"Ow!" Daniel exclaimed as Adrienne straddled his back, strongly rubbing the same shoulder blade that he had been complaining about for nearly thirty minutes. She didn't feel a knot or anything, but one would have thought just by the way that he was whining that his arm was about to come off, swearing and fussing like a huge baby. Growling, Adrienne pulled back, giving her hands a rest, an expression of dissatisfaction on her face that Daniel couldn't see.
"Indy, cher, Carolyn said you're fine. I have no idea what else I can do," she reminded him carefully, annoyance in her voice. For him to be so big and tough sometimes he could certainly be such a wimp at others. Lifting his head quickly, Daniel looked behind himself, shooting her a glance.
"Since when do you listen to Carolyn? There's something wrong, I know it. I'm gonna go see Carson as soon as her shift ends to find out what," Daniel spat, slamming his head back onto the pillow.
Baby, Adrienne thought as she sighed, resuming her rubbing, a little more gently this time.
"Do you care to tell me what happened yet? Or are we still in a mood?" Adrienne teased, deciding to change her tactic, leaning down to kiss his bare back, letting her lips linger lightly at his skin.
He had arrived from P4Y-329 over three hours ago, angry, aching and swearing and girlfriend or not, Adrienne knew when to keep her distance.
She had been with Rodney, the scientist throwing a fit to have Adrienne come down to his lab to go through additional cloning information after their last encounter with Anubis, when the announcement came over the system.
It was an announcement that included a call for medical backup.
Surprisingly, he had let her go to meet Daniel to make sure he was ok.
She guessed he must have still felt bad about botching their last mission.
She hadn't questioned, just dashed for the stairs and ran down the four flights, tearing straight for the gate room, arriving just as he was coming through the wormhole.
He marched right up to her, a scowl on his face, stopping to kiss her in front of everyone, again.
"Hello my love," he growled loudly, clearly making a scene, and a point, before walking straight up to Sam rambling on and on about "This is why this is a ridiculous idea" and a few other things.
Not wanting to interfere, Adrienne had just returned to Rodney's lab, slowly, very slowly, where he was on the phone, rolling his eyes at whomever he was speaking to.
A scowl plastered across his face, one so cruel it could have easily killed the violets they had been working to clone, he hung up the receiver and turned to look at her.
"Dr. Rowan, you're being summoned to his quarters. Must be nice to have a concubine on call," Rodney informed her.
Adrienne didn't smack him or say anything smart, just left, hoping that there was nothing really wrong with Daniel.
When she had arrived at his quarters, he was lying on his bunk, face down, boots on, still swearing.
"Cher? You called?"
Groaning, Daniel rolled over, "Will you hate me if I admit I just called you to whine and cuddle?"
Adrienne laughed, "No, but that's not exactly subtle. Or professional."
"I know…" he said, turning and wincing.
"You ok?"
"No…" he moaned, "Fucked up my shoulder."
"And you're not in the infirmary because…"
Daniel frowned again.
Shaking her head, she pulled his shirt over his head to examine the supposed injury for herself. He didn't speak anymore, just rolled over onto his back and pulled her into his arms so she wrapped her arm around his waist, hugging him tightly.
"My big baby," she finally said, Daniel chuckling slightly, kissing her head.
"You're so awful to me. Aren't you supposed to sympathize? Regardless, I'm heading upstairs as soon as I get Carson to take a look at my shoulder one more time. This is exactly what I knew was going to happen and I'm finished," he said, running his fingers up and down her arm gently. Adrienne had no idea what he was talking about, but she knew his rants, so she just laid there and let him continue, kissing his chest lightly.
"Daniel, cher, as much as I love this, I have a shitload ah work to do…" Adrienne whispered as she sat up, peering back at him.
"Rodney needs an assistant, yes, I understand that. Not you. You aren't anyone's assistant anymore, you are on the same level as any member of the archaeological staff save me. I don't care if we're having sex in the middle of the commissary for all to see, the point of the matter is that distraction or not I cannot get accomplished what they expect me to be accomplished alone. That's why Sam hired you in the first place, and now that you have moved up, both onto the team and on the staff, you should be working with me on all of this Anubis intelligence as a member of our team and not Rodney's lackey," he continued, ranting and rambling, his voice rising even though the person to whom he was talking was snuggled at his chest, rubbing it gently.
So that was where this was going, Adrienne thought, complete with a Daniel doesn't care anymore ranting.
Adrienne had been alternating her time between she and Daniel's regular SG-1 work and Rodney for weeks now and database research had been put almost entirely on hold. Daniel was ripped away nearly every day to deal with any more possible leads on Anubis, with more frequency than before now that Sam knew that Anubis knew they were on to him.
In fact, they had barely seen one another in over a week, which is also why she wasn't totally rushing from his arms right now.
She also knew, from late at night conversations in bed, that Vala's spies had caught someone, a man supposedly spying on Anubis for the Lucians and he was being held in the brig, but other than that she knew more about Asgard cloning than her own work lately.
It was pathetic, but she now counted down the hours until she and Daniel could be together again, which in and of itself was depressing. The 'new world order' had made Adrienne the type of woman she never wanted to be, one that rushed through work to get home to a man, a man that she had decided it would be just fine to be with forever.
It made her heart race but she finally realized that Daniel had stopped talking, so Adrienne took it as her cue to speak.
"Indy, love, I hate to break it to you but I think this is out of your control," Adrienne whispered, not wanting to rain on his parade.
After the first week of Adrienne running back and forth between two departments, Daniel had marched into both Sam and Jack's offices demanding Adrienne be treated with the respect her new position deserved, not as Rodney's part-time assistant and was told on both accounts that they were sorry, there was nothing that could be done, despite Jack's assurances that he was trying and that he really understood. Still, it had been weeks, weeks of waiting patiently while they did their best to avoid one another, not even a kiss goodbye before a mission and Daniel was sick of being told no, to be subtle and to act as if one indiscretion in the lab was the worst thing that had ever happened between two personnel in the history of the SGC.
Sitting up, he reached over to where Adrienne had set his shirt and pulled it back on standing from the bed and gathering his bag. Adrienne felt bad, but she had given up hope herself, so she didn't allow herself the satisfaction of letting herself feel it now despite the determination in his face. He tossed his bag over his shoulder and walked back to the bed, leaning over to her and kissing her gently.
"I'll be back in a while, hopefully with some good news. I love you," he said, and without giving her time to answer, scooted out of the door of his quarters. Adrienne just sat back on the bunk, frustrated that she could do nothing, watching the door close behind him.
"Back at it," she muttered to herself, trudging back down to join Rodney.
Daniel started with Jack's office first, having polished his argument from the time it took for Vala to slam into Daniel as she dodged what she thought was Lucian fire, that turned out to be backfire from the MALP that Cameron was trying to fix because they had been there too long and he was trying to rig the battery to give them more time, which would not have happened if Adrienne had been there to work with him so they could finish the translation on time, and consequently sent Daniel falling off of a small ledge and slamming his shoulder.
From his position lying on his side as Vala apologized profusely, he formulated his nastiest argument yet.
Taking a breath Daniel knocked at the door.
