"Well that was two hours of our lives that we'll never get back," Daniel said as he threw the empty popcorn container into the trashcan tucked into the wall right outside the theatre.
Adrienne was already shaking her head, knowing the harassment that was to follow.
"Come on," Adrienne teased, "that wasn't so bad. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed Jason Momoa shirtless for 120 minutes."
She giggled, winking as his eyes rolled under his glasses.
"Uh huh, I bet you did," he said as he shook his head and walked out into the mall area, eager to get out of the way of the swooning women and violence charged teens that were exiting the theatre behind them. There were footsteps, loud footsteps of unfeminine big feet and he felt his arm being grabbed, slowing his pace.
"Oh Indy, a girl can dream can't she?" Adrienne argued, tossing the soda cup into the trash, not relinquishing his arm for fear he might dart away and leave her behind, "You're just mad there was no skin for you."
"Oh there was," he lifted his eyebrows, grinning half way, "I'm just mature enough to watch a film for the story, not naked bodies,"
"You're also a good liar," she retorted with a smile, pushing his shoulder as he pulled away laughing.
He was always like this when it was her turn to pick a film, but he had admitted that they were better than Teal'c or Cameron's choices. Lately, it seemed that the rest of the team always had something else to do and movie night had fizzled for a while, a lot had fizzled, Sam seeming to be more preoccupied with IOA bullshit than usual.
At first, Adrienne had worried it was her fault, but Daniel disagreed.
"For starters," he had told her just yesterday in the lab, when she asked why no one else wanted to join them, "I think that Cameron's hot after Carolyn Lam..."
"Her? Really? She seems so... grumpy all of the time?" Adrienne was shocked; Cam seemed too fun loving to be interested in her.
Carolyn seemed more, well, Daniel's type.
Adrienne wouldn't dare say that though, their friendship still had boundaries, even if Daniel insisted on crossing those boundaries daily in one way, shape or form.
"So, I think movie night ending is just a way for him to have another free night, just in case he can get her to say yes," Daniel said as he shrugged. It was then that Adrienne suggested the two of them keep it going, and indulge themselves with the nerd flicks that the others never agreed to, or movies that the group would have watched and kicked them out for making fun of.
Daniel had quickly agreed.
As they crossed the mall, her dear friend insisting on parking in Siberia for some unknown reason, Adrienne saw a large sale sign plastered over top of the entrance to her favorite clothing store and began to run ahead, glancing back over her shoulder at her companion.
"What time is it?" she shouted back.
"8:50, why?" he answered, regretting doing so instantly; he knew where she was going. Adrienne didn't like too many girly things; she wore some make-up, occasionally had her nails, what little nails she had, done, but the one thing she did like was clothes.
Crazy clothes.
Lots of crazy 'why would someone ever wear these in a million years' clothes.
Clothes that were better suited to be worn in 1984…
He cursed himself as he sighed out, knowing that he should have suggested the theatre that was not in a shopping center. Smiling at his response, Adrienne darted into the store, making a beeline for the back and he rolled his eyes following, hoping the employees were not so dedicated as to keep the store open the final ten minutes they were supposed to…
As he crossed the threshold, however, he saw Adrienne holding up some strange neon orange top full of holes and he knew at that instant he wasn't gonna be that lucky.
"I've been dying to buy this sweater and it is only $50, I have to get it!" she held it up to show him before tossing it over her shoulder and making her way over to a table of bra-like shirts. Reluctantly and walking slowly, a small part of him still hoping that the employees would shoo them away, Daniel approached his friend, looking down at the item in question.
"That's a sweater?" he asked, hoping she was mistaken as Adrienne continued digging through a pile of black shirts.
"Yeah, isn't it cute?" she responded but didn't look back to him for an answer; it must have been a rhetorical question.
"But it's short sleeved and full of holes, how on earth is that a sweater?" he tried to reason with her, completely confused by the neon orange garment in her possession that looked more like a fishing net than an article of clothing. His brain finally registered the price she was so excited about, $50, he reached over to look at the tag to see the before sale price.
It read $99.
"Adrienne, this thing was $100 and it can't even keep you warm," Daniel exclaimed. The thought of paying that much for anything so stupid was beyond him; this was more like a Vala purchase, illogical and impulsive.
Oh this could be so much fun.
"Well, it's $50 now, and I think I have a coupon. And don't get too excited, you wear this under it," she said as she held up a little bra-tank-top-like thing, sensing his thoughts, and possible ammunition.
"Why?" he asked instead, trying not to convey a tone in his question, it was so much better to wait and gather more fuel than it was to just start right in with her.
"Because it's in style," she answered simply, but he knew that wasn't her reason, in fact he knew what her reason was, he just wanted her to say it.
"So is reality TV, but you don't seem to care about that or anything else that's in style for that matter," he replied. He knew she just wanted it because it was crazy, neon, rock star like and crazy, and to Adrienne, crazy meant fun.
Say it Ad, he thought, say because it's fun so I can continue to have more fun with this...say it...I've already got a comeback for crazy on deck...
"This is why I shop with Vala," she replied instead, selecting a black shirt, the sign read 'camis', evidently they were called 'camis', heading for the register.
"Thank God for small miracles," he whispered, relieved this little venture was over, but disappointed that she hadn't opened up a new door to teasing.
Oh well, he thought, following behind, but she must have heard his praise to a deity in which she did not believe, because as soon as he got to the register he felt a bag slam into his stomach.
"I assume I'm your pack mule as well," he said, "again."
"Yep," she winked, "You're the one stunting my chances at getting a boyfriend, eva, so you get to perform boyfriend duties."
She was joking, he knew, and in the past few weeks since talking to him about what had happened to her and why she typically avoided the topic of relationships, he was still pleased she could joke about it again. It made him feel as if she was better, that she might be alright after finally telling someone what happened.
"Now where is this coffee shop of which you speak?" she now inquired, smiling before he could counter with her boyfriend argument, since he knew more than anything that Adrienne had no desire to see anyone.
Adjusting the bag, Daniel just chuckled, pointing the way with his free hand. He was starting to answer her question, explaining this new find of his from the other week, when a soft ring echoed from her pocket making her stop in her tracks.
"Fun's over," she stated, frowning slightly.
"How do you figure?" he asked, puzzled. A grimace on her face, Adrienne pulled out the phone and flashed the screen at him. It read, Sam Work, and of course, knowing Adrienne, had an assigned ringtone she had recognized.
"Hey Sam," Adrienne answered, feigning joviality, "What's up?"
"We've got a bit of a situation here; I need you to come in," Sam replied, her voice concerned and professional.
It worried Adrienne, it wasn't like Sam to call on a Friday night off unless something was really wrong.
"Sure thing, it'll take about an hour or so to get back though. I'm not close," Adrienne explained.
"That's fine," Sam continued, "You and Daniel are the last two I needed to get a hold of. Speaking of which, do you know where he is? I've been calling him, but there's no answer at his apartment and his phone is off."
Adrienne giggled slightly. She was almost certain that Sam knew they were spending so much time together, how could she not, their friendship was hot gossip all over the base. Maybe that was why Adrienne was a little nervous of what she would think if she knew that he was right here, standing beside her, on their off time, yet again.
On the other hand, however, she couldn't lie, cutting her eyes over at him before answering.
"Standing right here," Adrienne replied quickly, flushing.
"Oh, you guys are together?" Sam inquired, changing her tone for a moment.
