I know you hate today. But let's pretend for five minutes that I'm dating someone normal.
Adrienne found the note, in French, folded and taped to her computer screen, sending her imagination into a frenzy of worry as she tried to determine what exactly his words meant. They had worked late last night, again, but Adrienne had gone to bed a few hours before he had, slipping into his quarters like she always did now, quietly, hoping no one would notice, only to miss him again this morning, this note being prime evidence of that. Adrienne was confused though, the message was too simple, and missing their coding system they had resorted to using to plan their evenings.
So they were public, somewhat, but after the magnifier incident Jack had made it very clear that while they didn't necessarily need to hide their status, what they did need to do was be subtle.
And "subtle" has been going pretty well so far, work by day and their sordid love affair, as Adrienne liked to call it, by night. Adrienne even created few code words they created for when they needed to figure out who was sleeping where and when, Bon Temp for her place and she had even tried to get Daniel to refer to his quarters as Fangtasia, having fun reminding him that in the deep recesses of her brain that he was akin to Alexander Skarsgard and therefore had nothing to worry about, but he wouldn't give in citing that while Bon Temp sounded French enough to be confused with her normal cajun slip ups, Fangtasia was a clear advertisement as to what was going on. So, it was Bon Temp cher? and depending on how late they were working dictated whether or not Bon Temp meant her apartment or quarters.
She felt like Sookie Stackhouse, waiting for a late night rendezvous with a forbidden lover.
The best part was that it seemed to work and it helped them be able to plan things a little better to avoid snarky remarks from their friend, or, even worse, extra hovering by Robert Woolsey or special assignments Adrienne was needed on from Rodney.
Their one problem, though, was Vala who was enjoying every single moment of this entirely too much.
The day before she had stopped by at the tail end of the conversation regarding the evening's plans when Daniel had said no to Bon Temp, worried about a knock on the door by a concerned neighbor the night before asking if Adrienne was alright since they had heard screaming. He was still mortally embarrassed, having locked himself in the bathroom for thirty minutes after the incident and wasn't about to discuss another option but his quarters, where he was certain Adrienne would not be inclined to shout anything in cajun.
Or so he hoped.
But it was kinda nice she appreciated his talents so much.
He gave her "the look" and had left to run something to Sam seconds before Vala, a gigantic grin on her face, sauntered into the room, having caught his last words.
"Why are you two always talking about going to Bon Temp?" she asked in an accusatory tone, "Is there really such a place in Louisiana? I thought you said there wasn't."
She stood; hands on her hips, a confidence in her face as if that was going to be what made Adrienne spill the dirty details.
"No, Vala," Adrienne replied, worried her friend was catching on but playing it cool, "I've gotten him to start reading the books."
"Not a chance," Vala stated, "No amount of sex would make that man read those books."
Adrienne rolled her eyes.
"How far is he?" Vala inquired, calling her bluff and Adrienne's heart started to race.
"Uh... book three," Adrienne lied, trying to remember what happened in book three. Why didn't she say he just started? Book three? He was going to kill her but Vala nodded, albeit with that look still in her eyes.
"I hope he hates Lorena as much as I do," Vala responded, dropping the topic quickly as she walked over to Adrienne's locker to steal the vitamins she evidently came for.
Lately, Adrienne had taken on Vala as her pet project, noting that while Vala was very thin and attractive, she wasn't very healthy and often complained during fitness testing. As a result, Adrienne was trying to get Vala to eat healthier and so far she was doing a pretty good job. Standing, she showed Adrienne the bottle to make sure it was the correct one, Adrienne starting her on Omega 3's first and the archaeologist gave her a thumbs up.
"You're full of shit you know," Vala stated as she left the lab, "It's a hook-up location since you two idiots got caught screwing in here."
"Bye Vala," Adrienne said in reply, reaching to rub her temples.
Their friends were relentless.
Case in point, a few days ago at lunch Adrienne had slipped and said something about Daniel needing to see Dr. Lam for allergy medication since he was snoring loudly in her ear the night before when everyone at the table stopped eating, a collection of eyes, Cam the leader of said eyes, staring in their direction. Adrienne thought Daniel was going to choke on his sandwich, talking like a damn married couple was far from subtle.
"Yep," Cam replied as he finished his hamburger, standing from the table, "Wouldn't wanna keep the missus up would we?"
Adrienne was pretty sure she facepalmed.
"Hey," she said as Daniel came back about fifteen minutes later, her voice trailing to indicate that this was more than just a simple greeting.
"Yea," he answered, not looking at her, and not catching on.
"Uh, you need to start reading the True Blood books," Adrienne informed him and he paused, standing at his chair and peering over his glasses at her.
"Why..." he inquired, fearing what he missed on his quick trip down the hall.
"Vala figured out the code; it was the best I could think of," Adrienne said, not apologizing.
"You owe me," he replied, frowning, as he sat down and cued up his computer.
"Whatever, cher, sleep alone," she replied, laughing and Daniel shook his head, a half of a smile on his face, thinking that sleeping alone was the last thing he wanted to do, ever again, and continued with the task at hand.
That was yesterday.
She was in his bed alone when she went to sleep last night, Daniel still eyeballs deep in something from Sam, and she was in his bed alone when she woke-up this morning, the only indication that he had joined her at all were a pair of dirty BDU's tossed onto the edge of the bed. Adrienne had fully expected face on keyboard upon her arrival to work, knowing there was no way he could be functioning on that little sleep, and was preparing herself, going over in her mind exactly what she could do to him, but the lab was empty all except for that note on the computer screen.
Smiling, a part of her hoping that this was coming despite her protests, she checked the date on her screen to confirm it was indeed Valentine's Day.
Damn him, she thought, as she wondered what he had up his sleeve.
Tucking the note into the pocket of her uniform pants, Adrienne started to sit and cue up the database when the phone at her desk rang.
"Archaeology," she answered cheerfully, the thought of her love's plan for later brightening her day.
"Hey, it's me."
It was Daniel on the other line and Adrienne beamed, excited to start the fun with him bright and early.
"Good morning cher, I missed you last night...," Adrienne began, her voice lingering across those final words, but Daniel quickly interrupted her, clearing his throat loudly.
"Ad, sorry I didn't call you back to answer your question last night, but can you grab my computer and head up to the briefing room?" Daniel asked professionally. That was close, Adrienne thought to herself; she had almost told him exactly what she missed from last night.
And that was not subtle.
She needed to get herself together.
What had this man done to her?
"Sure thing," she answered, hoping her voice didn't give away what she had meant earlier, because, listening to the noise in the background, she could tell he had her on speakerphone.
"Alright, see you soon," he replied and hung up.
"So much for Valentine's Day," Adrienne said out loud to herself, the tone she had been able to read in his voice being that work tone, and began to do as he asked, walking over to pack up his computer.
When she got to the briefing room she saw Daniel, Sam, Vala and Teyla were waiting, seated, the whiteboard cued up to some images of a collection of ships in some portion of space and each person in possession of a manila folder labeled top secret.
Weird group, she thought to herself as she reached into her messenger bag to pull out her boss' machine, stepping completely in the room.
"Hey Addy," Sam greeted her, "thanks for bringing that down, sorry to call you away from the database. You can get back to what you were doing," Sam reached out and took Daniel's computer from her hands, carefully passing it over to him.
"Thanks ja-wer and sorry to cut you off, Woolsey was in here and you were on speaker. Again sorry to bother you," he said as he opened the machines and began cueing up some files.
Shrugging, wondering why Sam and Daniel were apologizing, it was only a walk of about 100 yards, Adrienne peeked over at Daniel who gave her that, 'I will fill you in later' look. Curious, but knowing Daniel well enough to walk away for now, he would fill her in later for sure, Adrienne turned to leave when Vala spoke up.
"I think Addy should come with us," she said, "after all three is a bit more believable for these kinds of things. Odd numbers mean teams, even mean a couple and a couple can be taken advantage of."
Adrienne turned around confused as Daniel was looking over at Vala, his face lacking any sort of emotion at all.
"She can read Goa'uld," Sam added.
"Adrienne speaks the language, can fight, with a staff weapon, and knows everything about the Anubis situation that you do. Sam, it's my mission and my team and I want Addy. End of discussion." Vala stated her case, casting her eyes at Adrienne on the last word, knowing that would be something she could agree with. Still completely lost, Adrienne looked at Sam, wondering what in the hell was going on, and could see the general nodding her head in agreement.
"Maybe ask her first?" Daniel interjected, but he knew what her answer would be…
"Ask me what?" Adrienne questioned as Vala smiled.
"Up for an adventure?" was all of the information Vala gave, the cajun smiling in response.
"Always…"
Daniel sighed out.
"Alright, Adrienne, have a seat. Welcome to Intelligence," Sam said pointing to a chair at the end of the table. The cajun sat slowly, unsure, tossing her bag to the ground.
An hour and a half later Adrienne and Daniel were heading back to the lab, Adrienne's head spinning with a plethora of information.
