"Well Daniel, if the two of you are going to work at this speed, we're going to be here all weekend," Rodney slammed the folder on Daniel's desk, walking out of the lab back to his own hovel, as Adrienne had started to call it.
"He's such a creep sometimes," she said as soon as the coast was clear, looking back at her screen, a direct feed to the Lucian ship that was currently making its home aboard the Daedalus, a ship they thought they would have had access to sooner, but instead was put through two weeks worth of security tests while SG-1 had been shipped off on other missions.
And, as per usual, Daniel and Adrienne arrived back with the assumption that now that they were back, the entire ship's encoded system would be translated and analyzed in a day.
No matter what they did, who they talked to, no one seemed to understand it didn't work like that.
"Creep is such a nice word; how about total asshole," Daniel corrected, walking over to the door, looking over his shoulder as he did, "and to think you wanted to get him permanent help. Who exactly were you hoping was going to volunteer for that job?"
"I was gonna talk to Anne, ya know, Mardsen, she's pretty good," Adrienne noted, Daniel's frown growing deeper.
"I thought you liked Anne."
"I do ya tchew," the cajun defended, "I mean, if it's for the good of the galaxy, right?"
"Something like that," Daniel teased, continuing toward the door. Noticing where he was heading and trying to figure out exactly where he was going with a near literal mountain of work piled on the center table, Adrienne shouted out
"Where are you going cher?" Adrienne asked before she could think, noting her slip in vocabulary selection. Since the IOA and Woolsey had backed off, and Adrienne returned to her lab and her team as normal, she had made a conscious effort to make certain that no one who met them could think for even a moment that they were together, and she had tried to keep her use of cher, my love, or any other references to their being together as quiet as possible.
"To shut the door and keep him out. I can't work at an acceptable rate with him stomping in here every hour bitching," Daniel said as he pushed the door shut, activating the keypad lock but he didn't return to his desk, instead, walking over to Adrienne's, spinning her around. She looked surprised as he stopped the chair once she was facing him, grabbing her hands, pulling her to her feet and into his arms, bringing her into a kiss, so slow, so deep, so forbidden at work that she could feel tingles all the way down to her toes. She smiled as he pulled away, his hands still holding on gently to her biceps.
"What brought that on?" she asked, her heart racing with a combination of fear of being caught showing affection, on camera, again, and complete love for him for just not caring.
"Needed to make myself feel better," he replied, kissing her lightly once more, before finally releasing her. He sighed and returned to his desk, his step making it clear that he'd rather stay.
"I hate when Sam agrees with him," he said as he sat, knowing that until she was able to find him an assistant, the two of them were going to have to help him out with his research, which she had deemed necessary to understanding how Anubis' clones were failing, as well as their own tasks of translating and analyzing the data from the secured ship.
Adrienne just nodded in agreement and kept working, happy to be here with him and at her own desk even with pages and pages of Asgard cloning data piled beside her current screen.
An hour later Adrienne was antsy.
She stood from her desk and walked up behind him and this time it was she that wrapped her arms around his neck. He expected her to bring her face to his and peer over his shoulder like she would do sometimes, trying to see how far he had gotten on his part of the translation, but instead he felt her lips kissing lightly at his neck.
He gently shrugged her away, laughing.
"I'm sorry ja-wer; I just want to get this done. How far along are you?" he asked, stressed.
Not remembering exactly where she had left off, Adrienne returned to her desk, stretching a bit before she sat down in her chair and checked the monitor, mouthing a few things before peering back over at him.
"I have five more pages, if you can call them that, in this section. Shouldn't be too bad. But I'm starving, so I think I am gonna get something to eat," she said, saving her work, noting that he was back to typing again, paying no attention to her whatsoever.
"Daniel, I'm going for nourishment, what would you like?" she asked, knowing that he would refuse to come with her, he was in a zone, a zone where it was best that she just facilitate the frenzy of work and be there when he crashed.
"AMOR MEI" she said loudly, "CIMBUM?"
Holding up a finger to ask her to silently wait a moment, Daniel scribbled a few more things on the notepad before speaking, Adrienne making a mental note that screaming in Latin seemed to get his attention.
"Bring back whatever, you know what I eat," he said without looking up.
Scowling, Adrienne shook her head, muttering to herself.
"Yes Adrienne, a sandwich would be great, how nice of you to offer, oh, and I love you too," she mumbled, turning to leave. Daniel must have caught the last part of her little rant since he finally looked up, a slight smile across his face.
"Ad!" he yelled behind her and she paused as she was reopening the door, glancing back to see what he wanted. He was looking at her, that same sweet look on his face, the look that made her want to melt into the floor.
"I love you too," he said sweetly, making her smile, and looked back at his screen, continuing with their task.
Adrienne was gone a very long time. Once he got hungry, he figured she would arrive any minute, Adrienne always had excellent timing like that but she didn't, in fact, she was gone a full ninety minutes when Daniel started to get concerned.
They needed to finish this crap if they ever had a hope of getting Rodney off of their backs and maybe getting to relax for the first time this week; where in the hell was she?
Standing from his desk, he headed down to the commissary to see what was taking so long.
He heard her laughter as he turned the corner and there was Adrienne, sitting on a table right by the door surrounded by some of the guys from SG-11. She was laughing at some young man, Martinez Daniel thought his name was, and he was so obviously flirting with her that it made Daniel instantly sick to his stomach.
Get a grip Daniel, she's yours...
She saw him from the corner of her eye and leapt from the table, looking at the clock, realizing her mistake.
"Dammit, Indy, I'm sorry. Carlos was just telling me registration for the Armed Forces ten miler opens week and -" she started to speak but Daniel silenced her, holding up his hand, laughing.
Distracted by a race, of course.
"That's fine Ad, I'm just starving," he said as he walked by her. Adrienne rushed to catch up, feeling awful about forgetting and hoping he wasn't too angry.
"Daniel, I'm sorry. I just lost track of time, I was achy and needed a break. You know me and time," she said, reaching out for his arm but he pulled away.
"I do, it's no big deal, I'm just going to get some food and head back. I'd like to sleep in my own bed tonight," he replied, turning away from her and proceeding through the line, stopping only to peer over his shoulder, "And unless you start training tonight it would be nice not to do it alone…"
Adrienne's jaw dropped, that was not subtle, and he laughed at her reaction.
Not at work, she told herself, or you'll be with your good buddy again, so she stepped away, pulling her hand slowly to her throat, reaching for her necklace to toy with the chain nervously. Hoping that no one heard him, or saw the growing redness in her cheeks, she walked back over to Carlos, grabbing her apple and heading back to work.
Daniel really didn't care anymore, did he?
Adrienne had finished her part two hours later, two long dragging miserable hours. She stood, stretching, looking over at Daniel to see how he was doing, noting that he still looked engrossed and very stressed.
Feeling bad for leaving him to starve, Adrienne walked up behind him, pulling his jacket from his shoulders and reaching to rub his neck slowly, hoping to relieve the stress, and he leaned forward, his face planting on his keyboard.
"Are you finished? How in the hell are you finished?" he asked, mystified, not looking up.
"Wha? Ya don't believe me? " she teased into his ear, "I worked fast & efficiently since certain people were inviting me to their bed in the cafeteria…"
He laughed, turning his head to peer up at her.
"I did, didn't I?"
"Yeah..." she laughed as she pulled up a chair beside him, "What was that about?"
Daniel lifted his head, gazing up at her.
"Honestly?"
"Do I eva want you to lie to me?" she said as she sat.
He sat up, peering to ensure their door was still closed before he opened his mouth.
"I was jealous," he admitted, "those guys from SG-11 that you were talking about the race with? I just had a stupid thought is all and thought I would make it clear who you were going home with," he laughed at his own words, shaking his head.
"Ya damn cooyon," she laughed, shoving his arm, "I'm pretty sure the great magnifier incident has cemented your claim."
"Does everyone know about that?" he asked as Adrienne shrugged.
"I'm fairly confident…" she answered honestly, blushing, "But I'm flattered that the Dr. Daniel Jackson, the Romeo of the SGC, the man human and alien women alike swoon over wanted to make sure that a couple of rangers from SG-11 knew I was his girlfriend."
"I don't know why I try with you," he turned his head away, pretending to sleep on his keyboard, "You're so awful to me."
"Nah…" she replied, "I keep you on your toes," she stood again, pushing him off of his computer, "How much do you have left? Maybe we can actually get out of here tonight and pick up tomorrow."
"More than I would like…" he groaned, peering back at the clock.
"What can I do?" she asked, as Daniel shook his head.
"Nothing until I catch up," he muttered, "I think we dug ourselves into a corner I've gotta get us out of before we move on to the next section."
Adrienne frowned, "Indy, I can't just leave you to it."
"Yes you can," he insisted, "Go, run, train, make me look old and washed up and impress your admirers," he added with a smile.
"You were less of an ass before we got together," she noted, pushing the back of his head.
"Now that I've got you all bets are off," he joked, "But seriously. Go train, get any errands done you've been putting off. Then maybe grab us some takeout and head over to my place?"
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure," he said, as Adrienne began to go to her desk and pack up, "Can we do Italian? I mean, I don't care where, even Olive Garden is fine."
She smiled softly as she packed up.
We are pretty much a damn married couple.
I can't believe it let this happen.
