Daniel and Adrienne #3: Miscommunication

They walked down the hall together briskly, Adrienne trying not to spill her coffee down the front of her uniform jacket, which was a task in and of itself considering his pace. 

“What’s the big hurry?” she asked, struggling to keep up with Daniel’s long stride, holding her left hand carefully around her cup should any liquid slosh over the sides.

“We’re late for the briefing.  Some of us just got to work this morning,” he scolded as he kept walking toward their destination, where Sam had probably already started the meeting without them. He should have left her, he should have just gotten his own things ready and headed down there at 8:50, like he always did, but he wanted to be nice and wait for her. This, however, was the thanks he got for being nice. 

“I told you, there was no hot water in my shower; am I supposed to shower in the cold!?! And I haven’t lived there long enough to figure who to call when things like that go wrong,” she responded curtly, annoyed by him already this morning.  She had only been in her new apartment for a week, a mere week and she was still living out of boxes. To top it off, the drive to work each morning was nearly forty-five minutes, a drive about as long as Daniel’s from what Cameron had told her, hence the reason he stayed on base so much. Any normal person would understand that moving requires some time to get settled and work out the kinks but leave it to Daniel to want it all done yesterday. 

“You’re supposed to get to work on time,” he answered as he stopped abruptly at the door.  She made a face as he turned the knob, opening the door and pausing, letting his assistant in before him. Deep breaths Addy, she told herself, he has a thing for punctuality, he did bring you back an apple from lunch the other day...

“So, I think we need to get a team there as soon as possible to see if this - welcome guys, nice of you to finally join us.....” Sam said, cutting her eyes at the two of them and crossing her arms as they entered the room. She wasn’t mad, really, but she had to note that Daniel waited for Adrienne this time instead of letting her stagger in late by herself like last time, a fact she tried not to note with a smile.

The rest of Daniel’s team, his real team, not his lab rat who was staggering in behind him, peered back at them, curiosity tinging in their faces. Ugh, I can barely carry on a conversation with her, Daniel thought to himself, please don’t jump to conclusions. Avoiding Sam’s glare, Daniel took the open seat beside Teal’c, Adrienne slipping in quietly beside him.  

“As I was saying,” Sam continued, “ SG-8 came back last week with a few images that are concerning.  This image here,” she began to recap for her late arrivals, pointing the remote casually over her left shoulder, clicking the advance button to go to the next slide, “shows what appears to be a small unit of Ori solders trying to take over a village.  We know that P56-043 is a peaceful planet, so they’ve just been waiting until we contacted them again to check in.” 

“So you mean to tell me that these crooks are still trying to spread their insanity after we killed all of their priests and their weird little glowing gods?” Cameron asked, dumbfounded by their nerve. 

“Yes, the soldiers appear to be working free of those particular religious influences,” Sam answered him, changing the slides once more to show an image, obviously taken from a hidden camera, showing the solders seemingly led by another soldier, no priest or other impostor in sight. Relieved that at least was not a concern, Daniel opened the folder reading its contents quickly as the meeting continued. 

“That takes some balls,” Vala spoke up, Daniel noting from across the table that Vala had yet to open hers.

“Why would they do that? I mean if they had the inaccuracies of their entire belief system proven beyond a doubt, why keep trying to recruit?” Adrienne, who lacked interaction with the Ori, asked confused. At least her folder was open. She may drive him insane with her music and her tardiness, but she was good at what she did and questions like that just affirmed it.

“AdrienneRowan, warriors are trained to follow a purpose, not a person. It is a myth of your movies that they will stop their mission because their leader is killed,” Teal’c replied first, as he should have, being that he had the most experience with this kind of thing, “I have met many Jaffa who are still fighting in the name of a system lord long dead.” 

Nodding her head in agreement, Sam turned to address the group, “That and it seems the lack of any type of organization within their military units has led to complete chaos. Since the soldiers came from so many different planets, they have no where to go back to, no where to call home.  We only know of one group, Tomin’s group, trying to go out and start over in an acceptable manner. My theory is that this group just wants to take control of a planet, or a portion thereof, and start their lives there.” 

That made sense to Adrienne, the idea of having a home; she couldn’t imagine traveling the galaxy after a cause only for everything to come to an end and have no where to go. The thought was a bit depressing, and more familiar to her than anyone in this room, other than Sam, knew.  

“You leave at 1300 hours.  We’re going to start things diplomatically, have Daniel try to reason with them, and hopefully get them to leave of their own accord,” Sam concluded, shutting off the screen behind her, and turning to take questions. Being that there were none, she dismissed the group to their preparations.

Completely opposite of her behavior this morning, Adrienne rushed ahead of Daniel, running in almost a full sprint to the lab, eager to pull the file on the planet and brush up on it’s inhabitants.  She was liking this going off world to assistant him a little too much, something Sam had just deemed normal after her first lucky break. Ok, the first time was luck. The second time he had to admit was skill, but it worried him just a touch. The few times he did have a conversation with her she seemed to liken everything to some book, movie or TV show and he was just concerned that her limited world view was going to get them all into trouble. Reading her mind, he broke into a light jog, catching up to her as she turned the corner of the lab, making a beeline for the file cabinets  

“Not a lot to learn really,” he said as he entered the lab behind her, “the planet has been trapped in the middle ages, literally, for centuries, thanks to the Ori.  They were just starting to elect leaders when these guys arrived.  I’m hoping that I can reason with them, get them to leave peacefully.”  

Nodding, ok so she was listening, Adrienne opened the folder, skimming the contents with those computer-like eyes of hers, as Daniel was starting to think of them, back and forth, back and forth rapidly. Adrienne was listening, she was, but she had also noticed that he had a tendency to leave out things that he didn’t deem as important because it was common knowledge to both him and his teammates, things that she would have no clue about.  He was right, there was nothing, legitimately nothing, so she closed the folder, slipping it back into its metal home, glancing back up at him as she shut the drawer. 

“Ok, cool, so what do I need to do?” she asked excitedly. Just as he thought, she was getting way to excited about going on missions. So much for being a lab rat.  

“Not get in my way,” he replied flatly, walking briskly over to his locker, opening the door silently and removing his duffle. She made a sour face at him that he couldn’t see, trying to control her temper the best she could, if not for any other reason that just to spite him, but she wasn’t going to let him have the final word.  

“Fine, I’ll make sure I stay out of your way. Far out of your way.  Especially when you manage to get you stupid ass shot by announcing our presence to any would be attackers.  I’ll stay clear then, Dr. Jackson,”  she turned her back to him and stormed over to her desk, starting to pack up her backpack. I guess it’s back to Sam hired me an idiot mode, Adrienne thought to herself, attempting to not break her own things as she slammed them into the pack, although for some insane reason she was back to regretting her word choice again. Once more, of all of the people she had met in her life, Daniel Jackson drove her the craziest and other than his snotty dismissive attitude, she had no idea why. 

“Adrienne, dammit, don’t go back to that Dr. Jackson bullshit. It was a poor choice of words.  Let me negotiate; I’ve been doing this for a while.  And keep Vala busy,” he tried to apologize, not meaning to offend her but really just wanting to go and get this done and over with with as little bloodshed as possible. Judging by the fierceness with which she was loading the backpack, however, he had done just that, offend her. It’s like a lose lose with her, isn’t it, he thought, as he shut the locker door gently, but evidently not gently enough, as Adrienne turned from her packing quickly to face him, those huge cajun eyes working their sinister magic. 

