Daniel rolled over toward the wall, reaching out to stir Adrienne, his hand dropping to the bed. He opened his eyes slowly to confirm that she wasn't there and she wasn't; he was in the bed, alone. Confused, he rolled back over and looked at the clock wondering if he had overslept, after all, he had informed Adrienne that she had just about cured him of insomnia. Squinting as he reached for his glasses he thought he could see the bright green numbers glowing from the clock, numbers reading 6:02 a.m.
Daniel frowned.
She must be in the bathroom because Adrienne moving before 7:30, even 8 some mornings either required sirens calling them to the gate room or that she had just stayed up all night, usually working…
She truly was as bad as he was.
Yawning, he shut off the alarm and grabbed his glasses, wide awake, sitting up in the bed. He was certainly up now and she was as well, obviously, so the twenty eight minutes or so that they had left didn't matter in the least.
"Ad! Did you sleep alright? Are you ok in there?" he called out worriedly. Adrienne was the kind of person where if she had woken up in the middle of the night, feverish or with a stomach virus she would sit there alone and suffer not wanting to disturb him, despite her fussing at him if he did the exact same thing. He paused, hoping that was not the case right now, and there was no answer, just as he feared.
Daniel sighed out, pinching his nose.
"I wish that you would realize that being in a relationship means that I'm here for you when you're puking, but no, let's go at this alone," he said quietly to himself, preparing his lecture in his head. Throwing back the covers, Daniel tossed his legs over the edge in search of his fianceé.
Yawning again, he approached the door and listened, to see if she was still in or had gotten out yet but he heard no running water.
"Adrienne!" he shouted, concerned, "are you in there?"
There was no answer.
Worried that his initial fear was right, that she was sitting on the floor, possibly very ill, he reached for the doorknob, hoping he wouldn't find her sprawled out across it. He peeked his head inside, slowly, opening the door just as slow for fear of hitting her, but the room was empty.
Coast clear, he opened the door the rest of the way, stepping inside the lit bathroom.
Ok, well if the light was on she had to have been here, right, he thought, walking over to the bathtub.
"Ja-wer, are you in here? Where are you?" he asked, pulling back the shower curtain, but the stall was dry, not even a drop of condensation collected on the curtain and Adrienne was certainly not soaking in the tub.
Puzzled, Daniel walked back into the main room, trying to figure out not only where she had gone but how she had gotten out of here without his noticing; he usually felt her absence in his arms. He started to head for the phone to call the infirmary, his next guess being if she was sick she would go to Carson to be checked out when he noticed her satchel wasn't on the desk. Frowning, he walked over to the small wooden piece of furniture, littered with his papers and journals, the lone desk they shared when they spent the night in his room. Adrienne hated how he always took over the desk, forever rearranging his items into different piles or sneaking anything that hadn't been to the lab recently home, shoving them into his office there, but all of her things were gone.
His heart stopped, his thoughts racing, thinking maybe he had pushed her too far last night talking about the future, the wedding, rushing over to the dresser, opening one of her drawers. Her clothes, however, were still safely tucked inside, her collection of black Victoria's secret underwear laying neatly on top.
"Alright, so I didn't imagine that we practically live together, so where are you?" he said to himself as he shut the drawer, only somewhat calmer, walking over to his phone to dial the lab.
It rang and rang, but there was no answer.
Frustrated, he hit the button to hang up, calling down to the gym, his mind going down the list of Adrienne places.
"Gym," the voice answered, some cadet he didn't recognize.
"Good morning," Daniel spoke cordially, trying not to seem upset, however upsetting it was to wake up finding that the love of your life had disappeared into thin air, "Is Dr. Rowan using the workout facilities this morning?"
"Please hold," the voice answered professionally. Biting his lip, Daniel waited, arms crossed, hoping to find out that for some insane reason she had gone running. It not only wasn't like her to leave early, but it was less like her to leave early without a note, even if the note was just something snarky, hell, especially if the note was something snarky. He heard the young man pick up the phone again, hoping he had news that he wanted to hear.
"No sir, she's not here," he informed him and Daniel let out a breath, his level of concern rising.
"Thank you," he answered and hung up the phone.
He guessed he'd need to start this little expedition on foot.
Walking over to the dresser, he yanked out some jeans and stepped into them, turning to look for footwear as he did. Pulling a shirt over his head as he stepped into his boots, not bothering to lace them, he grabbed his phone, just in case, heading out to find her.
He was both pleased and confused to see that she was in the lab, headphones on and music blasting, loudly, much louder than normal, but explaining perfectly how she'd missed answering the phone. Dancing around at her desk, Adrienne was typing like a mad woman, her fingers flicking around almost as quickly as her brown eyes darted around the screen.
A quick glance of the clock told Daniel that it was only 7 a.m.
On any other day he would be flicking water at her post shower to get her moving while she swore at him in cajun french from her hiding place under the covers.
Now, though, here she was standing before him like she'd been awake for hours.
Confused, he reached out and placed his hand lightly on her shoulder…
The next thing he knew, Daniel was slammed to the floor. There was a whirlwind of moments in front of his face as he fell, her brown locks flying around her cheeks as she pinned him down with her knee to hold him in place, her iPod flying off of her desk and crashing to the floor. She looked scary, deadly serious for just a moment, like she was deciding whether or not to crush his windpipe when suddenly she smiled and leaped up, reaching down her hand to help him to his feet.
"Daniel, cher, I'm sorry, you scared me," she apologized, pulling her headphones to her neck and him to his feet, forcefully.
It was too early in the morning for this insanity.
Grabbing for his throat, Daniel rubbed where she had slammed into it, glancing back at her carefully, seeing that she had finally realized that she'd hurt him. Her face changing, from surprise to genuine concern, Adrienne leaned up to kiss his neck sweetly and slowly, working her way down sensually before stopping and pulling back, screwing up her face.
"You need to shave," she declared, pecking his cheek, and returning to her desk.
"I need to shower, but when I wake up and you've disappeared without a trace; I tend to worry, you know, given current circumstances", he said, looking down at her, his crystal blue eyes scolding. Smiling, she stood again from her desk, more like dashed from her desk, to walk over to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and entrapping him with those dark brown eyes of hers.
Damn distracting Adrienne.