"We don't want any," the voice from the other side of the door shouted. Either Jack had had just as good a morning as he had or he knew Daniel was coming, but either way, he wasn't going to be deterred. Reaching down, Daniel turned the knob and let himself in, resolve in his soft blue eyes.
As he peered around the corner, Jack didn't look up from desk, just kept staring at some folder, tapping a pen violently so Daniel closed the door behind him quietly, walking to the desk to take the chair in front of him.
"What do you want, Daniel? I'm waist deep in bullshit at the moment," Jack spat, still not looking up. The direct approach Daniel had determined was best, so he cleared his throat to prepare his argument.
"Adrienne, Jack, I want Adrienne," he replied sternly. That got Jack to look up, a smile on his face. He glanced at his watch quickly, peeking back up at his friend, mischief in his expression.
"Well, it's nearly closing time for you my friend, so go have at it. Just keep the noise down; I heard she was a screamer," he quipped, looking back down at the folder not waiting for the reaction in return. Sighing, Daniel rolled his eyes and leaned forward onto the desk.
"No, Jack, I want her back in our lab. Full time. So, we can divvy up the metric fuck ton of new work our team has now that we are tracking Anubis on top of everything else we were already working on. The IOA has proven their point, we shouldn't be dating, but I would like to remind that powers that be they wouldn't have their jobs were it not for me, so I think that gives me the right to date whoever the hell I want," Daniel argued, choosing his words carefully.
He knew Jack didn't care, hell Jack had been trying to help them it was Woolsey and the IOA that had gone ballistic after, well, after things he wasn't totally proud that he had done, as fun as they had been or not.
The sarcasm no longer present, Jack just looked up again at Daniel and sighed, shaking his head.
"Listen, I tried, really I did, but this is out of my hands. You're just damn lucky they've let her stay on SG-1," Jack apologized but Daniel threw up his hands, not buying that argument.
"Stay on SG-1? Oh, you mean she gets to keep wearing the patch? Jack, she hasn't been on a mission with us in weeks and she earned that position in her own right!" he felt his voice rising and tried to control it, but was unable to do so, clearly, as Jack was starting to get annoyed.
"Look, I believe you, but half the base thinks that Dr. Perky banged her way right to the top and considering the evidence in my desk, I'm wondering if I should start to listen to them," Jack retorted, not really meaning it, he knew Daniel loved her and Dr. Perky was a smart little thing, but he just wasn't in the mood for one of Daniel's tantrums.
Enraged, and unable to believe what he was hearing, Daniel stood, slamming his hands onto the desk, staring Jack down.
"Fine, you want to play their game Jack. Then consider this my vacation, my extended vacation. I'll be at my apartment when you decide to come to your senses," he declared, turning to leave if that's what it took.
"Really Daniel?" Jack argued as Daniel reached the door, stopping to glare behind him, "I've been sticking my neck out for you for weeks. Where is she right now? She's NOT in area 51, where Woolsey wanted to send her. She's not scrubbing toilets in the Bayou. She's still in YOUR BED," Jack stressed, staring at Daniel who stood at the open door like he was ready for a fight, a fight he was having with the wrong person.
"Look at yourself, throwing a fit. You know, the more I think about it the more I'm starting to think that she's too good for you. She's been dealing with this entire situation like a professional, and all you have done is bitch and moan," he said, Daniel spinning around to face him.
"Gee Jack, maybe it's because she's still relatively new here and doesn't want to rock the boat or maybe it's because she gets to see the day after day misogyny of working for the US Government and is terrified to speak or lose her job. So, she's too good for me because she has more to lose? Or a better chance of getting discarded?" Daniel was starting to raise his voice again and Jack shook his head, a stern look on his face.
"No, Daniel, what's wrong with you and Adrienne is that she was your assistant and a man shouldn't be shacking up with his former assistant, his teammate, kiss her in the damn gateroom for everyone to see, fuck her in his workspace and expect the entire rest of the world to think it's normal. You've made a bed that you can't lie in and this time I can't get you out of it," he replied.
Growling, really was he growling, Daniel simply rolled his eyes and left the office.
Adrienne saw a text blinking on her phone when she got back to the locker room, choosing to run after McKay said she could go. Given his state when she returned, she chose instead to run with her iPod only, wanting to cut herself off from the rest of the world.
Come over. I'm cooking. Bring liquor.
"Oh that's not good," she said out loud as Vala, who had joined her lifting weights after her run, peered over her shoulder, curious as to exactly what wasn't good.
"Trouble in paradise?" she asked, Adrienne cutting her eyes over at her friend, tapping the phone into her palm.
"No, we're fine, well I'm fine. He's, uh," Adrienne paused, searching for the correct word, unsure as to how she should describe his behavior this morning.
"Throwing a fit. That's the phrase you're looking for: throwing a fit. I don't think you have really experienced one of those before, at least not as his little woman. They're quite entertaining," Vala explained and by the look on her friend's face, Adrienne could tell that she didn't want to go over there, to see Daniel or not.
"Vala, I've been his friend for well over a year now," Adrienne noted, "I think I've seen him in every way possible."
Vala laughed, "Ha, well, I won't comment on that like I would like, but no, his real tantrums are, what's the word Cam uses? Epic. Yes, his real tantrums are epic."
Adrienne frowned, looking at her phone again.
"He did request I bring liquor…"
Vala laughed yet again.
"For all of that drinking he does," she noted with a wink, "Epic."
"Ugh," Adrienne groaned, shutting her locker and grabbing her things, "He's lucky I love him."
"Oh I won't argue with that," Vala agreed, "He's very lucky you put up with his nonsense."
Sighing, Adrienne bid her friend farewell and headed straight for her bug, figuring that she would shower at his place after running to the store to fulfill his request.
When Adrienne unlocked the front door, she could hear loud classical music blaring from the kitchen, the smell of something spicy floating around the apartment, his bag thrown onto the floor.
"Oh this is definitely not good," Adrienne said to herself, walking over to his satchel, collecting it from the floor and toting it back to his office, leaving both of their work bags on top of his desk. Retrieving the brown paper bag from the ABC store from her own backpack, she headed into the kitchen to see how her significant other was doing.
There was Daniel, standing at the stove, trying to make what Adrienne thought was curry chicken, which looked to be a mush mess. To top it off there was a bottle of Virginia wine that Adrienne had bought at the wine shop sitting on the counter, his wine glass mostly empty. Not having been acknowledged yet, Adrienne walked over to the bottle to confirm it was one that she had just purchased and had not yet opened and it was, with not a drop left.
She glanced up at him when she realized that her normally cool and collected Daniel was not just listening to any old classical music, but some Italian opera, because at the exact moment she set the wine bottle down she heard him start singing, badly, drunkenly and she backed up to take in the entire scene one last time.
Daniel was toasted and so was their dinner.
Shoving the bag of Godiva liquor, his favorite thanks to her, onto the top of the fridge, Adrienne walked over to him, turning off the stove and placing her hand lightly on his back as he whipped his head around to glare at her.
"It's not done yet Ad, I've still gotta add the..." he trailed off, his very glazed blue eyes scanning the counter where she could see every spice he owned spread out in front of them, some bottles upright, others knocked over, various granules spilling all over the surface and onto the floor. Shaking her head, unable to believe what she was staring at, Adrienne reached out for him gently, resting her palm cautiously on his forearm.