The mission was simple: Sam's intelligence from the Tok'ra indicated that Anubis was acquiring motherships from Lucian traders, lots of motherships, but no one could figure out where the ships were being taken once they were purchased. It looked as if he was growing a fleet, somewhere and for some reason, but beyond that, they had nothing other than a detailed lists of the purchased items.
Immediately faulting the Tok'ra for wasting so much of their time on such little information, Vala had proposed taking on her old persona of a space pirate with an all female crew as she had in the past, in order to seek out the information they needed. She had insisted on a small ensemble, a crew of three, all hand-picked from her friends at the SGC including herself, Teyla and Adrienne. What she'd suggested during the presentation was this: go in, offer to sell a ship on the black market, one of the older models they were keeping around for research, and trace the interested buyers.
For Vala, this seemed to be cut and dry, and even Sam didn't seem to think the plan was too complex or dangerous, however Adrienne was just shocked that she hadn't been aware of that much of a covert operation going on just a few doors down from her pages of Asgard history and headphones of rap music.
Peeking behind him to make sure no one else was watching, Daniel glanced back at Adrienne who was walking briskly behind him.
"Are you allergic to anything?" he asked in a whisper, peeking again, paranoia all over his face.
"Not that I'm aware of, why?" Adrienne replied, confused.
"Damn it, that'd have been easy to fake, trust me, I'm an expert on allergic reactions. I gotta come up with something else," Daniel answered, looking ahead and racking his brain, chewing his bottom lip as he continued to march onward.
"Fake an allergic reaction, why? Indy, what insanity are you babbling about?" Adrienne asked, grabbing his arm and stopping him in the hallway once again completely confused as to what was going on.
It looked like it was just going to be that kind of morning.
"To get you out of Vala's mission," Daniel answered simply, as if he couldn't fathom Adrienne not having the exact same idea. Shaking her head, she laughed at him and kept walking down the hall, leaving him behind.
"So... that's how this is gonna go?" Adrienne asked, coding herself into the lab, "Didn't we go through this?" The light turned green and she peered back at Daniel, raising her eyebrows cautiously before she opened the door, letting herself in.
"No Ad, I don't want you to go on a Vala intelligence mission," he said, shutting the door behind them and engaging the lock, turning around himself to see Adrienne glaring at him, arms crossed across her chest, "Sam and I don't see eye to eye on Vala's ability to plan and lead things like this."
"I forgive you for acting an ass and suddenly I go back to the helpless female?" she said, teasingly.
She knew she could handle herself.
He knew that she could handle herself.
But she wasn't gonna let him get away with this kind of thing.
They'd been over this.
"No, I don't think you're helpless, in the least, it's just that I -," he tried to explain but she didn't let him, leaning in, grabbing his uniform jacket and pulling their faces together. She started to kiss him slowly, his mouth opening to invite her in, when she felt a vibration in her pants pocket. Sadly, she backed away, reaching in to secure her cell phone, Daniel still hanging on to her belt loops, his lips sliding slowly across her cheekbone. Pulling away reluctantly so she could read the message, she saw that the text was from exactly who she thought it would be from: Vala.
Ditch glasses. Meet me in my quarters.
"I've been summoned," she said as she showed Daniel the message and he let go of her waist, shaking his head, his mind back to the reality that this mission was happening, with Adrienne a part of it, and he could do nothing to stop it.
He was really going to have to get used to this.
At least she was ok with a P-90 now.
"God knows what she has up her sleeve," Daniel said as he stood back from the door, opening it quickly before anyone could get suspicious.
They really needed to stop pushing their luck.
This was not subtle.
"I think she wants me to dress the part," she explained, a grin still plastered across her face.
"You have fun with that," Daniel replied, watching Adrienne peek around the corner of the door jam before racing back over to whisper in his ear.
"It just might be... if you're following me. Love you," she taunted, kissing his cheek before slipping out of the lab, headed for the elevators. He watched her leave, pushing away the image of Adrienne in a torn Lucian pirate get-up, thinking to himself that it really was nice not being single anymore.
"Ok Ad, if I can't get you off a wild Vala goosechase, then it's time to get myself on it," Daniel declared, trying to refocus on his original goal this morning, marching over to the phone on his desk to call Sam.
"I'll consider it Daniel," Sam said, "but I think it's a bit risky." Sam was sitting across from him in the briefing room once more as he laid out his plan to get on the mission, a plan he felt she just couldn't ignore, however, and much to his annoyance, the general didn't appear convinced.
"I don't," Daniel replied, "Remember when Vala stole the Prometheus? It would have looked questionable if she didn't have me as a captive. That helped her sell the entire exchange," he lied yet again.
Vala had pretended he was her partner, not her prisoner, but Sam didn't know that...he thought...
Sam sighed, "Daniel, the last time you objected to Adrienne going on a mission…"
"This is entirely different," he defended, "First, I did not object, I said to give her a choice. She chose to go, fine. My concern is that…"
Sam threw up her hand.
"Your concern is that this is Vala's mission and you have never had any faith in her."
"That's not true," he countered, "I have given her plenty of chances over the years."
Sam frowned.
Daniel looked away for a moment before letting out a huge sigh.
"Ok fine, yes, sending Addy on some crazy mission is one thing, but sending her on a Vala crazy mission is another," he argued, "and Sam, if Anubis gets wind of who Adrienne is...in regards to me…"
Sam didn't need to say anything else. She knew what he was thinking. If Anubis was truly back Daniel would be a target, Daniel and anyone that he loved.
Which made Adrienne the biggest target of all.
"I'm gonna call Jack first. I'll let you know, but Daniel this information is too valuable to let it slip us by. We have to let Vala take the lead on this," Sam said as she stood, heading to her office, giving him the silent cue to leave and Daniel rose without further argument, trying to quell the worry in his gut.
She's gonna cave, he thought to himself as he reached for his phone in his pocket.
"Hey cher," Adrienne answered.
He really loved that too, being called "cher".
"Fangtasia," he replied simply, and waited for her response.
"Wait, what? You just said, did I just, are you," she stammered into the phone, just as he had hoped and if he had his way, everything, original plans and new were going to go just as he had hoped.
"Yes, I did. Fangtasia, off, seven," he clarified, and hung up the phone, turning into the lab to continue the execution of his plan.
Adrienne arrived at Daniel's apartment as requested, her stomach home to a swarm of butterflies, wondering what he had done. Taking a breath, she knocked at the door rather than use her key.
What is he up to, she thought, because I know him and not only to call using a True Blood term, in that voice of his, but to do so in such a secret fashion, he's got to be up to no good.
To claim that he was so bad at dating and being someone's significant other, Adrienne was pretty impressed with the job he was doing so far.
There was no answer, her nerves quickly turning to panic, when the door opened, Daniel peeking his head through grinning from ear to ear.
"You're late," he smiled and Adrienne looked at her cell phone which read 7:04. Glancing back up at him, she made a face, rolling her eyes.
"Really, you are going to hold me to four minutes? Seriously? This is practically early for me," she teased, pushing at the door to let herself in and without a word, Daniel stepped back, still smiling, watching her as she entered the apartment, her eyes widening with each step.
The apartment smelled spectacular, like spices and wine, the lights dim and soft classical music playing from somewhere setting a mood that was so surprising to Adrienne that she looked back at Daniel in complete shock as he was closing the door to the apartment. Tears in her eyes, unable to believe that this man not only loved her this much but that he understood her, she walked over and wrapped her arms around him, gazing into his eyes.
"What did you do?" she asked rhetorically as the scent gave away the answer clearly, "I hate Valentine's Day."
Running his hand down her cheek, he leaned in to kiss her, touching their lips together gently and slipping his hand behind her neck. He broke away, leaving his face close to hers.
"I know you do. There are no flowers. There is no candy. There are no balloons or anything commercial. I just made you dinner," he replied and kissed her lightly again, pulling back and cocking his head over at the table.
Mystified by it all, she hadn't bothered to look much beyond the living room, and, well, him, but now that she did she saw his tiny dining room table set up with two places, nice china dishes rather than their normal plastic plates and a burgundy candle in a crystal holder lit in the middle.
She didn't even know he owned stuff like that.
Shaking her head, she made her way over to her table completely impressed.
Somehow, in this tiny apartment the man had managed to cook salmon, asparagus and couscous, Adrienne's favorite meal, the smell emanating from the kitchen giving away their dinner to come. It made her feel even more special that she meant enough to him that he had taken the time to do this, considering the things he had told her about his past failed relationships and the thought brought tears to her eyes. She turned around to kiss him again, but saw he was in the kitchen apparently adding more to the surprise.
"And..." he said, pulling a bottle out of the fridge, "...I have a nice chardonnay." He set the bottle on the counter and rushed over to get her chair, taking note that she was still standing at the table. She was so flattered by all of the attention that he was giving her that she didn't make a single comment about her hatred of the Hallmark holiday or the degradation of women, just let him seat her and bring her some wine. Her cheeks were flushing she was sure, as he brought over each of the pans, serving her, making sure everything was just perfect before he sat down himself, looking over at her to make sure she was pleased and she was, in fact, she couldn't stop smiling.
"You made all of this?" she asked, "for me?"
