Daniel and Adrienne #16: Vacation

“Jackson, hey you there?” Cam shouted across the lab but Adrienne knew good and well he wasn’t listening.  

“Daniel,” Vala joined in, “We need an answer, Addy’s going to book the hotel right now.” 

Not moving, not answering, Daniel sat, hunched over his desk, hooked into the recorder, headphones on and writing away in the journal, his mind elsewhere, anywhere but right here in the lab. Cameron looked at him in disgust and back down at Adrienne, who was sitting at her desk, laptop ready to make the reservations. 

“I know he can hear us,” he said, rolling his eyes.   

“Hearing us and registering us are two completely different things,” Adrienne responded, “Allow me.” Smiling, she reached over opening the the drawer on the right side of her desk, producing a small Nerf dart gun. Cocking her head, Adrienne carefully pointed the gun at Daniel, closed her right eye and fired. It was a direct hit to the side of his cheek, making his fearless assistant the recipient of an evil glare as he ripped the headphones to his neck. 

“Cute, Ad, really cute. I’m in the middle of something, what do you guys want?” Daniel asked annoyed.  They had been working on the database for three days now, non-stop, so Daniel was in a constant state of “in the middle of something,”  so Adrienne was just ignoring his continuously frowning face and smart remarks. She started to speak to defend herself, well, say something smart in return, when Cam stepped in for her.  

“Are you going on the Niagara trip or not?” Cam asked, at his patience, his type-A personality showing through. Cameron hated last minute planning and to him, not having a head count the day the trip was suggested was last minute. In fact, Adrienne was just waiting for him to start scheduling activities next.  

“I’m not sure, I’ve got a lot to do here...” Daniel trailed off his answer, his brain and his face switching back into work mode as his head turned toward the screen. Making a noise, Adrienne shot him again in the head, cutting her dark eyes in his direction. 

“Nuh uh Indy, I am not playing this game with you,” Adrienne stated seriously.  The last time the team booked a leisure trip Daniel wasn’t going, wasn’t going and then showed up at the hotel at midnight.  Of course, there were no more rooms, so he ended up sleeping with Adrienne, in a bed not designed for two people, after narrowly escaping Vala’s lace pajama clad invitation.  After a few hours in the bed with him, Adrienne ended up shoved to the floor and she didn’t do well on the floor; she liked her sleep.   

“Look, just get a room with two beds,” he answered matter of factly, “and then, if I finish, I’ll just show up and crash.” Adrienne shot him a third time. Here he was suggesting that the two of them share a room, again, like this was something normal that boss and assistant did. No wonder everyone thought they were together.  Adrienne didn’t stand a chance in hell of ever going out with anyone else in her life as long as Daniel kept this up, not that she was looking, in fact the entire idea of her seeing anyone was the last thing on her mind, but nevertheless, this was getting a bit ridiculous.  She decided to put her foot down.  

“I’m not your baby-sitter Indy, in or out,”  she demanded. He looked over at her and smiled, that smile that he only seemed to give her, the one that meant trouble. 

“You only have three darts left Ad,” he reminded her. She thought she was so clever buying that dart gun, always teasing him about being in his zone and tuning out the world. He needed to let her know she wasn’t.  She was just started to scold him for being difficult when he finally answered. 

“Fine, count me in,” he agreed, looking back to the screen, hoping he could get enough done before this next adventure, another of Sam’s ideas, he was sure, but regardless, slipped the headphones back over his ears, hitting play on the recording. 

Pleased to have gotten a straight answer out of him, for once,  Adrienne arranged for the rooms online, Cam looming over her shoulder to oversee her booking.  One for her, one for Daniel, one for Vala, one for Cam, one for Teal’c, and one for Sam and Jack. Clicking around on the screen, Adrienne tried to get a group discount since she was booking so many rooms, but to no avail, apparently someone needed to be getting married for that to happen. Cameron leered over closer to the screen, making sure everything was to his satisfaction, reading and rereading each screen before indicating that Adrienne could hit submit. Rooming arrangements complete, Cam thanked Adrienne for handling the booking and left her and Vala to sort out payment and book the rental van, which shocked Adrienne; who couldn’t believe he was relinquishing control of any aspect of this trip, not that booking a van to fit everyone was hard, but Adrienne had been certain Cam would harass the poor soul with whom they booked it.  

Adrienne entered in everyone’s information separately, using the various forms of payment that they had sent her,  but when she got to the last two rooms, hers and Daniel’s, she didn’t even bother trying to shout for him again, she simply reached for where her gun was resting beside her computer and fired off dart number four. 

“I cannot believe this is how you two communicate now, ” Vala said, shaking her head as she watched the small florescent orange arrow zip by her face, Adrienne shrugging. 

“You got a better solution? He’s a pain in the ass,” Adrienne told her as she noted that Daniel was intentionally ignoring her, much to Vala’s confusion, having watched the dart hit his computer screen and come to a rest right beside his hand.  Knowing his game, Adrienne laughed and explained. 

 “See, he thinks I’ll run out of arrows.” Adrienne smiled and opened the desk drawer to reveal her secret, where, sitting right beside the stapler, was a clip full of nerf darts.  Vala began to laugh. 

“Shhhhh...” Adrienne shushed her, “Last week once when I got to dart number six, I went to get up to retrieve them and he wouldn’t give them back, so I had to wait until he went to bed and picked the lock on his desk. Now, I’ve learned my lesson.”  Adrienne shot him again, hitting his right elbow but this time, rather than ignore her, he picked the arrow up and shook it at her not bothering to look up to even adjust his headphones.  Shooting him one last time, and disregarding where her tiny orange bolt had landed, it didn’t matter, because this time he looked up and over at her and Vala. 

“You’re now out of ammo,” he announced loudly, his headphones still on his ears confusing his senses, and smiled at her teasingly. The moment she’d been waiting for, Adrienne pulled her reinforcements out of the desk, reloaded and fired off two quick shots.  He looked up at her surprised and removed his headphones. 

“I can do this all day Indy,” she said, “Toss me your wallet.” 

“Why?” he asked and made a face at her. 

“To pay for the rooms,” she responded. 

“Rooms?” he clarified, stressing the plural of the word. 

“Yea, after last time, you owe me a room,” she answered and gave him the don’t argue with me or else face.  He didn’t, just reached into his back pocket, pulling out a small square of leather, and tossed her his wallet.  A smug expression on her face, she caught it and opened it, digging around for his credit card, making sure to hide his middle name printed on his license with her thumb as she dug, lest wandering eyes find it.

“You two have a very odd relationship,” Vala noted, “you went from hating each other to inseparable.”  It was true, to an extent. They had never hated each other, per se, Daniel had just been insulted at Sam’s hiring of Adrienne and had taken it out on her a bit, but since the road trip they had moved beyond the boss/assistant relationship of constant feuding they had maintained for so long.  Finally, they were friends.  Adrienne had learned how to deal with his quirks and Daniel didn’t give her a lot of lip, that is, lip without a tease behind it, and things down in the lab were moving efficiently and smoothly. 