Adrienne suppressed a groan, because with the offhand comments here and there Sam was making when she did join the team for a meal, she was starting to think that the general thought they were sleeping together too.
"Yeah, went to see a movie, we were just leaving," Adrienne added, hoping Sam's concern about whatever was going on would supersede Adrienne and Daniel being together, again.
The woman had impeccable timing.
"Alright, well, see you two in an hour or so," and with that Sam hung up. Adrienne gave her phone a squeeze, shoving it into her back pocket before peeking over at her companion.
"Back to work?" he asked, looking a tad disappointed. It almost made Adrienne smile; it was good to finally see Daniel wanting to do things for fun that weren't work related, it seemed to make him happier in general.
She couldn't imagine what his blood pressure used to be.
"Yeah, and your phone's off," she informed him. Puzzled, he handed her back the shopping bag and pulled it from his own back pocket, staring at it, swearing he had turned the thing on as soon as the credits rolled, but the screen was black.
"I hate this thing," he said as he tried to turn it back on, for a second time. Shaking her head, Adrienne grabbed his arm so they would keep walking, but pulled the phone from his hand, squeezing something on the side, flicking around on the screen, bringing it back to life. It made the standard electronic beeps indicating that it was ready to be used and she passed it back, sticking her tongue out at him.
"How could you manage without me?' she teased.
"You just keep thinking that Dr. Rowan; you apparently need those boosts to your self-esteem," he smiled back at her as they exited the mall into the parking lot.
Since they were in his jeep, Daniel drove back to the SGC, fussing his way through the traffic and nonsense of the surrounding area. They parked and dashed inside, more than an hour having passed and of course the elevator seemed to move as slow as possible. When they got to the bottom floor they raced down the hallway, opening the door and, once again, were the late ones.
Daniel had long ago decided that friendship with Adrienne meant never being on time ever again.
"You two are now quite literally together all of the time," Vala started right into them, "I wonder why…"
Neither responded, however, as Adrienne sat down beside Vala and Daniel over by Teal'c, intentionally, both feeling as though everyone would get the wrong idea otherwise.
Again.
This was getting out of hand.
"Sorry to end everyone's weekend so abruptly, but we have a bit of a situation," Sam began to explain as she was pulling up images on the Smart Board. Her face was full of concern as she cued up pictures of a desert terrain, images that Adrienne knew she had seen before but just couldn't quite place.
"If you will recall, last month we made contact with the inhabitants of PSF-293," Sam started and the pictures on the screen were images of what appeared to be a nomadic desert civilization, tents set up in a circular formation, camels surrounding the encampment. "They contacted us back after receiving Daniel's video message on the MALP."
"Right," Daniel interjected, "They appeared to be kin to the people of Abydos."
"Exactly," Sam continued, taking a breath, "In fact, they even seemed to speak the same language," Sam rolled some footage and a man in a desert robe was speaking a foreign tongue. Confused, Adrienne made a face and raised her pencil, the memories of the planet code flashing back into her head.
"Excuse me, Sam, I haven't seen this footage," she questioned, fairly certain at least that she hadn't. The images she couldn't forget, after she and Daniel's excursion to chase down Shar'e's possible kin and the ruins with the very odd inscriptions in the same language, he had been looking for answers, dragging her along to investigate every lead with him. Sam too had shown concern; she didn't think these events were coincidences. Adrienne had gone through the images with him carefully, checking and rechecking things as many times as he had wanted, agreeing a team should be sent through, but she wasn't aware there had been anything to translate, in fact, if there were, she was fairly certain that Daniel would have been first in line to go…
"No," Sam replied, "Daniel came by and listened to it one night, it wasn't pressing."
"Sorry Ad, but it was just a standard greeting and an invitation to visit, I didn't want to bug you in the middle of the night for something simple," he said with a shrug.
"No, that's cool, I just," Adrienne stammered, "it's just that you don't get to hear spoken Aramaic that often. I just like geeking out is all."
She seemed disappointed to be left out, not angry. Daniel was completely lost by both her statement and her reaction.
"It's Abydonian, not Aramaic, little different from what I am used to, but close enough," Daniel made a face at her as he peered above his glasses, not understanding why she had made such an assumption. He had her listen to tens if not hundreds of recordings at this point; she should know better.
"No, it's not Indy, it's close but..." Adrienne said quietly, trying to be as respectful as possible to her friend as she stood from her chair, politely requesting the remote from Sam, rewinding the video. She played it again and paused after the man made a strange noise with his mouth, looking back at Daniel.
"Hear the guttural; it's more Hebrew in origin than Egyptian, barely Aramaic, we're talking old school, like uncanonized biblical old school. Hear shug? He's inviting our best warriors, using the masculine plural, of course," Adrienne explained, rolling her eyes at the typical request for men, handing the remote back to Sam as she took her seat, but Daniel was shaking his head, staring at her like she was crazy.
"Ad, with all due respect, I think I know Abydonian when I hear it, dialectal variation or not. Sam, could you play that again please," Daniel stood this time, walking over to the monitor, standing as close as he could to the speaker.
The footage was played again, Daniel straining to hear before his face grew pale, his eyes widened and he leaned his head back, cursing Adrienne could have sworn, as he plopped down in the chair by the screen, his head sinking into his hands.
"Dammit, she's right," he sighed, "It's barely noticeable, but it's there. It's the Goa'uld influence, it's mixed and bastardized so many damn languages..."
"Yes, she's right," Sam said, addressing the group this time, "Which is why you all are here. I sent SG-14 to meet with these people."
"So what? SG-14 can handle themselves. Trust me, I've seen them fight," Cameron interjected, looking to his teammates for support. Vala nodded in agreement, as did Teal'c but Adrienne was shaking her head, her face now as pale as her boss's. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Daniel directed his glance to Cameron, a look of real worry in his ocean blue eyes.
"Cameron, what we missed was the male part of the request and SG-14 is..." Daniel began.
"All women," Cameron finished for him, finally catching on, "I take it these folks aren't very girl friendly?"
"Not unfriendly, per se, more like patriarchal. But we've most likely insulted them by sending women as our emissaries," Adrienne clarified, a sinking feeling beginning in her stomach.
How insulted were these people?
Was SG-14 okay?
She started to flashback to the last gender-biased planet they visited, one in which she had walked beside her traumatized best friend as he relieved his own horror.
"Insulted them?" Vala asked, empowered clearly by recent events, "I'll show them an insult. What have they done with SG-14?!"
As if she anticipated that question, Sam turned to the board in sullen silence, clicking the remote, a grainy MALP video appearing on the screen. It was the same man as before, speaking the same foreign tongue, albeit his tone was decidedly different, clearly angry. Everyone looked at Daniel for translation, but he just shook his head and pointed to Adrienne, deferring to her. His assistant made a face at him, not liking where this was going, but began to translate nonetheless.
"You greeted us as friends but it appears that you choose to insult us by sending women as your representatives…" a few more declarations came from the man, the cajun continuing, "This is unacceptable, we requested your finest warriors, again he's using the masculine plural," it made her stomach sink to say that as she watched Daniel's face drop further, "We have taken them into custody until you meet us with proper representation," Adrienne stopped as the recording ended, peeking over to check on Daniel, again, before the questions came.
"Proper representation? What's wrong with these people?" Vala spat, heated. She didn't take kindly to women being treated like lesser citizens, in fact, it was one of the reasons that Adrienne liked her so much; it kind of made up for that hyper sexuality code she lived by.
