of a button and a quick flick of his finger. He had no idea how to use the damn thing, but fortunately she had made a little file folder icon with an Earth Chevron on it.

"Of course," he sighed and tapped it, searching for the mission files, the icon revealing pages and pages of files with planet codes and virtual sticky notes. Luckily, one had an exclamation point and a date, today's date, so he touched that picture lightly, sitting down in her chair to read.

Daniel was so upset he could barely think as he scanned through the preliminary statistics of the planet. Vala was still in the ICU, Cameron was going to be out of commission for at least three weeks if not longer, and his tricep ached from the bullet that had torn through the top part of his arm, his stitches throbbing.

And Adrienne was still in surgery.

He needed answers and he needed them now, as Adrienne had almost died on a routine scouting mission that should have resulted in Daniel and Adrienne setting up a dig site for at least a few days.

NOT in a shoot out.

Flicking the stats aside, the MALP video was embedded in the file, again surprisingly easy to find. Video playing, he saw that the coast was clear on that, no indicators of any hostile inhabitants, so they hadn't missed any would be attackers. The video ended and Daniel switched the view over to the still photos to look over what had brought him to the planet in the first place. When they had first gotten that information from the original MALP run, it looked as if the crumbled stone pillars by the gate were in ancient, an older form, but it was hard to make out exactly what they said. Busy working on the follow up from P5L-325, Daniel handed over this prep to Adrienne who had insisted they were in Ancient. She had even rushed to get Sam to send another MALP, thinking she saw something there that would provide some defensive information, again, from a safe planet that seemed to be very sparsely inhabited, and not by anyone that would be a threat.

Now, Daniel stared at the original photos, taking a seat at her desk, eyeing photos he really hadn't paid attention to, given that it was her task. Granted, maybe his glasses weren't as sharp as her eyes, even though she wore contacts herself, but still he couldn't see anything in these pictures that would lead him to believe there was a threat.

So, who attacked them and why?

Curious, the archaeologist changed to an additional set of photos from the second MALP run.

Something was amiss and he was determined to figure out what.

Dr. Carson Beckett met Sam in the main infirmary office, visibly tired from what had been hours of operating.

"Vala's stable General, but she's lost a lot of blood," Carson informed her. Glancing over his shoulder, she could see Cassie adjusting an IV through a window, her face in deep concentration.

"Ok, that's something. What about Addy?" Sam inquired further, looking back at Carson to read his eyes.

"She's still in surgery with Dr. Lam, but yes, she'll recover. It was a clean shot; missed all of the major organs. But, if Daniel hadn't gone back fer 'er," the doctor answered, stepping forward to allow Sam to enter the infirmary.

How did this happen?

Approaching Vala's bed, Sam saw her chest wrapped in a tight bandage and body pale from loss of blood. Deep purple bruises spread across her cheeks, suggesting to Sam that she must have slammed herself into something as she fell when she took the hit, when Cam had to make the difficult choice to save the team member closest to him and leave another friend behind. If this was what Vala looked like, she couldn't imagine the state of Adrienne.

"Carson, please let me know once she wakes up and when Addy is out of surgery. I'm going to see if Daniel was able to figure anything out," Sam requested as she stood.

"Of course general," he replied and turned, heading back to the main surgical area.

Daniel stood from Adrienne's desk, but he felt no better. She had missed nothing, they had missed nothing, and he had no explanation for why they were attacked.

He glanced over at the clock checking the time to discover that it had been about two hours since they had returned. He had phoned the infirmary at least a dozen times to check her condition, and had been kicked out twice more for trying to weasel his way in there. Sam hadn't called a briefing yet, but she had grabbed him in the hallway and told him to let Carolyn work. But, he couldn't truly focus, flashing back to finding Adrienne on all fours, bleeding, to putting her onto the horse, and holding her to him as she cried in pain while she fired the zat to defend them. They'd just gotten so close lately that he couldn't bear the thought of her in surgery, for so long, with no idea of how she would be when it was all over.