A brief search through his mostly empty billfold, Adrienne found the card she was looking for and entered in the information quickly into the computer.  Slipping the card back into its place, she didn’t return the wallet, instead opened the cash part, removing two ones and tossed it carefully back onto his desk, all the while Vala stood looking at her dumbfounded.  

“What? I want a soda and the mess went junk food free. Don’t even, I know that is partially my fault, I know! Just walk with me to the machine, ”  Adrienne said as she hit submit on the hotel reservation page and closed the lid to her laptop.  Daniel had put his headphones back on and was working away like nothing had transpired, reaching out without looking to grab his wallet and shove it into his pocket. Standing and tossing her SG jacket over the back of her chair,  Adrienne shot him once more with her nerf gun, waved the cash at him and he nodded, shooing her away with it hand. 

“You know, only you can get away with that,” Vala said to Adrienne as they turned the corner.  

“Get away with what? Rootin’ around in his wallet? Probably,” Adrienne shrugged. 

“No, everything. Before you came along, well before you two started being all chummy, he was much more..... intense,” Vala replied and Adrienne could tell she was selecting that last word carefully. He was different from when they had first met, but Adrienne really hadn’t known him long enough to see a huge difference, but the others had, especially Jack, who had taken to referring to her as Daniel’s girlfriend in addition to her other Jack moniker, Dr. Perky. Ignoring her statement, Adrienne walked on, turning one more corner before arriving at the officer’s locker room and the Coke machine. Relief washing over her face, relief only a true caffeine addict would understand, Adrienne hurried quickly to the machine to get her fix, sliding the ones into the slot and hitting the Diet Coke button.  

“So I’ve heard,” she answered, knowing that Vala wasn’t going to quit until she did, “I’m not really sure why he’s so ‘chill’ with me now. Maybe it’s just because I’m with him 8 to 12 hours a day, and a lot of that time it’s just us, working.  After a while you start to know a person without having to say a word to them, you know, you can feel them out,”  Adrienne tried to reason, but to be honest, she had no way to explain what had happened to them over the past few months; they had gone from constant tension to perfect allies. It was kind of weird too, but she had to admit, they had a lot more in common with one another than they ha originally thought, a lot more.  Not buying it, Vala was still shaking her head; a few dates with the man and she thought she was the self-proclaimed expert on the subject of Daniel Jackson, an expertise that Adrienne could only tolerate for so long, but for now, she let her keep talking, and turned around, swiftly walking out of the locker room and back to her desk. 

 “I know, but it’s different somehow.  Like you two are just supposed to be together,”  Vala countered as they were leaving the room.  Adrienne laughed.  Now her too.  Half of the base assumed that Daniel and Adrienne were a couple and that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  In fact, Daniel had been trying to set Adrienne up with Ronon Dex for a while now, despite her protests that while he might be a good time he was not someone she thought she could carry on a conversation with.  Daniel’s response to that was was, “That’s why you have me.” Regardless, that was about as likely to happen as Adrienne becoming the head of the SGC, especially given the long hours she and Daniel spent in the lab.  She decided not to dignify Vala’s comment with a response.  

When Adrienne crossed the threshold to the lab, still laughing at Vala, she felt the bottle being removed from her hand and there was her dear friend, unscrewing the cap and drinking her soda.  

“Thanks for getting me a drink,” Daniel said as he smiled slyly.  

“Give that back,” Adrienne fussed and smacked his arm, “Don't you have someone else you can annoy?” she spat, yanking back her Diet Coke and returning to her desk.  Laughing and shaking her head, Vala gave her that look again.  

“Different...” Vala smiled at Adrienne and left the lab, her laughter trailing her down the hall.

“What was that all about?” Daniel asked, cocking his head in her direction.  

“Nothing, Vala’s typical insanity,” Adrienne answered, primarily because she didn’t want to get into it with him again about base gossip or that fact she was not interested in dating anyone right now, on or off the base. There were limits to this little friendship that they had forged, and discussing their dating lives were those limits.  

Relieved that the trip was finally booked and her caffeine urges taken care of, Adrienne went back to what she had been working on.  Since the SGC had grown so much, they had Daniel expand on the training films for new cadets, giving Adrienne a much needed break from the Asgard database, not that she didn’t enjoy the database work, she did, but after a while it felt like she was reliving her tedious Biblical translations from graduate school. Adrienne had been editing the videos, looking for errors and writing scripts for any adjustments or new additions and segments to the old videos.  Daniel tended to be a smart mouth off script, so Adrienne made sure there was very little room for a Dr. Jackson editorial.  Today she was updating the information on the Lucian Alliance and was considering calling Vala back down to help her, given her expertise in the area, however, she decided against it, not wanting to hear Vala’s analysis of she and Daniel’s non-existent romance. If Vala wasn’t trying to sleep with him, this week, she seemed to be determined that somebody was going to.  Adrienne wished she had enough free time to actually worry about dating as much as Vala did.  

It was getting late, or at least late enough for dinner Adrienne’s stomach was telling her.  She shut the lid to the laptop and sat there staring into space trying to decide which to do first:  eat or run, eat or run, since Adrienne knew Cam would be in meetings tonight and she would be on her own for a run.  Lost in the limbo of indecision, it was fingers snapping in front of her face brought her out of her trance.  

“Hey Addy, wake-up! Are you coming to dinner?”  Daniel asked.  She looked up at him, coming back to reality, opening and closing her eyes quickly, her mind forming the final answer. She was wiped out, she needed a run. 

“Not sure yet, I really wanted to run but I hate going alone,”  she answered, tapping her pen on her desk and looking at the clock. 

Pushing up his jacket sleeve, Daniel glanced down at his watch, “It’s only 5 and I know that Cam and Vala won’t be at dinner.  Teal’c can wait, I’ll call him and tell him to push back an hour.  I’ll run with you.” Adrienne laughed out loud before she could catch herself, bringing her fist quickly to her mouth while he stood beside her, evidently not as amused.

“Not funny,” he said, “I run.  I just don’t do insane things like marathons. You and Cam can die doing that without me.” Now, they had been working together for a while now, and friends for almost as long, and she had never seen this man run for fun. In fact, now that Dr. Lam was requiring monthly physicals which included a 30 minute treadmill run, Adrienne had been introduced to a new side of Daniel, the one that whined all day leading up to said physical. He could run, fast, but running toward the Stargate away from some bad guys was a completely different matter.  Other than Cameron, it seemed only the Atlantis crew had any runners.  

“Fine,” she said, giving him the benefit of the doubt, “It’s Tuesday, so it’s a 5 mile day, no weights, you up for it?” 

“I’ll go get my shoes,” he said in reply, turning and heading for his locker in the lab. 

“You own running shoes?!?!,” Adrienne asked, shocked, trying to hide her surprise. She vaguely remembered Vala telling a story months ago about Daniel trying to run 5K in  the gym and just about killing himself, so she guessed it made sense that he owned running shoes...maybe.  At least this time when Dr. Lam was called down to deal with them and a non-work related injury, it would be 100% his fault.  