"It's complicated," Adrienne started, "but it's a religious belief and many religious beliefs like this, such as the subjugation of women, grew out of a need to differentiate themselves from other religious groups that were worshipping women, like those of Egypt and by consequence the Goa'uld, I mean, think about how many female Goa'ulds you all have met. Am I right Daniel?" Adrienne explained, adding the last part in an attempt to include him in the conversation, to no avail, since he didn't look up, just kept staring at the Smart Board.
"You are," he answered nodding, "And I think we are going to be seeing more of this, especially as planets reject their particular system lord, and, well, Adria. I'm worried they're gonna be a lot more places that are going to evolve to what we see as more extreme societal structures as societies that have been governed by an outside force for so long are left to their own devices, and hurt. There's always a price to pay for freedom, so to speak.
"Therefore," Sam quickly changed her tone, "I think it's best to send you, well most of you, to try to negotiate their release or coordinate their escape."
"Most of us?" Vala inquired, but Adrienne knew where this was going.
"Yes," Sam replied, "I think it's best that Cameron, Daniel and Teal'c go, considering the circumstances..." her voice trailed a bit.
Adrienne didn't argue, she completely understood Sam's reservations.
Vala on the other hand...
"Since when are we going to let some little villagers intimidate us? They don't like women? Well f-" Adrienne grabbing her arm before her friend could let profanity fly in the briefing room. Vala scowled, but didn't argue, instead glancing over at the archaeologist for support.
"Come on Addy, you can't agree with her? We just dealt with some bastards like this a few weeks ago!" Vala pleaded but Adrienne sighed, shaking her head as she pointed a pencil at the board, emphasizing the angry glare on the man's paused face.
"Sorry Vala, but I do. I mean, they took out the entire team and Sgt. Mardsen's a former fighter, like MMA; she's crazy tough, you've seen her fight, hell I think she'd bruised everyone in this room. I'm more than happy to sit this one out," Adrienne replied as Sam was nodding in agreement. Nothing more to say, the general walked over to the monitor, switching off the screen sullenly when Daniel looked back at the group, finally returning to the conversation.
"Adrienne needs to come," Daniel muttered from where he was seated everyone turning to look at him, their faces in varying degrees of shock.
"I need her to come," he clarified, hoping that would ease the harshness of the glares being shot in his direction.
"What the hell man, do you want us to join SG-14?" Cameron looked at him in shock, Vala's face equally as surprised.
"Aramaic, in fact all of the ancient biblical languages are Adrienne's speciality, not mine. If what they're speaking is Aramaic, then I would prefer to defer to Adrienne's interpretation. We wouldn't send Addy to translate Egyptian, Abydonian, or Arabic and leave me behind, or send Cam to deal with the Jaffa with Teal'c ready and able. If we are going to keep encountering more..." he paused, "difficult situations, then we have to make sure we're sending the person with the expertise we need," Daniel explained.
"Daniel," Sam started, "I'm not comfortable sending another woman into this situation."
Pausing his argument for a moment, Daniel peered over at Adrienne, trying to read her face for an objection, but it didn't seem she had one. She didn't want to go, but he was right and she hoped he could read her eyes without having to add to the tension in the room. This was her area of expertise, any group of people that had contact with the classical world, not his; sending him would have been akin to getting Adrienne to try to read cartouches, close but not perfect and right now, they needed perfect if they wanted to get the missing team home.
"If this is an early Mesopotamian type society, which is what it appears to be, if Adrienne goes as my sister, there shouldn't be a problem," he added. He was right, and Adrienne almost laughed at the suggestion, considering how many times she had to play something far less appropriate for two working colleagues. However, still concerned, Adrienne glanced at Sam and then back at Daniel, talking directly to him as if no one else was in the room.
"Indy shug, what if they demand a betrothal offering for the release of the others? Not that I wouldn't put myself on the line for SG-14, I would, but I 'd prefer not to be sold if we can avoid it," Adrienne kept her voice calm, trying to reason with him, not desiring to upset him further.
This time, his face brightening, Daniel peeked over at Teal'c, a smile spreading across his face.
"I can't offer someone who is spoken for, as Teal'c is soon to be my brother in law," he answered, looking at her hopefully.
Adrienne's eyes widened, understanding Daniel's plan.
"Of course, exploit the family unit! Cam can be our brother and Mardsen his wife!" she shouted.
It was brilliant, nothing was more important in a society such as this than family!
Go through as a family unit, come back as a family unit.
It just might work…
"Exactly, and that only leaves us three women to speak for. We can say that Cameron, as our leader, sent Mardsen, her being his subordinate, before coming himself," Daniel began to explain to the group as a whole. Adrienne did a mental count in her head, noting that Daniel didn't offer to marry himself to one of the other three women, and while she found it odd, she kept her mouth shut figuring he must have his reasons. Taking a seat finally, Sam looked over at Daniel, gravity in her face, nowhere near as excited as Adrienne was about this plan.
"I'm still not in favor of this," she spoke again.
"Me neither," Vala interjected, nodding emphatically at Sam's disagreement, "If Addy goes, I go."
"Vala, trust me, if they don't buy I'm Daniel's sister, I'm dead. You'd have to be overly cautious with this, ridiculously so. If you were to bat an eyelash at the wrong man, they'd stone you," Adrienne explained.
"Stoned? Like with rocks or - " Vala started but Adrienne put up her hand.
"With rocks, Vala. The ouch kind of stoned," the Cajun answered, shaking her head.
Ignoring the exchange, Sam redirected her attention to Daniel and Teal'c, who were both staring at her, awaiting her final approval.
"You really think you can pull this off?" she questioned. Already worried about the fate of SG-14, the last thing she wanted to do was send SG-1, Adrienne as a woman in particular, into a trap.
"GeneralO'Neill, I will protect AdrienneRowan with my life, you have my word," Teal'c assured her, using her title for added emphasis.
Daniel simply nodded, agreeing to the same without another word. Sam might not know it, but he would; he'd never let anything happen to Adrienne, ever, if he could help it…
He'd promised her as much.
"Fine, then I'll leave it up to your judgement. You all need to get some sleep; you'll be leaving at 1100 hours and their days are longer," Sam ordered, taking one last minute glance at Daniel, before excusing the group.
As the others filed out, Adrienne lagged back to make sure that the general could secure for her the appropriate female attire, not wanting to insult their hosts further when saw Daniel leave the room alone out of the corner of her eye, quietly.
Her stomach knotted with worry, but he'd have a wait, focusing on the mission as she pulled some images up on her iPad.
Assured Sam could acquire what she needed, Adrienne made her way to the lab to check on Daniel, her brain already concocting any counters to the blame he was about to place on himself as she made the short trek from Sam's office to their workspace. Thankfully he was there when she arrived, sitting in his desk chair, feet propped up on the surface, tapping a pen on his leg and staring off into space.
"You do realize you're forcing me to wear a full body woolen tunic and shawl?" she asked him, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. She hoped to elicit a smile but she got nothing even close in return.
"Oh, yeah, glad you thought of that," he responded, not bothering to look at her. Frowning, Adrienne set down her messenger bag at her desk, turning to close the lab door behind her.
"What's wrong Daniel?" she asked as she walked over to him, wondering if he was in the mood to talk or if this was one of his leave me alone moods, though the latter seemed to be less frequent between them lately.