I can't believe I'm ok with it…
"Sounds good to me," she replied, not even trying to hide the grin on her face, "What time?"
"Seven," he declared, taking a breath, "I am forcing myself out of this chair no later than 6 and in my car headed home."
"We shall see…" she teased, tossing the final items into her bag before walking back over to him, leaning in to kiss him goodbye.
"Don't work yourself to insanity," she warned, nose to nose with him, "Call me to join you first."
"Yes mother," he teased, kissing her and shooing her away.
She left laughing, not believing one word he was saying.
"I'd even say yes," she muttered as she left the lab, headed down the hall to the elevators, "if you called me back down there and asked me to marry you right now, I'd say yes."
She paused at the button, pressing it to head up before laughing.
"Damn ya Aunt Barb for bein' right."
He didn't leave at 6 and Adrienne was glad she got the heat up option from Olive Garden.
By ten he had texted that he was headed home, and that she didn't need to come, that he would understand, but she, as much as she hated to admit it to herself, she wanted to sleep in his arms.
So, she packed up her dinner and drove over anyway.
When she arrived at his apartment, she parked the beetle and entered the building, taking the elevator up to his floor and digging the keys from her purse. The apartment was dark when she entered so she shut the door behind her, quietly, and tossed her things on the couch, slipping her boots off of her feet and walking to the kitchen to stow away the food she hoped that someone would eat. Grabbing a vitamin water from the stash he now kept for her, dear lord how more together could they be, she took a swig and headed to the bedroom.
The lamp in the bedroom was on and Daniel was asleep on his side in boxers and a t-shirt, pen in one hand and a journal in the other evidently having fallen asleep writing. Adrienne smiled, he just looked so sweet there, and started to clean up so that she could get into the bed, pulling his glasses carefully from his face and pulling back the covers when she saw him stir, rubbing his face and peering up at her squinting.
"Ad, you didn't need to come," he grumbled, "I just...ugh...I got lost in it."
"I'd say I told ya so, but, yeah. Anyway, I can't sleep without ya anymore, not well anyways" Adrienne admitted, her voice cracking, slipping at the end as she kicked off her work clothes.
"Awww I broke the great and powerful Dr. Adrienne Rowan," he joked, reaching out for her.
"I hate ya so damn much Indy," she said as she rolled her eyes, clicking off the lights and crawling into them.
"Tell me you didn't get dinner?" he asked and Adrienne shrugged.
"We can eat it for lunch tomorrow."
"I'm sorry, Ad, I'm…" he sighed out, rolling onto his back, "I told you, I'm terrible with things like this. I'm just thankful you didn't get a table somewhere…"
Adrienne laughed, "I know better. Anyone that knows you should."
She heard him sigh again.
"Ad, I was thinking today, after you left."
"Yeah? About what?" she whispered as she turned to her side to face him.
"About the cafeteria today, SG-11…"
"About ya silly jealous spell?"
"I just think you deserve better than me, someone who can make you happy, somebody younger, somebody more like you. Sometimes I feel like you, well, settled, for me," he admitted to her quietly.
He had never admitted that to her before, but there were times when he noticed how Ronon still looked at her, when Cam told him how lucky he was, when the newer personnel came down to the lab and talked to her like he wasn't there. Sometimes he thought that maybe Adrienne had just picked the safer, secure option, rather than any other prospective suitors because after all, Daniel was about as loyal as they came.
Surprisingly though, Adrienne began to laugh.
"Settle for you?" she said as she sat back, reaching her palm to his face, "I didn't settle for you, ya damn fool. I fell in love with you. Madly in love with you. You do realize how much of a pain in the ass you are, right? I could have gone with a much easier option if I had wanted."
He couldn't help but laugh, and tease, "So who are these easier options…"
She shook her head, giggling, "Nope, not gonna give you fuel for later stupid thoughts."
She hunkered down, grabbing his arm and pulling it around her middle.
"Much better," she said, sighing out and reaching her fingers to run across his as they wrapped around her waist.
"Adrienne, I need you to make me a promise," Daniel requested quietly from behind, nuzzling his face into her neck, taking in the scent of her hair, the feel of her body pressed to his, the closeness that they shared when they were together.
"Anything," she replied honestly, starting to wonder what he would say, what he would ask, suddenly recalling the words in the journal, the messy script talking about the future.
Was he going to ask her; was he going to ask her to stay with him forever?
"I need you to promise me that you 'll never let me hold you back. Ever," he said.
Disappointed, but not wanting to show it, Adrienne reached for his arms, pulling him to her tighter.
"You don't hold me back. If anything you push me. And for the record, if I ever hear any more of your age difference bullshit I'm going to smack you, ok?" she said.
"Ok," he responded and they fell asleep, Daniel holding Adrienne like he never wanted to let go.
The alarm went off at six, and like always Adrienne reached over to throw it across the room but Daniel could read her mind.
"We have to go to work," he whispered in her ear, reaching to rescue the alarm clock from her clutches.
"No, let's pretend we finished what we had to work on and stay in bed. All day..." she rolled over and kissed his neck.
Sure, they had about three quarters of a ship's database left to go through and a mountain of other mess, but this would be so much nicer...
"I wish," he said and meant it honestly, wanting to do nothing more than lay here in her arms, make love to her, talk to her, be with her, "but it's only Wednesday, and I really wanted to get through that last set of coded transmissions..." he started, stopping himself mid-sentence realizing that this was what made him a boring old man. Instead, he rolled over, a devilish smile across his face, whispering in her ear, wondering if that was the response she was looking for but she just started giggling.
"Nuh uh," she said, sitting up from the bed, "Don't you tempt me like that cher. You're right, we've got work to do."
Daniel didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved, not quite sure if he could live up to that promise whispered in her ear, but either way he did make one decision right then and there.
He would join her in the shower and not rush.
"Dammit!" Daniel shouted out, holding his face tightly, water splashing into his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Adrienne asked, leaning over his shoulder to see what he had managed to do to himself now, the other person she met that could literally get hurt doing anything.
"Cut the hell out of myself," he grumbled, turning his cheek to check on it in the shower mirror. Worried, Adrienne, turned his head to face her. He was bleeding pretty heavily, so she angled his head to let the water pour down his face, washing away the blood to reveal nothing.
"Indy, I have no idea what you're talking about. Where did all of that blood come from?" Adrienne questioned, trying to wipe away the massive amount of blood and water that had collected on his jawline but once the water was running clear and there wasn't any more blood on his face, she couldn't find a large gash that would have bled that much, in fact, she didn't even see a nick.
"What do you mean? You don't see anything?" he asked, reaching for his face, "That hurt there has to be something there."
"There's nothing there," Adrienne answered, "I have no idea where the blood came from."
She let go of his face, planting a light kiss on his jaw and reached again for her sponge, feeling the water start to turn cold as they had been in there too long.
"I'm telling you, I felt the sting of cutting myself. I've been shaving for a long time; I know what it feels like," he stressed, glaring down at her as she squeezed more soap onto her sponge.
Rolling her eyes, she tucked her washing tool under her arm, reaching up for his face again taking a second look.
"Daniel, I have no idea what you're talking about, there's nothing here," she searched around yet again, trying to see if she missed anything. Satisfied that they were both imagining things, she reached up and pulled his face to hers, this time kissing his lips lightly. He returned the kiss and let out a sigh, knowing he had to have cut something no matter what she was standing here saying, looking back in the mirror to finish what he was doing as Adrienne returned to her own morning ritual.
He had forgotten the entire incident when he caught Adrienne staring at him funny as he got dressed, her eyes locked on his torso as she was making a face of confusion.
"What are you looking at?" he asked, pulling his shirt down the rest of the way and beginning to tuck it into his pants. Adrienne, who had been sitting on the edge of the bed lacing up her combat boots over her BDU pants, stopped what she was doing and stood from the bed, squinting her eyes, her face in a frown of concern.
"Take your shirt off," she ordered as she approached him, offering no other explanation.
"Why?" he asked confused, but started to do as she said, her demeanor just slightly disturbing, but Adrienne grabbed his hand and pulled him forcefully back over to the bed.
Well hello, he thought, his worry changing to something else entirely.
"Ad, I thought we decided that we had things to do," Daniel said, lying, at that very instant not caring about a single thing they had to get done, he needed to stay here today with her and not think about anything else but her...
Instead, she shook her head dismissively, walking over to the nightstand, clicking on the light.
"No, come here," she ordered, sitting back on the edge of the bed, pulling him close to her and examining his waist. He noticed that she was still making that funny face as she aimed the light at his abdomen, muttering under her breath.
"What are you looking at?" Daniel asked, as Adrienne brought her gaze closer to his torso, such a confused look on her face as she pawed all over him running her hands all over his middle slowly before glancing up at him.
"Did you start using scar cream?" she inquired, a very familiar frown on her face, one that he didn't like.
"Scar cream? They make that?" Daniel replied.
"I'll take that as a no..." she replied, beginning to turn him again.
"What are you looking for now?" Daniel asked her, totally confused but Adrienne didn't respond, just grabbed his left arm pulling it to the light and scanning it up and down, running her fingers along his skin. He laughed, pulling his arm away, trying to figure out exactly what she was doing and how in the world this was going to end with them rolling around in the bed.
"That tickles Ad, what are you doing?" Daniel said thinking tickling, maybe tickling, odd to tickle his arm yet again, she didn't say a word, reaching down to shove him onto the bed.