“You do realize that I have a PhD, right? I’m not an idiot, we’ve been over this. I like to be useful, not just keep our little friend from embarrassing us,” Adrienne stated plainly, slamming down her pack, her arms crossed across her chest.  He hoped she didn’t have the iPad in there, but kept his comment to himself, knowing the reaction to that very question wouldn’t be pretty. Why couldn’t he talk to this woman, no matter what he said it was always the wrong thing and gave her the wrong impression.  He knew she wasn’t an idiot, he just wasn’t...used to this. That was the right way of putting it; he wasn’t used to having a person here, all of the time, that knew what they were doing, and did a good job to boot.  They had made amazing progress these past three months since she was hired, so he had to admit, she was useful, even if she drove him insane.  

“Fine, you want to learn how to do this? Correctly? I’ll take you with me.  Don’t say a word, just take notes or act like you are taking notes. If you want to ask me something, write it down and ask me later. This isn’t just something that can be learned overnight,” he explained, hoping that would quell her temper. 

Not responding verbally, Adrienne simply nodded, and turned again to pack her things, much more carefully this time. Since the incident on Madrona, she found that calling him out on his arrogance often made him cave.  She refused to be treated like some cute, young woman here for his amusement or to be his butler; she was going to be respected for her work and intelligence and treated like a professional. Slipping the iPad into her bag last, Adrienne turned, smirking and left the lab without saying another thing to him.  

Daniel sighed as he watched her leave. She excelled at getting under his skin worse than anyone in his life.  It all would have been so much easier if she was stupid or inept.  

*****

At 12:50, when he arrived at the gate room, he saw that Adrienne was already there, talking to Cameron.  Time to go off world, she’s early with bells on.  Time to get to work, she couldn’t make it on time to save her life.  He began to wonder if that was intentional.   With Daniel the last to arrive, Cam ordered the dialing sequence and the group stood back, watching the event horizon form. Out of the furthest corner of his eye, Daniel could see Adrienne whispering excitedly to Teal’c about something and cocking her head in the direction of the gate. Yes, he thought to himself, we get it, it’s cool, you’re thrilled to be here, but when are you going to stop acting like a teenager?

“Jackson, you comin’?” Cam was shouting back at the platform, bringing Daniel out of his thoughts. Teal’c, Vala and Adrienne were no where to be seen, and their fearless team leader was standing looking at him like he was insane.  

“Yeah, just running some things through my head,” he replied quickly, shaking his head and following the colonel through the wormhole.   

“Greetings SG-1,” an elderly man bearing a striking resemblance to a mid 13th century monk approached the team just as Daniel was taking the final step down from the ramp. His robes were a burnt rust color, just barely dragging the ground, a matching hood attached to the back. He was graying, slightly, through a full head of jet black hair that matched his equally dark eyes. He had a friendly, yet cautious smile as he approached the team, clearly trusting them while maintaining a safe distance. Placing his hands together, slipping them into his sleeves, he bowed his head respectfully and raised it again slowly to face them. 

 “My name is Jamison.  We are delighted that you have come to help us,”  the man greeted. Cameron stepped forward and presented the members of the group, one by one, Jamison bowing in front of each person as they were introduced and then turned, indicating the well worn path and proceeded to escort them to the settlement. Hoisting their packs onto their shoulders, they followed behind the man, beginning the long trek to the village.  

Opening the folder in his hand Daniel hung back, hoping to be able to take in their surroundings and read through the file some more while they walked, when he felt a tug at his sleeve, glancing over a bit to see Adrienne was responsible for the pulling.  

“Daniel, why aren’t you talking to him?” Adrienne asked, wondering sincerely why Daniel wouldn't be up there jabbering away like he did if his entire goal was to take care of this situation and get home, but instead of answering her like a normal person, he just glared down at her, annoyed.  

“Because he’s not the leader.  The village elder is Grayson, didn’t you read the file?”  Daniel corrected her, rudely, giving her that condescending look she’d begun to hate. So much for getting here early to impress him, she thought, frowning as she pulled her iPod from her pocket. 

“Music,” Daniel asked dumbfounded, “Now!?!” He looked at his assistant completely mystified that she would have brought that thing, that stupid toy of hers, while dreading a walk accompanied by the musical stylings of MM or Emnem or whatever the hell that man’s name was. All he knew was that he was awful, and that was not the impression he wanted to give to the people of this planet about his assistant or his team.   

“No, I keep notes on this; it’s a multifunction tool.  You should get one,” Adrienne replied, not even acknowledging his attack with any kind of attitude in her answer, tapping her fingers on the screen as she walked, pulling up the mission files on her small device “Ok, here it is, da verite, ya right, I transposed the names. Sorry, I was up too late last night.”  Sliding her finger across the screen, blacking out the text, she tossed the iPod slightly, catching it in her palm gently and stuffed the gadget to her pocket, all the while Daniel kept up his menacing glare. 

“Up doing what?” he inquired, glancing her over for any bruises.  Lately she had spent a lot of time with her new trio of buddies: Ronan, Teal’c and Cameron, doing God knows what each and every night after they had finished. Fighting probably, Daniel had determined, because for some bizarre reason, she liked to be tough, act like a man, and beat on him. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she replied curtly, rolling her eyes and jogging to catch up to Vala.  Daniel tried not to pay attention, but did catch Adrienne saying something to her and Vala turned back looking at him and laughed.  He had forgotten the two of them were chummy now too, not as much as Adrienne and the boys, but she and Vala were together lately at least every day at lunch.  Redirecting his attention to his steps, he uncontrollably rolled his eyes. He hated them as friends and was almost positive that Vala had told Adrienne every awful thing about him she possibly could, which considering the past few years was a decent list of big mistakes and insane situations. Fuel to the fire, the last thing Adrienne needed, especially given that Daniel was beginning to question himself as a professional. Between the surprise attack on Madrona and the incident last week, he had noted that Adrienne was acting a bit different in the lab, more sure of herself and he wasn’t sure if he liked that either. Trying not to obsess over a situation that was beyond his control, Daniel shoved his hands into his pockets, bringing up the rear of the group. 

*****

The walk was about an hour, but in combat boots that might as well have been five, the heat combined with the rough unpaved terrain. Daniel decided that he needed to get new socks when he got back as he could feel raw spots and blisters wearing around the balls of his feet and the back of his heel, the cotton fabric that was there to protect them having worn too thin. He winced and stopped for a moment, leaning down to try to adjust his boots and maybe shove something down into his footwear to ease the pain.   

“Are you ok?” he heard a voice over him, holding his hand over his eyes to block the sun while he gazed up to see why she was there. He knew it was Adrienne, he could never confuse that drawl with anyone else, but he wanted to see why she was standing there, peering down at him and asking if he was alright.  

“Yeah, just bad choice of footwear,” he answered, cutting his eyes quickly to the ground, regretting instantly telling her. While she hadn’t done anything per se to warrant the reaction, Daniel felt at times like he was working with a pit viper ready to strike.  Pulling angrily, Daniel quickly undid the laces, trying to open the boot just enough to feel some relief, all the while waiting for a snide remark.  Instead, there was the crinkle of rocks below her boots and he felt a presence close to him, noting that she had knelt down beside him, a sympathetic frown spreading across her face.  

“I have extra socks if you need them,” she offered, “they’ll fit. I’ve got big unattractive man feet.” Proving her words were not just that, words, she pulled her backpack from her shoulders, setting in between her knees, carefully opening the top and rooting through the contents. That was nice, he thought to himself, and his assistant remained beside him, still digging through the satchel. He had expected her to attack him and she hadn’t, instead she was offering to help him, without question or tone. He was actually a bit shocked even though he had no reason to be shocked; Adrienne was a very nice person. Maybe he just wasn’t used to that either. She stopped digging suddenly and handed over to him a pair of white military issue combat socks, no words, no tone and no mockery.  