"I never imagined that winning, that defeating not one but two great evils in the galaxy would result in this," he answered flatly, "I was so focused for so long on stopping the Goa'uld, and then the Ori and then unlocking the secrets of this database but now? Now we're back to exploring, walking through to something on the other side that we may not truly understand and I was there Ad. It was me, that first time, and we walked right into Ra, into…" he trailed, Adrienne reading his mind.
"And into the Abydonians, Shar'e, and eventually Teal'c," Adrienne pointed out and walked behind where he was sitting, wrapping her arms around him, bringing her face beside his.
"Teal'c, who now works with a free Jaffa council and Vala, who uses her knowledge of all of those terrible things to help us help other worlds, and Dex, who never has to run again..." she continued as he sighed, leaning back against her, reaching up with his right hand to squeeze her forearm, "For all of the horrors we keep stumbling upon, we are also helping so many people."
"Try telling that to SG-14 right now," he muttered annoyed, "or better yet the IOA."
"Well, you told me that, when I've had my doubts. You told me to look at the bigger picture and the good we can do," she countered, standing to get a chair and grabbing the leg of his jeans to bring his feet to the floor so he could face her. Daniel smiled but didn't move any further, his forearms resting on his knees, still not looking up at her.
"I do recall a very similar conversation not too long ago when you were telling me something about it being part of the job…" and with those words his eyes finally met hers.
"Well done my padawan," he tried to joke, an effort for her she was certain.
She smiled.
"Let's just do this, go, and get them back," she said in closing, standing when she felt a gentle grab at her wrist.
"It'll be dangerous for you," Daniel admitted, fear in his face, "I'll protect you, Teal'c and Cam will too, but Ad, if you aren't feeling up to this, given…"
"I'll be fine," she assured, reaching down to help him stand, "I'll stuff some focus grenades in my underwear again," she added, laughing, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and squeezing him tightly, kissing his cheek. He didn't say anything, so unlike him, to keep silent, but she felt arms wrap around her, his face burrowing into her neck…
That action alone made her stomach flutter, so she pulled quickly, squeezing his shoulders and letting him go.
"Come on Indy," she continued, "we should probably get some sleep. Desert heat plus lack of sleep really don't mix."
"You're right," he agreed standing, shoving a few things around on his desk.
"You wanna come down?" she offered, shocked at the words crossing her lips, she was offering for him to spend the night with her, again, as if it was something that they normally did…
It was…
Daniel's in love with you…
Dammit Vala.
"I'll be ok," he replied, to both her disappointment and relief, "I always am. But thanks."
Without a further word, they walked to the elevators that would take them to their respective quarters.
"Addy, you in there?" Cameron teased as she entered the gate room, making Daniel look up. She'd missed breakfast, but he hadn't bothered her, figuring she was preparing for the mission in the way that she did.
"Mitchell, I just want you to imagine the obscene gesture I'm making at you underneath this thing," she replied, "and keep that image in your mind each and every time something smart's about to come outta your mouth."
The only part of Dr. Adrienne Rowan's entire body that was visible was her eyes, the rest of her covered from head to toe in an off white robe made of heavy woolen material, that included a wrap around and over most of her head and then continued it's shapeless form down the rest of her body. Daniel saw her roll her gorgeous brown eyes at the group, making his heart stop for just a moment, reconsidering his plan in that very instant.
What if she got hurt?
She meant so much to him, he couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to her…
...she has no idea at all that you're in love with her...
"Yea, go ahead," her words and accent breaking his train of thought, "Let's all get it out of our systems now. I threw my tantrum in my quarters before I came down," she informed them, her voice muffled by the layers and layers of fabric. It wasn't that Adrienne would mind being covered, she seemed to live in athletic gear or jeans, it was the fact that she was literally wearing a symbol of women's repression. Daniel was reminded again of how proud he was of her restraint and how he did need her expertise in this, that it was a risk he'd have to take.
"No comment," he said, smiling at her.
"Good," she told him as she turned in his direction, "because if you did I was gonna have my fiancé kick your asses. Right honey?" she cocked her head over at Teal'c.
"Indeed AdrienneJackson," he said with a grin, "And you are a lovely bride to be."
"Hear him Indy, Cam?" Adrienne laughed as she adjusted again, "those are the kinda things ya say to a lady…"
"Noted girlie," Cameron replied as Daniel made a face at her, wishing he had a chance to talk with her this morning, see if she was ok doing this, but it was too late now.
He should have called.
Why hadn't he called?
Some friend he was...
Mentally coaching himself for the challenge set before them, Daniel looked back to Walter, gave him a thumbs up sign and the gate began to move.
It was an awful three hour walk to the village. She might have made fun of it originally, but Adrienne was thankful for her outfit once they were on the other side of the gate as the wind was whipping around them, the boys coughing loudly as they fought to keep the sand out of their mouths. Even though Adrienne was able to keep the granules out of her face, she was baking underneath the layers of fabric, so by the time they reached the village all she wanted was a shower and to be freed from the confining material. She must have made a noise or some other indicator of disgust because Daniel slowed down to walk with her, reaching his arm around her, drawing her in close.
"I appreciate this," he said, that same look of concern on his face from the night before.
"You'd betta," she joked, smiling but realized that he would not be able to see. Instead, she reached across her chest and squeezed his arm, hoping he would understand. Pulling away Daniel adjusted his pack onto his shoulders, the four of them walking right into the village.
Oddly there was no one to greet them, something very much out of the ordinary, so Cam ordered weapons up, Daniel pushing Adrienne to his side protectively, as they marched straight to a large tent that was in a position toward the back, a tent that seemed large enough to house some sort of leader and his entourage. It was a type of Bedouin village, however it seemed as if these tents had been there for a while, a long while, adding to the peculiarity of their situation.
"Coooh, dat's strange," Adrienne began, "They're using these tents as permanent structures. That's not normal, at all. Typically a civilization like this moves as the seasons change or the herds move, but I reckon these things have been here for years…"
Daniel was about to agree with her, and chide her for slipping into bayou slang, when suddenly the group was surrounded by men holding large curved swords, two of them with Jaffa staff weapons. Cam held his gun aloft and then put it on the ground to show he was no threat, signaling that Teal'c and Daniel do the same, which they did while Adrienne didn't move, standing still beside Daniel, her head slightly bowed.
"Friends!" Daniel shouted to the group in Aramaic. One of the men holding the staff weapon walked in Adrienne's direction, examining her from head to toe, stabbing her sharply in the back with the stick. His trained mind immediately on the defensive, Teal'c stepped forward, placing his arm protectively in front of his female teammate.
"You have insulted my friend," Daniel said quickly, "she is his." Adrienne held her breath, hoping it would work since after the last team, they might recognize the outfits and not buy into what Adrienne was wearing. Thankfully, the men bowed their heads in apology at Teal'c and turned to speak to Daniel, who had, Adrienne was very surprised to see, stepped up as if he was their leader. Daniel cocked his head as he listened to the man, as if he didn't understand something and Adrienne knew what: the last word, property, was strictly ancient Aramaic. In an effort to help, Adrienne took a step forward to Daniel, feigning a cough.
"He says I'm property, wants to know why Teal'c brought his property," Adrienne tried to whisper softly, but was slammed in the back by a staff weapon, thrown to the ground face first. Daniel started to move, but Teal'c grabbed his arm and then turned to the attacker, punching him in the face. Taken completely off guard, Adrienne kept herself on the ground, her lip throbbing in pain right where her scar was, fearing to move.
