Daniel and Adrienne #9: Changes

“Is that chocolate?” Daniel asked, peering over Adrienne’s shoulder as he arrived back from yet another morning of pointless meetings and other malarky. She was sitting at her desk, facing her computer and working away, although with a candy bar in one hand and a piece of chocolate positioned at her mouth in another. 

“Go to hell,” she answered back harshly, her eyes staying locked at the screen, not acknowledging Daniel with anything other than her words. 

“Ouch,” he replied, walking back over to his desk, wondering what was going on. 

“What’s with you this morning?” he asked as he sat down, not taking his eyes off of her for a moment.  

“I didn’t sleep well last night and chocolate makes it better,” she replied curtly, again, not looking up from her computer.  

“I’m just pointing this out, as a friend, that somehow I’ll get blamed for letting you eat that, so, in order to insure that I play my part in your diet madness:  Adrienne don’t eat that,” he joked, hoping she caught his smile and opened the lid to his laptop, cueing up his stopping point from late last night. Damn, he needed a cup of coffee, and soon, but he needed to figure out what was wrong with his fearless assistant first.   

“It’s dark and organic.  That’ll make me a little less angry at myself later,”  she answered, popping the waiting piece into her mouth and pushing back from the computer, reaching into her backpack. Seeing that this conversation was getting him nowhere, Daniel decided to change the subject.  

“Aren’t you going to ask me how my meeting went?” he tried, since usually that as the first thing she asked after wasted mornings such as these. There was a glance, and finally eye contact was made, Adrienne setting the dark red wrapped sweet aside and looking over at him. 

“How was your meeting?” she responded, her voice lacking feeling, her eyes cold. Frowning, Daniel glared right back, trying to read her face, for something, anything, but all he got in return was her chilly glance, a furrowed brow and pursed lips.   Since they had gotten back from San Francisco a few weeks ago things seemed to be going pretty well, their disagreements seemed to be more in jest and they had even had some casual conversations in the lab.  In fact, this morning was upsetting him just a bit; he thought things were different, he had started to think of Adrienne as more than he assistant, he had actually started to think of her as his friend. Beginning to become truly concerned, even her body language giving away that something was desperately wrong, he resolved to try to see what was really wrong with her, especially since he had seen her sleepy before and this was not sleepy. 

“Boring, as usual,” he began, thinking he would begin by distracting her with work, “ Woolsey talking about there being no money, Sam defending everything we do, some four star general asking about weapons...” he trailed, waiting for her token smart remark, but Adrienne didn’t answer.  Frustrated and getting no where, Daniel stood from his desk and walked over to hers, pulling up a chair in front of her and sitting down, leaning forward to look her in the eye. 

“Adrienne?” he asked, trying to get her to look at him, “What’s going on with you?” 

“It’s nothing Daniel, I told you, I didn’t sleep well,” she answered but still refused to make eye contact and had called him Daniel, not Indy, which as of late seemed to be his new moniker, at least with her, but this Adrienne sitting her, not joking, no spirit, she just wasn’t herself.  Something was really wrong. 

“Did I do something?” he offered, racking his brain trying to figure out if when they were working late last night had he said anything in his sheer exhaustion to offend her.  That got her to smile, the corners of her lip gloss covered mouth trickling up the side of her face as she peeked up at him. 

“I must have been a real bitch to you, you look so pitiful now Indy, but really I’m ok,” she answered, much to his relief, switching back over to Indy.  

“Ok,” he backed off a bit and started to stand, determining that it might be best to leave her alone for now and let her open up when she was ready.  Turing to head back to his desk, he felt a grip at his wrist, turning to see that Adrienne had grabbed his arm, pulling him gently to her.  He sat back down, careful not to pull away. 

“It’s my cousin, Rae, she’s getting married,” Adrienne told him quietly, releasing his arm and taking in a deep breath.  

“Well, that’s great news. Congratulations!” Daniel replied happily.  

“Yeah, no, it’s great news.  My aunt called last night and told me before bed,”  Adrienne continued, yet maintained her dismal composure.  