Maybe I should call Sam and play sick, would she believe that we were both sick?
She wouldn't say anything though, she knew they were working hard, but Adrienne grabbed his face not bringing her lips to his, instead pulling his head into the light.
"Ja-wer, do you care to clue me in as to what you're doing?" Daniel asked, a little less playful since it was quite clear that she thought something was wrong and wasn't trying to take him up on his offer from this morning.
"That scar," she answered, "the one on your head. Remember, you told me that robot girl threw you; I found it that one time you were sick and I was running my fingers through your hair," she explained as she kept digging.
"What about it?" he responded, holding his head at the uncomfortable angle she had placed it and she ran her fingers through once more, sighing, letting him sit up again, much to the relief of his aching back.
"They're gone," she said, pulling her legs to cross them as she sat on the bed, her face full of worry like he hadn't seen in a while.
"What's gone?" Daniel asked, now starting to feel around his hair himself, noting she was right, the small bump on the back of his skull was gone, completely gone, replaced with smooth, untouched skin, hair growing from it. Glancing up to tell her she was right, Daniel saw that Adrienne was shaking her head.
"Your scars, or at least the ones I've noticed. The appendix scar was big, though, really big, I always notice it but it's just gone," Adrienne looked at Daniel, puzzled and paused, her eyes widening and she leapt up from his bed, dashing out of the bedroom.
"Ad, where are you going?" Daniel asked, his stomach knotted, having no idea as to what was going on and his worry turning to her; what did she know, was she going to be alright? Pulling his shirt back on he followed her, the two running into each other at the doorway to the bedroom, Adrienne stopping in front of him, a large steak knife in her hand.
Without a word, she reached out for his palm, slicing right into it.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" Daniel screamed out, pulling his hand back.
Remaining silent, Adrienne simply tossed the knife behind her and reached for his hand, wiping the blood away with her fingers. Her eyes widened, so he pulled back his hand to see what was wrong, but she didn't allow him, dragging him to the bathroom where she turned on the water, thrusting his hand under the faucet. His hand hurt like hell, he could actually feel it throbbing in pain, but he trusted her, he trusted the look in her perfect eyes and he looked down at his palm to watch the blood wash away.
There was no cut, Adrienne glancing up at him slowly as if she knew that was going to happen all along.
"That my love is NOT normal," she said.
"Hello?" Jack answered the phone wondering who was calling his house this early, especially given that he was barely on time himself this morning.
"Hey, where's Sam?" the voice on the other end said and it took Jack a second to place the voice, it wasn't one he heard often: Daniel's girlfriend.
"Hiya there Dr. Perky, good morning to you too. Sam's left for work, where you probably should be already," he replied, refraining from joking about where she probably was, Daniel's, and why she was probably late...
"Well, she's not there yet and I've got a problem here," Adrienne responded.
Great, Jack thought, as if Daniel wasn't a problem enough alone.
"Let's hear it," he said, preparing for the worst.
"Indy's turned into one of the X-men," she said and Jack made a face, glancing at the clock.
Something weird happening to Daniel and it was only 7 a.m.
And why did that woman insist on calling him Indy?
It was weird.
"Which one?" Jack asked, knowing that Adrienne was just geeky enough to answer him, trying to not admit the fact that he could even ask such a question made him no better.
"The Wolverine," she said, attitude in her voice.
"That's the cool one isn't it?" Jack heard Daniel asking in the background and he could tell he was trying to be funny but failing miserably, the worry in his voice apparent despite the miles of distance and the phone between them.
He let out a breath, rubbing his face, daring to ask for clarification.
"Alright, so I'm assuming that he doesn't have metal claws coming out of his hands," Jack made sure he was understanding her because he had a sinking feeling as to where this was going.
"Point for General O'Neill," Adrienne replied but before he could snap back; it was too early for this shit, and he heard shuffling, able to tell that she was walking away from Daniel.
"Jack," she whispered into the phone.
Well, that was new, he thought, she never called him by his first name.
"I'm here," he answered curtly.
"Daniel's flipping out. He's poking his fingers with a steak knife, watching them seal back up again, trying to play it cool but the look on his face tells me that he's just moments away from completely flipping out. I need Sam, NOW!" Adrienne hissed into the phone.
He had to agree, that probably was just a bit freaky to witness, Daniel cutting away at himself with that eerie frown on his face he got when something was wrong. At least if Daniel did flip out, he was confident that Adrienne could beat his ass and keep him under control because she was useful like that.
"Ok, I'll find Sam, you call the infirmary. See who's on call today and get someone over there. Sam and I will be over as soon as we can," Jack ordered, hanging up the phone before she could argue. Let her call Carolyn and try to convince her that this wasn't her fault.
"Just another normal day in the O'Neill household," he said to himself and, as promised, began to track down his wife.
When Adrienne heard the knock at the door, she was relieved, taking a breath and peeking over at Daniel, who was sitting on the bed, a nervous wreck. He had stopped poking his fingers about thirty minutes ago and was now just staring off into space. Worried enough herself, Adrienne walked over to the bed and put her arm around him, bringing his head onto her shoulder.
"That's Jenn; she'll know what is going on," Adrienne assured him, although she was not so sure herself that Dr. Keller, who Carolyn was sending over, would have any idea as to what was going on.
"I just never catch a break," he said, leaving his head on her shoulder and glancing down at his feet. Squeezing him tightly once more and rubbing his bicep, Adrienne kissed his head gently, standing to answer the door.
"I came as soon as Dr. Lam paged me, so Daniel's healing super-fast?" Jenn asked, talking the moment Adrienne turned the doorknob.
"Yeah," she said as she nodded, "and I'm not talking like a bruise going away in 24 hours. I sliced his hand open and watched it close right in front of me," Adrienne explained as she walked Jennifer to the bedroom. Without emotion, Jenn was making a face, calculating in her head, taking all of the information in.
"That's what Carolyn said, but she's with those SG-7 boys that came back with that flu virus; she said she's sorry," Jenn added quickly but Adrienne didn't believe her.
Carolyn Lam was an awesome doctor, but was also quite annoyed by Daniel and Adrienne, who in her opinion took too many risks and got hurt too often at their own hands. Jennifer was a skilled doctor, just as much as Carolyn, and she wouldn't scold them. That in and of itself made Adrienne feel a touch better.
Feigning calm, Daniel waved hello at the visiting physician and she walked over to him, placing her stethoscope in her ears. Daniel removed his shirt again without being told and Adrienne grabbed the chair at the computer table bringing it to the foot of the bed as Jenn began to examine him, talking to herself as she did.
"Heart and lungs sound good, but I expected that, you're in pretty good shape," Jenn started, Daniel peering over at Adrienne and raising his eyebrows as if to say "See, I don't need to run a billion miles a day like you do."
Adrienne made a face right back.
Oblivious to the exchange between the couple, Jenn tilted Daniel's face up to the light to look at it, running her fingers carefully down his glands.
"Normal, normal, everything looks normal. Ok, I'm going to get some blood samples and take those back, see what we can find out," Jennifer said as she grabbed a rubber band to cinch his arm and the needle. Wrapping the red strip above his left arm, she pulled it tight, flicking the vein and pointing the needle to insert it when Adrienne had a sudden thought, leaping from the bed and dashing over to the doctor.
"Wait Jenn, don't do that!" Adrienne shouted, grabbing her hand, nearly knocking the needle to the floor.
"Adrienne, I need to run blood work, so we need some blood," Jenn pulled away like Adrienne was acting like some crazed girlfriend but the cajun just shook her head.
"Because he'll heal around the needle while you draw the sample, watch," Adrienne grabbed the knife Daniel had been playing with and cut his arm before he could protest again. He flinched, but was now used to the pain since both he and Adrienne had been experimenting with this all morning and gazed down sorrowfully as the cut healed before Adrienne had completely lifted the knife.
Jenn's eyes widened, her head shaking, her hands reaching out to undo the tourniquet attached to Daniel's arm.
"I believed you, but that? That was amazing," she said, glancing back and forth between the archaeologists.
"We can't explain it; that's why we called you," he said and rubbed his arm where it still stung like a cut but nothing was there. Still in a state of shock, Jennifer looked over at Adrienne.
"When did this start?" she asked them both and Daniel answered, surprising Adrienne with his calm.
"I cut myself in the shower shaving this morning, pretty badly, but when I went to wash the cut out it was gone. The blood was there but the cut was gone," he said and Adrienne nodded, reaching over to him, pushing him back onto his bed a bit, so he was laying down, her dark eyes glancing back over at the doctor.
"And his appendix scar is gone, just gone. And that was a BIG scar," Adrienne pointed out, tracing her finger along where it used to be, gently, so gently that were it not for the severity of the situation Daniel would have laughed.
Pulling a small flashlight from her coat pocket, Jennifer leaned over to examine his side, shining the light all over his abdomen.
"I'm glad it's gone since it bothered you so much," Daniel grumbled as the women searched, Adrienne tickling him playfully as Jenn stood, moving to get a better angle.
"It didn't bother me; I thought it was sexy," she replied, winking at him as she reached to squeeze his hand gently.
"It was from an emergency appendectomy, so very attractive," Daniel joked, leaning so Jennifer could keep poking and pressing into his abdomen.
"I used to pretend it was a sword wound from you having a duel in my honor, so see, very sexy," Adrienne teased, kissing his hand, sitting back gently on her heels as Daniel started to laugh.