She fought every inclination she had to defend herself, for fear of the message it would send to their already offended hosts. From the dust, her face pressed close so as to not escalate the situation, she heard Daniel exchange some words with the men, peeking up at a slight movement to see that Teal'c had knelt beside her.
"Are you injured AdrienneRowan?" he asked as a large hand rested on her arm.
"No, just a little sore, but I didn't bust my lip open again. Help me up?" she answered and he pulled her carefully up to her feet. Daniel gave her one of their silent looks, the looks they had started to give one another, a silent language between the archaeologists. His azure eyes were full of worry, and she tried to convey to him without a word that she was alright and that he needed to focus on the task at hand.
The man who slammed Adrienne scowled at her, telling her with his expression that she had committed a grave offense that she needed to not commit again, which she didn't plan on anytime soon; she had no intention of pushing her luck.
"We are here to meet with your leader," Daniel explained, continuing his role as their own, his words slow and careful as to not offend anyone further. Adrienne watched as who appeared to be the head of this band of men turned to speak to another, the archaeologist catching a few words here and there, pale, others, visitor, men. She couldn't tell whether or not they were pleased to see the group but their words were so low and muffled that not only could she not grasp this for herself, but the confines of her outfit made it impossible to let Daniel know what was going on without speaking again.
"Come," the man ordered, turning and walking away.
"See, why in the hell didn't they just do that in the first place?" Cameron muttered, letting Daniel take the lead, Teal'c at Adrienne's side.
Without further incident, the group of guards led them to the door of the large tent, trimmed in gold threading, clearly the tent of a person of importance, a person like a king. Again, Adrienne felt the entire situation was wrong; typical nomads didn't behave in this fashion, but refrained from comment, wishing she could somehow sign something to Daniel.
When they arrived at the entrance, the man motioned for Daniel only to enter, taking him as their leader, Cam not arguing for a moment. Worried, he shot Adrienne a glance and then looked back at the man, straightening his stance as he spoke.
"You have insulted my sister. I demand she remain at my side so I can insure her protection," he ordered, again in Aramaic, shocking Adrienne both with his pronunciation, which was seeming to get better, and his insistence that she remain by his side.
She was fine, really, but it was touching.
"Why does her betrothed not take measures to ensure her safety?" the man asked, his head cocking at Teal'c who immediately stepped in front of his charge. Refusing to allow Adrienne to be hurt again, Daniel shook his head, stepping backward toward his assistant, guarding her with his own body from a threat that wasn't there.
"As her brother, I have first rights," Daniel countered, remembering familial policy in early middle eastern societies. Knowing he was correct, the man relented, stepping aside to allow both man and woman to enter. Daniel moved behind Adrienne, placing his hand on her back, drawing his face close to her head.
"I'm sorry Ad," he whispered as they were led into the tent, Daniel not leaving her side.
"You guys act like I'm made of glass, I'm fine," she assured him faintly, not wanting to be struck again for speaking out of turn. He gave her a look and pushed her forward along with him, his soft touch gently drifting away as they walked through the opening.
The sun created a blazing glare in the tent, so bright that Adrienne was unable to see a single thing in front of her until the tent flap closed behind them. It clicked out the sunlight like a switch and in front of her and Daniel was a large fat man in a turban seated proudly on a magnificent hand carved throne, painted red as blood. His skin was a deep brown, wrinkled by the sun, and he was surrounded by half-naked women massaging oil onto his body, his oversized heaving chest shining in the candlelight. Other than the turban, the only other article of clothing he was wearing was a pair of blue balloon pants, gathered at his thick waist by a bright green scarf and accented on the bottom by bright green shoes that came to a curled point, looking like something out of the North Pole rather and Saudi Arabia. It was like a scene out of some bad TV movie, so many misinterpretations of various middle and near eastern cultures. Reaching for Daniel's fingertips, Adrienne couldn't hold back any longer, grabbing them and drawing him closer.
"This is not an early Mesopotamian society; this is some sick bastardization," Adrienne tried to whisper to Daniel but was struck again in the back forcefully sending her tumbling toward the ground. This time, however, she managed to catch herself on her knees, avoiding further damage to her lip.
"How dare you strike her!?" Daniel shouted at the guard as he raised the staff and returned it to his side, yet the man seemed unconcerned and did not reply, walking back over to his station behind the two of them, staff held at his side, staring forward.
"You would do better to keep your woman in line," the turbaned man said as he grabbed a large slab of bread from a plate brought over by a half-naked blond woman who was ducking into a side entrance of the ten. She was limping and in obvious pain, large purple bruises covering her exposed legs. Having taken what was needed, the man shoved her away like some kept animal and proceeded to dip the bread into a large cup. The woman peeked at Adrienne quickly, who was still pressed against the floor, but as the slave scurried away the young archaeologist recognized her immediately as Sgt. Mardsen of SG-14.
The cajun swallowed nervously, peering up at her dear friend.
"My woman, my sister, was speaking to me," Daniel continued, "and that woman belongs to my brother."
Apparently, Daniel had seen Sgt. Mardsen too.
What was happening here?
A slimy smile across his face, the fat man sucked red liquid from his treat, slowly, making Daniel await his response, licking the excess fluid from his fat fingers before popping the bread into his mouth.
"If she is so important, why did he send her unescorted?" the man asked, his mouth full, pieces of bread falling from the corners.
Adrienne was disgusted and reminded herself to never give Daniel a hard time about chewing with his mouth open ever again. At least Daniel had allergies or ADD as an excuse; this man was just disgusting.
"Because she does as she is told. She was told to bring her handmaidens with her to see if you were a worthy man to deal with, however, instead of sending greetings to us, you steal our women. We demand their return," Daniel spoke, although the grammar was rotten enough to make Adrienne wince despite his steadily improving pronunciation.
Now she knew how he felt when she tried so poorly to read Hieroglyphs.
"We do not talk to women, unless we are telling them what to do, or how to do it," he laughed loudly and Adrienne looked out of the corner of her eye to see a young woman, maybe nineteen years old or so, being brought into the room. In that same foreign tongue, he ordered her to do something so shocking that Adrienne made a noise from under the layers, debating inside whether or not to blow the entire cover and pound the fat man into the ground. She heard a staff weapon whip through the air but thankfully it didn't make contact, so Adrienne remained close to the dirt waiting for Daniel's next move.
"Enough!" Daniel shouted, "And I will not bear witness to any of this!" Adrienne hoped he was talking about that poor woman and not just her, "What you choose to do in your own quarters is your affair, but my sister will not be exposed to any of this. And the next man that strikes her shall find out exactly how I repay such attacks," Adrienne smiled, even though she knew it was part of the act, but it was nice to hear him talking about breaking bad on someone on her behalf.
"We have our own ways and they are not to be questioned. You have disrespected our family and therefore we demand you release our women, now!" Daniel shouted, Adrienne lying pressed to the sand floor quiet, but very impressed.
If they ever got out of this mess she would have to tease him about it…
"This is who I had hoped to meet! A man! Come my friend, bring your brothers and be our guests. We shall talk of a union between our people," their host declared, his tone changing abruptly at Daniel's threat. She didn't look up, but felt Daniel grab her arm forcefully, and slightly painful, pulling her to her feet. She let him, knowing his strenuous grip was also part of the act, but stumbled into him a bit as she stood, realizing that the blow to her back a second time might have caused some injury that she didn't feel from her huddled position on the ground. Sensing her stumble, he caught her in his arms, pulling her close to him, a feeling of safety coming over her in his embrace. Not wanting to let go, for fear of suffering at their hands as Mardsen had, combat training or not, she scanned the fat man out of the corner of her eye as he stood, giving orders to the rest of the room.