"Stop sha; I'll call for take-out. It's ok, just come sit down," she urged him, hoping he would come easily, but he pulled away from her.
"No Ad, I said I'd cook you dinner. Did you get Godiva? I pulled up a Monty Python movie on Netflix. Can we drink to 'Life of Brian'?" Daniel asked, turning back to the stove, staggering a bit, reaching to grab to hold himself upright. Fearful he would burn his hands, positioned dangerously close to active burners; Adrienne caught him and pulled him into her arms.
He was completely gone, and this time just let her, relaxing into her arms as he started sinking to the floor, still mouthing some unintelligible arguments.
"I wanna make dinner and spend the evening with you and it's not ready Ad, I'm sorry..."
"Indy, cher, listen, it's ok. This is all very sweet, but let's go to bed. Let's get you into bed," Adrienne whispered, pulling him upright and debating as to whether or not she could get him through the shower since he reeked of alcohol and burnt chicken.
After deciding that she couldn't sleep beside him smelling like that, she walked him to the bathroom and started the shower, hoping that he wouldn't argue. He didn't, but just kept ranting and babbling, his speech slurred more and more as he talked.
"I'm sorry I burned dinner," he finally said coherently, flopping himself onto the toilet to wait while she started the water.
"It's ok, I'm not really hungry anyway," Adrienne answered, reaching to turn on the water. Understanding what she was doing, he reached to take off his blue t-shirt while she got some towels and secured them both some pajamas.
So much for a romantic evening, so much for any evening; she would just get them both clean, let him pass out and call for a pizza. Glancing quickly at her watch as she took it off, she discovered it was only 7:25 p.m, meaning that Daniel would be passed out drunk before eight.
Yep, she thought, only my boyfriend.
Sighing, Adrienne reached in to start the water and brought Daniel to his feet, hoping she could survive this without him puking on her.
"I think I drank too much..." he mumbled as he stood, tossing his glasses on the counter, unbuttoning his jeans and shucking them to the floor.
"Nah, ya think?" she joked, reaching to undress him, pulling off the remainder of his clothes before removing her own.
"Come on, hold on to me," she ordered and he did, following her into the stall.
"Stand under the water, let me get your hair wet," Adrienne continued, Daniel frowning immediately.
"I can do this myself," he grumbled.
"Really Daniel? You can barely stand and - " she started to argue as he reached for the shampoo, screaming out and grabbing his shoulder.
"And you're a big baby. Just hold on here," she placed his hand on the railing, locking his fingers to the rod.
"See, I need you around, you know when I'm too stubborn to listen," he uttered, falling to her, and the water, making her hit her back against the stall.
"Daniel, dammit, can you stand up!" she shouted, pushing him off of her watching him fall backward, catching him and hoping they didn't both slip to the floor.
"Scratch that no," she corrected herself, pulling him upward again and on to her.
"We can skip dinner," he was at her neck now, murmuring, kissing, running his hand down her butt.
"No, you're gonna pass the hell out as soon as you are clean, now Indy," Adrienne shoved him away again, flipping him around and under the warm stream.
"Wash and keep your hands to yourself," she ordered, glaring at him.
"That's not fair; we're in the shower, together..." he tried again, Adrienne holding out her plan to keep him away and upright.
"Yep, we are and we're getting out of here, together, just as soon as you are human again," she said as she grabbed the shampoo, trying a second time to get him cleaned and in bed. He didn't fight, letting her wash him as he leaned onto her shoulder, this time keeping his lips and hands to himself.
"What I don't understand is why they just keep jerking me around," he mumbled from her shoulder, Adrienne's caring fingers running through his hair, "Eventually a man has to sleep, and eat, and live and enjoy other things..."
There was that hand again, Adrienne not moving a muscle other than to scrub his scalp.
"You ever want to touch that again?" she asked plainly.
The hand stopped.
"I'm not going back. Not until I have you back, well at work, since I have you right here..." he was kissing again, Adrienne deciding this was a fight she was not going to win. Part of her was flattered; it was very sweet to know he cared so much about her, but she also had to face the reality that he had gotten used to working with her and at their output.
She reached behind herself to the shower head, shooting the water into his face.
"Sorry," he apologized quickly as he staggered back, "I'm just not very happy right now. There is no point in even opening the god damn database."
He had a point.
Her promotion, or how Woolsey had used it as an excuse to separate them, had set him back to a place that in terms of work performance he didn't want to be, so she couldn't say that she wouldn't have done exactly the same in his position.
In fact, as honestly fascinating as Rodney's work was, she really was an anthropologist at heart, and wanted to be back in the thick of Asgard history.
"So, fine, if that's how they want to play, then fine. You're here now and we're here," he started in, again with the kissing, god he still spelled like wine and not in a good way. Stopping his advance, Adrienne grabbed his face, looking him dead in the eyes.
"You can stand. Wash yourself, I'm gonna get you some clothes," she said, slipping away and out, wrapping herself in a towel making a beeline for the bedroom.
He managed to finish showering and get himself dressed too, still cursing and swearing and apologizing about dinner, but Adrienne shushed him and got him into bed, promising that she wouldn't leave.
So here it was, eight o'clock, just like she had anticipated and she had nothing to do so she went with the first idea she had.
"Hey," she said when Vala picked up the phone, hearing laughing on the other end.
"Was it epic?"
"I hate when you're right," Adrienne conceded.
"What did he do?" Vala asked and Adrienne almost changed her mind. After all, who calls their boyfriend's sorta ex-girlfriend to come over to his place and hang out?
Apparently, she did.
"Drank an entire bottle of my expensive local wine and almost burned the apartment to the ground," she replied, pausing to let Vala laugh.
"You've ruined him, he would have never drank himself away before. I hope you're proud of yourself," she replied, snickering, making Adrienne roll her eyes, but she was right; even Sam had said that Daniel never even kept that much alcohol in his house until Adrienne came along.
"Look, I'm bored and apparently he's on some kind of strike, and I have a sinking feeling that I am going to be sucked into this mess with him. So, you might as well come over here and bring us something to eat. I don't even want to look at what Daniel tried to make," Adrienne requested, not needing an answer since she could hear Vala packing up her things on the other end of the line.
"I can't find the keys to Cam's truck. I think he knows I copied a set, so I'm going to take the Odyssey. Order pizza, but keep that veggie garbage on your side," Vala responded and hung up.
It was a good idea to call Vala.
Adrienne managed to find another bottle of wine and by ten both ladies were stuffed with pizza and wine and happily giggling over some stupid movie on Cinemax. The film ended, replaced by some smut so Adrienne clicked the TV off, glancing over at her friend.
"I think I'm gonna see if he's sobering up and reason with him," Adrienne declared, standing from the sofa, her dark eyes lost as she looked at the bedroom but Vala shook her head, not agreeing with her friend's course of action.
"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" she asked. Still gazing ahead, Adrienne sighed and looked down, not really wanting to deal with him, he was a blubbering emotional mess, but knowing she at the very least needed to make sure that he hadn't gotten sick.
"Yeah, I should check on him anyway, make sure he didn't throw up."