Walking briskly over to his own desk, Daniel was determined to go through the photos once more to see what else he needed to know and whether or not he should return to the planet, regardless of the fact that he wanted to. This was too suspicious, what he and Adrienne had discussed in preparation for the visit to the plant. Why in the world would a collection of obviously Ancient ruins have some other strange language on it that he hadn't seen before that really didn't seem to match any of the rest of the text in style or depth of the carvings? He was hoping to solve that very mystery when shots erupted around them.

It just felt wrong, the whole thing felt wrong from start to finish.

Biting his lip, deep in thought, he grabbed a notepad and sat in his chair, starting the prelim work from the beginning as if neither he nor his assistant had never seen the file.

Cam was sitting at Vala's side, his eyes darting to the door to surgery when he noticed Sam peering into the room, clearly stopping by on her way out of the infirmary.

"Hey," Cam said, "Anything on Addy?"

"Nothing else, but it was a clean shot, thankfully," she replied, trying to avoid showing her own concern.

"How's Daniel? Carolyn threatened to call the big guns the last time he came down..." he continued, Sam sighing out.

"He's trying to determine who ambushed you."

"I'll be ready to get back at it in a few days," Cameron added, "I can head back and see if I can help Daniel figure out who attacked us."

"The last thing I'm worried about right now is any of you resuming duty," Sam replied, "If I need to send another team, I will have Teal'c lead a group over," she looked behind her, pulling a chair from the corner and taking a seat, "But Cam, what in the hell happened out there?"

Cam took a breath, relaxed his position, and began to speak.

"When we crossed through the gate, Daniel headed straight to the ruins a short distance away that we talked about in the briefing. The area appeared uninhabited, so Addy, Vala and I went to the village to make contact and for Addy to do some case analysis or I dunno, some anthropology thing," Cam began.

"And you saw nothing? No one when you arrived?" Sam hated to interrupt, but she needed to be clear.

"No one. Like I said, it appeared uninhabited in the area right around the gate and the village itself was so small I'm not even sure where they would house all of the damn people that came after us. When we got to the village Adrienne found one of the women from the MALP video and was attempting to communicate with her. Vala was walking over to look at something, I have no idea what, but something caught her eye. Then, I heard a shot, saw the villagers scramble and Addy hit the ground. It was coming from everywhere; there was no way I could go back for her," Cam explained, when Sam held up her hand to halt his explanation.

"You made a judgement call, one that saved Vala's life and that gave Daniel the chance to save Addy's."

"Sam, someone had to know we were coming, and not just the dozen or so villagers," the colonel added.

Sam stood and straightened her uniform, looking back down at Cam. She had what she needed, or at the least what she needed from her friend and right now she needed to try to get a handle on who would have set this up, and why…

"Thank you Cam, and please rest. I'm going to check on Daniel," Sam thanked him, turning to leave.

Nothing more to say, Sam let out a sigh and left the room, the archaeology lab her next destination.

Daniel had just about finished going over what he could of the photos, wanting to sit down with Adrienne and tackle this together, try and figure out who in the hell else could have possibly been in that village.

His heart raced thinking about her, and he eyed the clock. It had been ten minutes since he last called the infirmary, so he felt it was time to call again. He stood, making his way over to the phone on the wall when he paused, deciding he would just walk down there himself, and hope the doctors didn't mean it when they threatened to call senior security…

He heard a knock at the open door and peeked up to see Sam walking over to him.

"Hey, I was gonna come find you on my way to the infirmary," Daniel said as he pushed his glasses up his face.

"I just left, don't bother," Sam said with a nod, "she's fine, but they haven't moved her to recovery yet. Carolyn says she will alert me when they do."

Daniel took a deep breath out, turning to lean on a table in his lab.

"Daniel, that was a pretty big risk you took…" Sam scolded, albeit gently. She was lucky that Telford only mildly screamed, having been more interested in Woolsey's people interrogating the captured raiders that had come through the gate.

"I couldn't leave her," he defended himself, his deep blue eyes so very serious, "I've had to leave too many people behind."