"I'm glad you guys can joke about this, but this is strange. Really strange. Daniel, I need you to get dressed. I'm gonna call Carson," Jennifer ordered, her face showing concern that Adrienne didn't want to see, reaching for her phone in the front of her bag.
"Isn't he at Atlantis base?" Adrienne asked, knowing where Carson was at all times since he was her go to guy for anything medical. He didn't fuss at her for being foolish or overdoing it in the gym like Carolyn did and didn't question when Adrienne preferred an alternate form of medicine.
"Yes, and Adrienne I need you to call General O'Neill and inform him that we are going to have to use the Daedalus to beam over to my lab there immediately," Jennifer requested, phone to her ear as she packed up her things quickly, too quickly, so quickly it made Adrienne's heart race.
The cajun looked at her friend terrified while Daniel did as he was told, stepping into his boots and lacing them up.
"Jennifer, please tell me there's nothing wrong," Adrienne asked, her voice shaky. After wanting to be with him for so long and almost losing him so many times, the thought of there being something wrong was more than she could bear.
"I need to take a full body scan to be sure, but..." Jennifer paused, glancing at Daniel, intentionally avoiding eye contact with Adrienne, "it appears that you have an appendix."
Swallowing, still avoiding Adrienne's gaze, one now filled with shock, Jennifer stepped outside the bedroom to speak to Carson, leaving Daniel and Adrienne to digest that bit of information. Panicked, Adrienne turned to Daniel trying to hold back the tears forming her eyes but he shook his head and grabbed his SG jacket, pulling it over his shoulders.
"Stop looking at me like that," he instructed.
"Like what?" Adrienne answered reactively, not thinking about anything other than the chance of losing him to some mysterious sickness. Not now, not after she had decided, please Daniel, on the last mission, and since, you're planning for the rest of your life, the rest of our lives, there can't be anything wrong, her heart cried, pounding in her chest.
"Like I'm going to die. I'm not gonna die," he approached her, smiling, taking her into his arms. Sighing, she laid her head on his chest and slipped her arms around his waist as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, kissing her head. They were still standing like that, just holding one another in silence, Adrienne letting herself melt into the safety and comfort of his touch, when there was a slight knock at the door. Peering up, Adrienne saw the knocker, Jennifer, re-entering the bedroom, a sheepish look on her face like she had interrupted something.
"Sorry guys, uh, Addy, have you called the General yet?" Jennifer asked, Adrienne shaking her head no slowly, but not backing away from the love of her life, her heart aching, she didn't want to let go, she was too worried about Daniel to think of anything else. She could have gotten lost there, wanting to send Jennifer away, go back to bed and to sleep, hoping that she would wake up and this would all be some terrible dream when there was a knock at the door, the main door this time.
Kissing her head, Daniel unwrapped himself from her embrace to answer it, excusing himself past the women and leaving the room, leaving Adrienne, which he didn't want to do.
He didn't need the peep hole, he could tell by the knock who it was and when he opened the door, Jack walked himself into the apartment, shaking his head as he stepped.
"My better half is stuck with Woolsey all day, so you get me. I'm supposed to be running an entire department in the federal government and yet here I am dealing with the two of you. What did you touch this time Daniel?" Jack demanded as he came to a halt in the living room of the apartment but Daniel rolled his eyes not needing Jack's lip while Adrienne was falling apart in the bedroom and his body was going haywire.
"I didn't touch anything," Daniel answered Jack with the tone they often gave one another, "I woke up this morning, took a shower and discovered as Adrienne put it, that I now have superpowers. And, according to Dr. Keller, I might also have a brand spanking new appendix."
"Wait, you grew an ORGAN!?" Jack said, crossing his arms in front of him.
"Looks like it," Daniel answered, grabbing his bag from the sofa.
"It's always you Daniel, always you, why is it always you?" Jack asked, shaking his head.
"I was just wondering the same thing. Dr. Keller wants us to take the Daedalus over to San Francisco and let Carson use the Atlantis lab to examine me," Daniel informed him as Adrienne walked into the room.
"I assume us means you and Dr. Perky here," Jack clarified, cocking his head at Adrienne as she came into his line of sight. Daniel nodded as Adrienne was squeezing his arm, annoyed to be referred to as Dr. Perky again making Daniel stifle a laugh; if she was feeling well enough to be annoyed by Jack that was a step in the right direction.
"General Jack O'Neill requesting transport aboard the Daedalus for myself, Dr. Jackson, Dr. Keller and Dr. Rowan to the Atlantis base, copy?" Jack spoke as he tapped his ear, nodding at the response he was getting in return.
Smiling, taking advantage of the moment, Daniel looked back at Adrienne.
"See, he does know your name," he teased and Adrienne cut her eyes at him, elbowing him in the side.
"So I hear that Dr. Jackson's growing new parts?" Carson inquired as their eyes adjusted to the light, considerably dimmer than the glowing beams that had brought them here.
"Carson, it appears that he's grown a new appendix and the scars from various injuries have healed. And then there is this," Jennifer spoke quickly, falling right back into doctor mode, grabbing Daniel's shoulder and ushering him over to Carson. She grabbed a scalpel from the tray and then reached for Daniel's palm to cut him as Adrienne had earlier, but Daniel pulled away, procuring the small metal knife from her hand.
"I can do this myself," he said, trying to be as polite as possible, hoping that doing it himself would hurt a bit less, realizing quickly that he was dead wrong as he sliced into the side of his hand. Blood began to flow and then stop suddenly just as it did before, and he wiped his hand on his pants, displaying his hand, his healed hand, completely devoid of injury.
"Well, that's handy," Carson stated happily, his kind voice calming to both Adrienne and Daniel, pointing at the scan table. Breathing out, Daniel took off his messenger bag and tossed it to the floor, hopping up on the table as Adrienne stood back and watched, worried, small liquid crystals forming in her eyes, crystals that Jack noticed.
He felt bad; he knew exactly how he would feel if Sam were sitting on that table with strange things happening to her...
"He'll be alright," Jack said, walking over to the sad young woman standing far away from the table, a distance he could tell she was placing between herself and Daniel so he didn't see her cry, "that man has nine lives."
Adrienne laughed, but stopped, a vision in her head of Daniel saying the same thing to her as he plummeted over the side of a ravine and her stomach dropped, her heart ached, her memory recalling conversations that they were just starting to have about a future Daniel was planning out, a future that she was never sure that she was going to get.
"True, but how many has he already used up?" she questioned right back, holding back tears as Jack reluctantly nodded in agreement.
The woman had a point, there had to be a limit to how far Daniel's luck could go.
Before he could come up with something good to say, something to ease her fears, there was a buzzing sound and Adrienne peeked up just as Carson was starting the scan. They all stood in silence, while he and Jennifer looked over the diagrams being displayed on a sideboard, speaking to themselves in doctor speak and making notes, Jack, his face calm and cool as always, Adrienne fighting the urge to have a panic attack, Daniel, in the meantime, laying on the table looking thoroughly bored.
Finally, after what seemed to be hours, the slow box moving slowly over and over Daniel's t-shirt clad torso, Carson glanced back up at Jack and Adrienne.
"Alright, the good news is that there doesn't appear to be anything degenerative about this condition," Carson began and Adrienne breathed out a sigh of relief, willing the tears to stay back in her eyes. Smiling, knowing she needed that, Carson let that much sink in before continuing.
"It does appear that Dr. Jackson has regrown his appendix, which considering how sudden his appendicitis came on last time, we will need to watch this new one. In addition, his file here says that he has suffered at least three recorded concussions, but this brain scan indicates that there is nothing of the sort. Honestly, if I didn't know better, I would assume not only has Dr. Jackson never suffered a serious injury, but that he is only about 36 years old," Carson explained as Daniel tried to sit up quickly, finding there was no room with the scanner as he slammed into it, leaning back to hold himself up on his hands.
"Wait, I'm regressing in age?" he asked, looking panicked, trapped in the confines of the machine.
"No, no, not at all. There are still various markers that indicate your age, well, relatively since you've ascended twice, but physically you're not 46 years old. Anymore at least," Carson answered, directing his attention now to Jack who looked like he was debating putting his arm around Adrienne.
"Why don't you and Addy head down to the cafeteria. I want to try to take some blood and check on a few more things but I'll radio you when I'm finished, alright?" he asked as though he was giving them an option, which he wasn't, but he wanted to keep the poor terrified woman as calm as possible.
Carson wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but the idea of Daniel turning into a real life Benjamin Button he could tell wasn't sitting right with Adrienne, something Jack could see as well. Nodding, Jack finally reached out for Adrienne, placing his hand on her back to lead her out of the infirmary; not giving her time to get upset over anything primarily because he didn't like crying women, even his wife.
Adrienne sat across from him not saying a word, which was weird considering she liked to talk, a lot, about nerdy things just like Daniel did, in fact, she was so much like him in so many ways it was just kind of creepy. It was too quiet though, and unable to sit in silence any longer and watch her poke at a bowl of fruit, Jack spoke, trying to get a better handle as to what was going on in that overactive brain of hers.
"You don't have much to say," Jack stated and Adrienne looked up emotionless, or at least trying to hide her emotions from Jack, but either way she stared at him like a zombie.
"Nah, just worried about him, that's all," she replied, shrugging, just like he did.