“Ok, so you were thinking about the wedding? Are you worried about getting time off? It’s your cousin’s wedding; I’ll make sure you have the time off you need,” he assured her. Just because few other members of the staff had much of a life outside of the Pentagon, didn’t mean that Adrienne should be forced to mis out on special events. 

“No, no, I’m sure Sam would be ok and you have no choice but to be ok with it,” she finally smiled, gazing back up at him as she did.  

“Uh...” Daniel tried to think like a woman, something that was not his forte, if she was going to be allowed to go, what was wrong? Finally he came up with something. 

“Did you need a date?” he asked. 

“Oh lord, I don’t even know when this is happening,” she replied, giggling lighty and shaking her head. 

“Oh, ok,” he answered. Back to square one, he thought. 

She smiled at him, “You offering Indy?” she asked.  

“I mean, if you need of course, just let me know when,” he replied, hesitantly. That would be something new, going from hating one another to being her date for a wedding.   Smiling, she reached over and squeezed his leg. 

“Thanks, really,” she said, yet, other than the slight smile, her face didn’t change, she still seemed distant and upset, there appeared to be much more to this than she was letting on. 

“Look, Addy, I’m really bad at things like this, can you help me out here?” he pleaded gently, Adrienne finally looking up at him once more, her brown eyes filled with a sadness that crushed him in a way he hadn’t felt before. His instincts were correct, something was very wrong with her today. 

“It’s stupid, trust me, really really stupid. I just need to deal with it that’s all,”  she answered, shrugging her shoulders. 

“Alright,” he finally relented, if she wasn’t going to open up he couldn’t force her, “but I if you need to talk, I’m right here. Literally.” 

“Thanks,” Adrienne replied softly, returning her glance to her computer.  Resigning himself to the fact it was going to be a quiet day in the lab, Daniel stood, pushing the extra chair back under the center table, returning to his desk and the task he had set out before himself. 

Adrienne didn’t say much the rest of the day.  She worked on her database information and only spoke to ask him to clarify a few things here or there, things he knew full well that she could read herself, but he answered her anyway..  At lunch, she opted to stay in the lab, standing without a word and making her way over to lockers, digging a Powerbar out of his.  That was odd too, not only was she actually eating a Powerbar voluntarily, but she didn’t even ask, just stood and starting rooting through his things. Not that he minded, in fact he didn’t mind her rooting around the lab at all anymore, but she had this omnipresent Southern politeness that caused her to ask permission before doing anything let along go exploring through his personal effects. Nibbling the Powerbar and drinking cold coffee, Adrienne’s dark eyes kept focused on the screen, clicking and typing away until eventually, she stood and went to her own locker, pulling out her gym bag and running shoes.  

“I’m done so I’m going to hit the gym, is that cool?” she asked plainly, flatly, like she had spoken to him months ago, as her boss and not her friend.

“Sure, enjoy,” he responded, hoping his tone let her know that he was concerned and cared for her well being. He had given up on trying to get her to talk.  Looking up at the clock, he suddenly realized it was four already and dinner would be sneaking up very soon and he needed to get out of this room and this chair.  

“Hey!” he shouted out and stood, walking over to her and catching her at the door. Puzzled, Adrienne stopped and looked back, a glare on her face. 

“What?”  she snapped, cutting her eyes at him. 

“Let’s go do something, cheer you up a bit,” he suggested, “after all, you said we should hang out voluntarily sometime.” 

“I don’t need cheering up,” Adrienne spat, so fiercely that Daniel almost took a step back when her face softened and a faint hint of a smile began to spread across it, “but we can do something.  What did you have in mind?” 

“I hadn’t gotten that far yet; my stomach was just informing me that I needed to begin considering my options,” he admitted. 

“Well, I was going to run 5 miles and I would need to shower and put on normal people clothes, so can you wait till 6?” she answered as she glanced over at the clock.   

“Yeah, meet you in the parking lot at six?” Daniel looked at his watch, checking to see how long he had to figure out what he could do to cheer up his dreary assistant.   

“Sure, you driving?” she asked.  