Sam sighed out, extending her hand and resting it on his bicep. She wanted to say more, tell him that he was not personally responsible for every death that they had all experienced over the years, but she understood, because she felt it too.

"Is the gate room damaged?"

She smiled, knowing he was changing the subject somewhat.

"Minimal, we got the blast shields up in time. Crews have already begun to work on it."

He nodded, wincing at his arm, which Sam now noticed was bandaged.

"Did you get that looked at?" she asked, knowing there was at least a fifty percent chance he had chosen to patch himself up.

"Cassie said it was fine, threw in a few stitches and left me to it," he answered as he winced again, walking over to his desk and taking a bottle of Advil from the drawer.

Sam chuckled for a moment, peering back up at him, "Didn't know you could ride like that."

Daniel laughed lightly, "Me neither."

"So, who WERE they? The men that attacked the team."

"I have no idea," Daniel replied, beckoning her to join him. Curious as to what he found, she walked up to his desk, pulling a chair over from the center table and sitting down beside him.

"Anything?" she asked, pointing to the iPad he was working on. Daniel nodded and turned the machine to face her, scrolling down the images once more.

"Not exactly, but just based on the dress of the attackers, and they were not speaking the native language, I don't think they are from there. There was NO indication of their presence before this incident, this visit and that worries me because..."

"Someone could be tracking our missions," Sam answered, with a sigh, "And Woolsey's men are doing interrogation, so, until I speak with him I won't know anything else."

"Maybe we should go back, with reinforcements and maybe an extra team," Daniel suggested, not entirely meaning it after his experience, setting the machine down and looking over to the phone.

"I will let you know when I know," Sam anticipating his thought and next move, "either about Addy or what Woolsey finds out."

Seemingly defeated, Daniel nodding, trying to come up with something to keep busy.

Adrienne spent the next three weeks in the infirmary, with each and every member of SG-1 visiting her on a near daily basis.

Daniel, one the other hand, visited at least twice a day, if not more, and stayed on base the entire time in case she needed anything.

She was weak, experienced bad dreams, and was overall withdrawn and not herself. Carolyn cautioned not to push her too hard, whether that push be work, exercise, or even what Adrienne saw as daily chores.

At three weeks and a day, Adrienne was released to on-base quarters. Daniel met her at the infirmary and helped her to her room, trying not to fuss too much over her slight limp on the side that was shot, as it appeared the muscles in her abdomen were working overtime to keep up. He even volunteered to stay, but she didn't take him up on his offer even when he said he would watch a horror movie. She just very quietly organized her things in her room, grabbed some pajamas, went to the bathroom, came out and got into the bed.

Daniel decided it was best to give her some time. After all, Sam had decided that Adrienne would not return to work for at least two weeks following her release from the infirmary, if not longer. Daniel hadn't argued, though he was fairly certain that Adrienne would be back to work as soon as possible, insisting that they get to the bottom of this mystery.

But the next morning she didn't come down. She also didn't show up at the mess hall for any meals. Both of those might have been explainable, she might not feel well, she could have ordered a staff member to bring her food given her injuries, but what really struck him as odd was that he hadn't received a single text from her all day.

They texted all day, every day, now.

It worried him so much that at the end of the second day Daniel, with still no sign of his assistant OR a text, shut down his computer and decided he was going to go and see how Adrienne was doing.

Dr. Adrienne Rowan, however, was not in her quarters.

So, he went to the next logical place.

"My dreams have come true!" Vala announced as she opened the door to her quarters, standing in a thin black tank top and pink short shorts, stepping back to allow Daniel to enter.

He didn't acknowledge her statement, nor did he move a muscle.

He wasn't in the mood for her nonsense.

"Have you seen Addy?" he asked, crossing his arms but Vala just made a face at him, pursing her lips in disgust.

"I wait years to have you arrive at my door and you come asking for her?" Vala shot back and this time he shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"Yes Vala. I'm looking for Adrienne and I thought she might be here," he clarified, hoping she would drop the act and tell him where she had last seen his assistant.