"Yea," he nodded, pointing the fork at her plate, eagerly waiting for her to try it. She did, slipping pink meat past her tongue, the perfectly cooked fish melting in her mouth.
It was to die for and Adrienne looked at him in utter shock.
"Wow," she said, "I had no idea."
He grinned at her evilly and sipped his wine.
"You don't know me as well as you think you do," Daniel replied, satisfied to surprise her, picking up his fork to start eating himself.
Still in a state of disbelief, Adrienne wanted to tease him a bit more about these hidden talents, see what else he might have cooked up, literally, when there was a knock at the door and they both looked at each other confused.
"Who is that?" Adrienne asked.
"I have no idea, maybe a kid selling cookies or something," Daniel replied, remembering that last year he had been roped into buying an entire case of the damn things.
"On Valentine's Day?!" Adrienne questioned and Daniel shrugged, folding his napkin and setting it on the table, standing to walk to the door when there was yet another knock.
"Daniel, it's me Sam; I wanted to talk to you about what we were discussing earlier," the shouting came from the other side, Daniel facepalming.
Why in the hell couldn't he just get one break, one damn break, one damn romantic evening with Adrienne that didn't have a work interference disaster, he thought as he turned the knob and there was Sam standing at the other side, still in Air Force dress uniform, briefcase in hand.
This might take a while...
"Hey Sam," he said confidentially, "Shouldn't you and Jack be out having a romantic dinner?" Daniel asked.
Like I am trying to have, with my girlfriend.
Her face telling a different story, apparently no romance must be in her imminent future, Sam made a groaning noise, indicating that she wanted to come in. Cutting his eyes quickly behind him he saw that Adrienne had blown out the candle bringing the two plates to the coffee table in front of the TV.
Yep, moment ruined.
Trying to contain his disappointment, Daniel stepped aside to let Sam in. She walked through the door, complaining about Jack getting called into a meeting with the Joint Chiefs and having to cancel their dinner reservations when she saw Adrienne entering with two plates, stopping her procession forward.
"Oh, Daniel, am I interrupting?" Sam asked, looking at Daniel for confirmation of what he knew her brain was concocting.
"It's alright," Daniel lied, "We were just having dinner."
"I think we have extra Sam, especially since bureaucracy has rained on your own parade tonight," Adrienne offered and Daniel glared over at her, trying to tell her with his eyes that he did not have any more, that this was dinner for two, as Adrienne making a face of her own, begging him to step in and get them out of this.
Of course she isn't going to stay, she knows what this is...
"No, no, that's fine. I'm going to meet Jack at his office in a few, salvage what we can, I just wanted to let Daniel know that I thought about what he said and he's right, you're right. Can you be ready to leave with the others tomorrow?" Sam answered Adrienne and turned to Daniel, conceding like he knew she would, the tall handsome man doing the best he could to not smile in glee.
"Yeah, that's no problem," he replied, Adrienne looking at him confused.
What in the world were they talking about, being ready tomorrow?
He didn't...she thought, her eyes widening, her jaw dropping.
"Alright, but remember, you have to play the part, no interfering. You'll be the link between us and command, message anything you find as soon as you find it," Sam said, her arms crossed looking at him, a small part of her still appearing unconvinced.
"Of course, I already grabbed some things from Rodney. I'll be ready. I'm gonna just go in standard Lucian attire, that way it will look like Vala stole the ship from me and kept me for collateral or as a bargaining chip. Makes it look more convincing than just conveniently showing up with a ship," Daniel continued to explain as if he hadn't won his argument.
"Alright, well, I just wanted to swing by and make sure. I'm going to get Jack and I take-out from the curry place down here, so I figured I would stop by instead of call. Again, sorry to interrupt," Sam apologized a second time, glancing over at Adrienne, a look in her eyes that the cajun woman could easily ready, but Daniel blew off her comment.
"I'll be ready in the morning Sam. Go get your curry, I'm sure that Jack would like to see you sometime today," Daniel said as he followed her to the door, seeing her out, hoping she didn't say anything else to make this situation any more questionable or awkward, especially since in about two minutes he was going to have to explain himself out of a completely different awkward situation.
Sam wished them both goodbye and left, and Daniel turned slowly to look at Adrienne waiting for the blowback.
Adrienne, who was now standing in front of the television, glaring at him, her arms crossed.
"You canaille bastard," she spat, her eyes, those dark cocoa eyes of hers giving him a look that he hadn't been on the receiving end of in, well, two weeks.
Three if he was lucky.
Adrienne was gonna kill him.
Reaching out for her, Daniel stepped forward, hoping she wouldn't punch him, the reaction in that past that would have matched that glare.
"Adrienne, look, I just can't let you," he started but she walked up, her expression changing, placing her hand over his mouth gently.
"So, I've discovered two hidden talents in one day. Not only can my boyfriend cook like a pro, but he's an amazing weasel," she teased, keeping her hand over his mouth.
He was relieved, kissing her palm, but she didn't remove her hand, evidently having more to say.
"I thought we went over this…"
Or not.
She was gonna kill him.
"I won't kick your ass on one condition," Adrienne stipulated and he nodded, since her hand wasn't going anywhere and this was much better than getting yelled at for undermining her or making her look helpless.
"You're my prisoner, got it?" she said, smiling evilly, stressing the word my.
His eyes got big, a sudden inappropriate thought flooding his head.
"Now who's thinking like Vala," she teased, shoving him onto the sofa. So much for a romantic dinner, she thought, snatching the remote to cue up something on the TV zombie movie before grabbing her plate to finish her amazing meal with the most considerate man in the world.
"Sorry our evening got ruined," Daniel added, adjusting her only so much as to get his own plate, resigning himself to lukewarm fish and the undead.
"It's ok cher, I think this is pretty damn impressive. It's sweet; I love you," Adrienne replied, sitting up, eating her couscous.
"Thank you. I love you too," he answered, cutting into his fish.
"Still hot sex tonight?" she asked, playing more than anything, although she had to admit that was on the agenda especially after the effort.
"Oh absolutely," he responded, without missing a beat.
Sam was at least grateful that her husband's across the country meetings ended just in time for him to beam back to the East Coast and allow them to salvage part of their holiday. Cracking the door to her office, promised curry in hand, she found Jack at her "secret stash" opening up a bottle of red wine.
"You said Shiraz right?" he asked, holding the bottle up though it was too late for him to halt its opening.
"Yes, thank you," she said with a smile, setting the food on the desk. Jack poured the glasses, walking them to her and handing hers over, leaning in for a kiss as he did.
"I'm gonna kill him," he stated as Sam backed away.
"Who?" she asked confused, her mind on the mission leaving in the morning and her last logistics meeting with Vala.
"You know who," Jack replied, grumbling, "I stick my neck out to hide his fling with Dr. Perky and he goes and gets caught on tape acting like a damn frat boy."
Sam laughed, "Oh, that who."
"It's not funny Sam," Jack countered, though he did appear somewhat amused, "Woolsey comes marching in my office and hands me a damn DVD, no explanation, and there was Daniel, pants at his…"
"Stop," Sam threw up her hand, "Stop, I don't want to hear any details."
"You didn't have to see any details, so be thankful," he added, sipping, "We're lucky Rodney likes her because Woolsey was ready to send her to Area 51 that moment."
Sam frowned, "Which is, yet again, some more misogynistic nonsense I'm tired of. If what they did was such a big deal, which it was not for a number of reasons, where is Daniel's punishment in this? I didn't hire Adrienne to play matchmaker with Daniel, I hired Adrienne because she was a highly qualified professional who could assist us all in the neverending deluge of impossible assignments. And suddenly, one indiscretion and she's shipped off and punished while Daniel would just be allowed to continue what he was doing. It's wrong Jack and you know it."
"Hun, I agree, completely," Jack replied, taking a seat at the small table in her office, "It's why I raised hell for so many years when you were overlooked. The boys club is strong here."
"And, it's why they ride my ass for next to nothing," she added, taking the seat beside him.
"Who knows," Jack offered before taking a bite of his meal, "Maybe Rodney will work a miracle and we can quit and go to the Pegasus. You can do nerdy things and I can fish for giant alien carp."
Sam laughed, "We can dream."
Jack ate a little bit, thinking about just that, how it would be nice to go live as civilian colonists rather than live some of this day by day madness he and Sam were living now as members of senior leadership. Sighing, he took a sip of his wine before looking up at his wife.
"I'm still gonna kill him," Jack reiterated, "Him, not Dr. Perky. He just used his creepy ass women fall for him shit and roped that poor woman into his mess."
Sam choked on her wine.
"You look out for her," Jack added, "He's a damn train wreck and Addy's alright."
"Eat your dinner Jack," Sam replied, "And Happy Valentine's Day."
He rolled his eyes but smiled, stuffing a forkful of curry into his face.
"I want him in chains," Vala ordered over her shoulder to the cadets standing with them to aid in their departure.
"Absolutely not!" Daniel shouted in response, his outburst echoing throughout the gateroom, drawing even more glances from passersby.