“I was thinking I could follow you to your house first, but yeah.  I’m not a fan of stuffing myself into a VW,”  he replied, once again, saying something stupid to Adrienne.  Don’t be offended, he thought, just take it as a joke....

“And yet you stuff yourself into a tiny cave to read a wall,” she remarked, grinning.  Daniel almost breathed a sigh of relief right then and there.  

“Totally different,” he defended, smiling back at her. 

“Whatever,” she laughed. Finally, he thought, laughter, maybe she’s just had a bad day. Watching her as she spun herself on her heels to leave, he started to run ideas through his head, dashing over to his desk as soon as she was out of sight. 

“Great,” he said out loud to himself, “Now I need to find something to do.....” 

Standing at his computer, he racked his brain.  This was just hanging out; why was this so complicated? When he would hang out with any of the rest of the group, they just went over to each other’s homes, well, except for Vala.  He tried to keep her in a public location at all times, for his own sanity.  Adrienne was so hard to figure out though because if he picked the wrong thing she would jump to some crazy conclusion about him and he really didn’t want to go back to the insanity of her first few months here. Staring blankly at the screen, trying to think of a restaurant that she, or Vala for that matter since she was Adrienne’s only female companion it seemed, would think anything, he paused, a light bulb going off in his head. What a stupid thing to worry about; this was Adrienne. He knew exactly where to they should go.  

“I’m STARVING,”  she whined loudly from across the parking lot as he walked over to his car tossing his bag into the Jeep.  

“So what else is new?” he asked, receiving laughter in return.  She seemed much better, probably a consequence of the run, so he decided to go with, waiting for her to get into her car before he followed her back to her apartment, watching as she reached for her keys and opened the hood of the beetle, tossing in her things. 

“You get me, no hairstyle and light make-up, sorry,” she said as she walked over. 

“You style your hair?” he joked. 

“Fuck you Daniel,” she spat.  

“I was kidding,” he started to defend, scolding himself for crossing the line with her, again, but she was laughing already.  

“You are so gun shy it’s fun to mess with you,” she smiled and walked over to get into his jeep.  

“I thought I was going to follow you to your house,” he stated, confused as she reached for the door.   

“Nah, I’m too hungry,” she said, opening the door and hopping in. Going with the flow, Daniel opened his own door, getting in on his side and started the engine. 

“Besides,” she continued, clasping the seatbelt at her waist, “if we want to have sex or something, I’d rather go to your place, my sheets are a little slippery being satin and all...” 

He looked over at her shocked for just a moment, his heart racing, until he finally caught on, letting out a loud and literal sigh of relief.

“See, joking, I’m being funny, I’m mocking Vala; do we UN-DER-STAND??!” she said, intentionally stuttering the last word.  

“Ok, yeah, I’ll lighten up, Sorry. I guess I’m a bit on the defensive,” he replied.  

“Good, because I feel gross talking like that.  She’s my friend, and I love her, but that woman has got to have space herpes or something,” Adrienne answered, Daniel erupting into laughter as he turned onto the street, trying to dispel more than a few mental images from his mind.  The drive itself wasn’t very long and a few blocks later they pulled into a small mexican restaurant, much to Adrienne’s sheer delight. 

“Nice choice my friend!” she declared, her eyes bright and excited.  Mexican, he thought, works every time.  

“I thought you would approve,” Daniel said, silently pleased with himself and dismissing his earlier concern. It wasn’t that crowed, thankfully and they got a booth, at Adrienne’s request, and she had ordered a Margarita before they even sat down.  He started to pick, but she beat him to it, smirking as she pointing to the bench across from her, indicating he sit and shut up. 

“I have a special relationship with Tequila that supersedes the runner’s diet,” she explained, reaching up the collect the Margarita that had been brought to her faster than it should have feasibly taken to receive an alcoholic beverage.

 “A relationship with tequila?” he asked, turning to the waiter to request a soda. 

“Yes, tequila cures all ills. In college we did these crazy things called Upside Down Margaritas, right after finals. Made up for categorizing slide after slide of artifacts for hours,” she explained as she sipped. 

“What is the world is an upside down margarita?” he inquired, giving her that look he gave when he learned about something else crazy in her life, which now that they were on friendlily terms was getting to be quite often. 