"You!" he pointed to Mardsen, "take her to your other women!"
That same man that had slammed her in the back, twice, reached forward and grabbed Adrienne from Daniel before he could react, throwing her at Sgt. Mardsen. The women caught one another but Mardsen didn't say a word, didn't even make eye contact with Adrienne, just stood her upright and took her gaze to the floor. Glancing up and forcing herself not to be scared, Adrienne looked Daniel dead in the eye and blinked "OK," in Morse Code, hoping he would catch on. Frowning, appearing just as worried as she was, he winked at her once and followed the man out, leaving his assistant, his friend, behind.
Urged on by two large men with very sharp blades and coarse Aramaic words, Sgt. Mardsen escorted Adrienne through a flap, into a tent attached to the back of the one they were in, to where Adrienne noted in that instant, the rest of the women were being kept.
The women of SG-14 weren't huddled together like one would expect women to do; these were tough, strong women, and they had paid for it; almost every one of them stripped down to some belly dancing slave outfit that rather than be sexually revealing was more revealing of the awful injuries they had sustained. Lt. Tuiy had a black eyes and deep rope burns on her arms. Major Smith's entire stomach was black and blue, but she was still holding her head high; high enough for Adrienne to see the deep gash on the bottom of her cheek. The last member of the team, Adrienne didn't remember her name, her mind was racing enough as it was, no longer had legs that resembled any skin tone; instead they were a deep purple and it looked like her ankles were bleeding underneath the ropes tied to them.
The archaeologist was about to speak, to start to question the women to gather the severity of the situation, when a man entered the room behind her and Mardsen, shoving Adrienne to the floor. She didn't fight him, just caught herself on her elbows, trying to keep her face up and mouth protected. Using his feet to move her, he kicked the Cajun, very nearly full force in the thigh, motioning for her to roll onto her butt and leaned over to tie her feet together tightly with canvas rope, but not so tight that she couldn't shuffle forward. Pushing Adrienne out of the way forcefully by the shoulder, dismissing her she assumed, he walked over to do the same to Mardsen, slapping her in the face once he was finished and left, spitting on the ground at the doorway in disgust.
Satisfied that he was gone, or at the very least hoping he was, Adrienne peered over at Mardsen, coming to her knees painfully to crawl over to her.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"We're alive," she answered curtly, "Glad to see you guys."
"Sarge?" the red headed woman spoke, "Isn't that Jackson's assistant?"
Adrienne leaned over a bit more so they could see, shaking her head to remove what was still hanging on of the facial covering. She wanted to say, yes, and I'm a full-fledged member of SG-1, but now was not the time to be offended.
"Yeah, I'm Addy, Dr. Adrienne Rowan, and I'm Daniel's assistant. Sam sent SG-1 to help," Adrienne answered instead, the covering falling into the dirt to reveal that she was indeed who she claimed to be.
"Help?! Then how did you end up here with us?" Major Smith spat at her, not the reaction she was expecting.
"It just kind of happened that way. Don't worry, they've got it under control," Adrienne assured them.
"That's what we thought," Ann added mournfully, a few murmurs in reply.
And then the women of SG-14 all dropped to silence, sitting in the darkness of the tent alone.
Adrienne wanted to give Daniel a chance to set this right without causing any problems on her end, so she accepted their quiet.
Sitting in silence, she meditated, clearing her thoughts of worry.
Time passed, but Adrienne had none of her usual gadgets to tell her how much, so she tried to judge the best she could by the little bit of light peeking through cracks in the tent, to no avail. She was growing anxious, it wasn't like Daniel to leave people like this, to leave her like this, but she kept silent, running her finger lightly in the sand.
"We're screwed," Mardsen said finally.
The archaeologist looked over at her surprised, most certainly not expecting a military type, and especially someone like Mardsen, to give up so easily.
"Why do you say that?" Adrienne asked, trying to remain hopeful and confident in her team, in her boss, her best friend, but sergeant was looking away, at the same slit of fading light that Adrienne was staring at before.
"It's taken too long. They're probably dead or enslaved at this point," was the reply.
The thought gave the Cajun chills, imagining him, imagining Daniel, well not just him, but all of them dead, but especially Daniel, he was just too important to her…
She wouldn't accept it.
"Sergeant Mardsen, I'm sure -" Adrienne started but she was interrupted by Mardsen, who was glaring back at her.
"Anne," the woman insisted, "If we're all gonna to die here please call me Anne," but Adrienne was quick to disagree.
"We're not gonna die. Daniel'll be back, I promise." Adrienne answered, noticing her slip in word choice, Daniel and not the team.
She pushed the thought aside.
"You've got a lot of faith in him," Anne stated simply, a look on her face one that Adrienne had now grown accustomed to seeing and was tired of explaining.
"I do," Adrienne choked out and was silent again, a hint of embarrassment flushing her cheeks.
She had a lot of faith in him, he would never let her down; she had never trusted anyone in her life like she trusted Daniel Jackson.
Daniel's in love with you...
She was just going to sit here and wait a bit longer.
"I hope you're right," the sergeant muttered, running her finger around in the dust.
The light in the cracks of the tent disappeared and Adrienne knew it was nightfall. Like most deserts, the temperature dropped dramatically as the sun went down and the archaeologist could see the other women beginning to shake, their uncovered bodies flooding with goosebumps. Concerned, she ripped at her layers of clothing, trying to make some kind of makeshift covering for her companions but Anne was shaking her head at the attempt, reaching over to cover her hand.
"Don't bother," she explained, eyeing her shin, "If we try to cover up, they'll just beat us some more."
Not desiring anyone to be injured any further, Adrienne tossed the pieces aside, refusing to give up just yet, letting her eyes scan their surroundings again for an exit, a sign, anything. Peering back up at the flap through which she shoved hours before, she thought she saw moving, straining to look closer when she heard loud laughing.
Loud familiar laughing.
Bad forced loud familiar laughter that liked to make its awkward appearance whenever they watched a movie that she wanted to watch…
The door moved and Daniel came through the slit, followed by the Fat Man, Teal'c and some of the other men from before, the ones that had pointed weapons at them when they arrived, Daniel and the Fat Man speaking in loud, bad, foul Aramaic.
In fact, she had never heard Daniel swear like that, in any language.
It made her cringe.
"No, I can't take a wife, my sister is enough of a problem. I've had to keep the bitch in line, to train her to serve a man. I am most thankful to my friend here since he is either tolerant enough or damn fool enough to take over for me in that regard. Once they are wed and she is no longer my problem, maybe then will I be able to enjoy the company of a good woman instead of dealing with her," Daniel spat, glaring down at his assistant.
She knew he was acting, but his words were so unlike him, it made her sick to her stomach; it made her feel like exactly what their hosts had referred to them as: property.
"She does seem to be trouble. Do not worry, we shall work on her here, try to teach her to respect men. We show our women who is in charge," the Fat Man answered and Daniel laughed, glancing at Teal'c, silently signaling that he should laugh as well. The Jaffa did as requested, falling in line with the leering men, who were carefully looking over the half-naked women splayed in front of them, save Adrienne, who was still wrapped in her layers upon layers of linen.