“I appreciate that,” he answered cautiously, frowning at her in confusion, taking the socks and standing again, kicking out his feet to adjust and walking on.  Adrienne continued not to speak, just stood herself, brushing the light tan dirt from her knees and followed behind, watching Daniel trudge ahead in pain.  Stubborn man, she thought, adjusting her pack higher on her shoulders as she marched on. 

Minutes later Adrienne could see why maybe Daniel hadn’t stopped to use her offering, as the village began to peek its way into view, a small settlement on the outside of a lush forest.  It was a small community, in what looked like a circular layout of tiny wood slat houses with grass roofs. Each home seem to have a small stick built corral containing a few animals, mostly pigs and goats but a handful seemed to have some sort of cow-like animal there as well. There were some dark ages dressed peasants milling about, the women in flaxen and heavy dresses, denoting a lower class, while the men wore different variations of the same camel colored breeches accompanied by a white flowing shirt, tending to their daily chores and errands.  It looked like a scene from a quaint Robin Hood movie, or one of those Renasssiasnce fairs that Adrienne liked to attend back home.

Right on the outskirts of town, standing near what looked like a small guard tower, they could see a slightly better dressed man waiting for them, his robes a rust color was well, although the color was much deeper and accented with a gold trim.  Large tassels hung around his neck and he was a bit stouter than his emissary, with a shaved head and soft brown eyes.  His expression was stoic, but friendly as they approached.  

“Colonel Mitchell, Dr. Jackson, we cannot thank you enough for coming to our aide,” the man spoke kindly,  and Adrienne assumed this was Grayson, the village elder and lead minister. Trying not to be noticed, she slowly slid her hand into the pocket of her BDU’s to remove her iPod, just to check a few things while they were stationary.  

“No problem at all,” Cameron answered, walking up and offering his hand.  The man looked confused, but extended his own towards the colonel which Cam took quickly, shook and then let it go, Grayson’s own hand hanging forward for a moment longer, the man clearly unsure as to what to do next.  Pushing his glasses up his face, Daniel stepped forward, breaking the awkwardness of the situation to get down to business. 

“Grayson, have you arranged a meeting place yet?  I would like to get started before any further tension arises,” he said in greeting, desiring to begin as soon as possible.  Over the years he had learned that in a negotiation it was better to start before one could develop an emotional leaning towards one side or the other, he himself being guilty of that at times, and this would be hard enough as it was, considering his history with the Ori, but he wanted to deal with the entire situation as diplomatically as possible, and as soon as possible. 

“Yes of course,” he responded to Daniel politely, “I told them that upon your arrival we would send a messenger to bring their leaders to the sanctuary.  It is right this way.”  He turned quickly and started walking toward a red brick building, the only building in the village that was not made of wood and grass. It looked like a small medieval church sitting a slight distance away on a hill and was by far the most extravagant building in the settlement, with a large stone steeple that appeared to be constructed of tiny pebbles somehow held together without the use of concrete. Adrienne stared at it, scanning it carefully with her dark eyes, trying to figure out exactly how the spire and the matching decor were formed, when there was a throat clearing behind her. Daniel was looking at her over his shoulder to motion for Adrienne to follow as Cam was telling the others that they were going on a little walk, walk being code for let’s see if there is anyone around that would feel the need to kill them.  Nodding, Adrienne tightened the straps to her pack and followed her boss up the rise, refocusing her attention to the task at hand.

“When did they arrive?” Daniel asked their guide, trying to gain a better hold of the situation, the old man traipsing briskly ahead. The sun was shining brightly down onto their black jackets and piercing their eyes, Daniel raising his hand to block his eyes while he tried to look around himself.  He silently confirmed the information in the file from Sam’s briefing; that there was nothing in his sights that anyone could possibly want, other than the land itself, no evidence of any valuable resources nor any incorrectly utilized alien technology. His stride still brisk, Grayson continued speaking as he trod up the increasingly steep hill. 

“About 20 moons ago.  The moon has yet to be reborn though, so not yet a lunar cycle,” he maintained his pace walking swiftly ahead of them, appearing to be in quite a hurry.  Daniel trudged on to keep up while Adrienne, the shortest of the group broke out into a light jog, concerned already about their predicament, and grabbed Daniel’s sleeve gently yanking him back to her and bringing her lips to his ear, very close, not thinking.

“How long did they wait to contact us? I don’t think I’d let someone who essentially enslaved me to hang around for nearly three weeks, and your buddy Grayson up there seems pretty damn worried,” Adrienne whispered quietly to Daniel, who had come to a complete stop once he felt the tug, a shiver down his spine at the whisper. 

“You have to remember that these people just found out not too long ago that everything they believed in was a lie.  Maybe it was a comfort to them to see some familiarity, even if it is in the form of gun toting soldier,” he answered her, leaning back and turning his head to whispered softly right back at her. Adrienne couldn’t help it,  she didn’t understand these things; she was a product of modern media. To Adrienne, everything could be solved in a nice ten minute action sequence where the good guys rode away as heroes.  He needed to remember that was not intentional, just that she lacked the experience he had in matters such as these, matters in which a bunch of former gun-toting lunatics were camping out in the forest, possibly waiting to slaughter an entire village.  

“Perhaps,” she answered quietly, deciding to take on her observing role.  He was right, she didn’t know a thing about this sort of thing, she thought as she let go of his jacket sleeve and stepped back allowing him to lead. Taking the opportunity to examine her surroundings one last time, Adrienne noted that Grayson had arrived at their destination and was glaring down the hill at them as the two of them, while, Adrienne at least being half his age, and before now very confident in her athletic ability, lagged behind. Taking the opportunity before Daniel could call her forward, she let her eyes kick into observation mode, darting around reexamining as Daniel jogged up the rest of the path. There was the church, larger than she had expected, standing in front of them, the massive wooden doors propped open to reveal a simple sanctuary with a few simple wooden pews and a tiny alter.  To the back of the one roomed structure, Adrienne could see there were a few meeting tables, probably for the elders of the church and she stopped her walk, her knees aching from the climb taking a position slightly behind Daniel, and doing so without complaint. 

“Here we are my friends,” Grayson said as he turned to face them, “and Dr. Jackson, I am happy to escort your wife to your quarters.  I have arranged for three rooms in an empty house, one for you and your wife, another for Colonel Mitchell and his wife and the last for Teal’c the warrior.  I hope that is acceptable.” 

Adrienne elbowed Daniel sharply, her eyes as big a saucers, but he moved to stand in front of her so Grayson would not notice her reaction.

“Thank you Grayson, we appreciate your hospitality.  However, my wife is of great assistance to my work and I would like for her to remain here with me during these negotiations,”  Daniel replied kindly, smiling and bowing his head slightly.

“Of course. Then you both may have this time to prepare yourselves and I shall see to the messenger,” the kind man said and left, walking back down the hill along the path by which they came. Adrienne waited until Grayson had left and then looked up at Daniel, her eyes still wide and her brain in panic mode, wondering if she was to be expected to share sleeping quarters with her boss, a prospect she had never thought about.

“Your wife?!”  Adrienne questioned, half teasing and half worried, remembering Vala telling her of a similar situation, one that Adrienne at least was not looking forward to, her heart racing as she awaited his answer.  Daniel, however, rolled his eyes, thinking to himself that she must be smart enough to figure out that not all societies they would encounter would really consider a woman to be on equal footing as a man, but again, refrained from comment, his desire to keep the peace superseding his desire to tell her she was insane.  

“Yes, how else would I get you in here? They might buy that Vala is a warrior, since the Ori were led for a time by a woman, but, you, being an academic like me, not possible.   I can demand that my wife be with me at all times, no one will question that, unless of course you would prefer to walk around with a gun like Cameron and not learn how to do any of this,” he explained, unable to control the little jab at her more masculine side that slipped out, but she didn’t seem to notice, her hands slipping back into her pockets to obtain her iToy and get to work.