"Haven't seen her," she spat, turning to head back to her bed where Daniel could hear the TV on from across the room.

"You're sure you haven't seen her?" Daniel asked again thinking that Vala might be covering for Adrienne; hiding her, certain that she had come here to complain about him. But, he wasn't gonna dare step into her room the way she was at this moment, seductively crawling on the bed.

"No, I haven't seen Addy. I had today off, so I decided to lie around watching Lifetime and go get my nails done later. None of the above would she ever do," Vala answered honestly.

She was right; Adrienne didn't even have nails.

Daniel sighed.

"Well, if you see her can you please tell her that I'm looking for her?" Daniel requested, politely, his annoyance turning to worry, "Please."

Where was she?

Was she alright?

His heart was racing…

"Whatever. She got shot, remember, she probably just wants to be left alone," Vala responded, throwing herself back onto the bed, "Sure you don't want to join me?" she teased, patting the place beside her.

Not acknowledging her with a response, Daniel left, only one thought on his mind.

Daniel checked the commissary, the gym, the library and he even went back down to the infirmary thinking she might be checking in with the doctors.

But, she wasn't there either.

After speaking with Cassie, who had not seen Adrienne since she was released to her quarters, he decided to check her on-base quarters next and if she wasn't there to call her apartment, on the off chance she defied orders, called a Lyft and went home. Adrienne was a creature of habit. But, habit or not, he was running out of places to check.

Before he knew it, he was back where he started, standing outside the door of her quarters. He regained his composure before knocking lightly.

"Ad, hey, I haven't heard from you and I'm worried. Are you ok? Can you open up?" he asked, hoping she had been sleeping before and had just not answered his knocks or texts.

No answer came.

He knocked again, a little harder this time. She might have headphones on and be unable to hear.

But, she didn't open the door.

Pressing his ear to the door jam, he couldn't hear a sound from the other side; not a bad horror movie on her TV. Nothing. Just silence. Even more concerned, Daniel entered in her room code, since he had memorized all of her codes in retaliation for memorizing his, watched the light change to green, and turned the knob, sticking his head in slowly to the other side.

"Ad, do I need to help you to the infirmary? Do you need some dinner?." Daniel said into the dark room, when it clicked; the room was dark.

Very dark.

Too dark.

And while Adrienne could sleep, it was never in the middle of the day.

He flicked on the light, and the room was empty.

His assistant was nowhere in sight.

It wasn't totally empty, but it was obvious that she had moved out the few things that she had left in her quarters after she had secured an apartment, leaving behind her military issued furniture and a few crates in the corner. Her linens were folded nicely on the small single bed and everything was put back in place for use by the next person.

Daniel scanned the room, looking for a sign as to what she had done; well, more like why she had done this, packed her things, taken them away; when he noticed a sheet of paper sitting neatly folded on the desk. His name was written on the outside.

He recognized that terrible handwriting immediately.

Daniel,

I'm thinking you will most likely be the one who finds this, but please assure Sam that I'll be submitting a proper notice via email once I can think straight enough to draft a tender of my resignation.

I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for everything. The truth is that you've been right all along. This is not a professor's job, because in academia, one doesn't risk their lives or the lives of their friends just because they wanted to chat with the locals. Emotionally, professionally, and physically I do not believe that I can handle this. But I thank you for trying and for being such a good friend. I'll miss you.

Adrienne

Daniel set the note back on the desk, his stomach sinking to the floor.

She quit.

She had just quit; quietly and without notice.

Sure, she had gotten shot, well, she almost died, it was a close call, but he had lost count as to the number of close calls, and, just calls he had had in his time here at the SGC.

She couldn't quit.

He needed to fix this.

He needed to find her, wherever she had gone.

He couldn't lose her.

His first thought was to check her apartment, given that she had cleared out her things. It was the next stop on his list and it made sense that she would go there next.