"Hear that sister!" Daniel now said to her, "I have finally found someone to help me calm you down! They will teach you," he knelt close to her, bringing their faces dangerously close. His breath smelled of middle eastern food and wine and she hoped he hadn't been drinking too much; she knew he couldn't hold his alcohol to save his life.
"What are you doing?" she hissed at him, wishing she could work with him on this instead of being trapped here, like an animal.
"Play along," he whispered, grabbing her by her outfit and pulling her face closer to his, their noses almost touching.
"Do you HEAR me sister? You think that ROPES are bad? You just wait. Pretty soon these ropes will seem couteau and then you will see that you should have listened to me," he spat, making Adrienne cringe in fear at his non characteristic behavior. He pulled her impossibly closer, his other hand shoved into her layers gripping her painfully.
He suddenly threw her back toward the floor, making her land on her bruised bottom in agony.
"Couteau?" the Fat Man questioned, catching the strange word in his guest's Aramaic speech. Daniel, however, didn't look back at the man, just stared intently at Adrienne while he gave his explanation.
"Where I come from it means, tolerable, she needs to know what will come of her if she keeps us her insolent behavior, that her punishment will only be worse," he stood, explaining as he glared at Adrienne, "I cannot allow her to torment me any longer. She cuts my patience…"
"Tomorrow then," the Fat Man declared, "We shall begin to teach her respect tomorrow. But now, we must drink!" That declaration made, their host led the group from the tent, babbling on in the ancient language about food and wine and women…
Pausing, Daniel looked over his shoulder at Adrienne once more, letting his hand trail behind him, one quick word in American sign language.
CUT
Adrienne got the message, her boss nodding as he ducked out.
"Come on," she whispered to Anne the moment the swatch of fabric dropped, "we don't have a lot of time because he is NOT gonna let ANY female slaves do that to anyone."
"What are you talking about?" Anne looked confused and even after the visit, still lacked the glimmer of hope that was now shown in Adrienne's eyes.
"He's gonna get us out of here, but we've got limited time, just help me with these ropes," Adrienne ordered as she reached into her layers, where it hurt, it still hurt at her side, where Daniel had tucked a blade by some miracle into her sports bra.
"Not a bomb this time, but it'll do," she said as she pulled it out. It was small, not nearly large enough to slice quickly and he had most likely stolen it from dinner. She looked at her bindings, the pieces going from the sides of her ankle onto the ends of her feet and began to push forward. Two of the other women followed suit but Sgt. Mardsen and Lt. Tuiy just sat there, unconvinced.
"Adrienne, don't you think we've tried that?" Anne counted, grabbing at her own binding and letting them drop, "they won't budge."
"Daniel slipped me a knife, but it's not a big one. We need to stretch out these bindings as much as possible and cut through what we can. He's most likely worked out our escape, but we have got to hurry," Adrienne rambled as she continued to push and pull the ropes as he had instructed.
Somewhat affirmed by her words, Lt. Tuiy looked at her once more and started to copy her motions, but not Mardsen, who was shaking her head.
"How's he planning on getting us out? Just march us out behind him? They are heavily armed.." Anne asked, still not joining the group in their stretching.
"I have no idea," Adrienne answered her frankly.
"Yet you're just gonna trust him?" Anne glared at her with a condescending look on her face.
"Yeah, " Adrienne spat back, angered by her insinuation that Daniel would not be good to his word, "I am."
"Look Adrienne, no offense intended, but you're banking on the head geek of the SGC getting us out of here when we, a combined skill set of military and martial arts training, couldn't save ourselves. Excuse me while I hold my breath," Anne shot as she let the rope drop to the floor, infuriating the Cajun.
"Well, ya can jus stay 'ere den, because Daniel will get us outta 'ere," she paused to control the volume of her voice, aware that she was near shouting and slipping into Cajun, "I know he will; I trust him."
There was a chilling silence as the other women paused, watching to see who would move first, their team leader or the angry archaeologist who seemed near blows over the mere suggestion that Daniel Jackson couldn't save the day.
It was Anne that broke first, rolling her eyes but starting to push, sensing the certainty in Adrienne's voice as the overdressed cajun woman began to push and stretch and try to cut once more.
She knew Daniel would get them out of this.
He would never leave a person behind if there was a chance to save them.
He would never leave her behind.
Trying to be strong, for herself as well as the others, Adrienne started to push again.
It was almost sunrise when Daniel came rushing into the tent.
Adrienne and the others stood, the small red-headed woman taking the lead as they moved the train of women from the back of the tent to the front, Adrienne lagging behind as she had been the last one to be added to the chain. In his hands he had a sharper knife, some sort of dagger, and Adrienne had no idea where he had gotten it.
"Quick," he ordered, "We need to move. Teal'c and Cam are heading to the gate to dial home and cover our escape, and most of the guards are drunk," he explained as he cut at Lt. Tuiy's thicker bindings.
They worked in silence, Daniel working to saw at some of the pieces that were thicker that they had been unable to cut through. The other women, including Anne, stretched out the remaining pieces for his sharper blade, one by one making their way out of the tent.
"Sergeant, where's Adrienne? Did she manage to get her bindings off?" he asked, he hadn't been watching, he'd been looking for guards, but before she could answer, he heard a thunk come from behind the team leader, from inside of the tent.
Dropping the bindings and knife, he raced past Anne and the other women.
Adrienne was laying on the floor, face down, her head pointing in the opposite direction, trying to get up, reaching toward the back of her head, but her movements were jerky. It was clear that the man standing over her had caught her from behind as she was following the others out based the way she had fallen, her left foot tied almost to the opening, the rope digging into her skin. Completely ignoring Daniel, her assailant stood over her, prepared to swing the staff once more and she was trying to get up to fight him, but the force of the surprise blow had left her woozy and staggering to get onto her knees.
Without hesitation, Daniel ran toward the man and caught the staff as it flew through the air, the weapon hitting his hands with such force that the pain ratcheted through his arms, but he was determined not to let him hurt her.
No harm would come to Adrienne if he could help it.
He held onto the staff despite the agony raging through his palms and kicked the man in the stomach, sending him tumbling to the ground, the guard not expecting a fight. Determined, Daniel brought the weapon to his side and moved to stand over Adrienne as the nomad scampered to his knees, swearing in Aramaic that he would kill Daniel and then have his way with the woman.
Over my dead body, the archaeologist thought.
Staff now in his possession, Daniel brought it up into the air and down on the man's head, knocking him out cold, stepping forward to swing again at the man if needed, but the assailant didn't move, lying there sprawled onto the ground, unconscious. Disgusted, he tossed the weapon to the other side of the tent and ran over to Adrienne, falling to his knees beside her.
"Adrienne, are you alright?" he stammered out, worried, pulling her off of the ground and into his arms.
"I, uh, Daniel," she tried to reply, but she was hovering on the edge of consciousness, completely out of it, her lip busted open where her scar had been before, a thin stream of blood oozing from it. Rather than try to see if she could walk, he gritted his teeth, remembering that with all of her athletics and genetics that she wasn't a small woman, but in one powerful lift, swept her up into his arms, holding her close and pushing his way through the tent.
Sgt. Mardsen was waiting for him, clasping the end of the rope that had been between her and Adrienne, having freed his assistant as well.
"We're free and I've sent them ahead. Is she?" she asked cautiously as Adrienne lay limply in Daniel's arms.