Vala had found out just this morning, actually about thirty minutes ago, that Daniel had managed to talk his way into the mission and she wasn't happy in the least, intending to make the entire experience as miserable as possible. Shooting a glance at Daniel, who was standing there dressed like a Lucian trader getting ready to unleash a firestorm of hate on Vala, Adrienne warned her love with her eyes that he had gotten himself into this and needed to get his rage under control.
"Look, Daniel's much larger than all three of us, if he's not shackled, it's going to look quite suspicious," Vala protested, a poor excuse since she had taken him and other men to the ground before, on more than one occasion. Daniel too looked over at Sam as if he was getting ready to argue his case when Adrienne walked over to him, sweeping him with her leg and knocking him to the ground. Dropping to her knees, she pinned his throat with her knee, looking up at Vala, a smile on her face.
"I don't seem to have a problem taking him down," she said, "Why don't we just go with some fake Chewbacca-like shackles?"
Teyla and Vala looked confused, but Sam, having endured years of her husband and his best friend's Star Wars obsession, knew exactly what she meant. She nodded her head and motioned for the armory head to go get some, hoping the word fake was enough to make him understand what she was requesting. Infuriated, Vala stormed up to Sam protesting, going back to complaining about Daniel being allowed on the mission at all, so Adrienne released Daniel, reaching to pull him to his feet.
"Thanks," he whispered as he stood, Adrienne smiling.
"No way that woman's puttin' chains on my man, if anyone is chaining you, it's me," she said under her breath, her accent just audible before patting his shoulder and walking away, over to Teyla, who was double checking their supplies.
Swallowing, Daniel made sure to return his jaw to an upright position, trying not to imagine what she could have meant by that; that just didn't seem to be her thing.
It really was nice to not be single any more, for more reasons than one.
An hour later they were finally ready to go, Vala leading the group, Teyla following and Adrienne bringing up the rear with their prisoner. They gated to Langara, where Jonas was waiting to take them undercover to the small pirate vessel and from there, Vala would fly them to a small planet on the outskirts of primary Lucian territory where she was to meet with an old contact in order to set up the sale.
It was a two day flight to Lucian space, two days of Daniel, alone with three women, the one woman he wanted three days alone with he really shouldn't be acknowledging given they were on a mission.
In fact, he was starting to regret opening his big mouth.
At first, Vala insisted that he be kept in the holding cell, but Adrienne had convinced her that as long as the shackles were nearby it would look as though they were keeping an eye on him, just in case. Vala rolled her eyes and gave in, more for Adrienne's sake than Daniel's; she knew she would miss him.
It wasn't too long, however, Daniel wished she hadn't.
"Definitely Alcide," Vala said, leaning back in the pilot's chair drinking her soda.
"Which one is that?" Teyla asked, looking at Adrienne's iPad where the ladies had cued up some silly game based on that ridiculous show. Holding up her finger as she swallowed, tossing the now empty bottle aside, Vala leaned over and grabbed the machine, flicking her finger around to cue up the correct episode. She hit play and leaned back again, signaling Teyla to come join her.
"That one," she said after a few moments, pointing selectively at the screen as Teyla watched the large muscular man strip his clothes to the ground, change into a wolf and dash off into a swamp.
"Dear gods yes," she answered, handing the iPad back to Adrienne.
"Yeah, but Addy here likes them tall, blond and lanky," Vala said, reaching for the iPad again to fast forward the same episode. Smirking, she handed it back to Teyla and the Athosian woman watched the scene unfold, her expression not quite as excited as it had been just a few moments before and then returned the tablet back to Vala, shrugging at Adrienne.
"I think the wolf is more attractive," Teyla stated, Adrienne not responding, just biting her lip nervously and Daniel could see her getting red in the face.
Poor Ad, he thought, she's trying not to hurt my feelings. He felt bad for just a moment, he didn't care in the least that Adrienne had a crush on the actor, he was just an actor, hell, he took her to meet him, when Vala spoke again, breaking his train of thought.
"But Addy likes the bad guys. Eric Northman's a bad guy and she loves him. You probably like it rough too, don't you Addy?" Vala asked as Adrienne got redder.
Daniel coughed, deciding to play a different angle and get her out of this conversation.
"Uh, I'm sitting right here, a male, who doesn't want to hear this," he argued, peeking over his glasses at Adrienne to make sure that she was alright.
"Yes, and you insisted on coming and you wanted to sit here with us. This is what women talk about, so, you get to sit here and suffer," Vala informed him, each and every time the word you rolled across her lips her eyes cutting between he and Adrienne. Peering over at Adrienne, relishing in her discomfort, Vala decided to let her suffer too, for not objecting to her lover boy inserting himself in places he didn't belong.
"That's not true, I like nice men," Adrienne argued, Vala cutting her eyes over at Daniel and kept talking.
"No, you don't. Let's go through your little obsessions, shall we? Darth Vader, Eric Northman, Jamie Lannister, Negan - " Vala started to list but Daniel cut her off, throwing his hands up to halt her listing.
"You have a thing for Darth Vader?" he asked his girlfriend, confused, this being a new little revelation in their relationship and reading his face, she cut her eyes at him.
"Anakin Skywalker, not Darth Vader," Adrienne clarified, not looking forward to the questions that she was going to get about that later.
"Still a bad guy," Vala interjected, thoroughly enjoying the reaction between the two of them, especially Daniel's, and, now that they were together she was just unable to resist pushing it further, "She also likes the bad kids in those wizard books, the creepy dude in red on that Seeker show, that serial killer, I can go on and on. Addy's got dirty little secrets that someday I'll discover and rub into her perfect little face, but what I do know, with no doubts, is that she wants a bad boy," Vala said and finished off her second soda, tossing the bottle behind Daniel, "Which is why you Mr. Wanna be Goody-Two-Shoes make no sense in this equation."
"Whatever, I want a man of substance, the total package," Adrienne declared, hoping that would make Daniel feel just a bit better, hoping he would catch on that he was the total package.
"Uh huh, we know what package you had right in front of you and your stupid ass turned it down..." Vala taunted, glancing at Teyla, who seemed slightly amused.
Dammit, both of them knew she was crazy in love with Daniel and together and were trying to be subtle for the sake of her job, why were they doing this to her?
"So Teyla, how's Torrin doing?" Adrienne changed the subject much to Daniel's relief, since Torrin was always a good way to change the subject with Teyla.
"Well, but he is trouble. He thinks that he is a bit bigger than he is. I fear he may hurt himself trying to be a big boy," Teyla started, as mothers do, her face beaming at a chance to talk about her son. Adrienne seemed genuinely interested, so Daniel relaxed, happy that Adrienne's secret love of bad boys was no longer the topic of conversation, but wondering if there was something else about her that he needed to know, maybe something fun he could store for later. Before he could dwell on it further, the feelings in his stomach a mixture of worry and excitement, there was a beep at the dash and Vala spun her chair around, shushing them as she waved her hand.
"Unidentified vessel, please state your purpose and destination," a voice came over the intercom, Vala's entire demeanor changing as she slammed the two way button down with her thumb, glowering at someone that wasn't there.
"I don't have to state any fucking purpose you bastard!" Vala shouted back into the intercom.
"VALA MAL DORAN! IS THAT YOU!?" the voice answered back, "We heard you fell in with the Taur'i and lost your edge."
"I did, until they were of no use to me. I got what I needed and left. You know me better than that," Vala answered and worried, Adrienne scooted closer to Daniel.
"She's pretending, right?" Adrienne whispered and Daniel nodded in the affirmative, reaching quickly to rub her back as the voice on the other end of the intercom laughe.
"That we do. We'll lead you in. Got a new market set up, bit closer in. It'll be good to see you," the voice ended the transmission. Smiling in satisfaction, Vala turned around to face them, leaning back arrogantly in the captain's chair.
"Alright, we're in. I do the talking. Teyla, you're in charge of the money, I'll look to you as if you keep track of that. Addy, you get to play with Blue Eyes over here and let's go with Bad Addy. I think she'll do us well. Get him down to the holding cell and rough him up a bit," Vala winked at her.
Trying not to turn completely red in the face, Adrienne stood and helped Daniel up, reattaching the shackles and leading him to the cell block.
Once they were down the passageway, Teyla looked over at Vala and smiled.
"They make such a sweet couple, " Teyla stated, as she herself stood, adjusting her weapons and preparing for their arrival.
"Gross, why does everyone insist on talking about how cute they are," Vala answered curtly as she flipped a few more switches on the consul of the ship, Teyla regretting her words.
"He'd better not ruin this with his protect Addy bullshit or his inability to recognize I have a brain," Vala continued, switching the manual and grabbing the level, flying the ship toward a small colony in space.
"I guess this one's alright," Adrienne said, pointing to the first of three cells, "Are you going to be okay in here cher?"
She scanned the cell, noting a mat on the floor for sleeping and a bowl coming out of the wall that served as a toilet. It looked worse than an earth prison, and dirty, much dirtier than she wanted to leave Daniel in for any extended period of time, in fact, she couldn't help but wonder if the previous owner's had ever cleaned this ship.