"I told you he'll be fine. Daniel's always fine," Jack responded but Adrienne just sat there, expressionless.
"Besides," Jack continued, satisfied at least that she was listening, "he's got someone to live for now and that makes a big difference. Trust me," he added, taking a bite of the apple in his hand.
It took a second to sink in, for her to realize that Jack was talking about her, but finally Adrienne smiled slightly and nodded.
"I feel like he keeps trying to get rid of me," Adrienne said in response, aloud, not believing that she said that, to Jack no less, who was looking at her strangely, "He told me I deserve better."
"He said that?" he asked, not believing that Daniel would ever try to get rid of Dr. Perky. He hadn't seen him so happy since, well, Shar'e, happier in fact, it was a side of his friend that he didn't even know existed. This little chickadee seemed to mean a whole lot to him and he knew that Daniel would never regret meeting her. Shaking his head Jack glared at Adrienne, trying to make eye contact to see if there was more to the story which clearly there was as the stirring of the fruit became much more aggressive.
"He told me that, last night, that I deserve better and that he thinks he holds me back. I just can't get it out of my head," Adrienne sighed.
"Did you two have a fight?" Jack pried.
"No, not really. He had this weird insecure jealous moment in the cafeteria yesterday but that was it. He said he's worried that he's too old and boring for me, that he holds me back or some nonsense," she answered defensively at first, but then softened into worry again all the while Jack nodding in understanding.
That made more sense and leave it to Daniel to lack the vocabulary to express real human feelings.
"Been there, lived that," he responded honestly and Adrienne looked up at him, making eye contact, no longer worried but bewildered.
"16 years," Jack continued as Adrienne continued to glare at him quizzically.
"16 years between Sam and I. We've got you two by, what a year or two. I used to worry about the same thing," Jack admitted to his own surprise, unable to believe that he was sitting here getting ready to advise Dr. Perky, because for some reason, one that he didn't quite understand, he'd become the person in now both of their lives making up for the fact that neither of them had parents they could talk to.
Christ, when did I become the old father figure guy?
"But you guys got through it?" Adrienne asked quietly, interrupting his thought. She looked so sad and worried, wow this woman really loved Daniel, Daniel of all people.
"Yeah, we did. I think it's a matter of what you want in life. Do you want to spend your life with Daniel? Then the rest doesn't matter. He apparently wants to spend it with you," Jack said plainly, biting into the apple once more.
"I hope so," Adrienne replied, avoiding part of the question, looking back down, that fruit just spinning away, a whirlpool of small cubed healthy food. He had just asked her, asked her if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Daniel and the strangest thing was that she had verbalized it, to another person.
Yes, she did want to spend the rest of her life with Daniel.
"Trust me, I knew he did the minute he let you invade his space. He's funny about things like that, but not with you, never has been with you. I knew he was a goner right then and there," Jack said smiling. She's not so bad, he thought to himself, I guess I can see why he cares about her so much. In so many ways she was so different from him, but there is just something about them that fit.
"Thanks," she replied, her expression more hopeful, starting to pick at her fruit again. She really does love him that much, God bless her, Jack thought but right now there was nothing she could do but wait. What she needed to do, though, was relax because she looked like hell and if something were to go wrong she needed to be in a better state than she was right now.
"Why don't you go rest or something? I'll come get you when the tests are done. I'm sure you can grab one of the empty rooms around here. You look pretty damn awful," Jack informed her, hoping that last comment wouldn't get him smacked. He'd learned through two marriages that you never tell a woman that she looked awful but instead, she just laughed, setting the fork down on the table.
"I'm fine. You're just getting Adrienne sans make-up and that is quite the frightening sight," she joked, looking up at him to make what he supposed was to be taken as a scary face, Jack laughing at her attempt.
"Liar, you must have been trying to slip on something before leaving the apartment; I know you women. Sam tries to pull the "I look so awful card" all of the time. You managed to take the time to put on some lipstick or something over that scar Daniel gave you," Jack stated, pointing at her lip.
He remembered the ridiculous footrace and how Daniel had called him complaining about how annoying Adrienne was, that she was a Rodney junior, a know it all and that she had busted her lip being stupid.
Jack also knew then that Daniel liked something about the spunky archaeologist, but he had kept his mouth shut.
But, in terms of the scar, he remembered the first time he saw it. It was during a briefing, a white line down the lower right side of her lip and it had cracked him up thinking that Daniel had given it to her, even if it was accidental. It was a rather distinct white line, you couldn't miss it, but right now he couldn't see a thing.
"Nah, it's probably just bad lighting," Adrienne said, "I've got nothing on and I'm sure I really need it. Daniel and I went to bed late last night and were up at six. Maybe you're right; I should go get some sleep," Adrienne stood and grabbed the bowl, smiling down at Jack.
He was about to make a joke as to why exactly they hadn't gone to bed late, glancing up at the now smiling cajun woman, the overhead lights shining brightly on her face. He looked quickly for the white line again, hoping to find it in the brighter light, make a joke about that as well, but he saw nothing, absolutely nothing.
A thought flashed in his head and he stood quickly, throwing up his hands.
"Adrienne, come here," he said, motioning her over but she looked at him strangely, frozen in time.
"What?" she asked, confused, as Jack set down the apple, walking over to her, his eyes squinting, scanning her face and reaching for her chin. He turned her head, examining her mouth and there was no line on her mouth, no indication that there was anything on her mouth at all or ever was. Jack pushed her head back and looked her in the eyes, shaking his head in concern.
"Adrienne, do you have any other scars?" he asked, no mocking, no Dr. Perky, his voice deadly serious.
A light went off in Adrienne's head and she turned around, pulling up her shirt frantically, talking over her shoulder.
"My back," she said, "center right. It's about five inches or so long. Horseback riding accident when I was ten. It's red and bumpy."
Lifting her shirt, Jack searched around her back, checking right side first and then left, thinking maybe she got her left and right confused, Sam was always teasing her about that, but there was nothing; her back was smooth, even when he ran his hand across it quickly to see if it had faded over time.
Sighing, he pulled her shirt down, peeking back over to her face.
"No nap for you Dr. Perky," Jack declared, indicating she follow him to the infirmary.
"Addy too?" Carson looked concerned as Adrienne climbed up on the table without being asked, glancing quickly back at Daniel, who was leaning against the console, his arms crossed, his right hand at his chin in what Adrienne referred to as the concerned stance.
No self hugging cher, she tried to tell him with her eyes, because I can't get over there to remedy that.
Reluctantly, she lay down, the bright blinking box moving slowly from her ankles and up her body as Carson began the scan.
"What gets me is the selectivity of it," Carson said as the scan began, "it's replaced Daniel's appendix yet hasn't even bothered to repair his eyes. It seems to pick and choose what it wants to heal." Daniel pushed his glasses up his face.
"Maybe that's not recent enough of a wound so to speak," Daniel offered, "I first got glasses when I was eight."
"Yeah, but the scar on my back is from when I was ten and that's gone," Adrienne said from the table. Daniel started to point out age differences when he caught her glare and stopped, deferring to the doctors.
"Adrienne, your eyes aren't any better either as far as we can tell," Jennifer said.
"Also, eyes aren't an injury. Generally speaking, vision is a genetic trait," Jennifer continued as she ran the scan. A look of worry on her face, one that he found troubling, Adrienne glanced over at Daniel, signaling him with her head.
"Come here Indy," Adrienne requested from the table. Concerned that she might be in pain, Daniel walked over to her, laying his hand gently on her shoulder, rubbing it softly, resisting the urge to kiss her right there in front of everyone.
"Can you take my boot and sock off?" she asked him, wiggling her left foot. He looked at her puzzled but walked to the end of the table, wondering what scar or other wound could be on her foot that he had never noticed before, peeking back up at her over his glasses to see what she was talking about as he slipped the white cotton covering from her foot.
"Is it still there?" she asked, wiggling her toes. Daniel shook his head, completely lost, moving her foot around looking for a mark that he didn't know about, not that he spent a lot of time looking at her feet but she would have mentioned something large.
"Ad, what are you talking about?" he asked, confused, letting go to peer back at her. Adrienne picked up her head the best she could from the examining table, looking at Daniel frantically, trying to angle her head around to see for herself.
"My vine Daniel, is my vine still there?" she demanded and Daniel shook his head, rolling his eyes, glancing back at her worried face.
"Don't worry ja-wer, you're still properly tattooed," Daniel responded smartly, because only Adrienne would worry about tattoos at a time like this. Avoiding eye contact with Jack, who was probably thinking the same thing, Daniel walked back over to the console, trying to understand the information running along the screen.
"Good," Adrienne said as she relaxed on the table, "because if you somehow had infected me with a tattoo eating virus your next paycheck was going to ink." Carson and Jennifer laughed quietly at her comment while Daniel stood back, still concerned, and continued the scan.
"It's what we thought, it's viral," Jennifer said about twenty minutes later, "Same indications on Adrienne's workup as Daniel's so far." Carson nodded, fearing that would have been her answer, glancing over at Jack.
"We need to examine, or at least test anyone who has had extended contact with either Daniel or Adrienne," Carson stated.