“You take two shot glasses, fill one with margarita mix, or lime juice or something and fill the other with tequila. You lick salt off of your hand, toss your head back and someone pours the shots into your mouth.  Bring head up, shake and swallow,” she explained, hand visuals and all, and then blushed, as if she realized how awful that sounded as it came out, “And there goes your opinion of me, down the toilet,” she added, focusing once more on her drink.  

“No, I’m actually just trying to get a mental image of Miss Perfect as a party girl,” he smiled, accepting his soda from the waiter as he approached with Daniel’s drink as well as chips and salsa, politely thanking the man in Spanish and encouraging his assistant to continue.  

“I wasn’t a party girl, AT ALL,” she clarified, “ I just knew how to have a good time when I needed to.  You never partied?” 

“No, I started college at 16. Too young,” he answered. 

“So did I,” she argued, “but I still managed to have fun too.” 

“You’re a pretty girl. I was a little geek with glasses,” he answered, once again putting his foot into his mouth.  Pretty? Nice move Daniel, nice move. 

“Awww.... Indy thinks I’m pretty....” she teased.  

“Don’t let it go to your head,”  he replied quickly as the waiter approached once more,  and they ordered, in Spanish of course, Adrienne waiting until the server left to continue.  

“So, no parties for Dr. Jackson?” she asked, coyly, sipping more of her drink. 

“Nope,” he answered quickly, shaking his head slowly.    

“We need to fix this,” she stated, smiling brightly and pointing her straw at him.  He laughed, and popped a few chips into his mouth, letting her have her moment.   

“I have as an adult; I just missed out on the whole fraternity experience,” he amended.  

“Oh, I bet those SGC parties are real killer,” she lifted her eyebrows, making him laugh again, almost choking on his chips, causing Adrienne to do the same with her margarita.  

“Ok, fine, you throw a party. I’ll come and you can make me human or whatever you are thinking right now that I am not,”  he relented.  Shaking her head, she just laughed again and kept drinking her drink.  

Their food came, Adrienne of course having ordered something strange, but Daniel refrained from commenting.  She started to assemble her assortment of grilled meats, fruits and vegetables into a strange brown tortilla when her face dropped again, that familiar expression from this morning washing over her and looked up at him, sorrow once more invading her penetrating eyes. 

“My aunt Barbara thinks I’m a failure,” she said.  Daniel was completely lost for just a moment until he remembered what she had said this morning, about her cousin and the wedding. She must be ready to talk, so he sat back in the booth, pushing the chips and his plate away, preparing to listen. 

“Why?” he responded. 

“Because, in Louisiana, a woman that is not married and the mother of at least 5 kids by the age of 22 has wasted her life,” and with that Adrienne finished her margarita and raising her hand for the waiter, who rushed right over to their table.  

“Otra,” she ordered.  Daniel made a face.  

“I’m sure you’re exaggerating,” he said.  

“Of course I am, but the point remains that my entire family thinks a 31 year old woman with no house, no man and no kids didn’t live up to the family name,”  she explained and again, as before, the waiter brought another faster than light margarita, Daniel snatching it away from Adrienne as she reached for it.  

“Do you believe that?” he asked. Scowling, but not shouting, thankfully,  Adrienne reached for the glass, trying to gently remove his fingers from the stem, one digit at a time, but Daniel gripped it tighter, pulling the drink closer to him, blobs of green frozen liquid splashing over the sides.

“Do you believe that?” he asked again, stressing the world you, his knuckles white as she grasped the glass.  Adrienne slumped back onto the bench of the booth, giving up the fight. Darting left and right, her eyes tried the best they could to focus on every other possibly object in the room other than Daniel, other than the one person who was asking this of her.    

“Maybe a little,” she finally answered.  Somewhat satisfied, he pushed the drink toward her, leaning forward onto the table to push her a tiny bit more. 

“Why?” Daniel continued. 

“Because, I mean, I have a PhD, fantastic, but what did I do? Did I make some crazy discovery? Did I change my field? No, I worked at a community college. I have nothing to show for my years in school. Nothing,” she took a sip, stirring the drink for a moment, and then taking a second long slow drag at the straw. 