"Yeah," he replied, "I've been in worse. But I appreciate the big tough villain caring for my well-being," he joked and Adrienne giggled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
"Shut up tchew," she spat, peeking quickly over her shoulder. Puzzled, he leaned forward to see what she was looking at when he felt himself being slammed back against the wall, as she pressed her lips to him forcefully, reaching her hands to the front of his tight leather pants squeezing the bulge that she found there.
Surprised and instantly aroused, he kissed her back, just as rough, letting her hands explore his body, hoping, waiting for her to take it a step further when he remembered where they were and what they needed to do. She must have too and he felt her pulling away, his body screaming at him in protest. Smiling sadly, she stepped back, looking him over, quickly messing up his hair and ripping the top of his vest.
"Perfect, roughed up," Adrienne said, her breath still slightly labored from their much too short encounter.
"More please," Daniel pleaded, jokingly and Adrienne laughed, biting her lip in embarrassment realizing what she had done and trying not to stare too hard at the result.
"I shall return," she promised, reluctantly leaving, closing the cell door behind her wishing she could just drag him back to her quarters. Sighing, and trying to negotiate with his body, Daniel watched her whisk herself down the hall, thinking how those cajun hips she liked to complain so much about rounded out that pirate getup nicely.
She looked fantastic in leather.
Taking a breath and accepting the boredom that was to come, Daniel went and laid down on the dirty sleeping mat, trying not to think about Adrienne.
He heard Vala's voice coming down the hallway just a few hours later and sat up, approaching the bars to peer out and see what was going on. It had been an uneventful wait, so boring in fact that he had actually fallen asleep for a while, much to his own surprise.
"And I kept this bastard because they coded the fucker and he's got all of the codes. I figure he's worth at least as much as a small ship, if not more. He seems to be smart," Vala was telling a strange man dressed in a similar fashion as himself, in leather pants and a leather vest, just lacking the faded blue shirt that Daniel was wearing.
How cliché, Daniel thought, the macho man isn't wearing a shirt.
Between the leather, the walk, the stupid rusty blaster at his hip, it reminded him of one of Adrienne's ridiculous movies more so than real life. Actually, it really hadn't occurred to him until just now how much of his entire damn life reminded him of his girlfriend's crazy choices in entertainment which probably explained how she was so good at getting him out of trouble.
"What's he call himself, maybe I've heard of 'em?" the man asked Vala as he turned to face the cell, looking Daniel up and down for some indication as to who this man was. Vala started to reply, a nervous look on her face when Adrienne walked up and poked Daniel with her staff weapon forcefully in his chest, shoving him back so hard that he fell on his butt painfully.
"Madmartigan," she replied, "or so he says."
Vala looked relieved, no one had thought that far ahead to give Daniel a fake identity, so she was glad Addy could think on her feet.
As if he had forgotten completely that Daniel was there, the man turned and smiled at Adrienne, seemingly impressed by her display, sauntering up to her with interest.
Seeing his approach, Adrienne pulled the stick out of the cell bars quickly and swung it behind her back, doing some fancy martial arts move as she did, warning him without words to stay back and he did as silently suggested, still grinning from ear to ear.
"She's new Mal Doran; what's her name?" he asked Vala without taking his eyes off of Adrienne, as he admired her obviously and disgustingly from head to toe, winking at her once his eyes met hers again.
"Sorsha," Adrienne answered emotionlessly, pulling the stick back to her side. Back straight and tall, the stance Daniel saw her take in the gym when she was fighting Ronon, Adrienne strode over to Daniel, standing in front of him protectively.
"I told you I decide what happens to him, Vala, me, not you, not him, not anyone else. He's too pretty to sell to someone like this," Adrienne said and spit on the ground at the man's feet, bringing the staff across her body in warning
"Dagal," Vala said, "he's hers. She brought him down; she's claimed him once the codes are transferred," Vala agreed with Adrienne, trying to lessen the man's interest, "Our primary objective is to sell the ship, enough codes to make it work and be on our way. Sorsha will decide if the ship includes him, which based on her earlier interest, seems unlikely," and Dagal laughed, easily accepting Sorsha/Adrienne as the enforcer and jailer.
"Fair enough," he said, his eyes lingering at Adrienne's hips causing a powerful and unexpected surge of jealousy to rocket through Daniel as he started to sit up.
"I think I know a buyer, but you and I will need to discuss a finder's fee," the man continued, his eyes cutting from Adrienne to Vala as he slid his arm around their mission leader's waist.
Making a disgusted face at the display, Adrienne tiptoed over to the cell, reaching through the bars to motion him over as Vala and their guest rounded the corner.
"Did I hurt you?" she asked quietly. Daniel was standing again, bent at the waist and holding his stomach as he approached the bars, a grimace on his face. She had hoped the burgundy leather vest that he was wearing would have absorbed some of the blow, but it looked like it hadn't and she felt horrible for her lack of better control.
"Do you want the truth?" he replied, finally making eye contact.
"I'm sorry, cher, I'm sorry," Adrienne started apologizing, reaching through the bars, but Daniel shook his head, reaching for her himself, not wanting her to feel bad. She had done well and acted her part, which for Adrienne the acting alone was quite the feat.
"No, you did what you had to do, and even pulled off the acting," he said and Adrienne nodded, squeezing the fingers that had reached through the bars to clasp her own. Thinking about Vala, and the negotiations, she pulled away to follow, but he held onto her tightly, a curious and less pained look on his face.
"Who's Madmartigan?" Daniel asked, his face now changing to a smile. He knew her too well; he knew this was a pickable offense as Adrienne grew red in the cheeks and giggled.
"1980's movie, really good one, I'll make you watch it when we get back," she said, checking over her shoulder again for Dagal and Vala.
Coast clear, she kissed his fingers lightly and he released her grasp, letting her return to play her part.
When Adrienne entered the eating area, a space so small and disgusting she refused to refer to it as a cafeteria, Vala and Dagal were discussing the finder's fee, their conversation completely monetary, Adrienne relieved that it didn't include what she feared before it might include. There were times that Vala really worried her when it came to matters like that, times that made her want to sit her good friend down and have a serious conversation with her.
"I take 10%, period," Dagal demanded, taking a drink of something from a small silver cup, Vala simultaneously from a similar cup in front of her.
"10% is out of the question. I can put out a coded message, get a buyer myself and not pay a fee at all. I came here because you used to be the best, but apparently now, you're just out of your mind," she said and took her drink, reaching over for a small canteen that Dagal must have brought on board, refilling her cup. She turned to offer Adrienne a drink but the archaeologist refused, shaking her hand in front of her face.
Not seeming to notice neither her presence nor her refusal, Dagal leaned forward toward Vala, cutting his eyes and grinning slyly.
"But this one pays big. Bigger than most, even if the ship's a piece of shit. I've heard he will even buy a ship sight unseen, doesn't care about coding, traps nothing, so your friend here wouldn't even have to part with her boy toy," Dagal nodded at Adrienne, evidently having noticed her entrance and took another swig, slamming the empty vessel onto the metal table.
Vala promptly refilled his cup from a canteen of her own, god knows what is in that thing Adrienne thought, beginning to argue that since her ship wasn't a piece of shit, 10% was out of the question.
Adrienne left them to their negotiation and went to join Teyla on the cockpit, who was sitting there quietly, reading a small blue book in the navigator's seat.
Not wanting to disturb her either, Adrienne grabbed her duffle from where they all had been chatting earlier and removed a composition book, letting the drama of her never ending writing project take her away.
"Got him," Vala said as she strode in about forty minutes later, slamming herself down in the captain's chair, an air of arrogance surrounding her.
"Anubis?" Teyla asked.
"Yep," Vala responded happily, satisfied with herself, leaning back and throwing her feet up on the control panel, but Adrienne was making a face and shaking her head already.
"I don't like it. It was too easy," she argued, looking at Vala, who just laughed and reached for a fresh soda from the cooler beside her.
Adrienne was glad that hadn't brought Dagal in here, if a cooler and sodas didn't scream "HEY WE ARE FROM EARTH" she wasn't sure what else did.
That and so much for being healthy Vala, Adrienne wanted to add but refrained.
"No, that's how I get things done. I get what I want," Vala stated, twisting off the cap and taking a celebratory swig.
Not everything, Adrienne thought to herself wickedly, not everything.
The thought made her remember and she stood from the chair, heading straight for the cell block.
"Don't bother Addy, I already told him. But if you want to go and make-out a bit, we have a few hours before Dagal gets back. Teyla and I won't interrupt, will we?" Vala said and Teyla giggled, holding her hand to her face.
Choosing not to respond, Adrienne just rolled her eyes, trying not to run as she rushed to go see Daniel.
When Teyla came to collect Adrienne she found Daniel's assistant leaning against the cell door, Daniel leaning back against the other side and were they not separated by bars they would have been sitting back to back. Teyla couldn't help but note how endearing the site was, made even more so by the slight touch of their fingers through their metal impediment.
"He's back," Teyla informed her and Adrienne sighed as she glanced behind at Daniel, who just smiled and shrugged. They had been talking, like they did normally before bed, like they did all of the time really, and after the past couple of days it was nice to be able to do just that, talk.