"I doubt Anubis would stealthily steal me from bed and leave you unscathed, but I appreciate the concern. It makes me feel loved," she smiled at him, with that mischievous look in her eyes. Daniel frowned at her, unsure if she was trying to be sweet or messing with him, which with Adrienne, either was possible.
"Considering the kinds of things that happen on this base and in my life, I think I have a right to worry," he answered, looking into her eyes sternly, so she understood that he wasn't playing, but she laughed, grabbing his face lightly and pushing him away.
"Stop that, I'm sorry ok. I should have left a note," Adrienne apologized, backing away and walking over to her desk chair. It was then Daniel noticed that she was in full SGC uniform, minus jacket. That was unusual too, Adrienne did everything she could to come to work in yoga pants if possible, even more so now that they were togetheere and he had a hard time saying no to her.
This is not normal, he thought, Adrienne wasn't suddenly going to become a morning person, dress in what she referred to as an impractical piece of bureaucratic bullshit and be zipping around here having a grand old time, without him. Sure, she loved their work, but it had been a very long time since she had a "geek out" moment without him, now usually they had those kinds of moments together.
His brow still furrowed, he approached her desk, resting his hand on her shoulder as he peered over into her face.
"What's going on with you this morning?" he asked, "Not only are you awake before eight, but without a fight, fully dressed, showered and happy."
Not making eye contact, Adrienne shook her head, pulling away from his gentle touch.
"I couldn't sleep," she answered, still typing, fast, eerily fast, her eyes focused on the screen. That didn't seem likely, Daniel thought to himself, if Adrienne was unable to sleep she'd be dragging, not this awake. His mind clicking into action, he scanned her desk but there was not a coffee cup to be found, also very odd. Frowning again, he pulled over a chair and sat down beside her, reaching out gently for her face, turning her gaze to him.
"I'm fine, really, just a little antsy today that's all. Stop worrying," she said, leaning forward to kiss him. He let her, still worried about her odd behavior this morning, kissing her slowly, sweetly, before she backed away quickly, dashing to the printer. Grabbing a piece of paper from the tray, she hurried back over to him, passing it to him proudly, smiling in satisfaction.
"Here is the section for this week, the part you wanted me to skip ahead for, do you want me to rework the calendar so we can squeeze in some of our stuff in between everything else this week? I still wanna be ready when Rodney really dives into the Limu research," she asked and added, smiling brightly.
There's no way, Daniel thought, that list was more like a dream, the more Anubis poked around the less they got to work on their own items, much less get to some silly out of the blue request from Rodney, but it was finished, every section, every line of DNA worked out, every fragment of lineage mapped and correlated to the corresponding DNA, everything he could have possibly requested.
How in the hell did she get this done?
"No, you can run this to Rodney so he can cross it with the cloning information," Daniel answered her standing.
Maybe she was just on a roll today; she had moments like this when she would work furiously, through the night, usually after a big break or if she was injured and felt behind. That was one thing he could say about Adrienne, her dedication to her work was admirable and just one of the many reasons he loved her. Nodding, she took the paper back from him and stood, heading for the door when she paused, turning and rushing back over to him, kissing his still sore windpipe.
"Sorry cher, I'm really sorry. I hope it doesn't hurt. I love you. I'll be right back," she spat out, her words so quick they just seemed like one long word and dashed out of the room.
Still concerned but with no evidence that there was anything wrong, Daniel returned to his own desk, wondering if she had managed to do his work for the week as well, forgetting about his shower.
Adrienne was back faster than he expected.
He looked down at what he needed to accomplish, things he hadn't even started, a myriad of tasks Sam had assigned to him and was trying to debate if he should hand any of them off to her since she was working at lightning speed but decided against it; she just didn't seem herself today.
Instead, he decided to take a different approach to get to her and see what was really going on.
Standing from his desk, Daniel walked over to where she was standing at hers, not sitting, again, just bent over her chair, typing frantically.
"Ja-wer," he whispered, slipping his arms around her waist.
Affection would get her attention; it always did.
As expected, she whipped around fast as lightning, tossing her arms up on his shoulders, smiling evilly.
"Yes..." she asked, that tone in her voice, as she leaned up, starting to kiss his neck, slowly, letting her lips linger, falling right into his trap. He played along for just a second, not totally playing, the softness of her lips against his skin was too much to ignore, letting his hands glide from her waist and down just a bit lower, squeezing her backside before forcing himself to focus.
Stop Daniel, he told himself, you need to get her to chill, not get yourself started.
"Go do anything else you needed to do today. Run, go to the store, anything that you need to do before we can go back to my place..." he whispered softly in her ear, teasingly, letting the words linger in her mind. She giggled a bit, pulling back from him, or trying to, since he wouldn't let go.
"Why is that?" she asked coyly.
"Because since you got so much done today I was thinking we could leave here early and spend some time together, alone..." he answered, lightly kissing her neck, feeling her giggle under his lips.
It's working, he thought, continuing carefully, hoping he was out of the line of sight of the camera.
"I might have to get up early more often," she replied and backed up to pack up her things.
Bingo, Daniel thought to himself, this worked way better than him acting like her keeper, worrying about her and subsequently pissing her off. Suggesting that she go run now in order to get home faster would let her go to the gym, blow off some steam and maybe she would be normal again by lunch.
Pleased with the idea apparently, she grabbed her gym bag from her locker and walked back over to him, leaning up to kiss him passionately, again and he stopped her before he could get carried away, again.
What was going on with her…
"Message me when you're done and I'll wrap things up here," he smiled and watched her leave, relieved that this strange morning would soon be over.
At 12:05 his phone was ringing.
"Daniel," the voice on the other line said, cautiously. It was Carolyn Lam, dammit he swore, and he could only guess what was wrong.
"Hey Carolyn, what's up?" he should have just asked what has Adrienne done now but he figured he would let her get whatever rant she had about his fianceé out of her system. Adrienne drove Carolyn insane, not because she did anything wrong in particular, but because Adrienne was as accident prone as he was, which shocked him that was even a possibility. Dr. Lam often reminded Daniel that he was enough to deal with, but with two of him running around base she was going to drive herself crazy keeping up with their mishaps.
"I need you to come get her," the doctor replied, no tone or anything, which was odd, at the very least he expected her to be annoyed. Sensing that his little plan from this morning had backfired, Daniel let out a sigh, making a mark in his work for later.
"Where is she?" he asked, shutting the lid to his computer and standing.