“And I do?” he retorted.  

“You wrote a book,” she answered. 

“That you made fun of, if you recall,” he said.  

“I was wrong, you were right,” she replied. 

“And who knows that of all my critics.....hmm.... the one across from me offering herself to Dionysus,” he raised his eyebrows.  She drank more margarita, trying not to laugh.  

“Ok, ok, point taken. See, I told you this morning it was stupid. I’m almost over it already,” she replied.  

“Exactly how many more margaritas until almost becomes am,” he inquired, pointing at the nearly empty second glass.  Scanning the fluid, or lack thereof in her container, she glanced up and winked, taking on more sip before answering. 

“Three,” she replied, making Daniel laugh at her again.  

“Kidding, right?” he clarified, still working on this Adrienne humor he had yet to fully understand, “because otherwise I think it’d be a lot more economical if we go to the ABC store and just buy you a handle of tequila.” 

“Yes, I’m kidding, you’re learning.  But, if you’re offering, I’m all for a trip to the ABC store and that is not a joke,”  she answered.  Daniel gave her a look pondering her suggestion as he ate a few bites of his rapidly cooling meal. That would be new.  Other than a few beers at Sam and Jack’s, he had never really done anything quite like what Adrienne was suggesting, in fact, rather than worry, he sat there thinking that it might be fun, that college experience Adrienne was teasing him earlier about missing.

“If you are debating, Indy, for the record, I will not be jumping you,” Adrienne stated. simply. Daniel spit out some rice onto his plate, cracking Adrienne up from her seat across from him.  

“I was not thinking that!” he defended, frantically grabbing his soda to wash down the granules now trapped in his throat. Smiling, Adrienne stuck out her tongue, arranging another fruit/meat/veggie tortilla mix.   

“I know, I’m just playing.  Let’s go to the ABC store, get some supplies and go to my apartment.  I have a GREAT idea,” she suggested.  

“I’m not much of a drinker....” he admitted, his mind changing as he started to wonder what in the world this ‘great idea’ was exactly. 

“Oh come on.... I promise not to make you puke....” she teased.  Come on Daniel, live a little, his brain was telling him, this is nothing, Adrienne is harmless...  

“Alright,” he replied and waved for the check.  The same eager waiting came running over and within minutes their ticket arrived, Daniel insisting on paying for Adrienne's meal despite her protest, and they headed on their way. 

When they arrived at the ABC store, she made him sit in the car while she ran inside, that mischievous grin plastered from ear to ear.  

“I don’t get to pick?” he asked, offended and slightly worried. 

“No, I’m gonna surprise you.  Trust me,” she said.  

“Why do I get the feeling this is going to blow up in my face,” he answered but Adrienne just laughed dashing inside.  When she returned, medium sized brown bag in hand, she shoved it into the floor at her feet, revealing nothing, and pointing in the direction of the parking lot exit. 

“What did you get?” Daniel asked. 

“Just wait.....” she answered.  

“I’m slowly working my way back to not trusting you,” he said.  

“Whatever,” she replied.  They drove to her apartment on her insistence, something about her being certain that Daniel lacked the supplied needed for the evening, which casused more worry to seep into his gut.  Directing him to park in the guest parking to the side, Adrienne unbuckled quickly, rushing to her front door and inside.  Daniel, on the other hand, walked slowly to the door and into her open apartment, for only the third time since he had known her.  The first time was pretty awkward, the whole True Blood debacle and the second time after her car wreck wasn’t as awkward, but there was still some tension between them.  This time, he actually felt welcome and not as guarded, yet still a little worried as to what she had up her sleeve. Closing the door behind him, he walked over to the kitchen to see what she was up to as she produced two ornate brown bottles from the bag.  He squinted to read the label.

“Godiva?” he asked.  

“Yes, chocolate liquor.  Not as strong; you said you weren’t a drinker,” she answered.  

“Is it good?” he asked. 

“No Indy, I buy shitty liquor.  For as much as it costs it better be good,” she replied as she went down the hall to her bedroom, yelling back to him.  