"Ca viens? Did Vala talk him down?" Adrienne asked, not bothering to get up, just crossing her legs in front of her body and setting her hands on her ankles.
"I am not sure but whatever she sent him back to check he has and has returned and Vala says she needs you there," Teyla answered, clearly having no more information at all.
Peeking up at Teyla for just a moment, she turned back to Daniel who must have read her mind, leaning forward to kiss her lightly before she stood, while he lay back on the mat, closing his eyes.
Mouthing a quick "I love you" which he mouthed in return, Adrienne followed Teyla to the bridge.
They were halfway down the hall, headed for their destination, when Teyla stopped and turned to face Adrienne.
"I take it things are going well?" Teyla asked, Adrienne blushing instantly, unable to form words, choosing to nod her head instead, hoping her friend would understand.
"I am glad for you," Teyla added simply, not pressing any further.
"And the joining is amazing" Adrienne whispered, laughing lightly, her cheeks flushing impossibly redder as Teyla smiled brightly in return, continuing on to the cafeteria.
Pausing for a moment to make sure that Vala did not need any further assistance, Teyla peered through the small circular window before pushing open the doors to enter.
"Alright, you've got the place. Ten percent, right?" Dagal was speaking to Vala who looked over her shoulder at Teyla, the Athosian quickly nodding in affirmation.
"Ten percent will be fine," Vala hissed through her teeth and Adrienne could tell that she wasn't happy.
Apparently she didn't always get what she wanted in pirating either, but that wasn't exactly the way Adrienne hoped that would go down nor did she like the look on her friend's face.
"His contact will meet you tomorrow at the time listed there. No tricks Mal Doran. If you screw me out of this deal next time I see you it won't be such a happy welcome," he warned from his seat but Vala didn't seem to flinch, just stared him down like she could cut his throat.
She is damn scary like this, Adrienne thought to herself, wondering if there was a side of Vala that she didn't know about from sparring practice, a side that would come to kill her in her sleep if she pissed her off.
A smug look on his face, Dagal rose from his chair and left for his shuttle, the swinging doors slamming shut behind him, leaving the three women alone in his wake.
"That was fast," Adrienne said, once Vala had indicated the ship had departed, her portable bridge scanner in hand tracking the transport ship's every move.
"I've got what I need," Vala replied, flashing a small slip of paper at Adrienne and passing it over. It was written in a language that Adrienne couldn't read, to be honest, it didn't even look like a language at all and she shrugged her shoulders, handing it back, and Vala took it, motioning for both ladies to sit.
"Alright, this is where it's gonna get hairy," Vala explained, "We're meeting him tomorrow at roughly 5 a.m. Earth time. We need to go, set up the exchange, provide him with false info, take the deposit, get the drop off point and then we need to get the hell out of there before we are caught."
"You mean before they find out we do not have a ship that we actually intend on selling," Teyla clarified.
"Exactly. We just want the contact's name and coordinates. Once we meet him and confirm what Dagal is giving me is correct, we get out of here, into radio range and call Sam," Vala said.
"And if we get caught?" Adrienne asked, considerably less confident in this plan than Vala was. Daniel often criticized her for thinking everything was like in a movie but this was more movie-like than any craziness Adrienne could imagine.
"Then you'd better hope that karate mess of yours is going to keep you safe," Vala replied.
Adrienne felt a shiver down her back, missing her staff weapon that was lying back with Daniel, Adrienne insisting that he take it and hide it in the corner of his cell in case anything went wrong. Gun it was, she guessed and while Daniel had gotten her firing at the range at least once a week now, she really didn't like it very much and she would like it less if she had to point it at another person and be expected to do something with it.
Adrienne didn't sleep much that night. For a good portion of the evening, she considered going down to the cell and locking herself in with Daniel, just to sleep in his arms. The worst thing that could happen, she thought, would be that Vala would catch them and either accuse them of sabotaging the mission or just have more reasons to harass them until the end of time.
She had resigned herself to sleeping alone in this cold bunk when she heard a door open, making her heart stop, her hand reaching for her staff weapon.
"Don't shoot, it's just me. I am NOT sleeping in that damn cell again," Daniel muttered as he closed the door to the small quarters, "If she can keep a cooler in the cockpit, I can sleep in a damn bed. Scoot over."
Laughing, Adrienne did as requested, scooting the best she could in the small bunk.
"Ya might wanna get naked and look slave-like, in case we need to play our parts," she teased, Daniel shoving her.
"Haha Ad, go to sleep," he joked, slipping in behind her and wrapping his arm around her waist.
"Come on bitches, wake the hell up. We have a god to screw over," Vala's voice came over the intercom and Adrienne rolled over to inform Daniel that she was not going to get up this early when she realized there was no space to roll and Daniel was practically pinning her against the wall. She let out a frustrated sigh, rolling her eyes at the clock on her iPod.
"Indy, you're squishing me," Adrienne informed him, shoving Daniel off of her.
She wanted a shower badly, and coffee, and the ability to breathe again.
Daniel sat up, awake as ever.
As usual.
"I'll head back down to my cell," he said with a fake smile, kissing Adrienne's head and leaving the room.
Rubbing her face and willing herself awake, the cajun woman headed down to the bridge.
Adrienne had now amended her opinion of the SGC to be that no one slept but she and Jack, Vala looking over her shoulder as Teyla and Adrienne trickled in. Not having analyzed as closely the sleeping habits of the Atlantis crew, Adrienne looked over at Teyla for sympathy, but she was bright eyed and ready to go.
Right, she's a parent, Adrienne thought to herself, they don't sleep for 18 years or more.
As she had the day before, Adrienne sat down in the back chair, Teyla taking her assigned position in the navigator's chair as Vala glanced over at Teyla, her head cocked and a smile on her face.
"You ready?" she asked.
"Always," Teyla replied confidentially and Vala hit the button on the intercom speaking in a strange tongue. Adrienne made a mental note to try to learn something else other than Goa'uld or Ancient or Unas, since suddenly her list of ten to twelve, or as Daniel so elegantly put it, 'only half as many as me', no longer seemed sufficient.
Thankfully, the voice answered in Goa'uld.
Gotta love the sand worms, as Jack would often call them, Adrienne thought to herself, always good for a universal language.
"You have the ship?" the voice asked.
"No, I have the specs. Dagal said just to bring the specs," Vala replied in Goa'uld and there was silence on the intercom.
"It's a mothership?" the voice seemed to feel it was being tricked, which it was, just as Adrienne had tried to warn, feeling panic in her stomach.
"Yes, of course. I'm surprised Dagal did not explain to you who I was," Vala answered confidently instead, not even one slight hesitation in her voice.
"He said you were a traitor and a friend of the Taur'i," the voice replied, but again, Vala didn't flinch, just smashed her finger angrily into the button.
"Well, that asshole's just jealous I got to use them for as long as I did; I got what I needed and more. And I got a ship I want to sell. If you're not interested, I can take my business elsewhere," she spat while Adrienne and Teyla remained silent, Adrienne scared, she was very scared, they were out in the middle of space, no back-up, Odyssey to transport them away, just alone, the three of them and Daniel.
Adrienne wanted more than anything to rush into his arms right now, but she held strong, calling on every inch of her being to be StarBuck, be Princess Leia, be any of her fantasy role models that would not be freaked out by what might be on the other end of that intercom.
There was the pop and click of static, the ship's communication system apparently starting to work as well as the rest of the hunk of junk, and finally there was the voice again on the other end, cold and distant.
"Transport over," it said, Vala glancing at Teyla, who stood nodding, as if she knew what was going on. Teyla came to her feet, adjusting her navy blue leather bodice and grabbing a small satchel from the control panel, making her way over to the transport rings while Vala remained seated.
Adrienne's eyes widened as she realized what was happening.
"She's going over there alone?!" Adrienne asked. That was in direct contrast with the number one mission rule Daniel had beat into their heads when she first went off world, always go in pairs, a rule he never let her break even when he didn't like her.
"Yeah Addy, alone. Not everyone can have a cute little archaeologist that follows them around acting like their bodyguard, although with you two, that seems to work both ways," Vala stated, standing from the chair, adjusting the leather vest that she was now wearing over her black bodice. Fixing a pulse gun at her size, one that Adrienne figured must have come from Ronon, Teyla continued walking over to the transport rings, standing in the marked center and turning to face her companion.
"Wish me luck ladies," Teyla said as the rings activated, Adrienne glaring back at Vala one final time, wondering what in the hell Vala was thinking of sending Teyla over there alone.
"No running back to your boyfriend to tattle on me, I need you here with me and ready to fire at that ship," Vala ordered, pointing through the viewing screen to a dark green ship in the near distance.
It looked like a submarine, out of water, the color shimmering in the starlight and not like any image of any Ori or Goa'uld ship Adrienne had seen in her files.
She was doubly concerned; nothing about this felt right and Vala's arrogance wasn't helping.
"Are you sure that's Anubis?" Adrienne asked, worried that someone was playing them just a bit better than they were trying to play themselves.