"Does he do that?" Vala asked, "I don't think I ever remember him doing that before."
"Not so far, but I mean, have you ever seen him do any of that," she pointed at the mess in the kitchen that she was still choosing to ignore, "before? I haven't."
"No,'' Vala replied, shaking her head, "But I told you epic."
Adrienne sighed.
"Shug, I think I'm heading to bed; can you lock up before you go?" Adrienne requested, knowing that Vala would refuse to stay the night on the sofa. That, at least, she said, made her feel awkward; apparently spending the night there was her boundary. Frowning, Vala rose and grabbed the pizza box, intending to clean up for Adrienne before she departed.
"Addy?" Vala asked and Adrienne stopped, turning slowly, hoping everything was alright, but didn't answer, just stared at her friend, a look of intense concern in her eyes.
"What if he quits? What if they say no, no for good, throw you off the team or something and he quits?" Vala asked honestly.
Adrienne hadn't thought of that.
Daniel would never quit the Stargate program, would he?
She shook her head.
"No, he won't quit. He's just, well, like you said, throwing a fit," Adrienne replied.
Grabbing the empty wine bottle and heading to take both of them to the kitchen, Vala mumbled something under her breath and Adrienne caught one word, Shar'e, making her stop in her tracks and look back over her shoulder.
"What about Shar'e?" Adrienne asked, changing directions and following Vala into the kitchen. Her friend was shoving the pizza box and glass bottle into the recycling bin, her face screwed up in disgust at the smell still emanating from the room and the pan Adrienne had soaking in the sink.
"Vala, I said, what about Shar'e?" Adrienne repeated, her voice pleading as she approached.
Slamming the lid to the bin shut, Vala sighed out, looking back up at her friend and teammate.
"He almost quit then, when they found her, when she died. That's what Sam said. He wrote a letter and everything, but he came back. But he did quit today, for you, he walked out, " she explained, making Adrienne feel guilty and loved simultaneously but the cajun shook her head, quickly dismissing her words.
"He won't quit, he didn't quit, not over me, not over this. I mean, we're still talking all day long over the computer, it's not like I've completely gone away, it's just a hiccup in our work," Adrienne lied deftly because it was exactly like that, but she wasn't going to let anyone see her crumble, even Vala, who through all of this had become one of her closest allies.
"I wouldn't be so sure Addy. He loves you, not like any of us have ever seen. You might be his breaking point," Vala responded quietly, regretting the last part as soon as the words crossed her lips as Adrienne stood in front of her, a look of sadness on her face, like she understood, like she knew all along.
Looking down at her feet, Adrienne turned to go back to the bedroom.
"He's been to complain to Sam nearly every day since you were moved into "being an associate" whatever the hell that means; we all have. You're a part of the team and I need someone with me to keep the boys in check," she tried to recover, taking some of the blame on the team, but Adrienne just stopped in the hallway, sighing out.
"Night Vala," Adrienne said, ending the conversation.
"Night Addy," she replied and dialed for a lift home.
Adrienne tried not to think about what Vala had said as she made her way to the bedroom, shutting out the lights behind her and crawling into bed with him. She had planned on trying to wake him up, to talk to him, but now she just wanted to be close to him, feel his skin touch hers and hear his heartbeat.
She didn't want to be his breaking point; she hated the thought of either one of them being so dependent on the other's existence, but maybe that is what real love was and she just hadn't experienced it before.
She honestly had no idea; this was all so new, so strong...
Daniel stirred, normally he would have woken up, sleep having never been his friend, but the wine was keeping him in a deeper than normal slumber so Adrienne laid there, her face close to his. She could smell the faint odor of wine even after showering and brushing his teeth, making her cringe.
Maybe she was his breaking point.
Leaning closer, she kissed his lips before pulling him into her arms the best she could facing him.
"I love you Daniel," she whispered.
"Love you Ad," she heard him respond, somewhere between awake and asleep, and held him tighter, just wanting this awful day to end.
When Adrienne awoke the next morning, she was in bed alone, the smell of eggs and bacon wafting into the room. He was back to cooking, and judging by the smell, was able to get it right this time.
Brushing her hair out of her face, she stood, pulling the loose strands back into a ponytail and made her way to the kitchen, hoping there was coffee.
"Good morning beautiful," Daniel greeted her cheerily, as if nothing had happened the night before, and it appeared that it hadn't since the kitchen was spotless, no evidence of burnt chicken curry nor she and Vala's pizza throwdown. He must have been up for a while, it had to have taken a good hour to clean all of this up, Adrienne thought as she rubbed her eyes and made her way for the coffee-maker, which she was pleasantly surprised was already brewing.
He read her mind, like always, making her smile at how much she loved him.
"You've been stirring for about ten minutes now, so I started the coffee. Did you sleep well?" he asked over his shoulder, flipping something in a pan with no mention of dinner, no mention of passing out like a frat boy last night, nothing, in fact, he seemed to be in a much better mood this morning.
While a large part of her urged herself to go with it, another part of her, the eternal best friend part, wanted to get him to talk it out so she went with the latter, treading as lightly as possible.
"What happened last night?" she asked, grabbing a mug from the cabinet and starting to pour herself her elixir of life as Daniel sighed, flipping that same something over into another pan.
"Jack said no, I got pissed off, came home and made a stupid choice," he replied, reaching for some plates but Adrienne beat him to it and handing them over, setting her coffee aside and reaching to wrap her arms around his waist, resting her head on his back.
"We'll be ok Indy, I promise. I'm not going anywhere," she said softly, squeezing him tightly but Daniel didn't turn around, just served up breakfast onto the plates and kept talking.
"It's not just that Adrienne. I love you and I miss you like hell, but it's more than that. It's the fact that they're back to expecting me to finish more than I can handle alone. It's the fact that the entire reason you were hired has just been shoved aside and the way they're doing it is a slap in the face because they are using a promotion you rightfully deserve to do it. But even taking our relationship out of the equation, it's the fact that even though none of this would even exist without me, the whole place just moves on like I never mattered," he continued, getting quiet on the last part.
Daniel wasn't an arrogant person, not in the least, but he was correct in that for someone who made this all possible, he was certainly looked over in matters like this.
She squeezed him tightly again, kissing his shoulder blade through his t-shirt, the "hurt" one.
"No, I understand. That makes sense."
Daniel sighed in her arms and she backed away, grabbing her coffee again and heading for the kitchen table to sit down.
Shrugging, Daniel brought the plates over to her, not as happy as he was before, and set them down, going back to make himself a cup of coffee, glancing over his shoulder as he stirred in the sugar.
"So, I've got a fun day planned out for us. There's an opening at the National Gallery of Flemish Renaissance Art and I figured afterwards that we could eat there or since you're always talking about going to Hard Rock Cafe, we can try that, I mean, we might as well, we have plenty of time on our hands and if we go to Hard Rock I would really like to see the play that is running at Ford's Theatre, it's about ..." he started to explain and stopped, noticing the confused look on Adrienne's face.
"Cher, I have to go to work. Rodney is directly cloning African violets today; he needs me to check over the machine before we activate it," Adrienne replied, watching Daniel's eyes for a reaction.