He didn't bother calling Sam to explain where he had gone. She didn't need to know about his whereabouts nor about Adrienne's note, especially given her condition. He rushed back to the lab to grab his wallet and keys before racing back to her quarters, grabbing the note.

Scanning the empty room once more, worried Sam would come here as well, concerned about the both of them, Daniel walked over to her bed and messed it up trying to make it look like she typically left it. He even threw a few items on the floor for good measure. Satisfied that it was the best he could do, he put the note into his pant's pocket and headed for his jeep.

He didn't even need to bother with knocking at her door, he knew she wasn't there the moment he pulled into the parking lot of her complex. Her beetle was gone and since their parking spaces were assigned, it wasn't possible that she could be parked elsewhere. He pulled into the guest space he usually parked in when they hung out and shut off the Jeep, trying to think about where else she may be.

"Adrienne, where are you?" he asked aloud as if asking would make her appear.

Adrienne wasn't the type of person to do something drastic normally, he knew her pretty well, very well, and he knew exactly what this was.

Her quitting wasn't dramatics, it was fear.

He had seen it in her eyes when he found her and as she clung to him on the way back to the gate.

The fear in her eyes was something he had yet to see her truly experience in their entire time working together.

Sitting back in the driver's seat, Daniel racked his brain, trying to think where in DC she would go. For coffee? To the movies? Or the mall? Unsure of the time, he looked at his watch, noting it read six o'clock.

And then it came to him.

Reaching quickly for his keys he started the car, pulling out of the space and headed for the interstate.

Adrienne sat on the blanket debating whether or not to go get another taco from the truck before the man shut down for the evening. She decided against it, knowing that her stomach would punish her for it later if she did; like it was starting to already.

She needed some Rolaids, Ginger Root, or something.

People recovering from gunshot wounds should not eat Mexican this soon after surgery.

Frustrated and sick, she crumpled up the wrapper of her last indulgence and laid back on the blanket she had fished out of her car, looking up into the D.C. sky. She had come down here with every intention of walking straight into the office of the director of the Smithsonian and requesting an interview when she realized she was in jeans.

And her resume was on the iPad.

Which was in Daniel's lab.

And she had quit without so much as a goodbye.

Some friend she was. He had visited her every day in the infirmary and she pulled this.

Which made her even more angry at herself.

So, without anything else better to do and not wanting to stay in her apartment, she had just gone and bought some tacos.

The museums closed and she watched the people file out, guests first and then historians, scientists, and archaeologists, one by one; people who were who she thought she would someday be. After all, when she flew up here the first time she thought that fancy black car that met her at the airport was there to take her to the Smithsonian and not to a secret base buried deep underneath the Pentagon. Adrienne knew she couldn't stay here all night, but she at least wanted to wait until traffic died down a bit. She hated driving the bug in traffic, especially with her shiny new fender; a reminder of the last time she had driven in traffic.

She closed her eyes, enjoying the sunshine on her face.

Ice cream, she thought, I'll get some ice cream on the way home.

Unless my stomach doesn't like that either...

Basking in the UV rays warming her cheeks, so hot they felt like they were on fire, Adrienne laid back trying to clear her mind, forcing her thoughts away from the feeling of the bullet ripping through her, Daniel's face as he came riding into the clearing where he found her, and the sounds of shouts behind them as they rode for the gate, bullets flying around them.

All memories she couldn't bear.

She tried to let her mind wander to one of her fantasy worlds, Middle Earth, Bon Temps, Corusant, realizing they were all so very violent, each and everyone of them depressing her further. Giving up on that escape, she lay there, trying to meditate and block out the world, focusing only on warmth.

Suddenly, the feeling was gone and her cheeks cooled rapidly breaking her trance.

She opened her eyes hoping the passing cloud that was blocking her warmth wasn't going to rain on her since the bug was parked a good distance away and she hadn't brought an umbrella.

It wasn't a cloud.

It was the last person she wanted to see right now, hands shoved in his pockets peering down at her.