“We need about six shot glasses; they’re in the wine cabinet!!” 

Of course she has a wine cabinet, would he expect less. Looking for a small rack at first, Daniel searched around her kitchen, trying to find the cabinet, until he saw it.  It was in the small space between the kitchen and the dining area, and it was easily the largest piece of furniture in the house.  Why was he surprised? He opened the doors, half expected them to be sorted by vintage or something else insane when he paused, peering over his shoulder and back down the hall.   

‘Wait, six?”  he clarified.  

“Yeah, or eight. And we need that ice bucket on top, filled,” she yelled.  

He chuckled and did as she requested, wondering what madness she was up to, what madness she was about to get him into when a few moments later, she came dashing in but headed to the living room ignoring him and proceeding to the DVD player.  

“We’re going to watch a movie? How original...” he teased.  

“No, smart ass, we ‘e going to play a drinking game,” she hissed, waving the iPad in her hand.  She tapped a few things and set it on the coffee table, directing him to bring the shot glasses and ice bucket over, while she ran back into the kitchen and grabbed the bottles of liquor, shoving them into the ice.  

“Ok, have you ever played a drinking game?” she asked.  He made a face at her.  

“Thought so,” she said and pointing beside where she was sitting on the floor, requested he join her, “It’s pretty simple, read over this,” she handed him the iPad, redirecting her attention to the assortment of shot glasses in front of them, arranging them in a spread in front of them. 

“Is this that movie you got Teal’c hooked on?” he groaned as he took a seat beside her, the title of the web article reading “Drinking Games for Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” 

“Yep,” she smiled. 

“I saw this once, it’s awful...” he whined a bit.  

“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say that lest our friendship cease immediately and clarify that you understand the rules,” she continued. 

“Basically, when this happens,” he pointed at the screen, “I drink that,” he pointed to another column. 

“Exactly!” she pushed three shot glasses towards him as she watched his bright blue eyes scan the rest of the screen.   

“Three shots for intermission!?!?” he exclaimed as he got to the bottom if the list.  

“Yeah, you game?” she challenged.  

“Please don’t let me die,” he said jokingly and with that Adrienne laughed and hit play, reaching for the cooling liquor to pour the shots.   

“Coconuts, DRINK!” she shouted about an hour later.  

“I don’t see the coco - whatever,” he argued. 

“But you can hear them,” she insisted. 

“Now you’re just fucking with me,” Daniel replied. Adrienne was about to roll in the floor at him swearing.  He had been doing that more than usual since this little game of theirs started and it was killing her, in fact, if she wasn’t so buzzy herself she would be filming him trying not to swear at her and the film as he struggled to keep up.  

“I am not, I swear to god, don’t you hear them!?!” Adrienne shouted. 

“NO!” Daniel replied, but he drank anyway. The moment he swallowed, Adrienne fell over onto the floor, laughing hysterically. 

“What now?” he asked, holding onto the table to keep himself upright.  

“There weren’t any coconuts...” she said, wiping tears fro her eyes.  

“You LIED to me!?!” he tried to act angry, but he was too tipsy to be serious.  

“Sure did, you drunk doctor?” she asked. Adrienne was pretty toasted herself but was thoroughly enjoying this silly side of her boss, sitting drunk in the floor of her apartment.

“Very,” he told the truth.  He hadn’t drank this much in a long time, not since they had all gone to Jack’s house so long ago he couldn’t remember how long ago.  The room was spinning just a tad.

“I am too...” Adrienne admitted and tried to stand.  Daniel looked up, trying to figure out what she was doing. 

“Where are you going?” he asked, giving up on sitting upright and falling into the floor.  

“To get you a pillow, because I can tell you are about one shot away from passing out,”  she answered as staggered to her bedroom.  

“I am not, see,” he tried to stand to prove his point, collapsing back onto the floor.  There was no way he was getting up.   

“Please don’t kill yourself out there. I don’t want to have to explain this to Dr. Grumpypants,”  she yelled behind her, hearing him laughing uncontrollably into her carpet.  Trying to remain upright herself, she went to her closet to dig out her extra pillows and a blanket, realizing that she had no clothes for him. She hoped he wasn’t a sick drunk.  Satisfied she had done the best she could she went back out into the living room to take care of her highly inebriated new friend. 