"Oh," was all he said. Not sure what else to say, Adrienne sat at the table and began to quietly eat her breakfast. Coffee in hand, Daniel came and joined her at their meal, picking at his eggs as well, not saying a word but not really eating that much either.
"I can't quit," she said, finally, not looking up.
"I would never ask you to do that, you have a career that means something to you," he replied, popping a piece of bacon into his mouth.
"You're not gonna quit are you?" she asked, fearful of her own question and he didn't respond for a moment, making Adrienne's heart skip a beat.
"Daniel?" she pushed, flashes of her conversation with Vala returning to her memory.
Was she really his breaking point?
He ate a forkful of eggs and responded, not looking up.
"I haven't decided," he answered, not the answer she was looking for. She glanced at her watch to see that it was 7:50 a.m. and she needed to get dressed and get going so she wouldn't be late. Shoveling as quickly as she could, she never would get over how good of a cook he was, she choked down her meal, chugged her coffee and stood, walking the plate to the dishwasher. She returned to him, resting her forearms on his shoulders, bringing her lips to his ear.
"I'll be back here as soon as we're finished, I'll even skip lunch and we can make it to that play or go to Hard Rock or whatever you wanted to do," she assured him, kissing him so sweetly, nuzzling at his ear.
Daniel, however, didn't respond.
"Cher, did you hear me? I think it would be six, seven at the latest," she said when Daniel stood, pushing her arms away and gathering his own plate, heading for the sink.
"No, I heard you," he answered quietly and Adrienne made a face at him.
"Daniel, did you expect me to join you in this?" she asked carefully.
Daniel shrugged.
"I guess I'd hoped…"
"Indy, I miss the hell out of you, but I'm not exactly in the position to be making demands around the SGC or staging protests," she noted, trying to understand his position but hoping he understood hers as well.
Lips pursed, as if his thoughts were taking another direction, Daniel walked over to her to take her into his arms.
"Then quit. We'll both quit. I have plenty of money in savings and I can take care of both of us. We can travel, see everything you ever wanted to see, do everything you ever wanted to do," he suggested, reaching for her face to run his fingers down her cheek. Marry me Adrienne, his heart was telling him to say, marry me and we'll run away together, but he stopped short, not allowing himself to say what he meant to say as Adrienne was shaking her head through the entire suggestion.
"Daneil, are you listening to yourself? Quit!? You could never walk away from this. I could never walk away from this. It's a part of us, it's everything. It's what brought us together," she added the last part softly, knowing in her heart that was why it all meant so much to her. This job, this crazy unbelievable job that made her believe that she could be happy again, that she could be happy forever, but that didn't seem to phase him, as he stepped back, a look of hurt in his face.
"I can't Ad, it's just...I can't," he sighed out, breaking Adrienne's heart. She really could understand what he was saying, yet again he was the only reason any of this existed but the first one they would disregard in a heartbeat.
"I understand, cher, really I do…" she replied, leaning in to kiss him softly, "But I can't. Just, I can't."
Daniel nodded in understanding, holding her tightly before letting her go.
"I'll figure out something fun for dinner then, maybe actually read something I have been putting off," he replied, letting go and walking back to clean up breakfast.
"You gonna be ok?" she asked as the love of her life shrugged.
"I'll manage," he replied, Adrienne torn for a moment.
However, no matter how much she loved Daniel, she had taken this job because it was the career opportunity of a lifetime.
And, as appealing as it was to drop everything and just travel the world with him, Adrienne just couldn't.
There was too much at stake, including her own personal autonomy.
Not wanting to discuss, or upset him further, Adrienne rose to get ready for work.
Daniel tried not to be upset, hurt, further depressed, but it was difficult. He wished he could make Adrienne understand that this wasn't just about their relationship, that it was about people who knew nothing about how things worked interfering in just that, the way things worked. He had to think of something, anything to get everything back to the way it was before, without losing Adrienne, either as his colleague or as his life partner, as he had begun to think of her.
He needed her, he loved her and he wasn't going to lose her, not to anyone or anything.
There was a small part of him that hoped she would quit, hoped that she would take this as a sign like he was starting to, that if neither of them worked for the program then Anubis would never find her, never find them, and that would be yet another problem taken care of, but Adrienne didn't know about that and he wasn't going to tell her.
He refused to let Anubis harm her, no matter what it took.
So, it was back to racking his brain.
Daniel texted Adrienne all day long, messages saying that he was sorry for assuming that she would just end her career, to please come to his place after work and that he loved her, but she hadn't answered a single one. He didn't know if she was upset with him or not, and as each hour ticked by he was more and more concerned with her possible reaction.
Trying to take his mind off of everything, he went to his office, grabbing a long forgotten book from his desk, opening the volume to where he had left off.
"Dr. Rowan, please," Rodney hissed, the please not being nearly polite as the word is supposed to be.
For the fourth time in an hour her phone was bouncing around on the spare desk and she glanced over, knowing exactly who it was. She knew Daniel, better than anyone else, and throwing a fit or not he would apologize and be worried, wanting to make sure that she wasn't angry with him and wouldn't give up until he was sure that she was going to speak to him again.
Rodney, however, had kept her so busy today, reading and rereading each step of the process, that she hadn't even had time to see the messages, much less reply. She hoped he knew her well enough to know that she really did understand where he was coming from, even if she didn't agree, and she truly appreciated that he thought sweeping her off into the sunset away from the world was the romantic gesture he thought it was, even if it was a pretty old school way of thinking. For all of his bad choices when it came to her, or any relationship for that matter, she knew he meant well.
She couldn't even imagine life without him anymore.
She loved him, much more than she ever thought possible.
Stupid fit or not.
Tapping around on the screen, she read Rodney step seven for at least the fourth time, watching her phone drop to silence out of the corner of her eye.
"Look, what you need to understand is that no one's coming to rescue you, no one. You were a spy, remember, you were supposed to disappear?" Jack stood in front of his prisoner, who was sitting quietly, his head bowed, in an uncomfortable metal chair. They had been questioning the man for hours, denying him food and water, but never torturing him. Jack had learned from personal experience that when tortured you said whatever your jailer wanted to hear, even if it was a bold faced lie.
The man continued to sit, motionless, silent, his gaze to the floor and frustrated, Jack decided to try another approach. Reaching for the chair at the center table of the holding cell, Jack pulled it up and took a seat, so he was facing the man, staring him down eye to eye.
"Alright, fine, you don't want to talk to them, they can leave," Jack said, shooing the guards away. They looked at one another, but did as they were told, quietly exiting through the door to the outside. Following with his eyes, Jack watched to make sure they were gone and looked back at the man, hoping he had proved his point.
"Let's start with names. I'm Jack. And you are?" he asked, hoping to get a response but the man was silent.
"Alright Steve, nice to meet you," Jack supplemented and continued, "So, Steve, I know us and the Lucians aren't exactly buddy buddy but this Anubis fellow, he's bad damn news, I'm not sure if you guys realize that yet. We just want to know what you know about him and what he's doing and why in the hell you guys are paling around with him."
There was more silence and Jack sat back in the chair, starting to question his no torture policy.