“Fine,” Adrienne said as she let out a sigh, “when in Rome I guess,” she accepted, but looked, well, he wasn’t sure what to read in that expression. No Adrienne, you won’t have to touch me or come near me, don’t worry, he almost said, but refrained, trying not to think about it, although the thought of having to share a bed with her, much less a small room, was a bit disconcerting to him as well, his stomach turning.  He’d need to deal with that later, no way did he want to sleep beside her, but for now, pulled his pack from his shoulders and began to rummage through, looking for the mission files from Sam. 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her walking over to the crude table that had been set up in the worship room and began to unload her backpack as well, electronic toy after electronic toy, a direct contrast to his paper collection.  She must love to make him feel antiquated, he thought, starting to look away when she paused and glanced up at him, her lips pursed tightly and her face in a frown. 

“But don’t you get any ideas,” she said, smiling, was she smiling at him, was she joking, he was so confused...

“No worries Adrienne,” he answered smartly as he turned his back to her. 

No worries at all. 

*****

It seemed as if they had waited for hours before the delegation of Ori soldiers arrived.  Adrienne had only seen pictures on the computer, but here standing in front of her were a strange combination of a medieval knight, a samurai solider and some bad 1950’s Sci-fi flick.  They wore full suits of gray armor, metal yet fitted to their bodies in a more comfortable fashion, accompanied by strange gray helmets on their heads.  Adrienne had seen soldiers before, Earth soldiers, but she knew how close her friends had been to succumbing to these soldiers in particular, so she shivered reactively as they walked into the room, cold piercing chills running down her spine, but she relaxed when she felt a warm hand squeeze her arm gently and heard a whisper at her ear.

“Let me do the talking, I know how they work,” Daniel assured her, sensing her fear, those deep eyes of hers flickering almost as if they were trembling themselves.

Adrienne relaxed at first, but tensed again as she felt him squeeze her arm and bring his lips to her ear, whispering his assurances. That scared her more than the Ori; how bad could this be if Daniel was actually showing concern for her?

Honestly, he wasn’t very open with her, but when it came to work, often she couldn’t shut him up and she had found over the past three months that when he shut down about something, there was often a good reason.  If he shut down about a work something, that reason was usually something awful. In fact, when she had been going through some files of information in the Asgard database and came across the Ori, she had asked him about it, but rather than answer her, he sat at his desk for a moment, looking as if he was going to throw up.  Vala had told her later that he had been converted to a prior, among other awful things, at their hands and she added that since, he had horrific nightmares and that was part of the reason he would work every night until he just passed out in the lab.  Adrienne remembering feeling terrible once she heard this, no one deserved to live like that, even if he was a bit snippy, but she didn't want to bring it up because then he would know she was snooping so she just nodded her head, accepting his comfort. 

“Welcome, please sit, so that we may talk,” Daniel motioned to the chairs set around the table.  

“Hallowed be the Ori,” the lead soldier saluted, a large man, dark olive skin peering from the center piece of the helmet.  His hazel eyes seem to match his complexion and he would have been a handsome man were the expression on his face not so cold and condescending. Daniel didn’t answer him, though, just sat himself and the soldiers followed, Adrienne quickly pulling up a chair beside him.  

“The power and the greatness of the Ori cannot be denied, nor defeated.  They are testing us, that we will be able to continue on without their guidance, to see if we can walk the path alone,” the man began, Adrienne noting that she had no idea what his name was, he hadn’t bothered to give it, as if he thought it did not matter, just jumped right into the religious jargon. 

Vala was right, these people were nuts.  

Out of the corner of her eye, Adrienne saw Daniel take a deep breath in before answering, his fist closing and opening, and without thinking, she slipped her hand under the table and squeezed his leg tightly.  He might get on her nerves, but right now he needed her support, the act instinctual more than intentional. 

“The Ori are gone,” Daniel started, calmer, not pushing her away, why is she touching me, focus Daniel focus, “they were not gods; they were using you.  Using all of you. These people here just want to live in peace.”  He paused, letting the words sink in while his own heart raced, not only at facing these people once more but at the hand resting so gently on his thigh.

Her eyes trying to read his face, she was normally good at reading people, why couldn’t she read him, Adrienne noted that Daniel didn’t bother to give his name either, secretly wondering if that had something to do with his history with these particular people.  Did they know who he was? Was that why he had been invited? His voice was strong,though, his tone assertive, yet the leader of this group of men seemed unfazed by his words. 

“It is our duty to cast out the unbelievers. You are here to cause us doubt, yet we shall not falter. And the people shall deliver the wicked unto your divine judgement; we are the people the scriptures spoke of and we shall do as we were ordained,” the soldier responded, his face remaining emotionless. 

This is not going well, Adrienne thought to herself, these wack-jobs sounded like the ones on Earth, just quoting from a different book.  She looked over at Daniel, who seemed to be doing a bit better, that normal attitude that she had become accustomed to creeping back up into his voice. She ran her hand up and down his leg real quick to assure him further, not thinking about how the gesture might appear to him, holy shit I am rubbing his leg, and pulled it back quickly, letting him talk.  Why did I do that? she thought, redirecting her attention to her iPad and mission notes. 

“These people mean you no harm.  We understand that you have no where to go, that the warships are failing, and that many of you cannot return to your homes.  Let me talk with the people here, maybe they would be in agreement to let you create a settlement nearby,” Daniel suggested calmly. 

Shocked, Adrienne’s jaw dropped; she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Here these men were talking about casting out unbelievers and here was Daniel was suggesting they just all move in together and get along.  What in the hell was he thinking!?! Adrienne tried to restrain her words, continuing to take notes and paying attention closely to Daniel’s negotiation style, hoping this was just part of the plan. 

“Truth eludes those who refuse to seek it with both eyes wide.  If we settle among these people, we will make them see the light,” the man retorted, cocking his head slightly for emphasis. That Adrienne could tell was a direct threat, but Daniel was in some zone and just remained calm.  

“Those are your choices,” he stated simply, “You can leave immediately and cause no further harm to these people or you may allow me to negotiate for a settlement location on your behalf. It is your decision, but there is no third option.”  Daniel remained stoic and Adrienne was impressed by his strength; it made her suddenly question her opinion of him, yet again. The soldier stood from the table, glaring menacingly at Daniel and not speaking, just leaning over the table slowly. For a brief moment, Adrienne thought they were going to fire, so she reached down her leg to her Zat gun and prepared to have to fight their way out, her heart racing at the prospect, but instead, the man brought his face dangerously close to Daniel’s.

“Do not think that I do not know who you are,” he said, inches away from her boss, “you were once a beacon, but you let your light be extinguished by those who would challenge the greatness of the Ori. You need to recall the truth of the universe.” With those words, he backed up slowly and motioned to his men, leading them out a side door while Daniel remained silent. Adrienne was at a loss for words, sitting there, trying to read his face, trying to gauge what was going on in that head, but there was nothing; she couldn’t tell if he was afraid, angry, if he had expected that. It made her even more nervous, what was to be learned, was she supposed to be writing something down. With no other idea as to what else to do, Adrienne did the only thing she could think of doing in a situation like this. 

She made a joke. 

“So that got us no where, guess they don’t hear that good through those stupid looking helmets,” she remarked, trying to lighten the mood that was hanging over him, as he sat there, staring at his hands and the mission files, but he didn’t laugh, glaring up at her, a frown on his face. 

Bad choice Addy, bad choice. 

“Lesson one, if everything was so easily solved in matters such as these there wouldn’t be war,” he responded coldly, scolding, Adrienne’s heart thumping in her chest. 