“I’m hurt that you don’t know me better, and you’ve never asked me to run, only Cam.  Makes me think I’ve been trying to set you up with the wrong man,”  Daniel joked, but Adrienne just rolled her eyes.  

“Cameron? You’re out of your mind.  I’ve told you, over and over, I’m not interested in dating anyone right now.  You need to stop.  What is this obsession that you have with setting me up with someone?” she demanded.  Pulling his jacket from his shoulders, he tossed it back over onto his desk, grabbing the shoes from his locker and slinging them over his shoulder.  A somewhat embarrassed look on his face, Daniel walked toward her, taking a seat on the stool at the table across from her desk.  

“I just think you deserve to be happy, that’s all,” he answered her sincerely. Not believing him, Adrienne made a face.

“And being happy requires a man? Don’t you find that to be a little degrading?” she asked, Daniel making a face right back. Leave it to Adrienne to twist his words, to turn his good intentions into an attack on her independence.

“I’m not saying that. It’s just that you -” he stopped himself mid-sentence like he was afraid to continue.  

“It’s just that I what?” she asked as she walked over to the stool beside him and sat down. 

“You’re just an amazing woman and I think someone would be lucky to have you,”  he answered, smiling slightly. Adrienne was pretty sure she blushed, that kind of caught her off guard; it was the nicest and most sincere thing that he had ever said to her.  Touched, she reached over and put her hand on his leg, squeezing it gently.  

“Daniel, I appreciate that, I really do.  But, I just can’t think about being with anyone else right now,” Adrienne said quietly, trying to make him understand.  

“Else?” he asked, confused, “is there someone I don’t know about.”  

“No,” Adrienne shook her head; he was misunderstanding her, “I just mean that I haven’t met anyone I feel like I could be close to.  I mean, no one here understands me but - “ Now Adrienne was stopping herself, knowing the word that was about to come out of her mouth.  You, Daniel, no one here gets me but you, which is why everyone is giving us such a hard time. Which is why this conversation is entirely too awkward and needs to stop right now. 

“Let’s stop talking about this, ok?”  Adrienne said and turned to walk out of the lab, pushing some of the more ridiculous thoughts from her head.  Hoping he hadn’t offended her, or upset her in any way Daniel stood quickly, following close behind her.  The halls were packed today and Adrienne was suddenly very happy that they would all be heading on vacation this weekend, even if it was a seven hour car ride, van ride, all cramped together. It had to be calmer than this. SGC personnel dodged them and Daniel was completely oblivious to the number of people rushing around them as he focused on catching up to Adrienne until a young lieutenant bumped into him, making him stop and look around at the surrounding chaos. 

“Sorry doctors, sorry,” he said and scurried away as Adrienne shook her head and pulled Daniel to the side of the hall. 

“Let’s take the stairs and go around.  This is way too many people,” she said.  

“I agree, and I really am getting tired of always being the one getting slammed into,” he smiled as they opened the door to the stairwell, jogging their way up to the gym’s level.

Amazingly, Daniel made it three whole miles before looking over to Adrienne’s treadmill and mouthing something along the lines of “I’m going to stop,” which Adrienne thought should be more like, “I’m going to die.” She just smiled and waved and continued the next two miles, hoping he hadn’t hurt himself. By the time she got off of the treadmill, he was showered and ready to leave, that impatient I can’t sit still look on his face she had grown to dread and adore.  

“Can I shower?” she asked, throwing her towel over her shoulder.  

“Yea, I’m just hungry and was finished running,” he answered but he had that look on his face that said his stomach wasn’t going to wait.  

“Fine, fine, I can read your mind Indy, let’s go,” she walked over to him and threw her arm around him, slowly and intentionally. As she hoped, he made a face and shoved her away.  

“You stink!” he shouted .

“And I am going to sit right by you all through dinner and continue to stink since you were impatient,”  she joked.  Daniel paused, debating, maybe he should wait a bit longer, ask her to take a shower, but his stomach rumbled further and hunger won, so they headed together down to the mess.  

******

The remainder of the week passed, uneventful, and on Friday when it was time to leave Daniel was still typing at his computer.  

“DanielJackson, it is time to leave for our journey,” Teal’c said as he stuck his head into the lab.  Daniel looked over at the other desk to see if Adrienne could start getting their things ready, she was good at things like that, packing, but Adrienne was no where to be seen.  Daniel frowning, thinking that Adrienne was also good at hiding lately when he needed her to do something that she deemed manual labor. 

“Just a sec Teal’c,” Daniel said and held up his hand continuing his furious typing.  

“DanielJackson, we must leave. ColonelMitchell is growing anxious,” Teal’c continued.  

“Well, he’s going to have to wait; I still need to pack,” Daniel kept typing, annoyed that he could just ask Adrienne for one small favor, to just throw some jeans and t-shirts into a duffle, but she had left without so much as a goodbye. Determined to get to a stopping point, he started on the next line of Asgard text when a bag was slammed onto his desk.  

“Come on Indy, time to leave.  Here is your bag.  If you don’t hurry, Vala is going to claim a seat that will allow her to wallow in your lap for 7 hours,” Adrienne stood, her hands on her hips; she knew that would get his attention.  Trying not to smile, she had packed for him after all, he glanced up at her, pushing his glasses up his face and getting ready to argue, argue that he needed just ten more minutes or so, but she just simply shut the computer lid and reached for his hands.  Smiling, he let her pull him up to a standing position, only to have her drop his hands quickly and slip out the lab door. He didn’t worry about the database anymore, lingering only to shut the lights off to the lab and close the door behind him.  

*****

“Ok, everyone, let’s get organized,” Cameron announced as he stood outside of the van like a cruise director, as expected. Adrienne had to stifle a laugh, “We’ll take shifts driving so that any one person is not driving for more than two hours, tops. I’ll take first shift and we’ll stop right outside of Hagerstown for a stretch,” he started. 

“Mitchell” Vala shouted, “Where’s your damn clipboard or the cute little flag we’re supposed to gather under?”  Cameron ignored her and kept talking. 

“Jackson will take the second shift and continue until we are past Pittsburg,” Cameron added, his mental roster going through his head. Confused, knowing she had looked up the entire trip herself on MapQuest, Adrienne raised her hand.

“It’s only 7 hours, why can’t one person just drive?” Adrienne asked. Chuckling from beside her, Daniel leaned over to whisper “Good question.” Cam, however, didn’t seem to agree.  

“Because, we’ll be driving during rush hour, so it may take longer AND we will all need to be awake when we arrive, which, by my estimation will be somewhere between midnight and four a.m.,” he responded curtly.  

“Why?” Vala asked, “why do we need to be awake when we arrive? I don’t plan on being awake at 4 a.m.” 

“Because I’ve booked us tickets for the sunrise orchestra performance at the falls for tomorrow’s sunrise,” Cameron answered, giving the impression that she had asked the most ridiculous question in the world. The group let out a communal grown as Cam was living up to each of their expectations right from the get go. Glancing over at Vala, who was already in a whiney mood,  Adrienne leaned back to, signaling Daniel over closer with her head.

“I call dibs by you.  I need someone to sit by and make fun of this entire disaster,” she said.  