"We're in the gym. Everyone's in the gym," Carolyn replied, emphasizing her last words.
Dumbfounded, Daniel looked back over at his clock running numbers through his head. Adrienne had left the lab at eight this morning, heading straight for the gym but that was over four hours ago; why was she still there?
And everyone?
What was going on?
"What do you mean everyone?" he asked.
"Just get down here," Carolyn replied quickly, ending the call. Without hesitation, Daniel ran to the elevators.
When he arrived at the gym he heard loud cheering, loud excited cheering with chants of 'Addy' echoing around the room. He scanned his surroundings and saw that everyone in the gym had stopped what they were doing, every single person, all eyes looking upward toward the overhang track.
There, all alone, was Adrienne, running, full force, that look of determination on her face. As she ran under the time clock the crowd cheered again, some people yelling "Only one more!' Before he could ask one of the spectators one more what, he felt a tap on his shoulder and there was Carolyn, trailed by Ronon Dex.
"What's going on?" Daniel asked and shaking his head, Ronon pointed up to Adrienne.
"Caught her this morning, going for a run. Said she was pretty wound up, asked me if I would join her. We decided to run 10K, which I thought was a lot for eight in the morning on a Monday, but she seemed to really need it. We ran 10K and she just kept running," Ronon explained.
"Alright, so she wanted to do a big run, so?" Daniel asked, not finding it that surprising; Adrienne had been upping her mileage for a few months now.
"So," Carolyn intervened, "Ronon called me because once she hit ten miles and hadn't even broken a sweat, he was fairly certain something was wrong with her. By the time I was able to get down here she was at fifteen miles. In a few more laps she will have completed a marathon."
Jaw dropping, Daniel looked up at Adrienne, who didn't even look tired. She was a distance runner, sure, had been for years, hell, she'd gotten him running here and there but half-marathon was usually as far as she took it, in fact they had just recently only talked about getting with Carolyn to create a safe training schedule for a full.
The most frightening part, however, wasn't the mileage, it was that she was pumping away as if she just started the run. Stepping forward, Carolyn pulled Daniel aside, away from Ronon and the others, leaning into his ear.
"Is she taking her meds?" she asked. Daniel wasn't sure to be honest, he didn't check up on her; she was an adult and took care of her body like it was a temple. He looked over at the doctor and shrugged, not sure what to say.
"I honestly have no idea. I've seen her take them but it's not as if I monitor her," he admitted but Carolyn huffed out in annoyance, evidently having decided that as her significant other he was also her keeper. She looked at Daniel harshly, a true Carolyn expression now appearing.
"You need to go up there and get her to stop. I've tried, Ronon's tried, but she won't stop running. You get her down here because I'm going to run a full blood work-up on her to make sure she is taking the medication and nothing else," she declared and Daniel just nodded, deciding not to argue that Adrienne would take nothing other than one hundred percent organic fare, and started to head for the stairs but Carolyn grabbed his arm, halting his advance.
"You need to bring her down to reality. She's a good person, a good team member, but she's not a superhero, no matter how bad she wants to be one," Carolyn said kindly, letting go and turning to leave, to prepare to poke and prod his significant other Daniel assumed as he turned for the stairs once more.
When he got to the top she was apparently on the final lap to completing a full marathon, the significance to the rally of 'one more.' Her name was still being chanted below and she was running around the turn smiling, not smug, but proud, relishing in the support of her friends. Pausing, Daniel hoped she would stop once she got to the finish line, now only a few feet away from both him and her, but she didn't, she just kept running. Fed up, he stepped to stand in her way, holding his hands out in front of his chest.
"Indy!" she shouted, "I feel so much better. I think you're right about getting up in the morning, this is amazing!" Daniel, though, didn't reply, just caught her as she was passing and she let him, crawling into his arms, very Vala like and not like Adrienne at all, kissing his neck seductively in front of everyone, running her hand down his back to his posterior, as he pried her away embarrassed.
"Adrienne, dammit, what is wrong with you! Come on, we're going to the infirmary," he ordered, grabbing her hand to lead her away but she pulled back, glaring at him viciously.
"Why?" she inquired, "I feel fine, great even. What did Carolyn tell you?"
"No, she's just worried. Dex is worried. I'm worried. You're not yourself, please, ja-wer. Let's go down there, just humor me," Daniel tried to plead with her, going back to his fail safe approach, affection, wrapping his palm behind her neck drawing her close.
"Trust me Daniel, I really feel great," she argued, not buying it this time, pulling away.
Dammit, he thought, going back into scolding mode.
"People don't just run marathons on a whim," he stated.
"I've been training for one, starting to, it's really not that surprising, is it?" she retorted, sweetly, smiling slightly. This was true, Carolyn hadn't agreed to let her push herself to a twenty six just yet, the thirteen being hard enough on her as it is, but she had been doing ten mile runs once a week now. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised, but as he looked at her he could see what Ronon was talking about, not a drop of sweat on her head, not a dash of red in her face.
Daniel didn't feel like arguing anymore, she wasn't going to listen.
Leaning over he picked her up into his arms, heading for the elevator to the main floor of the gym.
"PUT ME DOWN INDY!" she shouted, kicking and wriggling loose. Clearly angry, and concerned, Daniel set her back down, pointing in the direction of the exit.
"Carolyn or I call Sam and get her to order you there."
Growling under her breath, because Daniel knew that Adrienne had the utmost respect for General Samantha Carter-O'Neill and would never question her orders, she trudged out of the gym, headed for the infirmary.
"Ok, so it's not a lack of medication," Carolyn said looking at Adrienne, Adrienne who was currently making a face at her, a face Daniel would have told her to stop making were he not standing at the foot of the bed right by the doctor.
"I told you I was taking the meds; why would I lie? I don't try to hurt myself," Adrienne said, nicely, reading Daniel's thoughts and wiping the face away.
"Everything looks normal, I honestly have no idea what in the world is going on. She's just having a really good day," Carolyn explained, looking at Daniel, not Adrienne, who was back to making the face.
"Can I go then?" she asked, leaning over, in a gesture that Daniel could tell meant 'talk to me and not him' and thankfully Dr. Lam glanced back to acknowledge the frustrated cajun.
"I have no reason to keep you, a scan isn't going to show anything else and the bacterial cultures are going to take a few hours to run. However, Adrienne, I'd like for you to stay on base tonight? Just in case that changes? Let's have you come check back in with me in about two hours," Carolyn requested, kindly, as Daniel stood back and watched the two of them be cordial to one another.