"I can't very well fly the entire damn SGC over here and Lam doesn't have one of these scanner doohickeys. Besides, these two generally hide in their little hole on level M, so I doubt it could've spread too far," Jack replied, growing more and more frustrated by the moment. With Sam trapped in meetings all day, he was stuck here dealing with the dynamically sick duo and a possible viral outbreak at the SGC, which was not exactly his idea of a good morning.
"We don't need to beam everyone here," Jennifer spoke up, "We can run a scalpel test. Start with SG-1 and move from there. Adrienne's healing as fast as Daniel is at this point."
For effect Jennifer walked over to Adrienne, taking her forearm in her hand and cutting it gently, a small one centimeter mark. Adrienne hissed in pain but powered through, watching her arm heal in front of her eyes as she had watched Daniel's heal this morning.
"If they aren't healing at this rate, we can rule them out, initially. That would also allow a blood test to be run on the staff to help us determine if maybe they're carrying an early stage of the virus," Jennifer explained as she looked at Jack, who was sighing out in general annoyance.
"Fine," he relented, "Call Carolyn. Let's get this show rolling," Jack said, resigning himself to reality as he pulled up a chair and sat down.
It was going to be a long damn day.
"Alright Carson, I've got Mitchell and some others here. How fast a reaction are we looking for?" Carolyn Lam's face appeared on a large screen in front of them and she didn't look happy.
Adrienne wanted to explain to her that she and Daniel hadn't done anything wrong this time, that they were just getting ready for work, that this really wasn't anything that she could have prevented, but she kept her mouth shut, head down, walking over to stand beside Daniel.
Sensing her discomfort, a part of him finding it mildly amusing that of every person he had ever seen Adrienne encounter it was the petite Carolyn Lam that made her tuck her tail and run, he reached across, rubbing her arm.
"We have amazingly bad luck cher," Adrienne said and Daniel laughed, nodding his head in agreement.
"No, I have amazingly bad luck and I've managed to suck you into it," he responded, squeezing her close to him, disregarding his own rule about showing affection.
Leaning into him ever so slightly, Adrienne peeked back up at the screen where she saw Cameron sitting down, looking between the doctor in the room with him and the doctor on the screen as Carson was talking to Carolyn explaining that Daniel and Adrienne were healing almost instantaneously and that was the reaction they were looking for.
Eyebrows raised, poor Cam Adrienne thought, there's no getting out of this, the colonel put out his hand allowing Carolyn to slice the side of his palm. He didn't flinch, to Adrienne's surprise, a surge of red flowing across peach skin, oozing, bleeding, no sign of stopping, the mesmerizing stream broken by the flush of water from Carolyn's irrigation bottle, her small quick hands covering her inflicted wound with a swatch of gauze.
"Still bleeding, how long do we wait?" Carolyn asked as she held Cameron's hand, dabbing it repeatedly but Carson was already shaking his head.
"No, it would have been sealed by now, I'm not exaggerating when I say instant. Take a blood sample, I'll send you the markers," Carson requested, turning back to his computer with a sigh as Carolyn ordered a nurse to bandage Cameron's hand.
Dr. Lam repeated the process with Teal'c, who would heal on his own with an extra dose of Tretonin, but nowhere near that fast; Ronon, who Adrienne had worked out with a few times this week; and Sam, who seemed to be very pleased to have been pulled out of her meeting with Woolsey, all with the same results.
From the Atlantis infirmary, the two doctors, their patients and a very annoyed Jack watched as Carolyn Lam went through other various personnel, most of whom were people with whom Daniel and Adrienne had very little contact, but she didn't want to take any chances. Screwing up her face as she bandaged Walter's hand, Adrienne feeling awful that even poor Walter had to be tested, Carolyn glanced back at the screen, frustration in her face.
"We're down to Vala, who's due back on-world in about fifteen minutes. Is there anyone else you two can think of? Anyone visit from off world?" Carolyn asked the pair of very confused and now very worried archaeologists, both of whom shrugged.
Since the small trade ship had been recovered from that Endrae, Daniel and Adrienne could barely leave the lab, let alone go off world or meet any off world visitors. At an impasse, Carolyn informed Carson that she would call them back once Vala had arrived and ended the communication, the screen going to black.
"It must be something in that lab; I think we should quarantine it," Carson said from the side desk as the transmission ended. Knowing that this was somehow going to be the outcome, Jack let out a sigh and stood from his chair, grabbing his phone and making the necessary calls.
"Are you two feeling anything else? Any other symptoms? Nausea? Headache?" Carson asked as he approached them, hoping there was something, anything he missed that would explain what was going on with his two friends.
"Not a thing," Daniel said, removing his arm gently from around Adrienne who was shaking her head, disappointed that she couldn't think of anything else. Carson gazed them both over, running through his head the list of every symptom of every illness he could think of when the screen flicked on again.
"She's back..." Carolyn's face was on the screen and she was rolling her eyes at the loud whining going on behind her, a whine that Adrienne knew all too well. She stifled a laugh as their last try, Vala, the only other person who Adrienne spent as much time with as Daniel, waltzed into view.
"I just got back and I can't even take a piss! What the fuck is going on?" Vala stormed up, swearing profusely, glaring up at the screen.
Smiling, Adrienne waved at her friend but Vala just made a face at her.
"Addy, what in the hell did you do now?" she asked but before Adrienne could answer, Dr. Lam grabbed Vala's left hand, turning it around so the blade was pointing to her face, slicing it open.
"What in the hell!?" Vala shrieked, ripping her hand from the doctor's clasp, her right hand a frenzy to stop the bleeding.
"Is it healing?" Dr. Lam asked, her eyes rolling, knowing full well that the cut wasn't as big of a deal as Vala was making it.
"No it's not fucking healing, why would it heal?!" Vala stopped squeezing her hand for a moment and with her good one, grabbing the water bottle from the doctor, shooting a spray of sterile liquid onto the wound before tossing the bottle aside as she reached for a pile of gauze that must have been reserved for her.
"It appears that Daniel and Adrienne have been exposed to a virus that's allowing them to heal at a very alarming rate. We're trying to test to see who else has been exposed," Dr. Lam explained, reaching for Vala's hand, now cautiously tucked under her arm.
A menacing glare across her face, Vala extended her hand to allow Carolyn to examine it, droplets of red still flowing and cascading on the floor.
"Nothing," she said to Carson, "she's still bleeding too." Shaking his head, the Scot looked at Jennifer, for the moment out of ideas.
"I don't get it. This seems to be a pretty strong virus. Why only Daniel and Adrienne?" he asked and Jennifer shrugged, puzzled herself, gazing back at Dr. Lam on the projection screen.
"I've looked at the blood work," she said, "it's clear they both have the same markers and so far no one else is showing any indication. We need to go through the mission reports and figure out who has been exposed to what so we can make sure this doesn't spread. We still don't know exactly what this does," Carolyn said as she started to bandage Vala's hand.
Annoyed by this little diversion from a hot shower and her comfortable bed, Vala grabbed the bandages from the doctor and began to mend the wound herself, muttering.
"Sounds like a goddamn STD to me," Vala mumbled under her breath.
Thinking she must have misunderstood, she was tired and Daniel and Adrienne were already providing her with a new headache, as normal, Carolyn Lam frowned as she looked back at Vala.
"Excuse me Vala what?" she asked but Vala finished wrapping her hand first, ripping the bandaid dramatically with her teeth, tucking the last piece under and finally glaring back at Dr. Lam.
"I said, if it's just them two, and no one else, then it sounds like a damn STD. You know a se-" but Carolyn held her hand up to silence her, getting the point.
Turning her head she peered into the camera, the look on her face indicating that she was considering Vala's suggestion, as were the other doctors.
Oh no, Adrienne thought as she could feel her face turning about seventeen shades of red, no eighteen, as Daniel put his head in his hand, apparently agreeing as well, all the while Vala's laughter echoing from the speakers.
"See, look at them. They fuck like rabbits, that's exactly why," she stated plainly, turning to saunter away, laughter audible until she had left sight of the camera, both rooms, on either coast dropping to dead embarrassed silence.
"Addy, Daniel, I think we need to have a little talk," Jennifer said, breaking the silence, stepping out toward a side room. Adrienne, refusing to make eye contact with anyone, not even Daniel, followed until Jennifer halted her, waiting for Carson's input on the matter.
"So I can lift the restriction on the base?" Jack asked, interrupting Jennifer's train of thought.
"Not just yet General, but what Vala said makes sense. And if it's just Daniel and Addy, well, I don't think they would be passing this around the base..." he replied carefully as Adrienne, who was standing over by Jennifer, brought her hand to her face, rubbing it, still mortified while Daniel stood there, looking at the floor. .
A huge grin on his face, Jack walked over to Daniel.
"I can't wait to tell Sam this one," he said quietly into his friend's ear, tapping his communicator to call the Daedalus as Daniel looked away, still incapable of speech.
Now the second person to laugh at their predicament, their supposed predicament, Jack roaring with laughter up to the very moment that he was beamed back to the Daedalus to halt any further action until Carson said otherwise.
The room finally silent, the doctors returned their gazes to their two visibly embarrassed patients.
"Ok, it's just us now, so we need to ask you guys a few questions. Let's start simple. We need an initial point of exposure," Jennifer began, trying to word this as carefully as possible, evidently not successful as Adrienne breathed out and turned away.
"Can we not call it that?" Adrienne asked, stepping away from Daniel, who had walked over to join her, his arm hanging lightly in the air for a moment, Adrienne absent from his grasp.