"She's fine; let's go," he ordered, adjusting Adrienne closer to his chest, leading the second woman as they made a mad dash for the gate.
When they crossed back through the event horizon, the medical staff was waiting, having received the transmission from Cam ahead of their arrival. SG-14 went first, Dr. Lam ordering them onto stretchers while Teal'c and Cam came next as Sam was entering the gate room herself.
"Where are?" she asked, but her question was answered as Daniel came through the gate, Adrienne in his arms.
"Is she?" was her next question, one that she was afraid to finish.
"Banged up but she'll be alright. Get SG-3 and 11 ready to go," he stated, a look of severity in his face.
"Why?" Sam replied, puzzled.
"Because there are some folks on the other side that like to abuse their women and I think that's something that we can't ignore any longer," Daniel responded, walking over to where Cassie was waiting, laying Adrienne onto a stretcher. Finally looking at her, a dark purple bruise streaked across her cheek as he moved excess fabric away, a wave of nausea coming over him.
"I'm so sorry Ad," he leaned over, whispering, reaching to grasp her hand, but he wasn't sure if she heard as Cassie wheeled her away and out of his reach.
"I need you in my office," Sam stated as the gate closed, SG-3 racing in to cross back as the archaeologist requested, "now."
"Sam I need to-"
"Upstairs Daniel," the general ordered, giving Walter the signal to dial a second time.
"Not your typical selection," he joked.
"How do you know my typical selection? You're the self-proclaimed expert on me now?" she defended her choice for the night, teasing him of course. He knew her pretty well, which was exactly why she had picked tonight's feature presentation, to mess with him.
That, and he had insisted that she pick, in fact, he'd let her do anything she had wanted to do all week from the moment she was released from the infirmary. There was no concussion, Daniel insisted Carolyn check for that, twice. When she came to, her face and body sore and stiff, he was right there, apologizing profusely, telling her that he only looked away for a moment and she was gone.
She hadn't been knocked out though, not completely, because she remembered in fragments exactly what had happened.
The staff hit her on the back of the head the exact moment the flap had closed, cutting her off from the group. She hit the ground, woozy when he was there, over her, protecting her like he had before, and he took the man down to the ground. Before she could thank him, ask if he was hurt, ask where the others were, she was in his arms, safe.
Adrienne had never felt that before, protected in that way. She'd never needed it and really as part of the team she protected her teammates as much as they looked out for her, but there was something different…
"I mean, it was animated," he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets, Adrienne trying not to think about it, or how he hadn't left her side for days, or how Sam had inquired the one time he was called away if Daniel had gone home at all.
Right now, Adrienne was trying to be thankful that this time he managed to park a reasonable distance from the entrance.
"I guess I just wanted something different, that's all. I heard you laughing..." she replied, doing the same with her hands, willing herself not to pick, opening the exterior door. Daniel caught the door behind her and held it open so she could walk ahead of him into the parking lot.
"At it, not with it," he clarified and pointed over to the car, only two spaces back from the front. Adrienne shook her head, deciding not to dignify his smart remark with a response.
Addy, has Daniel gone home?
I'm not sure; he's probably just staying on base. He's a man down and we had a schedule.
True, well, I'm glad you're feeling better…
The general had meant that and hadn't at the same time, making Adrienne's stomach do somersaults at what she could be implying with those words.
He hadn't gone home in days, she knew, she could tell the moment they got to his quarters last night to fetch a journal to compare to the database, clothes strewn everywhere, his room a mess…
They reached his jeep and he unlocked and opened the door for her, walking to the other side and getting into the driver's seat as Adrienne climbed in the passenger side door, grabbing the roll bar to pull herself up, bumping her head against it.
"Dammit!" she exclaimed, grabbing her head with her hands.
Panicked, Daniel quickly leaned over the seat, reaching for her head and scanning her stitched lip, checking her for any injury.
"Adrienne, are you alright, do you need -" there was alarm in his voice as he started to check her over.
Doctor have you seen Daniel?
You just missed him but he said he'd be right back.
Carolyn, has he left? At all since she was admitted?
No, Sam, he hasn't. I even had to have food brought here for him, he just won't…
"Not made of glass Daniel," Adrienne responded, Sam and Carolyn's words echoing through her head, they thought she had been asleep but she wasn't, shooing him away, and leaning out of his probing reach, "I'm not made of glass."
And you didn't leave.
Why didn't you leave?
Daniel's in love with you.
"Ok," he backed up without argument, slowly and started the car, casting one more glance in her direction, "sorry I'm concerned."
She shut the door to the jeep, touching her lip to check the stitches and smiling, "It's alright, you know how I don't like a fuss…"
And you more than fussed, right, I mean that was, what is going on?
"Fine," he muttered pulling out of the parking lot, "it's early, but if you're not feeling well or you're just tired we can head back. I'm still behind on last week's MALP photos."
"I feel fine Indy," she argued, "let's go back to base and work until that changes."
"Ok," he replied, Adrienne sitting back in the seat, looking up at the stars in the night sky as Daniel pulled out of the parking lot.
I'm so sorry Ad, his words echoed through her head, I'll never let you get hurt ever again. Please forgive me.
Silent, and confused, Adrienne turned up the radio, to let music drown her thoughts.
"He didn't leave her side," Sam said as she shut the door to her office, her husband opening the lid to the take out, "for days. You can ask Carolyn; she confirms it."
"Sam, he felt bad," Jack countered, pointing to the chair in front of him, "look how many people around him die, get hurt. Part of the reason for his entire shitty attitude lately is his guilt over what happened to the Destiny. This one just hit home, he's the one that insisted she go..."
He shoved a fry into his face for emphasis as his wife sat.
"I know, and he's been better since we hired her, much better, but," she replied, opening her own meal, "Jack, I'm worried."
"About?"
"Jack, I'm not questioning it anymore. He's fallen for her," Sam said quietly, stirring at her rice.
"Nah," Jack countered, shaking his head, "After our last conversation Sam I went down there, checked on their work. She's just like a new toy. It'll settle in and he will go back to being absorbed in his rocks."
Sam frowned, "New toy? She's been here nearly a year. Jack, there's something different going on between them. We can't deny it anymore."
"Look, you know him and women, it's sick, they love him."
"Not her," Sam insisted, "Not Adrienne or at least the, well, forward way that women are with him. She's professional, cordial, but they, I dunno, they're closer. There's an actual connection, a mutual connection, and in this case it's the other way around. Have you seen the way he looks at her? And the rumors…"
"He said they're just friends Sam," Jack added, "I've already asked. On a number of occasions..."
She gave him "the look" again.
"Jack, did you ask or did you, well, were you you?"
Her husband rolled his eyes.
"Fine, do you want me to talk to him?" he now inquired, "no jokes? Really talk to him?"
"No, not yet anyway, maybe, I don't know," she shook her head, reaching for her coffee instead of eating the forkful in her hand, "just, can you keep an eye out? Whenever you're around the team?"
"I can," he agreed, shaking his head, "but what if they are? So what if he's getting a little…relief on the side. Doesn't seem to be affecting anything."
"It's not that and you know it," she shot back quickly, "Jack you're not stupid, you know what I'm seeing…"
"Don't say it Sam," he sighed out, his hand dropping.
"Exactly," she mumbled as Jack nodded.
"I'll watch them, but you know as well as I do that if this is more than, well, Daniel woman drama normal, then we're gonna have to do something."
"I know," Sam muttered, finally taking a bite of her dinner.