Today, at least, wonders never ceased.
She nodded in agreement, not even an argument in her face, so he escorted her carefully out of the infirmary, that face coming back as soon as they were in the hall.
"So much for a romantic evening at your place," she said, disappointed, Daniel paused, forgetting for a moment how he had gotten her running in the first place. Remembering, he reached out and clasped her hand in his, hoping to get that off of her mind, because that was the last thing she needed to be worried about.
"Let's go get something to eat and then we can worry about our evening plans," he said to her, and she rolled her eyes but followed, still lightly clasping his fingers.
Adrienne ate, and ate, and ate and to be honest, it creeped Daniel out. He kept having flashbacks of the Atanik armbands, terrible flashbacks that made no sense as Adrienne wasn't wearing a cuff; she wasn't wearing anything unusual, she wasn't exhibiting any unusual behavior like they had other than this burst of energy. He was looking, Carolyn pulling him aside to tell him to watch for a plethora of other symptoms including dilated pupils, seizures, chills, anything and everything he could look for but rather than helping him figure out what was going on, she wasn't exhibiting any of these symptoms.
To be honest, that was making him panic that much worse.
Frowning, his own eyes locked on her pupils, just in case, he made a face as he watched her down her fifth apple.
"Did you ask Carolyn if this could be a side effect of the cocktail?" he said, now placing the blame on himself. Adrienne wouldn't be taking that strange Clozapine cocktail if it weren't for him, and he still felt guilty about it, even though he would never let her know. Nodding while she chewed, Adrienne whirled her fork around, swallowing before answering.
"Yep, when you went out to take that call. No go, that's not it," she replied quickly.
Back to the drawing board, Daniel thought, leaning his hands over onto the table lost in thought. Maybe there wasn't anything wrong with her, maybe she was just really energetic , he reached and clasped her hands, running his thumbs on the top of hers gently and she looked up at him with a half-smile.
"Look, cher, I know this is all weird, but I feel just fine. Really. Even the doc says that I'm fine. Why don't we just go back to the lab, get some work done and then we can just hang out here, watch some movies or something..." Adrienne offered. Her eyes widened at the last word as if she was remembering his kisses earlier.
She stood quickly from the table, abandoning her tray, grabbing his hand to drag him out of the commissary, Daniel looking at her confused until she paused, leaning into him, her lips gently brushing his ear.
"Or something..." she repeated slowly and Daniel pulled back, staring at her dumbfounded.
"Adrienne, do you think that's such a good idea? I mean, all things considered, one of us might get hurt..." he started to argue but she just pulled him along, forcefully, he wasn't going to get away from her tight grip.
"Like me," he squeaked out as he followed, trying to run through his head a way to get out of this.
He hadn't thought of a way out of it by the time they reached his door, Daniel pausing as he coded in the numbers slowly, deliberately, trying to stall the inevitable. Adrienne's advance on him in the elevator made her intentions clear, in front of the cameras no less, that she wanted only one thing at this point, the prospect making Daniel's heart race.
"Stop teasing me," she whispered in his ear, slipping her hand to the front of his pants, squeezing him strongly.
Dear god, he thought, and she hasn't had a single shot to numb her normally demure behavior, as Adrienne hated showing anything this overtly sexual publicly.
What is going on with her?
Shrugging her away, giving her the 'let's not get caught look' just so she wouldn't fly off the handle, Daniel typed the numbers in faster, preferring to deal with this alone in his quarters than out here in the open, hearing a few chuckles of passersby as her hand was once again between his legs.
"Please open now," he ordered the door, the green light his salvation, as he reached for the knob, turning the door and rushing into the room, Adrienne close on his heels, slamming the door shut behind them.
"Ad, ja-wer, let's try to relax for a while, find something on..." Daniel started but suddenly she was there, in front of him, on the floor, ripping his pants open and yanking his boxers to the floor. He wanted to tell her to stop, his heart racing in a panic, but his body was not cooperating either and suddenly she was on her knees, on him.
Stop Adrienne stop…
A wave of pleasure flooded over him, she was so aggressive that he almost just relented and let her finish, but it was wrong, this was wrong, and he needed her to stop.
"Adrienne, stop," he tried nicely, but she ignored him, bringing him closer to the brink and as aggressive as she was today, he was honestly afraid to push her away physically.
Something is so wrong…
He started to panic, this was too much, his heart was racing, she needed to…
"Adrienne I said no!" he shouted, trying to pull away and she relented, sitting back on her heels, her sorrowful eyes looking back up at him.
"Oh my God, Daniel, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she realized, remembering, standing, starting to apologize, reaching out, tears in her eyes. Shaking his head, he quickly pulled his boxers to his hips, toeing off his boots and decimated pants, taking her hands into his.
"Adrienne, stop, it's alright, but see, something's happening to you, this is not like you. I need you to calm down ok, or I'm taking you back to Carolyn. How about a bath? Let's get in the bath and just relax," he offered, hoping she knew that it was alright, he wasn't thinking what he knew she was, her face streaked red with tears.
"I'm so sorry, I vio…"
"Stop," he whispered, taking her face into his hands, "Take a breath, you didn't mean anything other than wanting to be with me and that's alright, but you have to agree this is all strange, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Ok, then a bath?"
Nodding, she let him lead her to the bathroom, her heart racing, her soul ridden with guilt.
Adrienne couldn't sleep that night either. She lay there in bed, staring at the clock, staring at the ceiling, staring at Daniel and the freckles on his bare shoulders, freckles she had noticed before, but right at this moment they just seemed to stand out much more than normal. She lay there looking, thinking how much more handsome they made him, how she wasn't sure if he could be more perfect.
He'd gotten her into the tub, slipping out to call Carolyn before joining her. Sitting there, waiting for him to return, she worried about what he might be telling Dr. Lam, worried about what she had done to him, but he came back, smiling sweetly, stripping down and getting in with her. He sat there with her for the better part of an hour, rubbing her shoulders, holding her in his arms, kissing her softly, even washing her hair.
He loves me so much, she had thought then and thought now, leaning over impulsively, kissing his shoulders before crawling over him and out of the bed.