"Addy, Daniel we need to know," Jennifer urged gently, her eyes tracking slowly between the two.
"About two months ago, after we found the weapons cache," Daniel answered, swallowing, remembering that night, that amazing night where she came to his room and trusted that he would never hurt her. He hoped it wouldn't embarrass her too badly, fingers suddenly touching his lightly, letting him know it was alright, and she was back at his side again.
Nodding, Jennifer tapped around on the computer touch screen, pulling up a mission report and calendar, entering in the information, before peeking back at them.
"Ok, and since this is a possibility I'm assuming that you two don't..." Jennifer led, hoping to preserve some of their dignity.
"No, I'm..." Adrienne whispered, her dark eyes counting the tiles on the floor, "I'm unable to have children. It should be in my file.."
Sighing, Daniel reached his arm around her, knowing that was probably the most painful admission of all.
"Oh, it is, I'm sorry Addy," Jennifer bit her lip, glancing down at her notes before continuing, "How often would you say that you...?" she continued, wincing as the question crossed her lips. She hated asking them this, but they needed to know, needed to know what was happening and needed to figure out if Vala's insane theory was correct.
"Often," Daniel coughed out into his hand, his face now as red as Adrienne's.
Making another note Jennifer hurried, peeking back at them one final time.
"Ok last question, I promise, we need the last exposure as well," Jennifer asked carefully, running her eyes between them but this time neither responded, both casting their eyes downward. Laughing, Carson took a step forward, peeing in Adrienne's face, trying to get her to smile.
"Dinna fash yerself!" the Scot said as he walked over to the two of them, "The two of you are together and that's that. We're all adults here. Now, we just need to know the last time, that's all. No more details are required."
Swallowing, Daniel looked up, over at Adrienne and back at Carson, letting out an embarrassed sigh.
"This morning," he said quietly, "before the cut incident," looking back down again, quickly, Carson placing his hand on his shoulder.
"Ok, that's all we need to know, why don't you guys go take a break, a walk or something. Just stay close," Carson suggested, patting Daniel twice on the back, before returning to Jennifer who had gone to enter that information onto the screen.
Understanding, regardless of how uncomfortable he felt right now, Daniel turned finally to face Adrienne who was looking at him sheepishly.
"I was gonna take a nap before all hell broke loose; do you want to join me?' Adrienne offered but Daniel stood there, continuing to look embarrassed.
"Just sleep shug; I'm exhausted, and I just want you to hold me," she added.
A nap never sounded so good, especially one with Adrienne curled in his arms, so Daniel nodded his head and followed her out, still without saying a word.
Jack explained the entire embarrassing scenario to Sam, cracking himself up at least five times, no six if one counted when he spit his coffee into his hand. He had hoped Sam would find it as hilarious as he did, but she was in deep thought, her pen tapping slowly on her desk.
"Honey, I just said it's a -" Jack started but Sam cut him off.
"I heard you Jack. It just reminds me of something," Sam replied, trailing off a bit as she stood from her desk, walking over to a file cabinet in the corner of the room.
There was a sad look on her face as she opened the top drawer, digging around for a moment, turning to face her husband.
"Orlin," she said as she set the folder down once she had returned to her desk, "It reminds me of Orlin. I need to get to Atlantis."
Samantha explained everything she could to Jennifer and Carson in what she hoped was clear and timely.
When Orlin had descended initially, when he decided to take human form to be with Sam, he had forsaken his knowledge of the ascended, like Daniel when they found him on Vis Uban. When Orlin came the second time, he chose to retain his knowledge in order to help Sam with the Ori plague but in order to do that he had to be a younger version of himself, a 12-year-old boy.
When Daniel descended a second time, he had no choice, Oma was saving his life and he did remember some things he shouldn't have, things he shouldn't have remembered having come back as a grown man.
He'd also come back a bit fitter than before, however, and a bit younger in appearance. At the time, Sam chalked it up to good genes, but for a man nearing fifty he shouldn't look as young as he did and Sam couldn't believe that she hadn't made the connection before.
"So, we need to go to the facility, use our government credentials and take some samples. Jack can get us in there. Whatever's going on in Orlin's blood is probably close to what is happening to Daniel and Adrienne," Sam deduced.
"But Sam," Jennifer started, "neither of them are regressing in age at all. Just healing. And besides, Adrienne hasn't been descended, she's just -" Sam cut her short.
"Look, as far as I know, there has never been a descended being to stay among the unascended as long as Daniel has, much less have the kind of intimate relationship that the two of them have. We have no idea what's going on with him, with either of them," Sam stated, not wanting to get into a more detailed debate.
She had spent time with Orlin and remembered things; remembered him burning himself cooking and watching it heal. She just hoped that her friends were not suffering other adverse effects, specific adverse effects which were making her heart race.
Ordering herself transport, Sam made her way to the government mental facility.
"Hi Orlin, it's me Sam, do you remember me?" Sam quietly addressed a tall, lanky teenaged boy standing in the rec room of the hospital, his raggedy wispy long hair covering his face. She didn't need to see his face, the stance made it clear that it was him, confirmed when the boy turned around and smiled.
"Of course I do, you're my only visitor. How could I forget my favorite aunt?" Orlin turned to face Sam, a smile on his face.
He's grown so much, she thought to herself, I should have come sooner.
Approaching him cautiously, Sam reached out to hug him tightly and he hugged her back, as much as a teenager would, before pulling away, heading to sit down.
"I can read your letters now, without help," he told her, pride gleaming in his eyes. The statement broke Sam's heart, that this brilliant beautiful man had been reduced to this, for her and for Earth. She tried to focus on the task at hand, not allowing her emotions to get the best of her, clearing her throat so she could continue.
"Orlin, I'm not here for a real visit. There's a problem with one of my friends, Daniel. Do you remember him?" Sam asked, hoping that he would and he nodded.
"Yeah, the one with the glasses, right? Kinda geeky guy?" Orlin confirmed, Sam laughing lightly.
"That's him. Orlin, do you remember how I told you that you were in an accident? Well, Daniel's also been in an accident, very similar, and it looks like he may be getting sick just like you. Our doctors might be able to help him if you would be willing to help us," Sam explained.
"Anything, I would do anything to help," Orlin replied without hesitation, Sam fighting back tears. Her Orlin would and had done anything as well and she was glad that whatever strange processes were going on in his body that they had not taken away his kind heart.
"Alright, I have a friend outside, Cassie. She's gonna come and take some of your blood. I need to ask you something first though," Sam signaled that Orlin lean closer.
Making a confused face, he did as she asked, his fingers brushing away wisps of blond hair as it fell in front of his face while Sam took the distraction as an opportunity to glance around the room before she spoke.
"If you cut yourself, how fast is it fixing back?" she whispered quietly.
Finally understanding why his aunt was acting the way that she was acting, Orlin backed up, peering himself left and right at the nurses in the room with him as Sam had scanned before.
"Not as fast as it used to," he said back quietly.
Nodding, Sam stood from the table to get Cassie, who was waiting outside to take the samples.
Cassie sent the results directly to Carson and Jennifer, Sam taking the Daedalus back to San Francisco to check on Daniel and Adrienne, dropping off the actual vials with the two doctors as well for further testing. Heading down to the city's living quarters, she found the two archaeologists curled into each other's arms asleep in an empty bedroom.
Not wanting to disturb them, they looked so peaceful there, like nothing was wrong, which she hoped more than anything there wasn't, Sam returned to the infirmary to find the doctors standing at the computer, looking at the readouts from Cassie and their own secondary samples. Leaning in, she could see it was the video of Cassie splitting a few blood cells, the small blobs joining together, slowly, but still much faster than normal. Concerned, Carson looked back at Sam as she approached.
"But he still heals?" Carson asked, seeing from Sam's report and Cassie's samples nothing that he could deem hopeful.
"Yes, he does. However, it's much slower. Still not normal healing, but slower. He's also showing great strides in brain development. Socially, he's right on target for his age, it's the cognitive abilities that are coming back at a reduced rate," Sam explained, seeing at least that much as hope for her friends because friendship aside, she also couldn't afford to lose two of the brightest minds at the SGC.
"But they have him on a cocktail of medications to do this," Jennifer argued, "We have no idea which one will work on Daniel or Adrienne for that matter. And it's Adrienne that worries me the most. How she contracted this..." Sam shook her head.
"That worries me too, but we can't think about that right now. We just need to stop this in case it causes anything else like Orlin has experienced. I think we need to get a list of his medications and take some blood from both of them and go one by one until we see which one slows or halts the healing," Sam ordered and went to find her friends.
This time they needed to wake up.
Neither Daniel nor Adrienne were completely thrilled at Sam's suggestion. Since they couldn't have an IV inserted or blood taken in the traditional manner, it required a rather large incision into their arms to get enough blood to be tested, an incision much larger than any of their previous experiments.
"I don't understand why you just can't test me," Daniel protested, not liking the idea of someone slashing Adrienne's wrist, pouring her blood into a Petri dish.
"Daniel, at the risk of embarrassing you both further, Adrienne's circumstance is a bit different. We need to test her separately," Sam explained. This time, neither of them turned red; somehow it seemed so much better coming from Sam.
"I don't like the idea of a drug cocktail, I mean, if it's just healing, why do we need to stop it? That doesn't seem so bad," Adrienne protested, reaching out for Daniel's hand to comfort herself, which he took, squeezing her fingers gently.