“As long as you keep Vala out of my lap you’ve got yourself a deal,”  he laughed back.  Happy to have that settled, Adrienne bumped him with her hip, glad to see him joking around and not worrying about work.  

‘Fine, since you all just want to joke around, I’ll let you know in Hagerstown who is driving after Jackson. Just load up!” Cameron yelled, frustrated by the whispers and giggles from his would be passengers. Muttering to himself, he climbed into the driver’s side of the van, Teal’c walked over to the passenger side without further commentary.  Vala was heading for the side door, but Adrienne grabbed Daniel’s arm and dragged him over with her, beating Vala to the van’s entrance 

“We’ve got the back,” Adrienne said, pulling him in behind her. 

“No making out in the van allowed,” Vala said.  

“Just try to stop us,” Adrienne laughed as Daniel got red in the face, climbing in behind her staring at her like she was insane. He was still glaring at her when they sat down with a scowl, playful, but still somewhat embarrassed by her comment. 

“Oh, get your panties out of a twist,” she said to him, “she started it.” 

“And you have to indulge her, don’t you?” he remarked, shaking his head and smiling.  Vala climbed in the single seat in front of them, looking back and winking as Adrienne made some kissy kissy noises back at her. Daniel, ignoring them both, tossed his messenger bag onto the seat between them, digging for something inside while Adrienne tossed hers beside Daniel’s and starting digging as well, producing a thick comic book before zipping up her pack and crawling into the farthest corner of the seat.  Seeing her reading selection, Daniel looked at her with that look, the one that she knew meant something smart was about to come out of his mouth. 

“Are you going to give me that look the entire trip?” she asked.  

“It depends if you’re going to keep doing things that warrant that look,”  Daniel replied, a smile creeping across his face.   

“What did I do now?” Adrienne asked.  

“A comic book?” he answered, peering over his glasses at her. 

“It is a graphic novel,” she corrected, catching on to his game. 

“What in the world is a graphic novel?” he asked. Holding her composure, Adrienne looked at him as serious as possible. 

“A thick comic book,” she said, and unable to hold herself together any longer, started to laugh.  

“I thought so,” he laughed in response.

“Actually, you would like this.  Each issue tackles a different element of the human psyche in a post apocalyptic world. It’s fascinating,” she explained.  Daniel reached over and took the book from her hands, considering it, especially given Adrienne’s interest in psychology. He looked at the cover carefully and opened the book, thumbing through it for a moment before shaking his head at her, handing it back and resorting to that look once more.  

“It’s about zombies. The first five pages have more swear words than Cameron says in a week, which in and of itself is pretty remarkable, and at least 7 people being completely torn apart. And this is supposed to be intelligent reading?” he cocked his eye at her, but she just smiled, wrinkling her nose at him. 

“It is.  Anyway, you need to give fiction a chance; it’s good stress relief,” Adrienne suggested.  

“Ok people, you better be settled, because we’re getting out of here!” Cam shouted, making Daniel forget his smart response to Adrienne’s little jab on his ability to relax, when it hit him that there was something missing from this equation. 

“Wait a minute!” Daniel said, “Where are Sam and Jack?” 

“O’Neill says he requires quiet when he travels,” Teal’c looked back at Daniel to answer.  

“In other words, he wants to avoid us,” Vala replied.  Cam didn’t take the time to agree or disagree, just started to back up the van and exited the parking lot, preparing to navigate the city to get to the beltway, Daniel just looking over at Adrienne, who shrugged, not appearing at all surprised by the O’Neill’s decision to be alone. It took longer than Cameron would have liked to get through the busier parts of the city on his way to interstate loop and he was cursing repeatedly throughout the entire ordeal as Teal’c navigated calmly from the passenger side.  Adrienne started to laugh, leaning, crawling across the open space between them on the bucket seat over to Daniel. 

“For the record, I think he has exceeded the swear words in this entire book in the past three streets alone,” she whispered. Chuckling, thinking that she did have a point, Daniel decided that he would relax for the next few hours, pulled out a journal to record today’s database observations.  Noting her backseat companion wasn’t in a vert talkative mood, Adrienne settled back and threw her legs up on the empty seat in from of her, happy to enjoy her zombie comic book without any further harassment. There was grumbling from ahead of them, grumbling Adrienne chose to ignore, until there was a sharp pop and click as Vala, in an attempt to get comfortable herself, leaned her chair back as far as it would go, smacking the journal from Daniel’s hand.  

“And yet she still ends up in my lap!!” he shouted, tossing the journal to his side in disgust. He could heal laughter from the front seat, glancing up to see Teal’c looking backward, enjoying the mayhem. 

“Jackson, you need to behave with the women back there, you got it!” Cam shouted, lightening up a bit, finally.  Daniel didn’t answer, just picked up his messenger bag and Adrienne’s, shoving them behind where Vala had reclined the seat and scooted over to the middle seat beside Adrienne.  

“You’re too big to sit there, switch with me,” Adrienne fussed, coming to her feet and indicating that he scoot behind her into the much larger corner seat. Moving seats yet again, Daniel crawled under Adrienne’s backside, muttering something under his breath about women, pickiness and how he’d rather be back working. 

“What is going on back there?” Cam yelled, seeing movement in his rearview that looked, oddly enough, like Daniel and Adrienne rolling around with one another in the backseat. 

“Nothing Dad!!!” Adrienne shouted back, glaring over at Daniel, who was still muttering, clamping her hand over his mouth, Cam mumbling to himself as he merged onto the beltway.  Fortunately, it appeared as if they were just ahead of rush hour, so Cam sat back, got comfortable himself, turning on the radio.  It was a commercial but in moments the clear sounds of a steel guitar and fiddles began to play, a broad smile spreading across Cam’s face. 

“What in the hell is this!?!” Vala shouted, sitting forward in her seat looking to Adrienne for a reply.

“Cam shug, please, for me, can we listen to anything but!?” Adrienne pleaded, flashbacks of growing up in the Bayou entering her head. 

“ColonelMitchell, this is rather horrible,” Teal’c spoke up to agree with the women. 

“This van is not a democracy! The driver gets to select the music. And besides, Daniel seems fine with it,” Cameron argued into the rearview to his obviously unhappy passengers.

“No, I‘d prefer silence, but you can go ahead, I’ll tune it out,” Daniel replied, reaching for his journal for a second time. Scowling, Vala immediately stood, leaning into the front cabin area flipping through the radio stations, daring Cam with an evil glare to question her.  

She stopped at a rap music station.  Adrienne was thrilled. Cam switched the channel.  

She stopped at a classic rock station. Daniel gave a thumbs up. Teal’c rolled his eyes. 

She stopped at a Latino station.  Everyone but Adrienne began to shout to change it.  

Finally, she found a top 40 station, a loud but popular song blaring through the speakers. 

“Is this alright with everyone?” she asked, gauging reactions from around the van.  No one seemed particularly happy with the selection, but the whining had stopped, so she returned to her seat, flopping herself dramatically into the chair, staring out the window at the world passing by. 