"I don't know what in the hell he's promised you, but he's a liar. A huge epic colossal liar and he will blast your entire little alliance out of the universe without batting an eye. So, fine, you want to sit here and play the loyalty game so be it. We're not the people you want to be fighting against; we're the people that you want to be fighting with," Jack stated.
As he finished his rant, he noticed the man looking at him.
Progress? Jack thought to himself.
"He's already attacked us. We're not stupid," the man spat, cutting his eyes. Jack smiled, feeling proud that his little strategy worked, leaning forward on his knees to encourage the man to continue.
"Good to hear, I get tired of dealing with stupid. You care to spill yet Steve? Tell me why in the hell they've got you following him?" he continued, hoping "Steve" would open up some more and continue their luck.
This had been a lucky break in and of itself, Vala's spy team catching up with him after she had returned to the trade outpost, in disguise, to try to dig up any more information concerning his apparently long term stay at some facility on the planet. They hadn't found Anubis, the building in which Rodney had been held burnt to the ground, but they did discover that the Lucians had their own set of spies, who were tailing Anubis, spies that had nothing to do with the greedy traders like Dagal, it was the why that they just couldn't figure out.
"My name is Endrae. Inpu is who I am following, I did not know he was this Anubis until your people took me. Inpu was buying from us, ships, weapons, but we never met him, just those fake Jaffa he has been using in his stead," the man explained.
Jack nodded, at least glad that the Lucian alliance was smart enough to understand that the Goa'uld were really not back and the Jaffa that were traipsing their way around the galaxy were ex-Ori impostors, but he didn't mention the clones so to err on the safe side, Jack decided to keep that piece of information to himself.
"Ok, so you seem to have figured ole' Nuby out, then why all the cloak and dagger? And what did he blow up?" he inquired; the look on the man's worn stubbled face was not any friendlier but the expression in his eyes did seem to indicate a willingness to cooperate. He looked considerably less tough, not having eaten in a few days, only given water and vitamins, stripped of his red leathers, and sitting in front of Jack in a worn gray shirt and brown burlap slacks.
He had stopped cutting his dark brown eyes and was now looking at Jack not as a prisoner, but as an equal.
"Mobile domicile. He didn't even go for a fuckin' gunner; he blew up our families. My wife and kid. We want to find him, capture him and set him adrift in space, with a slow leak in the capsule..." Endrae hissed evilly.
That explained some, his anger and how he became a spy, but Jack still had no idea why Anubis would bother with blowing up some women and children, that seemed like an awful lot of work to murder innocent people with no real gain and he shook his head, not at the man's resolve, but his plan.
"You won't get him that easy, trust me. But why would he do that? Why would he go after you?" Jack asked, hoping that Steve, no Endrae, kept talking. Endrae shrugged and shook his head as well, looking over to the door and then back at Jack.
"Couldn't keep up with his demands. We've been selling him ships, but you knew that. You think we don't know that Mal Doran is working with you, we know she tried to lie about a ship and we know she's not dead, that that Sorsha woman's working for her. But he wanted more, more than we could salvage. He said he had a contract with us and that contract wasn't being fulfilled. He said he'd start with something of lesser importance. He did, lesser to him," he concluded, looking at the floor obviously having nothing else to say.
Jack knew why he was here; the ship explained the rest.
Walking over to the door, he signaled the guards in, ordering them to feed the man at once and headed for his wife's office.
"So, it's blackmail?" Sam asked.
Sitting in the chair across from her desk, Jack leaned back, nodding.
"Yep, see that's what happens when you try to be friends with the devil," Jack replied, giving his lovely wife a moment to look at the folder. He knew she could only read about as much of the language as he could, but she could get the gist of the pages and pages of print outs.
The Lucians were closer than they were, much closer, probably because of this trading agreement gone wrong but they still didn't know about the cloning, so the combined knowledge of what was on that ship plus what they had found out on their own might provide them with a much needed break.
Running her fingers down the text she mouthed the English for what she did know but that still made no sense; it was just what Jack had read, coordinates that were moving away from Earth and not towards it and not one stitch of it made any sense.
Sighing, Sam looked up, closing the folder in front of her.
"Has Vala looked at this?" Sam asked, knowing that bringing in Vala would be their very next step and Jack nodded.
"Yep, she got the same thing out of it but it's in code. Not any code she knows. This fellow Endrae and his confidants are flip flopping languages so fast that you'd need to speak a good dozen or so to understand what in the hell it is saying," Jack answered, trying not to roll his eyes when Sam peered up at him, a half a smirk on her face.
"You mean we need Daniel?" she asked coyly.
Sam knew all about the entire situation, Jack had informed her of what exactly happened in his office yesterday right after it had happened. Sam couldn't say it publicly, but she was in total agreement with Daniel. The two of them hadn't done anything wrong, in fact they had carried themselves as total professionals, except for the few times she saw the camera switched off and not after a meeting for one of his rants, but only she and Walter knew about those times and Walter would keep quiet. Sam thought it was cute, even their one-tape indiscretion that Adrienne had apparently told her about.
Jack gave her that look, that disgusted look, bringing his hand to his face.
"Yes, we need Daniel, who is currently throwing a temper tantrum over Dr. Perky," Jack replied, needing to express his opinion on the situation.
He knew Sam's opinion, she made that very clear and kept relating the entire situation back to them, which was not even equivocal, since Sam was never his assistant and he and Sam had never decided to get it on in a lab here on base, and they weren't taking turns having sleep overs right in front of everyone.
"Well, he's mad at you. You could fix this entire situation if you wanted. So fix it," Sam challenged and Jack sat up, annoyed by his wife's assumption. True, he could throw his weight around a bit, but he was hoping to use that weight for something more pressing, something that would involve saving the world, not keeping Daniel's love life in check.
"No. I was working on it already, getting Woolsey and the rest of those assholes to back off so I wouldn't need to make a scene, but after his little performance yesterday, he can wallow in self-pity for all I care," Jack retorted, making a face but walking the line with the woman he had to go home with.
Does Daniel really know what he is getting into? Jack thought as Sam shrugged, her left finger tapping the folder lightly.
"Then, you and Vala can figure out what's on that ship. Some of it looked Ancient. Maybe Teal'c can help," she replied.
Breathing in before he lashed out at the person responsible for his dishes, meals and laundry, damn he had it good, Jack stood from the seat, straightening his uniform jacket.
"I feel the love hun," he answered and set out for the transport area, to be beamed aboard the Daedalus.
The Lucian ship, a modified fragment of a mothership that Jack still wasn't sure was worthy of flight, was currently being housed in the cargo hold of the Daedalus. Jack had beamed up, along with Vala and Teal'c as Sam had suggested, to begin going through the information contained in the ship's database.
That was three hours ago, three long hours, three very very long hours.
"Jack, I told you I can't read this shit, what the hell do you expect me to do? Seduce the spy?" Vala asked, throwing up her hands. She'd stopped before suggesting that they call Daniel immediately, especially after Jack's insistence that they could read this without his help, muttering something like he didn't need that whiny brat to get the job done.
If Jack was as stubborn as Daniel, which by this performance it seemed that he was, she really had no idea how the two men had functioned so long together.
"O'Neill, would it help if I made a list of the ancient words that I do recognize?" Teal'c offered, Vala shooting him a glare.