"It's the other things that worry me. I'm afraid in order to heal your wounds and injuries that it may be borrowing from other things..." Sam said, her finger tapping her temple to indicate the one thing that still bothered her, Orlin's verbal acknowledgment of his continued diminished abilities, the one lingering thought in her mind.
"No, I like my brain thank you, carry on," Adrienne answered, quickly, reconsidering her protest.
Stepping forward, Daniel reached for the scalpel on the tray and breathed in deeply, taking a stance. He positioned his wrist over the petri dishes, counting the spread in front of him, four of them, he had to get a usable sample into four dishes, and sliced his wrist open, wincing as he did so. Blood poured out, a thick red stream of fluid flowing from the wound and he tried to get as much as possible in the small glass discs to avoid having to repeat the painful procedure, however was only able to partially fill two. He closed his eyes and looked up, drawing the courage to repeat the process, slitting his wrist a second time, more crimson leaking out, forcing Adrienne to look away.
It took three slits in all, three painful slits that made even Sam cringe, before the doctors were satisfied and let him stop.
"Look, I don't care how Adrienne got this. Test mine first. Whatever works we try on her. I'm not making her go through that," Daniel declared, strongly, as he wiped the blood off of his arm, tossing the towel onto the floor and walking over to Adrienne, wrapping his arm around her protectively.
Touched, but not wanting, once again, to be made the exception, Adrienne peered up at him, forcing herself to be strong.
"I can do this cher," she said but he held onto her, not allowing her to step forward or escape a millimeter of his grasp.
"You're not going to do this," he stated clearly and looked back at Sam, Carson and Jennifer, his blue eyes cold as ice.
Sam shook her head, knowing that Daniel wasn't going to back down, for an instant; he never did when it came to Adrienne and she shouldn't start expecting him to do so now.
"Run it with his, see what comes up," Sam relented, following the doctors over to the testing area that they had designated. Relieved that she wouldn't be subjected to what Daniel had just done, Adrienne went to sit down in the chair beside where Daniel had taken a seat, when he reached over, pulling her into his lap.
Adrienne was surprised. Sam and the doctors were right across the room, but he didn't seem to care or notice, he just wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly and resting his head against her back.
"I'm so sorry ja-wer," she heard him say, squeezing her in his arms and she laughed, not knowing what he could be sorry for; surely he didn't mean this.
"For what?" she asked and felt him grasp her even tighter, starting to hurt a little but she kept silent, letting him have this moment.
"For this. For all of this. For having to share in my insanity," he replied, Adrienne laughing, reaching to unlace his fingers at her waist to catch her breath.
"I love your insanity," she assured him, but didn't get up, instead turning herself to the side to lay back into his arms, resting her head on his collarbone.
A sad smile across her face, Sam glanced over at them, worried. She couldn't imagine Orlin's fate, his circumstance, affecting the two of them, especially after everything they had been through and that they were finally together and happy.
Daniel deserved to be happy, he deserved for he and Adrienne to just run away into the sunset or whatever the two geeks would deem romantic paradise.
Trying not to imagine a scenario of gloom and doom, she peered back over to check on the doctor's progress.
"Nothing," Carson said, sitting back into his seat heavily, "not one damn thing works. Whatever's making Orlin stop isn't working on any of Daniel's samples."
Sam was unable to believe that they had been unable to yield any results, after hours of testing, hours of watching Daniel hold Adrienne, hours of Daniel and Adrienne chatting with her like nothing was wrong, hours of watching the two of them play some complicated card game that was math based and watching Adrienne cream her old friend.
Shaking her head, she walked over to the microscope, crossing her arms.
"There has to be something, anything," she declared as she peered in, unfolding her arms to press her palms on either side of the device.
"I wish there was, but there's nothing. We could try to get a sample from Adrienne," Carson suggested but Sam shook her head quickly.
"If Daniel's the host and we can't affect him, there's no point in getting samples from Adrienne. It will cause more harm I think than good," Sam said, thinking of Daniel's reaction earlier to Adrienne's being cut; he wasn't going to let anything happen to her especially if Carson told him that his own painful sample had yielded nothing.
Running out of options, Sam sat down to think.
When did Orlin first heal in front of her?
When did he stop healing or at least slow down according to his story?
Sam's head sunk down in her hands, feeling hopeless, some terrible malady affecting her friends that she couldn't control when it hit her and she glanced up at Carson.
"Run that sample for dopamine levels," she ordered, Jennifer and Carson looking at her strangely.
"Dopamine? Sam, you aren't suggesting that there's dopamine in their bloodstream? That doesn't cross the brain-blood barrier," Jennifer stated.
"In a human it doesn't. Daniel's not exactly 100% human anymore," Sam answered.
Nodding, Jennifer went to test the sample.
When Sam re-entered the quarters the two of them had taken over for the time being, she was smiling, an expression that she hadn't made in hours and Daniel was instantly relieved.
"I have good news, very good news," she announced, Daniel motioning for her to continue.
"There's no cure, but there's a treatment. It might take Carson and Jenn a bit to perfect it, but it is a version of a drug called Clozapine," Sam explained, pulling up a chair as Adrienne sat up from the bed, sleeping yet again while Daniel appeared to be reading something he must have found lying around at a nearby desk.
"And that is?" Adrienne asked, rubbing her eyes as she crawled to the edge.
"It's a drug used to treat schizophrenia, but more than that it lessens your white blood count, making you heal slower. Essentially it will control your dopamine levels as well as your blood cell counts. You may both still heal a bit faster than normal, but no more of this superhero stuff," Sam smiled and sat down in the chair in front of them visibly pleased.
"Dopamine? Isn't that a good brain chemical?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, for normal people. However, it appears that after one is descended, certain emotional states can cause the dopamine to jump to unnatural levels and hop from the brain to the bloodstream. This hop can cause an increased white blood cell count, which speeds healing and allows the body to repair itself. Remember Orlin? I saw him heal more than once," Sam laid it out for him, hoping he would understand without Sam having to give him a painful personal history lesson, but he did, looking down at his lap, sadness in his azure eyes.
"So I did this to her? Not just the passing, I caused this?" Daniel asked quietly as Adrienne rose from the bed to stand beside him, confused.
"Maybe, but you can't beat yourself up over that. Especially if we have a solution," Sam replied.
"Caused what cher? I'm a big girl; I knew what we were doing. And what's this drug?" Adrienne, the one who barely ate non-organic food, asked as Daniel solemnly directed his attention to her.
"I told you ja-wer, being with me is nothing but trouble. Let's pretend for a moment that I'm not ridiculously older than you are. I'm a magnet for bad luck and now I've caused this, and not just to myself. Do you know what dopamine is? It's the love hormone, as stupid as that sounds, this has happened to me, to us, because I've fallen in love with you. This isn't going away, it can only be controlled, by drugs apparently. So, now, with everything else you have to endure, you'll have to be medicated. Permanently. I don't know what to say or do because frankly I'm just out of 'I'm sorrys'," Daniel explained, not reaching out for her, not making contact, just sitting in the desk chair, looking back down at what he had been reading.
Adrienne stood quietly for what seemed to be an eternity. He was right, being with him wasn't easy. He was older than her, an insane workaholic, had more baggage than any normal man would or should ever have, did get into the worst situations imaginable, worked an insanely dangerous job, was her boss and now this. Life would be easier dating Martinez, Ronon, Mardsen or anyone else off of base, anyone but Daniel, but easier wasn't better. Gazing down at the man sitting in the chair, the one person she never thought would really exist, she didn't care.
She would do anything to be with him, forever, and he needed to know.
"What are you sorry about? Big girl cher, I know you; I know you chaos. I'll just add it to my vitamin regimen, no biggie," Adrienne replied, not giving him the chance to talk his way out of their relationship and Daniel looked at her surprised, like he didn't expect her to agree to any of this.
"Really?" he asked, wondering if she understood that she would have to take this drug for the rest of her life, or at the very least, the rest of her life with him.
"Yes, really. Invested, remember?"
Smiling, as if he was shocked, he reached out for her, pulling her into his lap again. Taking that as her cue to leave and go tell the doctors to start working on blending the medication, Sam stood, excusing herself quietly.
Gazing back into Adrienne's dark mystical eyes, Daniel wrapped his arms around her waist bringing their faces close together.
"I can't imagine life without you anymore," he said, kissing her lightly and pulling away those eyes of hers catching him again.
"I can't either," she replied, "Which is proving to be a stronger virus than this healing merde."
Ask her, his heart pleaded, ask her right now, but he stopped, not out of fear but out of poor planning.
He needed a ring first, he needed to make this perfect, so he decided to let her know without asking, let her know that she was the greatest gift of his life...
"Adrienne, I want to spend my, no, I want to spend forever with you," he choked out the best he could, his heart racing, wondering what her reaction would be.
Adrienne had made it clear that she didn't believe in the traditional marriage structure, so what would she say?
"I do too Daniel," Adrienne whispered back, agreeing.
That's a yes, he thought, she said yes, or did she, maybe we really need to talk about this, screw the ring just ask, when he noticed that she was smiling, standing from his lap, "but if I'm gonna have to start taking meds every day, you need to make it worth my while," she added slyly, pulling him to his feet and over to the bed.
Daniel didn't need to be told twice.
For now, saying forever was good enough.