“Nah, you think?” she replied smiling at him as she started to pack up her things back into her pack, laughing at her joke, “and a dose of realizing your ridiculous gods were the great and powerful wizard would probably help as well,” she added, not thinking, it was just the first thing that came to mind. She continued to pack, hoping he was no longer upset, getting ready to ask him what he thought they could do next to save Emerald City, when she heard a slam of papers onto a surface and glanced over at him. 

He wasn’t smiling. 

“You think you could do better!?!” he snapped at her, rage flashing across his face. 

“Daniel, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Adrienne tried to apologize; she really meant to joke around with him, she had just spoken before thinking. Her jaw dropped and she put down her things, wanting to explain, trying to explain, she really wanted to know what they should do next because she had no earthy idea what was supposed to be done.

“Do you think this is easy? I’ve been trying to get people of different worlds to talk to each other for years; I think I know what I’m doing!” he seemed angry, clearly not understanding that Adrienne was just making a joke, albeit highly inappropriate. Why did you do that you idiot, you’re a gah damn professional, you’ve never behaved like this?

Why now?

Why does he make you so crazy Addy? 

For a moment she started to apologize and beg him not to be angry with her, but the look on his face was just so hateful, so condescending, and he was muttering something under his breath, something about her being clueless that she just couldn’t take it. 

“Really Mr. Expert? Cuz it makes ah ‘ell of a lotta sense to jus invite dem ta stay righ? I’m sho DAT’s wha Grayson was going fah when dey tole SG-8 dey needed ‘elp.  Jus let da wolf live among da sheep, he be a vegetarian naw....” Adrienne spat, her cajun accent making her barely intelligible, and she stood, slamming her hands on her hips and shouting down at him.  Here we go again, she thought, here is where the real Daniel comes shining through, the one that will never respect me. 

Why don’t I just quit?

“People can change Adrienne. I know your limited world view may make you think otherwise, but people change,” Daniel argued, standing quickly to face her.  

“Nah, Daniel, people can change deir actions ahn ‘abits, but intrinsically dey do nah change.  Teal’c dinna jus decide tah be a gud guy overnight, ‘ee always be a gud person inside, ‘ee jus needed da chance to act on it.  Dese people dought, dey believe dis merde to their core.  Dere be no way ya jus gonna get’em ta leave, regardless of da high opinion dat ya ‘ave of ya negotiating abilities,”  Adrienne hissed back, standing her ground, refusing to let him talk to her that way. She knew her limits, her small ‘world view’ that’s why she was here, to learn. Wasn’t she? 

Rather than fight with her, again, Daniel sat back down in the chair, opening the folder to read some things over. She thought he was an idiot, she had made that quite clear, and he just wanted to her leave. 

“Just, go find Cam and look for people to shoot or something,” Daniel said, his eyes locked back at the folder, the pen in his right hand tapping. Not wanting to anger him further, she left silently, but still seething, and hurt, hurt more than she could believe, tossing her pack over her shoulder, heading to the center of the village.  

*****

The return trip downhill was fast, especially since she was running, fleeing without his notice, hoping he wouldn’t call her back because she just couldn’t face him.  She paused at the bottom of the hill, taking deep, deliberate yoga breaths, trying to compose herself. 

“He’s upset, don’t hold it against him,” she coached, seeing movement in the near distance, finding her friends, and laughing at the site of Vala and Cameron walking arm and arm.  

“Addy! Did you hear the news? I’m Mrs. Cameron Mitchell!!”  she laughed as she pulled Cameron closer, laying her head playfully onto his shoulder. Adrienne giggled and smiled at the sight, her irritation with Daniel already subsiding.

“I heard.  I demand a switch,” Adrienne said as she walked over to Cameron’s free side and ran her arm through his free one.  

“Aww... trouble in paradise?” Cam quipped.  

“Yeah, I want a divorce,” Adrienne replied, joking, with people she could joke with, resting her head on Cam’s other shoulder and walking alongside him. 

Laughing loudly, the colonel filled Adrienne in on what she had missed, which was essentially nothing other than the village children being enthralled by Teal’c, his tattoo and staff weapon. It was actually quite cute, the large Jaffa playing with the children and it made her forget completely her argument with Daniel. Walking on, Cam took her to the empty cottage they had been promised by Grayson and to their small rooms, showing her the one she was being expected to share with Daniel.  Remembering, her heart racing again, Adrienne glanced across the small hallway to where Cam was to stay with Vala and walked into their room, grabbing Cameron’s bag and tossing it across the hall to the opposite side.   

“You can spend the night with him. I don’t want to look at him right now,”  Adrienne stated as she exited the room, walking back over to Vala’s room and tossing her things on the bed.  Vala looked like she was going to speak, to say something, but she stopped, readjusting her own things in their room.

*****

The group remained in and around their lodging for the rest of the afternoon,  Cam and Teal’c walking around, exploring, Vala disappearing for a while and then returning, Adrienne having no idea what she was doing, while Adrienne herself went back through the mission files, her temper cooled and just wanting to go back to working with Daniel.  She’d apologize, explain to him that when she gets nervous she jokes and that she hadn’t really meant anything by it, but he never showed up for her to tell him. 

A  small dinner was brought to them at sunset, but Daniel still hadn’t returned, making her begin to worry about him. Did those men come back and she was gone? Was he alright? She knew he could handle himself, but she felt like such a jerk leaving him there, argument or not, a vision of his body falling limply to the ground on the ramp in Madrona flooding her head. Just as she was debating whether or not to track him down, he came through the door and motioned for Cameron, ignoring her completely. 

“Asshole,” she said under her breath, hurt more than anything that he hadn’t come looking for her.  Why couldn’t she win with him? She was starting to think it was physically impossible for her to ever get along with him.  

“You let him get to you too much,” Vala whispered, seeing her friend in distress and leaning across the table, “you need to get under his skin first.” Adrienne rolled her eyes, not having anything to say in return. This was getting ridiculous. How old were they? She couldn’t understand for the life of her what she had ever done to offend this man, and why she had to walk on eggshells around him. In fact, she was still waiting for this great revelation that Sam kept insisting that she would have, the revelation that Daniel Jackson was this kind, wonderful, compassionate person that she would just adore working with.  

So far, he was just a pain in her ass. 

Adrienne was about to stand and attempt to politely interject herself into the conversation when Cam came back over to the group with Daniel close behind him.  

“Ok it seems that Grayson and company don’t want the Ori to stay, so tomorrow Daniel is going to try to meet with them again to get them to leave,” Cam announced to the others.  

“Big surprise,” Adrienne spoke without thinking, again, why Addy, why...

She regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth; this was gonna be bad...

“Which part Adrienne? The part where they’re as stubborn and hardheaded as you or the part where I’m going to meet with them tomorrow, alone?” Daniel raged at her, not missing a beat, his patience with her at a close; she needed to keep her opinions to herself. She was just a lab rat, a lab rat that Sam for some insane reason kept insisting needing to trot along behind SG-1 and learn how to do everything. He was about to glance up at her and say just that when he noticed that she had stood from the small table and was approaching him, her deep sepia eyes afire. 

“Da part where ya dink dat ya be a GOD dat we mus all bow down to.  Dat something must be wrong wit dem because they donna see ya point of view. Are ya so used to someone tryin to either kiss ya ass or sleep wit ya dat ya jus expect everyone ta go along wit any insanity ya come up wit.  Well, nah me.  I dink we need to skip dis niceness merde, go get SG-3 ahn blast these feet pue tan into oblivion!!”  she screamed at him, her wrath radiating around the room. The rest of the group froze, lost and confused, not only at her anger but at some of the words that came out of her mouth, and the accent that accompanied it, all except for Daniel, who pushed past Cam and stood in front of Adrienne almost nose to nose. 