At first they didn't say a word to one another. Adrienne laid there trying to imagine how in the world he had found her. Daniel just stood there, looking down at her; no funny face, no smart remark, nothing.

Her heart was racing so fast she could barely breathe. Why was he here? How did he find me? He looks upset. Finally, she sat up, directing her gaze to the ground.

"Hey," she said, keeping it simple, bracing herself for the yelling that was to come. She just knew he would say she was acting like Vala; that she had stormed off like a child throwing a tantrum. Mentally prepared for the fall-out, she looked up at him, willing herself to keep it together.

"Can I sit?" was all he said in response.

Wait. What?

"Sure," she muttered, still surprised. She scooted over, making room for him on the blanket. He sat down quietly, not saying anything further, Adrienne rising from her sitting potition.

They sat there in silence for a while, Adrienne cross legged, picking and pulling at the blades of grass in front of her and Daniel with his knees up, watching the horizon.

"You hungry?" he finally asked, as he knew he was. He glanced over as Adrienne tore apart a piece of grass like she would normally tear the skin on her nails. Returning his gaze, she was slightly surprised. He didn't seem angry at all. He actually seemed concerned.

"No, I had four tacos and two sodas already," she answered, embarrassed at admitting it aloud. All the while her stomach was rumbling, reminding her of her poor choice of nourishment.

"From where?" Daniel asked, looking around, trying to remember if the Smithsonian cafeteria served tacos.

"A taco truck," she answered and pointed over to where it had been parked most of the day.

Daniel made a face at her.

"Guess three weeks of hospital food would drive anyone to a food truck," he tried to joke. But, Adrienne didn't laugh. She just stared ahead and then quickly back down at her hands.

"I didn't do this for attention," she stated instead, "And I didn't intend for you to hunt me down."

"I know you didn't," Daniel replied, sincerity in his voice. "I was worried. After everything that's happened, I was worried there had been complications."

"No, I'm stubborn, but not stupid," she muttered softly, still not looking up, "I would have called Carolyn or Carson."

"I'm glad," he answered, "How do you feel, physically, I mean?"

"It's still hard to breathe, but Carson says that psychological because I am worried about running, that it was a clean shot. Just itches a lot."

Daniel nodded.

"Any particular reason you jumped ship," he added, leaning forward a touch to make eye contact that she wasn't yet ready to give, and not letting on that he had found her letter.

With that response, Adrienne finally brought her head up, gazing over at Daniel with a look on her face he had seen a million times on his friends. It was the look of understanding, complete and total understanding of what this job was.

"I can't do this," she finally said, "I...I was shot. I watched my friend get shot and I watched them run and I was lying on an alien planet, bleeding out..." the tears began to flow. Sighing out, Daniel scooted over, taking her into his arms and letting her cry.

"I know Ad," he whispered, "I know."

"Daniel, I almost died, alone..." she continued.

"I wasn't gonna let that happen," he said, adding quickly, "I wouldn't leave you behind."

"But you, you could have died, and you came back for me, and I didn't know if I could get on that horse and I kept thinking I was gonna die watching you die right there and I just…"

She sobbed harder, Daniel not saying a word and just holding her, shielding her from the embarrassment of any bystanders that might be walking by. He let her cry, not knowing when she would stop or even caring. He remembered this feeling. Every single other person in their group, and most of the base, had gone into a career that involved training for this type of situation, or, in the case of Vala, Teyla and Ronon, had learned based on life circumstances.

But not him.

And look what had happened to him.

A little over a year ago, Daniel wouldn't have cared if he went to bed at night, never to wake up again.

He had given up on life because of what he had seen, what had happened to him; his only driving force forward was looking out for others. But not himself.

And here was Adrienne, so much like he was those many years ago, scared.

"Ad, the hardest thing about this job," he finally spoke, "is that you never know if whoever goes through that gate is ever gonna come back," he paused, breathing in, "Including yourself."

That didn't seem to be the answer she wanted. In fact, she seemed more upset by his words.