“If you took a shot without me Daniel I’m gonna kick your ass,” she said, the stack of pillows and blankets blocking her view, but saw as she tossed them onto the sofa that he had passed out already right in he floor where she left him, his glasses falling off his face, spread onto his floor like he had just collapsed, not even catching himself on the fall. 

“Dammit,” she swore, “Wake up!!” she pushed him, “ I’m too drunk to drag your ass onto the sofa.” He didn’t move, mumbling something incomprehensible.  

“Fine,” she leaned over and took of his glasses, folding them and setting them gently on the coffee table and lifted his head carefully, sliding the pillow under it and covered him with the blanket.  

“Goodnight. If you can hear anything that I’m saying, just come get me if you need me ok? Or yell?” she whispered into his ear.  More incoherent mumbling. Shaking her head, Adrienne just stood and locked up for the night.  

Daniel woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and aching all over.  He reached out, fully expecting to find himself asleep on his keyboard but instead felt carpet under his hands and pushed himself up to discover that he was laying on a softly carpeted floor.  

“Nice and slow Indy..... don’t take it too fast,”  he heard and slowly looked behind him to see Adrienne looking down at him from her sofa, Voltron coffee mug in hand.  

“Here, drink this,” she placed the mug on the coffee table in front of him, sitting back on the sofa crossing her legs yoga style. 

“What is it?” he asked and sat up the rest of the way reaching for the mug.  

“Blackberry tea,” she answered, “nothing weird, I promise.” He sipped cautiously and then drank more once he realized she was right.  The warm liquid was just what his dry mouth and sick stomach needed and sipping it a tad faster he glanced up at her and swallowed.  

“What time is it?” he asked. 

“10,” she replied cooly.  

“Shit,” he exclaimed and went to stand, grabbing his head, and almost falling over, blackberry tea and all. She stood and walked over to him, gently holding him up, taking the mug from his hand and placing it onto the table, helping him stand. 

“Don’t worry, I already called Sam. I told a white lie.  Remember, those things you hate,”  she said.  

“And?” he asked as he pulled away and he walked over to the sofa, with difficultly, a small part of him wondering if he was indeed still drunk.  

“She said we were good to go. Show up if we feel like more of less,” Adrienne responded, returned to the sofa to sit beside him.  

“What did you tell her happened?” he looked over at her worried.

“That we did things to rival Vala’s imagination...” she smiled, sticking her tongue out a bit. Daniel made a face at her, as he set the mug down and reached for his glasses, knowing she was kidding, finally catching onto her sense of humor. 

“For real?” he asked.  Adrienne reached over and squeezed his arm.  

“I told her that the stuff I finished yesterday, remember I was done early, was so hard that I decided to look at it again after my run, took it home, found an error on my part and called you wanting to clarify,”  she amended. Relived by the explanation, he reached once more for his tea, his throat craving the tepid fluid.  

“Once you keep that cup down, I’ll give you some Advil,” Adrienne continued. 

“You seem to know a lot about hangovers,” he teased, starting to feel better; this tea really worked. 

“Shut up or I’ll stop treating you,” she smiled.  He laughed and finished the mug, passing it back to her.  

“Thank you, that does help,” he admitted and paused,deciding that he might as well ask his next question, seeing as how he was quite disgusting and had slept on her floor. 

“Can I take a shower?” he ventured hoping she wouldn’t take his question the wrong way, but she didn’t, simply nodded as if she was expecting it.   

“Sure, I’ll get you some stuff,” she replied, starting to stand but stopped, glancing back over her shoulder at him.  

“What?” he said. He could tell she wanted to say something but instead of speaking, she leaned over quickly, wrapping her arms around him neck hugging him tightly, and taking him completely off guard. 

“Thanks Daniel,”  she whispered in his ear and stood, heading for the bathroom.  He watched her go down the hall. Maybe we can be friends after all, he thought to himself, and sat on her sofa, waiting for her to return.