Scurrying over to the dresser, she pulled out some clothes, dressing quickly and grabbing her shoes, figuring if she couldn't sleep, she might as well work. She knew that they had quit early for the day, Daniel refusing to leave Adrienne's side, so she also knew he must have left a considerable amount of work unfinished.
That work, she decided as she rode the elevator, alone, down from their quarters, would be her first task.
Sure enough, on his desk was a stack of files, various preliminary reports and photographs from pre-visit surveys for Daniel to go through and recommend whether or not to send a second MALP or a human team. Most of the reports contained photos of things the powers that be preferred that Daniel translate or look over before any major decisions were made, but basically they just wanted to know if anything on the planet's would help them blow up Anubis rather than find anything of academic interest, so Adrienne knew he was probably happy to blow them off.
She could translate almost as well as Daniel at this point, thanks to his careful training, so after him wasting his entire day worrying about her, she felt she owed him.
Sitting at his desk, she cued up her iPod and opened the first folder, prepared to make it up to him.
A small part of Daniel hoped when he awoke Adrienne would be laying there, cuddled close to him, begging him to let her sleep for just five more minutes, however, he felt her absence in bed before he opened his eyes. That familiar feeling of worrying creeping up yet again, he rolled over to check the time.
6:45 a.m.
Sitting up, he listened for the shower, but heard nothing.
Ok, he thought, she did take a bath last night, so she might have gone to work.
Standing, glad he had joined her in the tub last night, Daniel got dressed, heading for the lab in a hurry.
He had expected a repeat of the day before, Adrienne working away, headphones on and dancing at her seat, but instead, when he turned to enter the lab, he saw nothing.
"Ad?" Daniel called out, his stomach sinking. Her desk hadn't been touched, so he walked over to his own, thinking maybe she decided to help out with his things since yesterday had been such a debacle; trying to make up for something she felt was her fault was a very Adrienne thing to do. His laptop was open as if it had been used recently and his files had been sorted and set into the different stacks, one labeled MALP, another labeled TEAM and a third labeled DON'T BOTHER.
Not exactly my system, but it would do, he thought, smiling at the third pile in particular.
It looked as if she finished all of his work, god he loved that woman, but where was she?
She hadn't come back to bed to disturb him; she would have if she was bored, even if she just wanted to be held and nothing more. Standing by his desk, Daniel scanned the room trying to decide whether to check the gym or the commissary first when he heard a faint noise that sounded like rap music, so weak that he would not have noticed it had he not been concentrating so hard on where she might be. He held his breath and listened close, noting that the sound was muffled but echoing off of something, something stone. A thought flashed in his head and he ran around his desk and into the small bathroom adjacent to the lab.
Adrienne was laying on the floor, unconscious, headphones pulled to her neck and her body positioned as though she tried to make it to the toilet to vomit before collapsing.
"Adrienne!" Daniel shouted, dashing over and pulling her into his arms. He turned her head to look at him and it rolled over to the side, weak, loose, and he felt something wet drop onto his arm. Looking down he saw a silver fluid on his skin, metallic, shiny, rolling down the muscle and trickling off the elbow, to the ground. Confused, his heart racing, Daniel followed the source of the droplet all the way up to Adrienne, her lips to be exact, to see a grayish silver fluid welling up in her mouth and dripping out of the side.
Scanning frantically, Daniel saw a pool of the same metallic fluid on the floor beside the toilet and he didn't bother taking her pulse, didn't bother to try to rouse her again, he just lifted her up and ran with her in his arms to the infirmary.
Carson made him stay outside despite his insisting otherwise, citing that they were not yet married, and he almost fought him, using one of Adrienne's own arguments against him about misogyny and the institution of marriage, but he didn't, just slipped into the doctor's office and called Sam. Fortunately, she wasn't in any meeting and the next team wasn't due back for at least two hours and she had hung up on him mid explanation, rushing out of her own office and in his direction. He heard her heels clacking on the hard floor before he saw her, so he stepped out in the hallway fully to meet her, needing to see her face, any face, needing to hear her tell him that it was going to be alright.
"What happened?" Sam shouted as she hurried and Daniel shook his head, trying desperately to hold it together.
"I have no idea; yesterday she woke up Supergirl, literally, but Carolyn said she was fine. Got up at some point this morning, went to work early and by the time I came down she was unconscious and oozing some silver substance," Daniel explained letting his words take him away from the situation, allowing his brain to easily slip into work mode, problem solving mode, out of Adrienne mode.
"It's trinium," Daniel heard Carson's voice behind him, the infirmary door slapping back and forth loosely on the flexible hinges. The archaeologist turned around stunned; that was the last thing he would have expected to hear.
"Trinium?" Daniel clarified. He hadn't heard that in a long time, the name bringing back a surge of memories of a kind, simple people, animal spirits and a considerable amount of problems with bureaucrats. Sam slipped up beside him, her hand resting gently on his arm, staring at Carson in surprise.
"Carson, Adrienne has never been to PXY-887," she said looking at Daniel, "Has she?" Daniel shook his head no.
"Never, in fact I haven't been there in years myself. They buried the gate but I know we've used the Odyssey to check in on them a few times," he responded, looking back at Carson who was shaking his head, evidently not caring about the visit.
"No, this has nothing to do with that. It's all coming from her spinal column," Carson said, pulling some scans out of a folder. He showed them to Daniel who pulled down his glasses peering over them trying to read the information, Sam looking over his shoulder while Carson explained.
"Adrienne's leaking this from her spinal column, the same area where the magnetic connection was established well, now, well over a year ago. I had no idea trinium could work in that way, but apparently it does and it's not meant to remain in the human body for long, it's my guess that Anubis or whoever was trying to take her before had every expectation that she would die shortly after providing the needed information, or they planned to kill her. The substance must have reached its expiration because it's leaking and the rest of her body is absorbing it. Since her kidneys can't process it, her stomach is trying to and just expel it through vomiting," the doctor continued, Daniel's head shooting up.
"So, she's awake and vomiting again?" he asked but Carson shook his head, a look of concern on his face.
"No Daniel, she's not awake. I have her hooked up and am pumping her stomach as we speak but it doesn't look good. I've tried chelton treatment, common for heavy metal poisoning, and while I just started it a few moments ago there is typically an initial spike that the body recognizes as the serum is injected and then it levels out as the treatment continues. I haven't gotten a spike yet, I haven't gotten anything yet. We can wait, but the lack of an initial reading is troublesome, and her lack of consciousness...Daniel, I'm sorry, but we've had to put her on life support," Carson continued, slowing at the end, knowing that the archaeologist's reaction was not going to be a pleasant one but Daniel didn't speak, he didn't say a word, he just stood there, looking at him in disbelief trying not to drop the folder. Reaching out to take it away, Carson squeezed his friend's hand, tucking the file under his arm and letting Daniel process it all for a moment.