“You can’t talk to me like that!” he shouted as if he was daring her to hit him, again, but Adrienne wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of taking his ass to the ground. Screwing her face into a scowl she locked her own eyes on his crystal blue, clearing her words and her mind.

“Or what, you’ll fire me? Sorry shug, but Sam cut those balls off, Sam who took the time to realize that I’m not just here to screw up your life. So, why don’t you sit here, and make Cam feel stupid, Teal’c feel useless and let Vala stroke your ego like you apparently enjoy and go and save the day, because Imma gettin da hell out of here,” she hissed at him and turned, storming toward the door as Daniel stood there, dumbfounded.

Is that what she thinks of me, he thought, watching her race out into the darkness in the direction of the gate. He’d never meant that, he just, he didn’t know what to say to make her understand, to make her see why, to really grasp everything that he had been through. 

If anything, his life was indeed like one of her movies, except for one distinct difference. 

In the movies, the hero, not that he thought of himself as that, but the main character at least, got a happy ending. 

What he had lived through up to and including right now was proof enough that life was not a movie. 

Embarrassed in front of his friends, worried about his assistant dashing out into the darkness, Daniel grabbed some leftover food from the plate, taking it down to his room. 

*****

Adrienne walked out of the building, heading for the gate, determined to dial home not caring how long the walk was or how dark the night was that lay before her. She’d left her things, hoping that one of her real friends would bring them back when they returned.  Her emotions were in a torrent, she wanted to cry so badly, why was he treating her like this, but forced herself to not give him the satisfaction even though he was not even there to witness it.  Things seemed to have been looking up lately, he had been talking to her more this past week, he had even praised her for her quick thinking in the temple, but this mission was just proof of it, that he wasn’t going to let her do her job, or do anything. Was he so uptight he couldn’t even take a joke or be friendly to her for five minutes? She had never done anything to him, she hadn’t been overly aggressive in any way when it came to work and she had only behaved in the most professional manner. 

Tears began to well up again in her eyes as the thoughts ran through her head, flying through her subconscious. Adrienne couldn’t tell if he really thought she was an idiot or if he was threatened by her, but either way, she was fed up with trying to figure him out.  Let the others deal with him, she thought, sucking up the few tears that had managed to escape.  Reaching carefully into her pocket, she pulled out her iPod to discover that it had taken her about an hour and a half in the dark to arrive, but she saw the gate ahead , the ball of the DHD glowing in the moonlight.  It wasn’t until she arrived at the device that she realized that she had no flashlight and was going to have to feel around to find the symbols that she needed to dial home.  Frustrated and now just angry with herself more than she was with Daniel, she fumbled in the dark forever until she heard a click behind her and a light appeared.  

“AdrienneRowan, it is hard to dial home when one cannot see.” 

Breathing a sigh of relief upon hearing Teal’c’s voice, she turned around,taking the flashlight from the great warrior, not thanking him, still too embarrassed to even say a word. Shining it back onto the DHD, she found her order, popping the flashlight into her mouth and lifting her hand to dial when she stopped her hand mid-air, turning back around to face Teal’c. 

“Why does he hate me so much? I thought things were getting better,”  she asked, knowing she could show true emotion around the old warrior.  He had been nothing but kind to her from the very first day, proving himself a soul to be trusted and she was grateful to have found a friend in him. Smiling in his way, he bowed his head lightly and rose it just as slow before he spoke. 

“DanielJackson does not hate you.  He is unsure how to handle you,” he answered but Adrienne scoffed. That wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear, and near tears were quickly replaced with that white hot anger from before. 

“Handle me? Like I am some crazy TV cliche spit-fire he has to tame?  For crying out loud, my music is the wildest thing about me.  I’m just as boring as he is,” Adrienne argued, her temper quelling as she admitted the last part, the part of herself she never liked to admit out loud.  She was just a boring geek, a lab rat, she just didn’t want him to know that and again she had no idea why. Maybe he’d like her better then, maybe he’d realize that in her quarters late at night she read about as many classics and non-fiction books as she did stupid vampire novels.  

Sinking down to the ground beside the large ancient device, Adrienne let out a sigh and sat, toying with the flashlight in her hands. A look of understanding of his face, Teal’c walked over, taking the seat beside her.  

“He has never met a woman like you. You need no one, you seek no one’s approval. You are well educated, not just in letters, but in the world as well,” Teal’c began to explain and paused for a moment, gauging her reaction, but she gave him none.  He then added, a mischievous smile on his face “I think you scare him.” 

Adrienne laughed at that notion.  Good, she thought, he needs to be scared, but she didn’t say that aloud.  Rolling the flashlight in her hands, she turned her gaze to the stars. Here she was, on another planet, looking up into another sky, living a life she could have only dreamed of living and she sat beside Teal’c in silence letting the majesty of it all just overtake her.  

“I must return now, ColonelMitchell wishes to lose money at cards.  Here is your pack.  Please tell SamanthaO’Neill that we are faring well,” the Jaffa said, placing the backpack, tac vest tied to the side into her lap, standing and turning to walk away.  Reality hitting her, Adrienne looked down at her things, letting out a sigh and glanced back up at the tall shadow heading away from her. 

“Wait,” she called out and stood, changing her mind, “I’ll come back.  But I’m bunking with you.  I think I probably pissed off Vala too.” 

 Her eyes gazing down, sheepishly, she jogged up to his side, forcing a smile, making Teal’c laugh at the effort. He pat her strongly on the back and they set out together back into the darkness, Adrienne clicking off the flashlight to walk in the calmness of the dark. 

*****

After another long hike back, they arrived at the house, only a few lights glimmering slowly in the common area. Avoiding eye contact, with any of them, Adrienne simply walked right past Daniel, Cameron and Vala, who were sitting in the main room talking and went into Teal’c’s room, slipping into bed quietly.  Still embarrassed, Adrienne lay in her bed, willing herself sleep.  

*****

When Adrienne awoke the next morning, Vala and Teal’c were eating breakfast in the same central room she had rushed through the night before, Cameron and her good buddy gone.  Grabbing chair and pulling it over, Adrienne sat down sheepishly and glanced over at Vala, taking a breath before she gave her the apology she had rehearsed in bed a good twenty minutes before getting up. 

“He took Cameron,” she said first, as she passed a plate over to Adrienne pointing in the direction of a table holding some bread and fruits.  At least the people here eat correctly, Adrienne noted, taking the dish gratefully and standing to get herself some breakfast.  Plate loaded, Adrienne took a breath again, pleased no one had said anything so far about her outburst and took a seat, peeking over at Vala once more.  

“Look Vala, I - “ she began to speak, but Vala swallowed quickly and held up her hand, cutting her of. 

“No apology necessary.  And as far as he is concerned, I put that cow out to meadow long ago,” Vala answered. 

“ValaMalDoran, I believe you mean to say horse out to pasture,” Teal’c corrected as Adrienne laughed at Teal’c correcting Vala’s slang.   

“Whatever, the point is Addy, I’m not mad at you, I can see why you said that and it’s not true. Anymore at least, even if I seem to be messing with him.  And I agree with you; he’s an asshole,” Vala finished and bit into the apple again.  Not responding, Adrienne quietly ate her breakfast, wondering how true her assertion was, but at least she wasn’t mad at Adrienne, so she decided to let it drop.  They finished their meal in relative silence, still no word from Cameron and Daniel, so Adrienne took a blanket outside and found some grass in the sunshine having brought with her some trashy horror novel to entertain herself.  She was just getting to a good part, where the heroine was trapped in a cave being attacked by fairies when she heard loud shouting from the church on the hill.  