"We'll find out soon enough," Vala sat back in the chair, propping her feet on the control panel, looking calm and relaxed while Adrienne started looking over the blaster controls just in case she needed to shoot that large glowing green blimp out of the sky, hopefully not with Teyla on it.
Time passed.
Minutes turned into hours and Vala's confident attitude began to dissipate with each passing moment.
Moving from concern to planning mode, Adrienne kept her eyes on the view screen, scanning the ship, the intercom log, her brain active, looking for any indication that the ship in front of them might be trying to make a quick getaway. She thought she had identified the hull, as much as she could based on her own TV watching and being friends with Cam, and should the ship move an inch, she would blast it, stranding them in space and hope it had no cloaked buddies watching them.
"I'm going over there," Vala stated, finally, fed up with waiting, grabbing her gun from the control panel that she had tossed there earlier. She stormed over to the transport rings, controller in her hand already cuing up the code.
"Uh, no, not alone," Adrienne stood, reaching for the Zat gun she had been carrying, which was temporarily on the floor. Straightening her own ridiculous outfit, she tucked it into her leg strap, following behind Vala.
"Addy, someone has to fly this thing to get back, which means you stay put," Vala ordered, pointing at the captain's chair.
"You think I can fly this!? Without one of you guys standing over me giving me directions? Vala, you're out of your mind!" Adrienne shouted, exasperated, "I have no freakin' idea how to fly a kite without help, much less a damn spaceship."
"Dammit! I can't send you over there!" Vala spat, her arm cocked as she prepared to throw her gun to the ground in frustration when she paused, looking back up at Adrienne.
"Go get Daniel," she ordered, remembering her previously unwanted guest.
Pleased that Vala was finally seeing reason, and happy to have an excuse to bring Daniel out of his cage, Adrienne dashed off to the cell block.
"You're not going," he stated, "I am."
"Daniel, if you start this merde again I'm gonna deck ya. Yes, this is my first intelligence mission, but I'm not inept. I can fight. I've done a pretty damn good job playing my part this time. What I can't do is fly a spaceship and you can," she argued, grabbing his arm, dragging him through the open doorway to the cell and down the hall. He jerked back, pulling her to him.
"Adrienne please," he begged, his fears getting the best of him, "That could be Anubis on that ship."
He couldn't lose her; he couldn't live without her.
"All the more reason for me to be the one to go over there and not you," she asserted, bringing their faces together, "You just fly the ship and be prepared to come after me if this goes wrong," she continued, pecking him lightly. Sighing, he wrapped his arms around her, bringing his hand to the back of her neck, and they kissed quickly before breaking, disappointed that there was no time for more.
Daniel watched with apprehension as the woman he loved stepped into the encircled area, rings of gold dropping around her, and with Vala, blasted away into space.
Would it always be like this?
Would he feel this way every time she left his sight?
Wasn't this one reason he waited so long to tell her how he felt about her?
Isn't this why the SGC has the rules it does about fraternizing?
Pushing the thoughts aside, unable to be distracted when they needed him at the ready, he turned to inspect the control panel and get a better feel for what he had just been thrown into.
A large man in Ori armor was awaiting them, a bastardized version of Anubis symbol carved, or was that a burn scar, onto his forehead, crudely, as if it had been done in haste.
"Are you Mal Doran?" he asked as he approached Vala, who had stepped forward, her eyes scanning both their host and the room in search of the missing third.
"Yea, where's my navigator?" she asked without a pause between answer and question.
Refusing to reply with words, the man looked behind him as two men, equally as large, stepped forward, Teyla cuffed between them, dragged by her feet. She didn't appear to be hurt, rather it seemed that she wasn't walking intentionally to make it more difficult for her captors. Adrienne did note, however, that one of the men had a fresh black eye and the other a busted lip making her smile inside; that it had taken three men twice her size to bring her down.
Nice job girl...
"Our boss wants to know why you sent your second in command rather than coming yourself?" he demanded, stepping forward to look down at Vala with an intent to intimidate, but she looked right into his eyes, not in the least bit affected.
"I was about to ask the same thing," Vala replied, speaking through her teeth angrily. Fearing that this wasn't going to go as Vala had been claiming for days, Adrienne slid her hand to her gun, repeating the mantra in her head: One blast stun, two kills, three gone, preparing to do what she had to do.
"Inpu doesn't talk to trash. We're honored to keep filth like you from his sights," the man answered and Vala didn't move.
"Give me the fuckin deposit and my navigator, NOW," she ordered.
Unfazed, the man snapped his fingers and four more men entered the room from doors that the women had not noticed. Her brain kicking into defense mode, fear gone, now it was time to fight, Adrienne turned, pulling her gun from her holster, seeing that they were surrounded, seven to three and slowly looked back at Vala just waiting for a signal.
"No, I think not. You think we're gonna bow down to a bunch of women?" he asked.
Vala simply stepped forward and poked her finger into his chest.
"Then you must not know who I am," she said and quick as lightning pulled out Ronon's pulse pistol from her belt, shooting the man in the stomach, close range, the smell of burning viscera filling the air as the man crumbled to the ground.
As if cued, Teyla slid to the ground, sweeping the man to her right and kicking the man to her left in the face as he reached for her and quickly looked at Vala, holding her bound arms in the air. Popping the gun into the air, Vala shot through the binds, freeing Teyla, who returned to her captors, a loud crack indicating to Adrienne that at least one of them would be a problem no more.
The archaeologist froze for a moment, trying to decide how best to proceed, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to see two soldiers at her back and her martial arts training kicked in, making the decision for her. She spun around, zatting the man closest before reactively spinning into a hook kick, slamming the other man in the temple. Noting that her heel had done the trick, there was no way that he was getting up anytime soon, she peeked up to see the other two approaching her when one of the men suddenly crumbled to the ground.
Based on the hole in his chest, she knew she had Vala to thank for that one.
Adrienne reached behind herself for a staff weapon that wasn't there and cursed, remembering she had left that with Daniel, turning back and putting her fists up to meet her foe with her hands, the zat just out of reach. The man saw her take a stance and laughed, scanning her smaller frame.
"Why don't you come try me?" she taunted and the man took a step forward and swung, sloppily, as she had anticipated. Blocking his advancing punch with her left hand and exposing his abdomen, Adrienne delivered a forceful kick to his solar plexus and he staggered back, falling to the ground. She collected her gun from the ground, zatting him as soon as he landed. Before she had time to check to see the fate of her companions, she felt her arm being grabbed was pulled into the transport rings just before they came down on her head.
"GO GO GO!" Vala was shouting as the rings reappeared on their borrowed ship. Daniel hesitated only long enough to see that Adrienne was alright and engaged the drive, the ship blasting off, leaving the strange looking vessel and Anubis' men behind them.
Safely rocketing through space, Daniel fought the urge to run up to Adrienne and take her into his arms, his heart already cursing him for allowing her to enter a situation in which she could have gotten hurt. Instead, heeding Cam's words, he got up from the chair and ran to all three of them, trying to not act like a 'love sick puppy'.
"Are you okay?" he asked, speaking as if he was addressing the group but was really only addressing Adrienne and Vala noticed, rolling her eyes and shoving past him.
"We're fine, fuckin fine, no goddam money, no goddam Anubis, just fine," she swore as she stormed over to the ship's controls, Teyla shaking her head before following behind her, rubbing the back of her neck as she walked. Worried, not so much about the mission as Adrienne, Daniel looked back over at her as she was rotating the shoulder that had been so forcefully grabbed.
"I'm fine cher," she said sweetly. She ran her hand down his arm and squeezed his hand before walking over to Vala, who was messing with the controls, slamming switches and punching buttons angrily.
"We got him," Adrienne said, sitting down in the co-pilot's chair since Teyla was still standing, stretching out her legs. Adrienne made a note to ask Daniel to take a look at her and make sure she wasn't hurt terribly, since she couldn't be hobbling around like that while trying to chase Torrin.
"No," Vala replied, slamming her feet onto the control panel and pulling out Ronon's gun, toying with it, "but we kept our cover so we can try again."
"We did Vala, we got him, he said his boss was Anubis; we've got coordinates, we've got everything we need to give Sam," Adrienne insisted, glancing back over at Daniel, who, reading her eyes, was already pulling out the communicator to call the general and inform them of their success.
"Addy, you need to clean your ears, that man said his boss was Inpu," Vala stated, looking at Adrienne like she was an idiot but Adrienne just smiled and sat back in the chair, throwing her feet on the dash as Vala had earlier.
"Oh Indy?" Adrienne shouted behind her and Daniel looked up curious, moving the communicator from in front of his face.
"Who's Inpu?" she asked before he could respond, and, as she expected, Daniel quickly switched into geek mode, that computer in his brain kicking into overdrive.
"Early Egyptian dialect, means child or royalty, or decay, depending on who you ask, and also believed to be the original name used by the Egyptian for that later Greek translated Anubis. Is that what he's going by now?" Daniel answered and asked.
Adrienne nodded smiling but Vala still didn't seem happy, confusing the cajun entirely.