"Alright, what can we do? What do we need to do next?" Daniel asked, wanting to hear something else come from Carson than what he was thinking but Dr. Beckett again put his hand on Daniel's arm, taking a breath before he spoke.
"Daniel, I need to know what Adrienne's last wishes were, if you knew. Did she have any sort of advanced directive? At what point did she no longer want extraordinary measures taken?" Carson said gently and Daniel ripped his arm away, his breath labored, his chest pounding, his emotions out of control.
"Adrienne would never give up, ever, as long as something was possible…"
"Daniel," Carson continued, "Something might not be possible…"
"No, we haven't talked about that, we don't need to talk about that, ever, because that's not an option, never an option, because you're going to fix her and she and I are gonna walk out of that infirmary together and go back to working in our lab and planning our wedding," Daniel started to ramble, his voice cracking at his final words, his hands shaking. Reaching for his arms, Sam held Daniel from behind, looking over at Carson.
"I have that in her personnel file; I'll send you the information as soon as I can lay my hands on it," she answered for him, glancing at Daniel who spun around to face her, rage and panic in his eyes.
"You need to come with me," she ordered, not letting him speak, not letting him scream, not letting him cry, grabbing his arm to pull him down the hallway.
"I can't leave her Sam," Daniel responded, almost begging but Sam shook her head.
"Daniel, come with me, now, " she emphasized, pulling him along. He paused, only for a moment to peek back at Carson's sad face once more, looking for any sign that this was going to be alright, a sign he didn't get and followed.
Sam didn't take him back to her office or his lab, instead, she headed straight for the elevator, hitting the button to go up as Daniel watched on, puzzled. The door opened and she ushered him in behind her. As soon as the door closed Sam quickly pressed the emergency stop button, rushing over to the cameras clicking them off as well. Scanning the booth a final time, she glanced at Daniel, her face serious.
"I want to you take John Sheppard, Ronon and a puddle jumper. I'll give you a set of coordinates and you'll need to follow my instructions very carefully otherwise this'll blow up in our faces and Adrienne will die," Sam began to instruct as Daniel looked at her even more confused.
"Some of our allies, old allies, I've been able to re-establish contact with, not check ins, but actual contact, me, as Samantha Carter, member of SG-1, not as a representative of the program or the IOA," she continued and Daniel nodded for her to keep talking.
"I have ways to get a hold of them if I need them, for emergencies like this. Some we can reach by gate, others by coded transmissions over the Odyssey or Daedalus and others like what I'm going to have you do, gate into open space and send out the distress call," she explained. Daniel seemed to understand, his eyes widening, his breath now calm, hope spreading across his face.
"So, you're sending me to Tonane?" Daniel asked and Sam shrugged, nodding slightly and confusing Daniel.
"If he's still the elder, or alive. Our last recorded contact was about five years ago, but Tonane isn't who's going to help us. We need to talk to X'els. They pull the trinium out of the ground for the Salish and they pull illness out of people. It might be a stretch, but they seem to know enough about them both to hopefully work out the two together," Sam concluded.
"If we haven't had contact in five years how do we know they will answer?" Daniel asked, now worried.
"Recorded contact, I said recorded," Sam clarified, "I've found putting out a few messages in some bottles, so to speak, with the right wording can make for some surprising pen pals."
Daniel took a breath, hoping that she was right.
John met Daniel at the hanger, Rodney fussing with the oldest jumper in the small fleet.
"You two can take this one for your little joy ride, even though I don't understand where in the hell you're going, especially you Daniel. Carson told me about Adrienne and I fail to see how any mission can be so important when your girlfriend is about to have the plug pulled on her," Rodney fussed as he checked the controls and Daniel started to speak, to explain something that Sam told him he wasn't allowed to discuss, but John shook his head, stopping him before he could start.
"Better to let Rodney get it out of his system," John whispered and Daniel calmed himself, taking a moment to consider that Rodney was actually caring what happened to Adrienne rather than the reverse.
"Well, I mean, unless of course you two are going after a cure for her?" Rodney inquired, peeking over his computer, knowing something was up, especially since Sam had kept the entire operation very quiet to keep her secret contact list just that, secret. All Rodney knew was that Daniel needed some reading on this particular gate located at these coordinates, a gate that was just floating in space. He'd been told to prepare a jumper as soon as possible to gate into open space for an operation. He was annoyed to be out of the loop and as much as Daniel wanted to include him, given his legitimate concern for Adrienne's well-being, he answered with Sam's lame story.
"No Rodney, Carson's going to give the treatment a little more time to work before I have to make any decisions, so Sam is sending me on this errand to take my mind off of it, you're not missing anything," he said and Rodney shrugged.
"Well, then, for the record, I wouldn't leave Jennifer's side. For a second," Rodney admonished, tapping the vessel on the side as he glanced over at John.
"Ready to go. Ronon should be down here with the equipment shortly and you guys can go sit in open space for a few hours," he concluded but the men didn't answer him, not even a thank you, just boarded the vessel.
Daniel was plugging Sam's coordinates into the system when there was a banging on the back of the jumper and John stood from the pilot's chair, walking back to the hatch. Glancing back quickly, Daniel confirmed that it was indeed Ronon, with the cargo, he just wasn't prepared for how the cargo would be packed.
In his arms, barely able to balance it for its size and most likely weight, Ronon was awkwardly carrying a large black plastic box that looked like it would normally house staff weapons. Shocked, Daniel ran over to him, reaching for the container clasped in the Sateadan's grip.
"You mean she's trapped inside!" he shouted at Ronon, trying to pull the box to the ground but Ronon used the sheer size of the container to push him aside.
"Yea, she's inside. She's all hooked up to everything so she's fine. Sam and Beckett said to leave her inside until it was time to meet with those people Sam is sending us to," Ronon informed him as he set the box gently down on the floor of the cargo hold.
Willing himself not to hyperventilate, Daniel just looked down at the box, trying not to imagine her in there, lifeless and still, so sick, unable to hold her, to comfort her, to touch her skin. He was about to kneel down and at least try to talk to her, when John came up, tapping him on the shoulder.