"I know," she said between sobs, "Cognitively, I understand that. But, emotionally...Daniel, I can't," she started. He shook his head, pulling away and gently grabbing her chin, gazing directly into her eyes.

"Yes. Yes you CAN," he said. "I know you can. That's not in question, you've already proven that. What I need to know is do you WANT to," he added the last part carefully, "This was your first close call, at least in terms of landing in the infirmary, and it won't be your last. Adrienne, you have the ability to be a part of this, but you have to decide for yourself if that close call was too much," he paused again, his heart breaking before he added, "And I respect whatever you choose."

Looking away again, she let out a sigh and released her legs, crossing them once more in front of her.

"I've never been so scared…" she admitted, her voice shaky.

Daniel just nodded, pulling her closer.

"But I love what I do," she added, "and I want to get back to work. And I think that scares me the most. That a part of me has just accepted what happened to me, like that's ok and normal. And then it hits me…"

Daniel remained silent. She had to decide this for herself.

"I don't wanna leave," she said quickly, before, it seemed, she changed her mind, "This is bigger than I really understood, but I wanna be a part of it."

"You haven't sent that email, have you? To Sam?" he asked quietly.

"I see you found my note," she said with a sigh, "No. I left my iPad in your lab," she replied, not pulling away.

"Good," he answered and sat up, reaching into his pocket, with one hand, leaving the other arm around her shoulders, to pull out her note, waving it between his fingers.

"You see, technically," he began, flashing the note, "I'm your boss. And I don't accept your resignation."

With that he tore the letter into two pieces and handed them to her.

"So, in short, if you really feel that way, about all of this, you can't quit just because you're scared," he said softly, "I won't let you."

She nodded, laying back on her blanket and gazing into the sky.

Without another word, Daniel laid down beside her, as the sun began to set on the horizon.

"Did you look at it?" the general asked, peeping up to make sure that Walter was the only person in earshot.

"Of course I looked at it. But, you know I can't read that shit. Let's just go with what Daniel says it says," Jack responded, his fingers listlessly tapping the folder in front of him, home to picture upon picture of crumbled rock.

"That's what I'm talking about, Jack. It's all standard ancient until the last part. Daniel swears it looks like Abydonian, but written upside down and backwards," Sam clarified, scanning the notes Daniel had made for her for a second confused time. He and Adrienne had worked hard on the information for a least a week after she was allowed to return to work, appearing together in the lab sometime around nine p.m. that evening.

"Sam, all of this shit looks upside down and backwards to me. I'm still not letting you send anyone back there. Dr. Perky and Vala landed in the infirmary and Cameron gimped around for a few days. We were damn lucky to get the team moving again in a few weeks. If you want to send Vala and her guys via ship in a week or so that's fine. But, for now, I think we should leave Daniel's order and consider it hostile."

Rolling her eyes at her husband's never ending stubbornness, Sam closed her own folder, tucking the legal pad inside.

"Alright Jack. I agree, I guess. But, don't you think it's odd? After all of this time, within a matter of weeks we find something Abydonian in origin on two different planets, nowhere near Abydos?" she tried to reason. After all, he was a smart man; no matter how much he tried to play off that he wasn't.

"Ra was just a busy bastard, hun, and about as careful as the Ancients," was his reply. Sam nodded, a gesture that he couldn't see, peeking up at Walter to tell him with a glance to remove the planet code from the logs.

"Just get tired of picking up the pieces," she answered, breathing in deeply. Her mind would not let this rest. This was a trap. There were too many things; too many "unexplainable incidents." But, she knew why Jack was being careful.

If the IOA got one whiff that there was a threat, that this could be anything like what had happened at Cheyenne, this program would be shut down faster than she and Jack had raced to Vegas.

But between the intelligence reports from Vala, and now this, something was there, or someone, toying with them...

"Meet me for dinner at six?" she inquired, resigning herself to the fact that she would just have to snoop around, alone if need be.

"With bells on, gorgeous," Jack replied with a smile, standing and pushing the chair aside. "But, let's go out. I've got a hankering for Chinese."