This, however, proved to be only a temporary solution as an hour into the trip, Vala began to moan.  

“Do I want to know what is wrong with you now Vala?” Cam asked, scowling into the rearview mirror.  Curious, and slowly boring herself of zombies, Adrienne peeked up interested while Teal’c and Daniel were absorbed in other things, meditation, staring into space, something no where near as interesting as the prospect of tormenting Vala.  To Adrienne tormenting Daniel was amusement, tormenting Vala was professional sporting evening. 

“I’m bored....” she whined, her voice seeming extra nasally, and more annoying than normal.  Adrienne was delighted, and started to giggle, closing her book and slipping it into her pack. Vala’s droning might now have gotten Daniel’s attention, but Adrienne’s movement did, as the black backpack was shoved into his knee, causing him to run a thick black pen mark across the page.   

“What?” he asked, putting down his journal and looking over at her.  She was smiling brightly, a smile that was Adrienne for, I am about to cause trouble for someone I deem less intelligent than me. She was simply wicked at times, but a part of him loved it; she did things to the military types that Daniel would have never dreamed doing to Jack and the others, nothing truly awful, but pranks that made up for the endless torment they endured at the SGC for being the geeks.  Containing her laughter, Adrienne reached over and cupped her hand to his ear.  

“As if this trip couldn’t get more bad family vacation, Vala’s pulling the I’m bored card and Daddy Mitchell up front is going to flip his shit,” she laughed slightly, her head dropping onto his shoulder as she convulsed silently.   

“There’s more, there always is, I know you,” Daniel whispered cautiously down to her.  

“Do I mess with her or let her self-destruct on her own?” Adrienne asked, lifting her head  up peering into his eyes. Sitting up a bit, Daniel reached into the pocket of his jeans, producing a quarter, rolling it in his fingers. 

“Heads you do tails you don’t,” he smiled.  Adrienne laughed, shaking her head.  

“Every time you do this it always tends to work in your favor Indy,”  she teased, sticking out her tongue, “Flip it.”  Daniel tossed the coin into the air, catching it and flipping it onto his hand, slowly pulling the opposite hand away. 

“Heads,” he smiled.  Adrienne leaned onto his shoulder to confirm, lest she become a victim of one prank while she was carrying out another, but he was correct, as was she; this always worked out in his favor. 

“Watch and learn Indy..... watch and learn,” Adrienne said, raising her eyebrows and reaching down to squeeze his leg before leaning up to Vala’s seat. 

“Vala shug,” Adrienne whispered, “do ya see those big trucks?” 

“Yeah, what about them? I’m not playing that stupid license plate game like kids on TV do, that’s boring, you can play that with Glasses,” she said.  Adrienne shook her head.  

“No, if you go like this,” Adrienne, reaching for an imaginary rope, and pulling it down with her arm, “they’ll honk at us.  It’ll drive Cameron insane.” 

“Like this?” Vala clarified, mimicking Adrienne’s movements. 

“Exactly,” Adrienne smiled.  

“Thanks,” Vala said and pressed her face to the glass in search of trucks.  Cocking her head to grin slyly at her seat mate, Adrienne sat back, closer to Daniel this time so no one would hear their plotting.  

“Ok, what exactly am I supposed to learn from this exercise?” he whispered.  

“I’m not finished babe,” she smiled, directing Daniel with her eyes to watch the insanity about to unfold in front of them. Vala tried and failed for about 15 minutes to get any trucks to honk at her, pumping her arm up and down like mad all the while trying to hide her actions from Cameron who was singing along to some song on the radio.  Finally, she huffed and turned back to Adrienne.  

“It’s not working,” she hissed. 

“Well, they get so many people doing it they probably just don’t pay attention anymore.  It was a good try,” Adrienne shrugged.  

“No, I think this is a good idea, but I guess I need to do something to get their attention,”  Vala stated.  

“Maybe,” Adrienne answered coyly.  She felt Daniel pinch her arm but kept her cool.  

“I’ve got it,” Vala jumped for joy and turned to face the windows reaching for the hem of her shirt.  Adrienne leaned back over to Daniel, who had turned his head and was holding his hand over his mouth. She could feel him convulsing in silent laughter beside her.  

“Stop it,” she elbowed him, “you’re gonna make me laugh.”  Adrienne tried to keep a straight face, peeping over at her friend to see if she was really going to follow through with her brilliant idea, however, she knew she had when all of a sudden the van was filled with the sounds of horns blaring all around them, as Vala, bare chest pressed to the glass, was smilingly happily at her success.  

“What the fuck?” Cam exclaimed, “Jesus Christ, Vala, what in the hell are you doing? We’re gonna get arrested!!!!!” 

Adrienne fell over onto Daniel’s lap, unable to hold back any longer, laughing hysterically, tears falling from her eyes and Daniel was slumped over her back, red in the face, laughing so hard he was unable to breathe.  

“Vala, why in the hell?”  Cam was screaming into the rearview mirror, “Dammit Addy!!! I see you hiding back there in Jackson’s lap! I know this is your fault!”  

Vala turned and gave Adrienne an evil look, clueing in finally that she had been the victim of her friend’s latest prank, vowing to get back at her later, her and Daniel.  Adrienne looked up at her laughing, trying to also catch Cam’s eye via the rearview mirror. 

“Daniel flipped heads, I was gonna to leave you alone,”  she said.  That familiar frown returning to his face, Daniel sat up quickly, pushing Adrienne back over to where she had been sitting.  Knowing that he really didn’t mean it, she playfully shoved him, reaching back into her backpack for her journal to continue with her novel writing that would never end.  Embarrassed at being the butt of a joke, Vala slumped back into her seat silently, her shirt in place, glancing out the window.   

Shortly after Daniel noticed a sign for Hagerstown and looked over at Adrienne.  

“You wanna come co-pilot or feel the wrath of Cam back here for the next two hours?” he asked.  Adrienne didn’t need to answer, she began to pack up furiously, preferring her friend’s company over Cam’s flirtations and scolding for her earlier stunt.  As they approached the Hagerstown exit, Daniel noticed that Cameron was not exiting, making a confused face and leaning forward. 

“Isn’t it my turn?” Daniel shouted up to the front.  

“No, I don’t think I am comfortable letting Lucy and Ethel take over our little party up here,” Cam yelled back to them.  

“He just called you a woman,” Adrienne whispered to her backseat companion, glancing up from the composition book. Frowning, Daniel just shook his head and sat back, just in time for Adrienne to toss her legs across his lap.

At about 8:30 Teal’c heard a ringing noise from the dashboard.  Peering upward, he saw that Cameron’s cellular phone bouncing loudly and since it would be unsafe for Cam to answer considering he was driving the van, he reached for it reading the screen. 

Jack O’Neill

Delighted that it was simply his friend, Teal’c tapped the green button on the screen with the archaic phone icon, holding the contraption to his ear.  

“Hello O’Neill,” Teal’c greeted jovially.   

“Hey T, how’s the party wagon?” Jack asked. 