"You should take a picture for when she wakes up. It looks just close enough to Carbonite that she would be thoroughly amused," John tried to joke and Daniel appreciated the effort, just didn't have the energy to laugh. Taking a deep breath as John patted his shoulder and walked away, Daniel gazed down at the container, the large piece of plastic that was now holding the most important person in his entire life as Ronon secured the rear door.
Daniel didn't even notice that John had given the signal to take off.
Hours later they sat, waiting in space.
Daniel had done just as Sam instructed and sent the 'message in a bottle', a simple code on simple radio waves, sent out into empty space, a desperate cry into the black. He sat in the navigator's chair, awaiting a response, a sign, anything, but none came.
Eventually he stood from his seat, not saying a word to John, walking back to the box that was both containing Adrienne and keeping her alive, so cold and lifeless, as lifeless as he knew that she lay inside. Ronon had been sitting there, guarding her as any good friend would, but he stood as soon as Daniel approached, putting his hand on his shoulder.
Daniel just sunk down beside the case.
"You know Ad, Carolyn's right, you're a walking disaster," he said looking at the box pretending she could see him, hear him, understand his words, "which means that we truly are meant for each other."
Taking in a breath, Daniel leaned his arms across the plastic, resting his head as close as he could get to the silent person inside.
More time passed with no contact.
Daniel tried to act like he hadn't been keeping track, but he had, knowing that Sam had allowed them a six hour window and not a moment more, since this part of space was controlled by the Lucians now and that a puddle jumper, cloaked or not, was no match for a stolen mothership.
That, and sitting out here relatively powerless, was asking for Anubis to come and wipe out four very important members of Stargate Command.
Reading the same numbers on the clock, numbers that meant he was about to lose one friend to death and another to despair, John walked over to Daniel and sat down looking over at him.
"Listen, I'll do whatever I can to stall, but in about an hour Sam'll have no choice but to recall us, so you just tell me if I need to start setting the stage to make a break for it," John offered, willing to jump further into space, to hide, to do what it would take to keep Adrienne alive but, surprisingly, Daniel shook his head.
"I can't ask you and Ronon to do that and I can't put Sam in that position," Daniel answered, "it's not fair and even if we got her awake and she found out that we threw away our lives for her she would never forgive us. Or herself."
John nodded his head. They all knew Adrienne, she would hate herself for causing this much trouble and Daniel was right, to make a break for it would cost them all everything, especially Sam for allowing them to go.
Not having much else to say, Daniel just stared ahead, swallowing hard, praying to a god he had never really believed in.
Understanding, John stood to walk away, pausing to gaze down once more.
"We all love her, Daniel. Just say the word," he reiterated, forcing a smile of support before walking back to the pilot's seat. Silent, Daniel sat forward and turned, looking down at the box, the coffin, it looked too much like a coffin to him, making his insides tighten. Frowning, he ran his hands along the sides of it and found the clasps that were locking it tight, popping them loose and prying away the metal loops to carefully open the lid, peering curiously inside.
Adrienne lay there so very still, a tight squeeze, as her broad cajun hips pushed right to the edges of the edges of the container. There were tubes in every part of her body, pumping her stomach, helping her breath, running fluids into her arms, and a catheter for anything that might come out. He resisted the urge to both vomit and scream out but since neither would do him any good, he just gazed in horror at the way she looked right now. Sitting back on his knees, he glanced at the monitor that was tracking her vital signs, signs that were present, but very weak, barely enough to be alive.
He was losing her…
"Adrienne, listen to me, if you can hear me you've got to give me some sort of sign. I lied to Carson, Ad, and Sam. I know what you told me, I know you said to never let you suffer like this, and as it is now I'm treading pretty damn close to getting screamed at by you as it is. I just can't, Ad, don't you understand. I can't do it again, sit by and watch. I can't pull the plug, I can't. Please Adrienne, please wake up, please," he pleaded, tears in his eyes, but she didn't move, not one statistic on the monitor changing.
Tears streaming down his face, Daniel stood, enraged, glaring down at the box.
"Fuck you Adrienne Margaret Rowan! You said NEVER! You said you'd always be there! And now, you broke that promise and you're just going to lay here and make me decide for you. FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU AD! FUCK ME FOR LOVING YOU!"
He was screaming, so loudly that Ronon began to approach in an effort to calm him but Daniel just threw his hands up, pulling his hair and screaming a string of obscenities in a rage that even Ronon was hesitant to control. Still swearing, even a few cajun words thrown in, Daniel kicked the box and there was a beep, a change, and he fell to his knees, frantically reading all of the scanners.
The brainwaves went flat.
"No!" he screamed louder, repeating the word over and over, shaking the box and reaching over for the monitor. The wavelength didn't change, just that flat foreboding line, Daniel climbing into the box pulling at the various controls, determined to do CPR or something, anything, even though the tiny rational part of his brain was telling him that CPR wouldn't bring her brain back.
"Adrienne, please, why, Adrienne..." he cried, feeling arms around him vaguely aware of Ronon pulling him away. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, he just watched her fade away in front of him, his body convulsing, his face soaked in tears.
"Where is Samantha Carter?" he heard a voice behind him, "And what has happened to Dr. Jackson?"
His heart racing, Daniel broke free from Ronon's grasp to see a tall, gray skinned man standing in front of him wearing a full length shimmering silver robe, a face full of gills. Daniel tried to speak but couldn't find the words, the sound of the monitors in the box with Adrienne were penetrating his skull, making his head throb, until John reached over and turned them off, returning his attention to their visitor.
"Xe'ls, my name is John and this is Ronon. We're good friends of Sam's. This lady in the box here, she's our friend Adrienne and she is Dr. Jackson's -" John paused wondering if the concept of fianceé would make sense to this strange creature but Daniel pushed his way forward, finally finding words.
"My wife, Xe'ls, she's my wife!" Daniel choked out, shouting, trying to pull himself together as Ronon and John both looked at him confused, wondering if they had missed something, some ceremony to which they had not been privy. Nodding, Xe'ls walked over to the box, his hands clasped and tucked into his robes as he made his graceful stride.