“Long live the Ori!” “Hallowed are the Ori!” 

“Well that doesn’t sound good,” she said to no one in particular and tossed her book aside, running quickly up the same path she had taken yesterday.  As she approached, she noticed a crowd gathered around the base of the church, watching a heated argument going on between Daniel and the Ori leader while Cam was stood behind her boss, P-90 ready to go.  This didn’t look like it was going well, the crowd itself seemed to be feeding on the argument, items being thrown in the direction of the dispute and murmurs of intruders and other things drifting over the multitude. 

The shouts dissipated, slightly and suddenly she heard Daniel speaking, shouting really, looking at the lead soldier but trying to speak loud enough so the crowd could hear him, so they knew he was trying to address everyone. 

“The village leaders ask that you leave, immediately,  They do not wish you to settle here,” Daniel stated sternly. The soldier, the same one from yesterday, trying to make the same public point while continuing to address Daniel responded.

 “We will not leave this place to the heathens, who do not know the ways of the Ori. It is our duty to spread the teachings of the Ori around the universe and to cast out unbelievers.” 

Straightening his spine a bit higher, he turned to face the crowd and continued. 

“I do not lie to you,” the soldier stated, “ as this man does. This man was one of our Priors, he accepted the teachings of the Ori and has since shunned them.  He is one of us, he knows in his heart the truth. He has suggested that we stay and settle here because he knows that your salvation depends on our guidance.”  

The part of the crowd that made up the villagers then turned to Daniel, directing their anger at him, swears, jeers and general looks of mistrust. There was a shriek and something was thrown from the crowd, nearly missing his face as the crowd raged, pulsating with anger, on the verge of riot.  

“Liar! You tricked us! You’re trying to give our homes away!” the shouts grew louder around him and the crowd was closing in on the two men as the people of the village momentarily lost interest in the soldiers and lost their fear as well, that natural instinct of saving their homes and loved ones.  Adrienne had to do something, but there was no way she could get back to Teal’c and Vala on time and it didn’t look like Daniel and Cameron were going to just walk out of this.   

“Hey!!” Adrienne shouted out but no one was paying attention, no one was going to listen and there was a man pushing through to the front, straight to Daniel, pitchfork in hand. Heart pounding in her chest, she cleared her throat and breathed in deeper. 

“STOP!!!”  she screamed so loud she could feel her throat straining, the scratchiness rolling down her windpipe. She was going to pay for that tomorrow, she was sure, but it worked, because suddenly the entire mob was looking at her. 

Shit, they were looking at her, including the man with the pitchfork. Great, Addy, she thought, opening your big damn mouth, again as Daniel scowled in her direction mouthing “What are you doing?”  

“You!” she yelled, not sure what else to do since everyone was staring at her, pointing at the lead soldier, “We never got your name.” 

The soldier turned to glare at her, removing his attention from Daniel, just as she had hoped, and responded, “Names are not important, only our service to those greater than ourselves.” 

No name, alright Addy, she told herself, time to get creative. 

“Ok, great, we’ll call you Tom. Tom, we need a get a few things straight,” Adrienne continued, “see that man up there,” she pointed at Daniel, “the one you just called a liar.  First, he’s not one of you any more than that guy over there,” she pointed at an elderly man, “your little wacko circus kidnapped him and made him into those sick priests you seem to honor so much.”  Daniel was looking at her, mouth open in shock, but was taking the opportunity to start to back away from the crowd with Cameron following his lead.  

“He was a prior of the Ori,”  ‘Tom’ tried to argue. 

“Semantics,” Adrienne retorted,  “my point is, he never asked to follow your crazy religion and you FORCED him.  Doesn’t seem to be such a great belief system if you have to kidnap and brainwash people to get followers.  Less of a system if you have to wave guns at defenseless villagers.” Daniel stepped back through the doorway of the church, signaling to Cam to take the side door while he watched his assistant for her next move because it was clear that she was not finished, he could tell by her stance as she thrust her hands on her broad hips and just kept talking.

“In fact, he’s such a nice guy that he wanted to help you idiots resettle, why I have no idea why, and wanted to help all of you get along and live in peace.  But no, peace never seems to be good enough for people like you, you have to come in and just completely take over,”  The soldier, Tom as Adrienne was now calling him, stood watching her, completely confused as she raged on. 

Lingering in the doorway, Daniel watched as she shouted out into the crowd, in horror, wondering if the throng of people would turn as viciously on her as it had on him. After all, she was his ‘wife.” 

“And you!” she turned to find Grayson in the crowd, “These guys haven’t tried to hurt anybody, in your village or any others my friends have ascertained.  They are literally HOMELESS. And scared. And you just send them away? Did you even try to talk to them? No, you just let them hide out in the woods, flash guns at you occasionally and then came whining to us for help. Do we look like some Peacekeeper force? Are we supposed to come rushing in every time you don’t want to talk to somebody? Why don’t you walk over there and introduce your people and go talk to him!!! YOURSELF!” The village elder was looking from side to side, judging the reaction of his people who were growing angrier, their rage now directed toward this woman, who didn’t seem to care, just kept shouting. 

“And you people, seriously.  Are you such sheep that you just go with whoever is screaming the loudest? Hell, you have no idea who I am and you’re here giving me your undivided attention.  THINK FOR YOURSELVES!! The faster you can do that the faster you will be able to thrive as a society and not be dependent on a religious system to govern every aspect of your lives or some intergalactic heroes to bail you out when you are too scared to do it yourself.  And that goes for the women too.  I’m not his damn wife, because on my world, women can DO THINGS.  Really amazing things. WITHOUT a man!!” Adrienne reached for her throat, raw now from her shouting, but she was finally finished, leaning over on her knees out of breath as well.

Oh that was a bad move Adrienne, Daniel thought as he rushed out of the side of the church, being my wife was the only thing keeping you alive. Pushing Cam aside, Daniel raced down the hill, heading in her direction, the crowd throbbing toward her, angry, things flying through the air, food first, an apple heading straight in her direction, toward her face, slamming into her cheek. It didn’t take her down but she was holding her head, bending over, more pieces of fruit and whatnot heading in her direction and he ran faster, powering toward her, a shovel flying through the air when he heard a blast coming from the direction and smoke billowing from the ground. 

“THIS WILL END NOW!!” a voice boomed, everyone freezing in their steps, including the Ori soldiers, who were drawing their guns, starting to point them at not only the villagers but Adrienne. Daniel stopped himself, Tealc’s voice so strong and demanding, commanding respect of everyone around him. 

“We are not animals. We are men. Stop this at once or we will leave you to solve this problem yourselves,” he declared, reaching down Daniel could see, taking Adrienne into his arms.  She didn’t appear to be badly hurt, but she did seem to have a large bruise forming on her face. 

“You are one of them as well! You are one of the monsters we were warned about!” someone shouted, looked back to the soldiers for confirmation. 

“Yes! He is a soldier of the false gods!” an Ori soldier shouted, not ‘Tom’ but someone else, Daniel trying to figure out who he was as Cam reached him. 

“And now they’re mad at Teal’c,” he muttered quietly, Daniel breathing out in annoyance as he stopped to answer him. 

“Better him than Adrienne,” he replied, finally reaching his assistant who was pulling away from Teal’c, wincing and in pain. He was about to yell at her, even as Teal’c was stepping bravely into the crowd, looking forward as the crowd united in one common cause for the first time, hating him, but he just couldn’t...

“You’ve successfully told off everyone in a hundred miles radius, are you proud of yourself?” he said instead, smiling slightly, reaching for her face to see how bad her injury was. 

“I’m just over stupidity,” she answered him, scanning his body as well for any injuries, “Are you ok?”  