“DanielJackson has been misbehaving with the women in the backseat, ValaMalDoran has exposed her breasts to passing truck drivers at AdrienneRowan’s suggestion and ColonelMitchell enjoys horrible music.  We are well,” Teal’c responded. There was silence on the other end.  

“I don’t suppose you guys wanna eat?” Jack asked, not having any other response to his previous statement, really, what could he say to that. 

“I am always able to enjoy nourishment, shall I ask the others?” Teal’c offered. 

“Sure, go right ahead,” Jack responded and covered up the phone to look at Sam, who was happily driving away. 

“Are they doing ok?” she asked.  

“By normal people standards?” Jack retorted.  

“Well, no flashing lights and sirens, so I think we’re ok,” Sam replied, chuckling to herself.

“O’neill!” Jack heard Teal’c yelling into the phone.  He hit the speakerphone button so that he wouldn’t have Teal’c shouting in his ear and to share with his wife the insanity of their accompanying vehicle.  

“Yes Teal’c,” Jack answered. 

“My companions desire to eat as well. AdrienneRowan requests an eatery with real food,”  the voice said.  

“Of course she does,” Jack replied, having expected that reaction from Jack’s little groupie.  

“I am sorry O’neill? What did you say?” Teal’c asked.  

“Nothing T, nothing.  Hang on a sec,” he covered up the phone and looked at Sam.  “Ok, what signs did we pass?” 

“Use the phone, hit the home button and then hit the Navigation app,” Sam instructed.  

“What?!!? I’m on the phone, I can’t be all tap tappity on it and talk to Teal’c!” Jack looked at her funny.  

“Jack, you’re on speakerphone, it’ll work, just hit the -” Sam tried to explain, but Jack interrupted her.  

“Another goddam stupid computer.  Look, what happened to those blue signs that had little restaurant pictures on them.  Wait, wait, I see blue, slow down,” he pointed.  

“We’re on the interstate Jack, I can’t just slow down!!” Sam looked at him like he was insane, but before he could argue, he heard shouting from the phone in his hand.  

“O’neill, AdrienneRowan has found a variety of food establishment with her telephone!!” Teal’c was shouting into the speaker.  Sam shook her head, giving him the ‘I told you so’ look. At least Adrienne could use her phone.  Ignoring his wife’s glare, Jack went to speak and ask exactly what the perky little archaeologist had managed to find when he now heard arguing on the other line that he couldn’t quite make out.  Holding the phone closer to his ear, trying to make out the voices on the other end, Jack thought he heard Teal’c leading the argument going on in the other vehicle. 

“AdrienneRowan, I will not consume Mexican again.  It does not do well in my stomach.” 

“Do not let her pick!” Jack was sure that was Daniel screaming from the back of the van. What was going on over there? He heard some more confusion and then a sound like a phone being dropped on the floor, his wife glancing over at him, making a face, while he just shrugged.  There were more sounds on the phone, static, shuffling, and finally a voice. 

“Sam, it’s Addy, ok, our choices for the next 10 miles are: McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Sonic, Cracker Barrel, Wawa, A very nice family owned and operated Mexican restaurant, some Greek place, a Longhorn Steakhouse and - “ but again Jack interrupted again.  

“Cracker Barrel!! Can we all agree on Cracker Barrel!?!” Jack shouted causing more murmuring on the other end.  Finally, it was Teal’c’s voice once again over the small speaker, the discussion in the van subsiding.  

“Cracker Barrel shall be acceptable,” he answered pausing for more talking in the background, “AdrienneRowan says it is located at the next exit.” 

“Great see you there,” Jack said and hung up the phone, tired just from the five minute conversation. 

“Aren’t you glad I suggested we drive separately?” Sam smiled over at him.  

“It’s like a frat party over there,” Jack joked. Laughing at her husband’s reaction, Sam looked ahead to the road for the exit.  

*****

“How many?” a teenage girl asked them with a smile, a dry erase marker in her hand as she stood happily at the podium. 

“Eight,” Vala answered.  

“Seven,” Adrienne corrected, mentally checking her tally in case she had missed someone. 

“Eight,” Vala argued, turning to point at each team member counting, “One, two, three, four five, six,” and then she pointed to Teal’c ‘s head, “seven,” and then his stomach, “eight.”  

“Ma’am,” the girl spoke, “we automatically sit groups of seven at a table for eight.”  

“A table for eight is fine,” Jack insisted as he pushed his way to the front of the group., shooting at glance at both Adrienne and Vala. The hostess looked at them all strangely, this mishmashed group of adults bickering in front of her, but grabbed menus and led them to a large circular table, positioned far back in the corner of the restaurant. After a few moments, a cheerful waitress bounced over to the table to secure their drink orders,  waters for most everyone except for Daniel, who ordered a Coke. Making a face, Adrienne kicked him under the table, but didn’t want to cause a scene.  Drinks ordered, Vala stood from the table, adjusting her tank over her jeans and addressing the group.

“I’ll be right back,” she stated.  Cameron looked at her, mistrust written all over his face. 

“Where are you going?” he asked, concerned about her being left unattended.  

“To piss if you must know,” she answered so loudly the elderly couple at the table next to them made a face of disgust. That question being cleared up, Vala smiled sarcastically at Cam and the others, turning and walking back out into the restaurant’s trademark shop, stopping to check out the clothes along the way.  No one commented, they all poured over the menus, finally realizing how hungry they were and time passed, their drinks arrived, but Vala did not return.  

“I’m going to go find her,” Daniel said as he stood, Adrienne swiftly grabbing his arm.  

“Indy, you think that’s such a good idea? Come on.  We got her good; this might be a revenge plot,”  Adrienne suggested, keeping her other thought to herself, that Vala might be trying to pounce him in the bathroom, a thought which made her stomach do somersaults much to her confusion    

“You’re being paranoid Ad; I’ll be right back,” Daniel answered and headed for the restrooms.  Rolled her eyes, but watching him carefully walk away, Adrienne looked back at the menu as Sam leaned over to Teal’c. 

“Has the entire trip been like this?” she giggled. 

“Indeed,” he answered.  Sam laughed a little louder this time, focusing again on the brown paper in her hands, the rumbling in her gut telling her she needed to eat.  By the time the waitress came back to their table, Daniel was escorting Vala to her seat and she didn’t appear happy, plopping down in her chair and slamming the menu open.  Clearing this throat, Cam leaned over to Adrienne, his head cocked in the alien woman’s direction. 

“Ten bucks says she tried to get him to make out in the bathroom,” he said.  

“Gross,” Adrienne stuck out her tongue, “You’re gonna make me lost my appetite.”  She glanced over at her boss, hoping that wasn’t true, as her stomach dropped again, her heart racing. Dammit Addy, what is wrong with you, she thought, hoping her face did not convey her confusion. 

“What’s gross?” Jack asked from across the table.  Adrienne kicked Cameron as he was about to answer; this conversation needed to end right now.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing,”  she answered through her teeth, glaring beside her at Cam just as Daniel walked back around and sat by Adrienne. 

“Is this everyone?” the waitress asked, as she had apparently been waiting for Vala’s return as well.  

“Finally,” Jack answered.  

“Ok, what can I get you guys?” she asked happily.