"Of course, that explains your demeanor," the alien said calmly, so matter of factly, kneeling carefully beside the box. Turning his head from side to side, he ran his hand over Adrienne slowly a few times, the gills moving as he breathed, his eyes closing, his mind analyzing before finally looking back at Daniel, his expression unchanged.
"There is trinium in her body, poisoning her. How did this happen?" he asked, confused.
"The Goa'uld," Daniel answered, catching his breath enough, finally, calming himself, straightening his uniform as he knelt beside him.
"I thought you and your friends conquered the Goa'uld?" Xe'ls questioned, running his hands over Adrienne again as Daniel shook his head.
"We got a bit ahead of ourselves and there was someone we didn't take into account. She's had it in her body for a while, we just didn't know what it was or how to get rid of it and then yesterday she began to act strangely," Daniel started to explain and Xe'ls nodded, continuing his manual scan.
"Yes, made her seem to be a great warrior. That is common with the poisoning; it is why we began to limit and more strongly control what we gave the Salish," he answered, finally making a face, bringing his eyes back to Daniel's as he rested his palms onto his thighs.
"She is near gone Dr. Jackson," Xe'ls confirmed, Daniel trying to hold it together.
"I know, and her brain waves seem to have disappeared. I was just going to take her off of these machines and let her go in peace," Daniel said it aloud, admitting it, the acceptance of what was to come destroying him inside but Xe'ls shook his head and he paused his hands over her face, reaching down to place his fingertips onto her temples. He touched her forehead lightly and looked up at Daniel, his face puzzled.
"Enough remains if we hurry, there is something else here in her, something we have not seen before, something very old. I believe we can still save her," he said and stood, closing his eyes.
There was a shimmer and four others just like him appeared out of thin air. He spoke to them, in that strange raspy language Daniel barely remembered and they approached the box, moving him aside. The five of them stood, taking various positions around Adrienne and began to chant and move their hands as Daniel remembered them doing over Xe'ls so many years ago.
The chanting grew louder, an energy created by the words, pulsing around them, causing a painful vibrating in his skull but he watched on as a glow came from her body and Xe'ls himself broke the trance to lean forward and pull the tube from her throat. Daniel saw Adrienne's body convulse and put his hand to his face, trying to keep it together, as it was one of the most horrifying things he had ever witnessed simply because of who it was happening to, to the one thing in his life he just couldn't bear to lose.
The glow intensified and the box itself shook as the chanting grew louder, a thin steam at first, followed by a thick, silver smoky trail began to rise from Adrienne's body, funneling out of her mouth, some even seeming to come from her eye sockets. He could smell charred flesh, knowing that it was hers, but willed himself still, repeating over and over in his head that this was the only way, the only way that he would have her back.
As the mist dissipated Daniel could see a silver substance hovering over her, liquid and malleable, yet suspended in the air, the energy in their song holding it in space. It was working; they were pulling the metal out of her body, freeing her of the poison, when suddenly they silenced and Xe'ls reached out, grabbing the blob with his hand and grasping it as though it were a sword. The others dropped their hands and looked down as their leader deftly brought the now solid object to his side, staring it down, glaring at it as he squeezed before it turned to dust in his hands, scattering onto the ground before disappearing completely. Bowing his head, Xe'ls approached Daniel, holding out his hand so the human could see the remains on his own silver palm.
"The sickness is gone, she is free of poison. The damage has been repaired," he declared.
Choking on air, Daniel rushed past him and over to Adrienne who was still unconscious, reaching for her face, bringing his palm to her cheek to feel it was warm, peering back at Xe'ls.
"Will she wake up?" he asked and Xe'ls shrugged, his gills now moving even slower.
"She was badly poisoned; we have seen it before in the Salish. Trinuim never leaves the body completely, she will always have some inside of her, but not enough to poison her. With this much sometimes Salish would live, sometimes Salish would die. We have no way of knowing," he said as Daniel stood, calming himself again and nodding.
"Thank you. Thank you for trying," he replied, Xe'ls bowing his head.
"You are welcome and we thank you and Samantha Carter for letting us live in peace but still caring enough to contact us from time to time. May we meet again and may your wife awaken," the alien answered and then just shimmered away, the four remaining companions fading away as well.
No one said a word as Ronon took the co-pilot's seat by John and Daniel leaned into the box, starting to remove the various machines from Adrienne that were still attached.
Adrienne shivered, reaching around herself in search of Daniel, to curl into his warmth. Feeling his bicep under her palm, she rolled over to nuzzle close to him.
"Warm me up," she requested, reaching her legs to intertwine them with his, expecting skin, hair, warmth, but rather felt the rough fabric of uniform pants.
"Cher, why are you sleeping in your uniform?" she asked, opening her eyes to see what time it was but the lights were blinding so she kept her eyes closed.
"Daniel, can you please shut the lights off?" Adrienne asked, reaching out to bury her face in his chest.
"I take it she's feeling better?"
Adrienne heard a voice beside her say, not Daniel's voice, but a woman's voice, making her freeze mid cuddle. She opened her eyes to see Carolyn Lam looking down at her smirking and sat up quickly, almost knocking into Daniel who was sitting up beside her. Confused, she looked around and saw that she was in the corner of the infirmary where it looked like two beds had been shoved together against the wall, two beds that they were in together, Adrienne in a hospital gown under a thin blanket, Daniel lying with her, in his BDU pants and t-shirt.
"What happened? Why am I here? I know I got up early because I couldn't sleep but I don't remember anything else," Adrienne looked down and saw IV tracks on her arm, her deep cocoa eyes looking to Daniel for an explanation, who blushing, tossed his legs over the side, glancing back at the doctor.
"I'll get out of your way. Can you explain, while you look her over," he requested, leaning back to kiss Adrienne's head as the doctor nodded, ignoring Carolyn's presence for one more moment before scurrying away.
"Don't scare me like that again?" he whispered, taking in the sight of her, flushing cheeks, that beautiful smile and those intelligent eyes.
"Like what cher, I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied, still completely confused.
Smiling, he leaned forward again, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to hug her tightly and kiss her cheek one final time.
"I love you so very much," he added, letting go and standing from the bed, grabbing Carolyn's hand as he walked by, "thanks."
She shook her head.
"I let you two get away with way too much," Carolyn replied with a smile, turning to Adrienne, "You're getting close to his record you know. That's not something that you should be proud of," she stated.
Still thoroughly confused, Adrienne just laid back and let herself be examined, hoping that someone would explain things to her, and soon.