That was how the team functioned before, Teal'c, the only logical one of the bunch save for Sam who Vala had determined just got everyone out of trouble while Jack and Daniel had argued. But if the Jaffa was the voice of reason between the men then why in the hell wasn't he stepping in now?
"See, good idea T, that's what I'm talking about. Let's get Walter to blast up a board or something like Daniel..." Jack paused, realizing his words and Vala didn't even try to cover her laugh.
Typical men, she thought, glancing over in the general's direction.
"Yes, like the chalkboard in Daniel's lab. And lay it out like he and Adrienne do. In fact, why don't we just call them and save ourselves another three hours of headaches," she finally said, unable to hold back any longer.
This time, however, it was Jack's turn to do the glaring.
"Daniel," he stressed the name sarcastically, "has decided that getting laid is more important than his duty to his job or his friends so DANIEL can stay on Earth," Jack spat as he walked over to the console, presumably to call Walter for the chalkboard. Rushing over to Teal'c, Vala grabbed his arm and pulled him aside, taking the opportunity to try and talk some sense into someone.
"You've got to do something about this. Addy might as well not even be on the team anymore, Daniel's ready to quit, we can't get a god damn thing accomplished and that jackal headed asshole is plotting right now fuck all knows what. Talk to him; he'll listen to you," she pleaded.
Teal'c had tried to stay out of it, he could see no harm in DanielJackson's relationship with AdrienneRowan, but there seemed to be much concern with Mr. Woolsey's people and O'Neill was angry with DanielJackson about something he refused to speak of, but staying out of it didn't seem to be an option any longer.
Placing his hand gently onto Vala's shoulder, he moved her aside, approached his friend respectfully.
"O'Neill, we should call DanielJackson and request his help," he stated as Jack held his finger up behind his head.
'Walter, hey, it's me. Can you blast a chalkboard up here?" he spoke into the intercom.
"Yes sir, is there a particular size you need?" Walter clarified from down below but Jack looked puzzled, screwing up his face before hitting the button again.
"Big," he replied and Walter muttered some sort of yes sir, a confused yes sir, signing off. Satisfied, Jack turned back around to face Teal'c, smiling from ear to ear.
"See, we don't need him. We're not idiots. This is just a code. We've done this a hundred times before," Jack declared. Teal'c started to respond but paused, Vala slamming him with her elbow not believing that he was going to remain silent.
Daniel was staring between the clock in the kitchen and the fridge and back to the clock. It was 4 p.m. Adrienne had said between six and seven.
Should he start cooking now?
He had salmon and she loved salmon, however, his vegetable selection was a little low, so he was also wondering if he had time to go to the store and get back and still have dinner ready when she arrived.
"What am I doing!?" he shouted out in frustration, slamming the fridge door.
Daniel had spent his day reading, and not remembering what he read, texting Adrienne, who didn't answer, watching TV, something he NEVER did unless Adrienne made him and now he was standing in the kitchen like a 1950's housewife trying to prepare supper for his significant other.
"I've become in twenty four hours Adrienne's worst nightmare," he said out loud, walking out of the kitchen, and staring again at his cell phone on the dining room table.
Maybe I should at least call Sam, see if I can reason with her again, at least have a meeting called to look at the lack of progress being made in the department since Adrienne's been gone.
"No, you're not winning this one. This is my life and I'm going to live it," he continued to talk to himself, refusing to give in, forcing them to call and beg him to return, to let he and Adrienne work together again, full time, and to stop using her promotion to make her some sort of unofficial assistant to Rodney.
He was just about to reach for his phone to see if Adrienne, the only person he wanted to talk to right now, had responded when bright lights shined all around him.
"Spare me the mouth that's to come. We've got a situation here and I need you to fix it. Now!" Jack ordered as the lights dissipated.
Daniel rubbed his eyes under his glasses, examining his surroundings to find himself on some small spaceship, in very poor condition with Vala and Teal'c frantically tapping things into a control panel while Jack stood by a blackboard of mess.
Hearing the beams end, Vala shot a glance over at Jack before directing her attention to Daniel.
"In an attempt to prove his superiority General O'Neill has activated the self-destruct on the only piece of information we have on Anubis' new whereabouts," she spat as she continued tapping at the control panel.
"Dammit Vala, shut up, I beamed him in ok," Jack retorted as Teal'c took his turn to look at their newest guest.
"DanielJackson, O'Neill has misunderstood 'preserve the information' to mean save as on an Earth computer. To the Lucians preserve means to keep away from others," Teal'c explained, Daniel already walking over to the output screen.
"And blow us the fuck up," Vala spat again.
"God Dammit Walter, beam her out of here, I can't listen to it any longer," Jack ordered into the intercom, Vala disappearing into columns of light before she could speak.
Glaring back over at Daniel, Jack pointed at the control panel.
"If you please, before we get blown the fuck up," he requested. Frowning, Daniel looked down at the output screen, scanning the lines of text before peering up at Jack, shaking his head.
"How long do we have?" he asked.
"This meter reads ten minutes DanielJackson," Teal'c answered.
"What he said," Jack replied.
Turning his head to scan the screen a second time, Daniel's eyes widened, realizing that Teal'c was correct, terrifyingly correct.
"Jack, there's no way; I can't get through this in ten minutes. We need to beam out of here and jettison the ship," Daniel explained but Jack just tapped the chalkboard, shaking his head with a frown of his own.
"No, no, look, we did a lot of this for you. I don't need it all translated right now, just shut the hell off," Jack demanded as Daniel made a noise under his breath.
"Jack, you're not listening, THAT over there is NOT how to deactivate the self-destruct. THAT is barely correct anyway and I can't do this alone, are you hearing me? It takes too much time for one person," Daniel tried to stress to Jack that he couldn't do the impossible, that some things were just beyond his control.
Kicking the chalkboard over, Jack stormed back to Daniel, glaring at him.
"If this is some bitchy attempt to get your girlfriend back, it's not gonna work," Jack hissed, daring Daniel to question him, but his old friend stood, nose to nose with him.
"No Jack, it's not, but it brings up a good point. I might be able to do this were she here, but since she's never here anymore I have no way to find out if she could help or not!" Daniel replied, not backing down.
"O'Neill, let us bring AdrienneRowan aboard to see if she is able to assist," Teal'c offered from behind his friends and Jack removed his gaze from Daniel to glare at his friend, not expecting the warrior to speak.
"Not you too," he pleaded.
Taking it as an opportunity to finally express his opinion, Teal'c stood upright, running his eyes from one friend to another.
"Ishta and I both serve on the Jaffa council and there is no conflict between our personal and professional interests," he started, time clicking away.
"No time for a sermon T, we need to get this thing deactivated," Jack said through his teeth but Teal'c shook his head and continued, disregarding Jack's words.
"DanielJackson and AdrienneRowan have continued to complete their jobs and there is no indication that they would do less. As the leader of the SGC you have the power to return AdrienneRowan to her lab and her team. I believe that it would be wise to do so," he finished calmly and said no more.
Fuming, Jack glanced back at the meter to see only nine minutes and two seconds. Giving up he looked over at Daniel, pointing to the mess that he had to admit was his fault.