“I’ll start,” Jack said, starving and eager to eat, “I’ll take the Country Fried Steak with mashed potatoes and gravy, fried okra and hashbrown casserole.” 

“Jack” Sam looked at him, disgusted by her husband’s order. 

“What!?!” he answered. 

“Do you want to have a heart attack?” she said.  

“What are you, my keeper?” he retorted.  Not a word necessary, she held up her wedding band, pointing at it and making a face.  Jack, sighed and looked back at the waitress, accepting this as a battle he would not win. 

“Fine, change the last thing to green beans,” he relented. 

“Make that two of those,” Cameron said, handing the cute young woman the menu as well. 

“We shall need four of those,” Teal’c requested smiling.  Vala looked over at Adrienne, nodding, a smile of satisfaction across her face. 

“See, EIGHT,” she smirked. 

“And you ma’am”, the waitress looked at Sam, moving on to the rest of party.

“I will have the Grilled Chicken with the green beans and carrots,” Sam smiled and handed the menu over. Scribbling onto her pad, waitress looked at Vala, who spat out her answer before being asked.

“Pancakes,” she said.  

“What kind of pancakes ma’am?” the waitress asked.  

“The flat kind,” Vala answered.  Cam rolled his eyes and opened the menu pointing to her choices. Her eyes widened, scanning the page excitedly. 

“Ooooo, you can put stuff on them!!” she started reading quickly.  

“Come back to her,” Cam said. The waitress took a breath herself, obviously exasperated by the insanity as well, directing her attention to Adrienne. 

“Ok, I would also like the grilled chicken, but there needs to be no butter used while it is grilled, just spices, and for sides the cooked carrots and a tossed salad, no croutons, no dressing, and I need a banana, nothing done to it just in the skin and I will need a small glass of skim milk, organic if you have it and - “ Daniel clamped his hand over her mouth, shooting her a glance  

“She will take the grilled chicken, however you cook it. Carrots, salad, dressing on the side. And she will live with that,” he gave her “the look” and removed his hand, moving on to his order. 

“Burger and fries,” he said and handed the menu over.  

“Seriously? At the Cracker Barrel?” Adrienne looked at him.  

“Ok Miss Organic milk,” Daniel retorted.  Her face clearly demonstrating that she wanted to get out of here, the waitress turned her glance back to Vala, who had closed the folded paper and was sitting, hands clasped, waiting patiently. 

“Cherry pancakes,” she said simply.

“Anything else?” the waitress asked.  

“No thank you,” Vala answered, handing the menu over politely. First time for everything, Adrienne thought. 

The meal itself was quite normal everyone having their normal conversation.  Sam told them about the house she and Jack were looking to buy, although Adrienne could not understand why since she thought their house was quite charming. Cameron talked about the 10K he and Adrienne were running in a few weeks and made sure that everyone knew that they were invited not only to come and see the race but the party afterward.  Jack didn’t seemed to thrilled about getting up at 7 or a runner’s party but Teal’c vowed to come and cheer them on.  Having not seen his friend in weeks, stuck in meetings himself, Jack asked Daniel how the database work was going, and, as usual, Daniel dove into a complicated explanation that had Jack shutting him up three minutes in.  As everyone was finishing up and some ordering dessert, in Teal’c’s case 2 double fudge cakes, one that he kept slipping to Jack, Cameron began to go through the remaining itinerary of the trip.  

“Ok, so maybe Addy was right,” he said, changing his tune from earlier. 

“Maybe?” she interrupted, “I’m always right.” She smiled slyly at her friend but Cam shook his head and continued. 

“I think that Teal’c will just drive us in,” Cameron started. Daniel reached under the table to Adrienne’s leg, spelling ‘Thank God.”  She cut her eyes over at him and smiled.

“Then I’m driving our car!” Jack looked at Sam.  

“There will be no racing in my car, General O’Neill,” Sam informed him.  

“So, does that mean I’m not driving, at all?” Daniel clarified, worried he had celebrated too early.   Cam shook his head in the negative, leaning across the table to explain the directions to Teal’c/ 

“Looks like you are stuck with me Indy,” Adrienne whispered.  

“Oh darn,” he replied back quietly and sarcastically, feeling it was again ok to be relieved. He’d rather hang out with his assistant anyway;he had come to enjoy her company immensely, much more than she had ever imagined.

“I’ve got shotgun with Muscles!!!” Vala informed the group, making Daniel now doubly relieved.  

“Wait, wait I just stuck myself with them!?!” Cam teased pointing at Daniel and Adrienne, just now realizing that positioned himself with the troublesome twosome.  Adrienne was giggling. 

“We’ve become the red-headed step children Daniel,” she whispered.  

“Which I never was until you came along,”  he informed her jokingly. 

The check came, and they went to stand in line dividing it up.  As each of them paid, they headed back out to their respective cars, Adrienne dashing ahead of Daniel.  

“What’s the hurry? No one else seems to be hurrying,” He walked behind her, hands in his pockets wondering what she was up to now.   

“I claim the back,” she said.  

“We claimed the back in Virginia,” he reminded her.  

“Yes, we claimed it in Virginia, I said I,” she unlocked the van with the keys Teal’c had evidently given her, grinning over her shoulder at Daniel.

“I’m being kicked out of my seat for a third time,”  he remarked.  

“Well, unless you have an overwhelming urge to be close to me I can pretty much guarantee that Cameron will not molest you in the middle row.  I wanted to stretch out and sleep.  If you choose to stay in the back, you will become my pillow.  Just to be clear, I’m cool either way,” she climbed in.  Daniel shook his head, not that he cared if Adrienne laid across his lap, she seemed to do that a lot lately, but he did care about catching heat from everyone else about it.  

“Toss me my bag,” he replied as Adrienne crawled in, doing just that.  Teal’c arrived soon after and adjusted the front seat to his height, checking the mirrors and doing all o the responsible things that Sam, not Jack, had taught him to do when driving. Adrienne was creating a sleeping area using her messenger bag while Daniel was moving, yet again, when Jack stuck his head in the van. 

“Did Mitchell mention this sunrise shit to you guys?” Jack asked.  

“Yeah, that was the original reason for resting every two hours.  I think that’s why I have lost my seat yet again, so my number two can get some sleep,” Daniel responded.  Adrienne gave a thumbs up from where she was laying across the back seat, confirming his suspicion. 

“Dammit, alright. I was hoping that Sam just heard about it, but if this is Mitchell’s doing that means we already have tickets and most likely matching t-shirts,”  Jack complained, beating his forehead lightly on the doorjam.  Daniel was about to respond when there was commotion from the outside of the van. 

“Vala, what is all of that?” they all heard Sam asking from the parking lot. Curious, Daniel peeked his head out of the van over Jack’s shoulder trying to see what was going on. Sauntering out of the front doors was Vala two large shopping bags in her hands.  She looked over at Sam.  

“Have you ever seen the fun things that they have in there? It’s amazing!” she exclaimed as she walked over to Sam opening the bags.  