"What's wrong? Did you hear what Daniel said? We got what we needed and no one got hurt. That's pretty damn good for us," Adrienne said while Vala continued to pout.
"The deposit was exactly enough to buy a Porsche," she whined, "I was gonna pretend we didn't get it and buy one."
Adrienne's jaw dropped, although she should have expected as much from her friend, and Teyla looked at her friend strangely, a question on her lips.
"But Vala, you cannot drive," Teyla informed her rather than asking why, still not understanding.
"Legally," she answered and plotted a course for home.
Daniel heard the lock to the cell click open waking him up from the mattress Adrienne had dragged there for the return trip home since Vala, still declaring that their cover needed to be kept, insisted he stay in the cell and not to crawl in bed with Adrienne, as he had done the night before…
He panicked for just a moment, in his sleepy state forgetting that he was on the pirate vessel, in his cell, heading home, but he laid there quietly, the recognition of his surrounding coming back, hoping that somehow Vala's arrogance had not gotten them hijacked by a bigger and badder crew. He could see someone approaching him in the darkness and he lay still and in silence, pretending to be asleep as the figure started to kneel. He flexed his fingers, preparing to defend himself when a black shape straddled him, leaning into his face.
"Wake up Indy," Adrienne whispered softly into his ear and he relaxed instantly at the sound of her voice.
"What are you doing in here?" he asked while allowing himself the pleasure of reaching up and wrapping his arms around her, bringing her closer to his face. She came, kissing him lightly, nuzzling her way back to his ear.
"Vala put the ship on autopilot and everyone's asleep..." Adrienne whispered, pecking his ear and beginning to work her way down his neck to the spot she knew drove him wild.
"Are you sure?" Daniel murmured back, although he was starting to trace his hands down her back and to her hips, extending his fingers across her backside. They hadn't slept in same bed, other than that stupid cot last night, let alone the same room for almost a week and he missed her, he missed kissing her, he missed touching her, he missed making love to her.
Not waiting for her response, he reached back up for her face pulling her into a long sensual kiss. She opened her mouth, allowing him to invade, rocking lightly on the hardness she felt underneath when she felt him backing away slowly, pushing her forward, rolling her onto her side, hurriedly throwing his leg over her hips and crawling on top of her, reaching for the leather laces on that insanely tight Lucian blouse he had wanted to take off of her for days.
Sitting up slightly, to allow him to peel back her attire, Daniel ripped through the cording as Adrienne made quick work of his belt, moving on to undo some leather laces of her own, his own tight attire leaving nothing to the imagination.
"I fuckin' knew it!"
Daniel and Adrienne froze, turning their heads simultaneously to look in the direction of the cell door, where they saw her standing there, hands on her hips, shaking her head, black hair loose and wild around her face.
"I fuckin' knew it! I knew you two would be unable to keep it together on a mission! And, no surprise, you're getting ready to fuck in a holding cell!" Vala was shouting and they couldn't tell if she was teasing or angry.
Adrienne was hoping for the former.
"Vala, it's not what it looks like," Daniel said as he quickly got off of Adrienne, who was laughing as she sat up, retying the strings of her blouse.
"Jesus Indy, that's the best you can come up with? She walked in while I was undoing your pants," Adrienne laughed, harder as she watched her boyfriend frantically try to cover himself, noting that he wasn't wearing any underwear underneath of that outfit, dear lord...
"She caught us, ok, yes, call us every name possible, fine, but it's been a week and we are allowed to want to faire l'amour, ok?" she added, though her actions were not as confident as her words, wrapping her arms around her knees, feeling very embarrassed and just a tad ashamed. They were getting ready to fuck in the holding cell, a few moments later Vala would have walked in on them fucking in a holding cell, and Adrienne felt horrible.
"Vala, look, you know, hell everyone knows that we're together," Daniel said, "This isn't a crime, and this isn't just romper room."
"Looks like romper room was gettin' ready to start in here," Vala replied and Adrienne flushed further, glancing over at Daniel who thankfully had fixed the problem she had caused.
Mostly.
"Vala," Adrienne tried this time, dying to cure herself of this embarrassment, "Please don't tell, ok, we're already in enough hot water."
"Duh," Vala responded, "Everyone knows about the magnifier."
"Shit," Daniel said at the exact same moment that Adrienne replied, "Merde."
"Well, at least now you get to live up to your reputation of being the base stud. Throwing me up on your desk was pretty bold," she tried to be funny, failing miserably.
"Wow Ad, why don't you just give her the graphic details?" he said, shaking his head and Adrienne pushed his arm, adding annoyed with Daniel to her list of emotions for the night.
"No, GOD, no," Vala shouted, looking away from the both of them, "I don't want any damn details. We're out of Lucian space so Daniel doesn't need to play captive anymore. You two can go do that in Addy's room," she added, pointing back in the direction of the ship's quarters.
Adrienne went to stand, but Daniel beat her to it, reaching down to help her up. Redness still in her cheeks, Adrienne scurried past Vala to head for her room but Daniel lagged behind, feeling he owed Vala some sort of explanation.
"Look, I'm sorry, I mean, I know that you know, knew, I mean obviously we have, I mean, and I never wanted," he tried to speak but couldn't. Vala had been one of the first people he had admitted his feelings about Adrienne
"It's alright. I like her, a lot. If I didn't, well, she'd be dead," Vala responded simply, "And besides, she'd have told me if you were a shit lay because she whines to me about everything else as it relates to you."
Daniel rubbed his face with embarrassment.
"Just keep it down, alright," she added, "No one wants to hear all of that."
Sighing, Daniel left, following Adrienne to her quarters.
Adrienne dropped her bag onto the floor of her Pentagon quarters, flopping herself onto the bed, exhausted, sore and with a splitting headache. They had been gone nearly a week and she actually missed sitting in the lab with headphones. Face buried in the pillow, not caring about washing it or moving at all for that matter Adrienne laid there, willing herself to sleep when her phone began to vibrate loudly on her nightstand. Groaning, she reached for the device, activating the screen.
Ok, let's try this again. Fangtasia. On. 30 mins.
"Indy, you'd better be glad I love you," Adrienne complained, dragging herself out of bed, headed for his quarters. It was almost midnight when they had arrived, the medical exams taking much longer since Carolyn had been about as impressed as Adrienne was with the cleanliness of the ship. Daniel excused himself to his room and Adrienne hadn't questioned, figuring that he was just as exhausted as she and would at some point just crawl into bed with her, after all, they had had quite the romantic rendezvous in her on ship's quarters the last two nights they were on board.
Knowing that there was no way he could possibly be in the mood for that, again, the cajun was raising her hand to knock when the door opened and there he was, standing there, looking as exhausted as she did.
"I hope you're not planning on me actually staying awake," Adrienne said, hoping he wasn't thinking anything other than cuddling and sleeping, when she saw it.
The entire room was covered in candles, of all shapes, sizes and colors set in every inch of the room and she could hear music playing, some of the cheesy rock from her iPod that she wasn't even aware that he paid enough attention to to criticize, much less know what it was to play it. He shut the door behind her and took her hand, leading her carefully through the sea of tiny flames, over to his small desk where there was another candle, larger than the rest, set in the center on a cafeteria plate rather than a crystal stick. Placed around the display wasn't dinner this time, or at least a normal dinner, but there were two ice cream sundaes, simple ones, vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and a cherry. Tears in her eyes, she looked back at him shaking her head and smiling.
"Best I could do in thirty minutes," he apologized as Adrienne jumped into his arms kissing him, trying hard not to knock over the candle on the desk or the ones around her feet. She pulled back from their kiss and gazed into his equally tired eyes, running her hand down his cheek.
"I love you Daniel, so much," she said, resting her palm on his face.
"I love you too, now sit down and eat this before it melts. It'll be nice, after this week, to just sit together and have a normal conversation," he said as he slid out the lone chair and sat, pulling her into his lap. Adrienne grabbed the sundaes and handed his over, sighing as she cuddled back against him.
"It really is him," she whispered, fear in her voice, "Until this mission I guess I had convinced myself that you all were just imagining things and it wasn't going to…"
Adrienne paused, choking on her words. Daniel stuffed the spoon into his ice cream so he could hold her with both hands.
"I can't lose you," she continued, her voice cracking, "I never even wanted anything like this but now that I have it, have you, I just can't…" she trailed again, tears welling in her eyes. Daniel reached and took the ice cream from her, setting it on his desk and turned here to hold her.
"You won't," he made a promise he was unsure if he could keep, "We're better prepared this time and I won't leave you. Ever. This is it for me."
As the words crossed his lips he sat, stunned.
This is it for me.
Oh my god, he thought, his heart racing again, I want to marry Adrienne.
He started to say something else to her but couldn't, his latest revelation rocking him to his core.
I want to marry Adrienne.
"Me too," she whispered, cuddling against him.
Wait, she said me too.
Does that mean…
"Don't let it melt," he chose instead of asking her if she was thinking the same, if me too meant the same kind of forever that it did for him.
"Sorry cher," she said, laughing lightly, reaching for her sundae again as Daniel did the same, hoping, more than anything, that nothing would take all of this from him.