"Just save the damn ship," Jack relented as Daniel reached over to call Walter.
The lights trickled away and there stood Adrienne, iPad in hand looking thoroughly confused. She squinted, scanning her surroundings, seeing Daniel and Daniel alone waiting for her in what looked to be the bridge of a very disgusting spaceship, far worse than the one from the previous two missions.
"Where are we?" she asked, confused as to what was going on. When Daniel said he might not be home, this wasn't exactly what she was thinking.
"Cargo hold of the Daedalus; why didn't you answer my texts?" Daniel asked, motioning her over to the console. She followed without question, but her face told a different story, her normally captivating eyes cold and cutting into him.
"Seriously Daniel, you've beamed me into orbit to argue over text messaging?" Adrienne asked, fighting the urge to just go completely crazy on him right then and there because after his plate-breaking fit this morning she didn't want to deal with any more of his temper tantrums.
"No, I need you for something," he answered instead, reaching his hand in offering, a gesture of good will. Adrienne hesitated before taking it, but finally reached out, setting her fingers into his open palm.
"And you realize that Rodney is calling Woolsey and every single IOA official on base at this very instant trying to figure out where I went?" she continued, letting him pull her over to screen where lines of script, some in Ancient, some in Goa'uld, some in Lucian slang and many others in other languages were rolling along the screen rapidly.
"Yes, let me deal with that, I need you to help me read this, fast," he requested, running his finger along the screen, slowing the text to a more readable pace. Scanning the words Adrienne could see that they were instructions, instructions for operating the ship and shutting off certain systems. Confused, he could read this, what was she doing here, she looked back up at Daniel, throwing her hands into the air.
"Fast why?" she asked but Daniel didn't say a word, just pointed at a clock over his shoulder a dull red digital counter using Goa'uld numbers reading seven minutes, ten seconds.
"Jack flipped on the self-destruct," he answered calmly.
"Fast it is cher," Adrienne replied, tossing the iPad aside and beginning to speed read what was in front of her as Daniel raced to read the text on the wall.
The clock in Jack's office ticked by, Sam, Teal'c, Vala and Robert Woolsey waiting patiently.
"They've only got two minutes left, you told them to jettison the ship at the one minute mark to be safe, right?" Sam asked worriedly. She was sure that Daniel would blast Adrienne out of there no question, but he had a problem with sacrificing himself for others; he did it far too often.
"Yes, I told him at the one minute mark, no matter what. I don't think he'd let Dr. Perky die," Jack responded.
"Dr. Perky?" Robert asked, confused.
"It's what he calls Addy, because she doesn't hate life or some shit," Vala replied, her filter for the day gone.
Redirecting his attention to Jack, Robert spoke again.
"Do you really think he can do it?" he asked and Jack nodded confidently now, seeing an opportunity to make all of this right.
"Yeah, I do, especially with Dr. Rowan there to help. They do work very well together, eerily so," Jack admitted, making Sam smile.
She knew he really didn't hate them together, he was just annoyed at having to clean up Daniel's mess when it came to Dr. Adrienne Rowan.
Mr. Woolsey went to answer when there was a flash of light and low hum and when Sam and the others uncovered their eyes, there was Adrienne, iPad in hand smiling.
"He's got it, says he's right behind me," Adrienne informed them, smiling nervously as she noticed their IOA visitor, looking back up at the ceiling and then at her watch, tapping her foot.
"Come on Indy, don't do this to me," she muttered, willing herself not to panic, the group remaining in silence as they watched the time click by. Glancing up to compare her watch with the clock on the wall, Adrienne's eyes widened and Sam could swear she heard the woman start to curse in cajun and it looked as if a tear was going to escape the corner of her eye when those familiar columns of light appeared and Daniel was suddenly there in Sam's office with them, a prideful smile on his face.
"Right behind me?" Adrienne said before the light had completely vanished, a sly smile across her face Sam could tell was covering for her earlier loss of personal control.
"I know how you get, that's why I sent you ahead, but I had it, and I'm here," he replied, shaking his head to readjust to the world again. Walking over to where Jack and Woolsey were standing, Daniel cleared his throat and spoke.
"The self-destruct has been deactivated, but as far as the rest of it, it's going to take me days to get through it all, maybe even a week, so I don't want someone bothering me every five minutes wanting to know if I can hurry up," Daniel explained.
"So you're not quitting?" Jack retorted smugly, that support from before momentarily gone.
Rolling his eyes, Daniel went to respond when Robert interjected, clearing his throat to call attention to himself.
"What if we let you work with Dr. Rowan? How long would it take then?" he asked, glancing back over at Adrienne who was standing there quietly, beside Sam and Vala.
"I can't give you a timeline per se, but faster, much faster, like always," Daniel replied, shrugging, trying to control the attitude in his voice.
Breathing in, Robert looked over at Jack who was making a face, a face he knew well and continued.
"Dr. Jackson, we're also concerned that you have made very little progress with the database in the past month, is this also due to Dr. Rowan's absence?" he asked the obvious question, for which Daniel already had an answer.
"Yes Mr. Woolsey. In the past if I was called away to something else, Adrienne would continue working, and given her promotion and extra levels of clearance, even more so now. But at present, it's just left until I can get back to it," Daniel answered, honestly and professionally.
Nodding his head, Woolsey looked back at Jack, deferring to him.
"Look Daniel, we talked about it and as soon as Rodney has finished this experiment today with the violets, Adrienne will no longer be asked to assist anyone, and, in her position as an archaeological associate can set out her own research agenda, which I assume will be the database and SG-1 related research. That is, provided you two continue to act like adults about all of this and there's no more hanky panky in the lab," Jack explained as Sam tried not to laugh, Adrienne's eyes widening as she flushed red with embarrassment, her southernness shining through.
Woolsey made an awful face, a face of defeat.
"Fine," he agreed with a nod, his head down, quickly leaving the office.
Adrienne was back to reading step seven, or was it eight, whichever she had left off with when she was beamed up; she had no idea anymore they were all running together now when her phone began to bounce on the counter.
Rolling his eyes, Rodney glared over at her, his typical face, smart remark ready.
"You might as well see what he wants since he apparently can't wait to rub it in," Rodney sighed out, removing his hands from the empty case which hopefully soon would contain a matching pot of African violets.
It made Adrienne feel guilty; it seemed that he had gotten used to having help, and he had been very nice to her since his close encounter with Anubis, very very nice. She made a mental note to meet with Sam as soon as things were back to normal to talk about getting Rodney someone on a full time basis; he deserved that, his research was just as important.
Sliding the iPad onto the table, Adrienne grabbed her phone, tapping around to get her message.
Come over. I'm cooking. Just bring yourself.
Adrienne smiled and started to set the phone down when she remembered how upset he had been earlier about her lack of reply. Quickly, she shot off a message before returning to Rodney.
Looking forward to it. Stay out of the alcohol till I get there this time. :0)
She hit send and paused, looking back down at the phone and nodded, typing once more.
I love you. More than anything.
Satisfied that things were finally returned back to normal, Adrienne hit send and placed the phone back on the counter, walking over to read to Rodney again. The phone bounced around again, but Adrienne didn't rush over, she knew what it said.
I love you too.