“Fine now, and I managed to not get shot,” he turned to show her his side, “how’s your face?” 

“I’m not bleeding,” she admitted, clearly embarrassed. 

“Everyone listen! Calm down! Do you want our help or not!!” Cam was shouting now, standing beside Teal’c, Vala on the other side, weapon drawn as well. No time to show her the error of her ways now, Daniel thought, stepping up to join them.

“I too have felt the absence of a god, the loss of direction but you do not need to live in fear,” Teal’c continued, lowering his weapon to the ground, looking for his friends to do the same. 

“They’ll kill us!” a voice shouted from the crowd, a murmurs of yes uttered in support. 

“We do not wish to kill you, we only wish to..” a soldier shouted in response, the leader ‘Tom’ glaring at him in response.  

“Zat him Vala,” Cam ordered, cutting his eyes at the lead soldier. Nodding, she stood quickly, firing a quick blast at the leader, who crumbled to the ground unconscious. The crowd screamed, panicked, starting to mob them again when Cam grabbed Teal’c staff weapon from the ground, firing it into the air. 

“Why are you people hell bent on a riot. Look, we just shut the big mouth up, he’ll wake up just fine, but I get the sinking feeling that HE is the reason you guys are still being all preachy,” he declared, tossing the weapon down symbolically, his eyes darting over to the soldier that was speaking before. 

“We’re hungry,” he started, “most of us, we know, we agree the Ori weren’t gods, we know and we know what they were doing. We have no homes, some of our worlds are destroyed, others have shunned us. We have nothing. We thought Derath was going to make peace with these people, but he said they would not believe us, that they would shun us as well.” Adrienne stood, beside Daniel dumbfounded. She had been wrong, she had been so very wrong about these people, ok, well maybe not about Tom/Derath but the rest of them. These people standing in front of them were just as scared as the villagers who were involuntarily hosting them. 

Grayson, however didn’t seem as convinced, stepping forward, in front of his people, as if his body would be able to stop the force of bullets and lasers he seemed to think were directed at his people. 

“Drop you weapons! Now!” the unnamed solider shouted, tossing his own not only to the ground but to the feet of Grayson himself, bowing low on one knee carefully. 

“We don’t mean to harm you and we didn’t wish to scare you. We are farmers, not soldiers and have nothing. A few of us can hunt, but not enough to sustain us all. We just want help,” he plead from the ground, gazing up at the old man. 

“People can change,” Daniel whispered to Adrienne unable to resist the jab to her arrogance and she didn’t answer, just nodded solemnly, looking to the ground. 

“Are you waiting for an invitation!?! They need help! We’ll take their weapons and keep the big mouth knocked out, you two head back up there and hack something out,” Cam declared, pointing to the church building forcefully. The man stood, looking at Grayson, his soldiers tossing the weapons to the ground, kicking them away, adding to the pile helmet and armor, both physically and symbolically stripping away their past. Nodding, Grayson turned and headed up the hill to the church, the man, the new leader halting his people with his hands and turning to follow.

“Uh Daniel, why don’t you get in there and do your little UN magic, get them to sign something and let’s get the hell home.  I’m sure Teal’c doesn’t want to share a bed with me again tonight; I tend to kick,”  Adrienne mumbled, trying to joke, hoping now he would finally get it, turning around without another comment to head back to their guest quarters.

*****

They were back at the SGC just six hours later.  

When they arrived, Adrienne was still too wired to go back to her quarters so she just dropped off her bag, changing into running shorts and a t-shirt.  Upset, embarrassed, her cheekbone throbbing, she slammed her dirty clothes against the wall, not bothering to see if they made it to hamper, putting on her running shoes and grabbing her iPod from her backpack, setting out for the gym, determined to run at least 5 miles.  

Her run was longer than expected and she was angry that 5 miles took more than 45 minutes, it was disgusting, ridiculous, unacceptable, but she sat on the bench in the locker room trying not to beat herself up too badly. She had been wrong, about nearly everything this time, starting with screwing up the names because she and Vala had stayed up too late watching movies, but at the same time this was a new job. She needed experience, she needed to be trained, taught, something. 

Needing to talk, needing to try to clear the air, Adrienne decided to go back to the lab and lay it out for Daniel. She couldn’t continue on like this.  Skipping a shower, she made her way to their workspace, covered in sweat and red in the face, looking as awful as she felt inside.  

As expected, Daniel was sitting at his desk, working away as normal, that typical frown on his face, enthralled in deep concentration. No mission, it was back to Asgard, Asgard, Asgard, the man never seemed to relax. She was tempted to knock at the doorway, but that was too cliche instead taking a breath and walking bravely up to his desk.

“We need to talk,” she stated, crossing her arms across her chest defensively.

“Ok,” he answered, as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired in the past 24 hours. 

“I can’t work like this; I’m being underutilized and under appreciated.  I thought after I figured out that temple you thought that I was capable, but apparently, all that did was change your desire to get rid of me.  I thought you were so impressed by my credentials, but all I do is prepare you for your meetings and bring you coffee.” 

“Adrienne, I - “ he started. 

“Let me finish. Please Daniel.  Unlike other people here, I didn’t fall into this job, I didn’t steal a ship or anything, I wasn’t some hot shot pilot that helped save the planet.  But, apparently, despite all of that, you, or maybe just Sam, sought me out, not the other way around.  That means that someone thought I was worth the trouble and I thought you did too. But I guess I was wrong,” Adrienne uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips, the last words sounding more hurt than angry. When she started, Daniel had been annoyed by her little display, planning to set her straight, but when he heard those words he just couldn’t yell at her.  

“You are worth the trouble.  Granted, I think that telling off an entire village isn’t the best way to go about it, and you’re damn lucky that no one shot your head off, damn lucky,”  he started, Adrienne frowning, making him pause.

“I was just joking back there, joking, I really didn’t know what you were going to do and I thought you were going to help me, but you didn’t,” she wanted to make sure she was clear with him, emphasizing the final two words slowly. I need help, I need you to show me how to do this, she wanted to stay but couldn’t seem weak, refused to appear weak in front of him. 

Nodding, Daniel stood silently and walked over the file cabinet, opening the second drawer and pulling out a file, labeled P90-3005.  Smiling softly, he shut the cabinet and walked back over to her, handing her the file.

“I agree, here’s the next mission. Sam came down when you were running.  Look over it, it’s another negotiation. Consider it your training mission, we are going to do it together,’ he said as he pushed up his glasses. 

She opened the file, her eyes activating, scanning it over rapidly, as Daniel stood back, watching with a smile. It was a simple mission, negotiating some trade supplies between two smaller worlds in the hopes Earth could start trading with them as well, but it was a mission, for her to work on and learn. 

“We leave in six days, so you ought to start looking that over and gathering information.  You have a lot to brush up on. You can’t go into this one transposing names, telling off anyone that rubs you the wrong way or making other such scenes,” Daniel tried to explain, “I already have one person around here that likes to make a scene, I don’t need another.” 

Adrienne refused to thank him; she didn’t want to make herself look weak, she wanted him to understand that this was how it should be, that she should be given the work that that she was hired to do, and without comment, she walked over to her desk and opened her laptop.  It was 8 p.m. already, but she didn’t want to go to bed just yet, especially with this opportunity in front of her, a chance to show him what she could really do. Setting the folder onto the keyboard, she turned to go to the commissary to get some coffee, starting for the door and pausing, looking back at Daniel.  

“I’m going for some coffee, ya want some?”  she decided a peace offering would be good.  

“Yeah, actually,” but he stood as he was saying it, “but I think I am capable of getting my own.  I’ll walk with you though.”  

“Ok,” she replied and waited for him to catch up.