“Yes, Vala, I’ve eaten at one of these before, but where did you get the money for all of that. I had to pay for your dinner!?!” Sam questioned Vala, who was pulling out a small pink shirt with a puppy on it from the brown paper bag, holding the shirt up to her body, smiling brightly and modeling her new purchase.   

“I used a credit card,” Vala responded without hesitation, stuffing the pink shirt back into the bag and pulling out a large black and white beaded necklace. Panicked, Daniel leapt up from his seat, slamming his head into the roof of the van, falling backwards into the back of the van,  Adrienne laughing hysterically as she caught him.  Holding his hand to the top of his head, he reached into his pockets, still sitting on Adrienne, pulling out his wallet and fumbling through.  

“I take it you guys were making out in the bathroom?” Adrienne kidded, opening her hands to catch the items Daniel was taking out of his wallet while he fumbled through his belongings, concurrently cutting off the circulation to her left leg as he continued to sit on her lap.

“God, no, just make sure everything is in here, I have to sit back down,” he handed Adrienne the wallet, giving up, rubbing his sore head again and standing, returning to his seat. 

“What do I look like, you wife?” she joked, but dug through anyway, noting that it was indeed pathetic that she knew its contents.  

“Clear,” she said and handed it back, noticing that Jack and Teal’c were doing the same.  Confused, they all looked back at Vala.  

“HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN MY WALLET! I CAN’T PAY FOR DINNER!!!” Cameron came running out of the door yelling at them. In a flash, Sam glared at Vala, who let out a sigh and handed Sam the billfold.  

They were on the road 30 minutes later after Sam nicely explained how her cousin from Albania did not understand what she was doing and the man at the register allowed them to return the items, even the final sale ones. Vala was still complaining when she entered the van, opening the passenger door, fussing over her shoulder as she climbed into the cab.  

“I would have paid you back,” she was telling Cam. 

“When?” he retorted.  

“On payday,” she replied. Teal’c started laughing. 

“ValaMalDoran, I thought your next five paychecks going to pay for the diamond crown you purchased?” Teal’c asked as he began to back the van up. Vala smacked his arm, proving to Cam that he was absolutely correct in forcing Vala to return each and every item from the restaurant. 

“A diamond crown?” Daniel arched his eyebrows. 

“Yes, like the lovely Miss American lady wears,” Vala replied haughtily. 

“A tiara?” Adrienne sat up to clarify, “A real diamond tiara!?” 

“Yes, real,” Vala smiled, looking back toward the back seat, proud as a peacock. Daniel and Cameron were looking at each other in disbelief, but Adrienne just sat forward seeking more information. 

“Can I borrow it?” she asked. Now, both men turned to look at Adrienne. 

“For what?” Daniel asked. Adrienne scoffed at him.  

“How about all those damn dates you’re always trying to set me up on?” Adrienne retorted, “I have a very nice black evening gown that a tiara would look fantastic with for your information,” she laid back down and tried to get comfortable again.  Daniel and Cam just looked at each other, choosing not to say another word, and adjusted themselves for the rest of the drive. 

Adrienne was dreaming away shortly, a strange dream in which she was sitting in the gate room just as some vampires were coming through the wormhole, all the while Daniel was trying to explain to them that they really didn’t exist when one of them got mad at his endless, and nearly breathless, explanation and bit him.  Serves him right, Adrienne thought to herself just as the gate room began to shake.  

“AHH!!” she sat up shouting.  Daniel glanced back at her concerned. 

“Are you alright?” he asked.  Adrienne rubbed her eyes and looked over at him.  

“Damn, you’re still human,” she said and sat up, part of her mind still hovering in a dream world where her boss was becoming one of the undead, when she realized that the whole van was shaking, as if they were off-roading.  Cameron, who had also fallen asleep, was waking up as well, rubbing his face and looking around in confusion. 

“T, what in the hell is going on?” Cameron asked, bringing himself back to reality.  

“ColonelMitchell, we passed a sign that informed me that classic trains lie ahead.  I am fascinated by classic Tau’ri trains,” he said as he kept driving.  

“But Teal’c, we aren’t on the damn road anymore,” Cameron explained as he was now leaning over the driver’s seat.  

“The road is longer than this trail. ValaMalDoran has looked it up on the GPS,” Teal’c continued and pointed to Vala who had Cameron’s phone in her hand, indicating the map displayed.  He started to comment himself, but Daniel’s phone began to ring, interrupting his thought. Reaching into his pocket, he took out the phone, looked at the screen and sighed. 

“Yes Jack,” he said into the receiver.  

“What in the hell happened to you guys?” he demanded.  

“Teal’c has taken a little detour....” Daniel answered, looking up at the two aliens operating the van.  Jack didn’t seem to be amused.

“To where?” he was shouting so loud Daniel had to hold the speaker from his ear.  He waited until the shouting subsided before speaking again.  

“Trains...” Daniel answered.  

“How? It’s 11 at night!! Who in the hell thought that was a good idea? Why didn’t you guys stop him?!?!” Jack didn’t sound happy.  Throughly amused by this turn of events, Adrienne sat up, leaning over Daniel’s shoulder, trying not to laugh.  

“We fell asleep,” Daniel admitted, looking back at Adrienne.  Apparently, she hadn’t been the only one dreaming.  Perfect fodder for later. 

“AND LET VALA AND TEAL’C NAVIGATE?!?!”  Jack shouted.  

“Ok, ok, I’ll take over,” he hung up and handed Adrienne the phone. It rang again, but Daniel’s hand darted over Adrienne’s before she could hit the talk button. 

“Don’t answer it,” Daniel said as he crawled to the front to reason with Teal’c. Five minutes later, the van was pulled over and Teal’c was relinquishing control.  

“Ad!” Daniel was shouting as he got into the driver’s seat.  

“Yes master,” she replied and crawled up into the front as Vala exited through the door to go to the back, muttering something else about not being listened to.  When she sat down Daniel handed her Cameron’s phone, which she promptly tossed into the dash, replacing it with her own.

“Can you get us out of here?”  he asked.  

“Please Indy, this is me we are talking about,” Adrienne answered and within a few taps was directing Daniel where to go.  Once they were back on the interstate, Adrienne looked over at him, lowering her voice as she spoke.   

“I’m surprised Cam’s not having a total nervous breakdown,” she whispered.  

“Me too,” Daniel replied, glancing in the rearview mirror at their team leader, who was staring out the window, a half-asleep expression on his face. Teal’c seemed to be looking out into the darkness as well while Vala had taken over Adrienne’s makeshift bed in the back.  Pleased with the quiet, Daniel redirected his attention to the road. 

“Let’s play a game, to pass the time, ” Adrienne suggested.  

“A game?”  he asked. 

“Yeah, let’s play a word game, I don’t feel like reading this late,” she explained. 

“Even zombies?” he joked, smiling at her. 

“Even zombies,” she replied, pulling her legs up and crossing them in the seat.  

“Ok, what?” he asked, curious.  This was more like normal, hanging out with Adrienne, no road trip or Vala theft insanity.  She smiled and continued her explanation.  

“I’ll name a Latin root word, in alphabetical order, and we’ll each try to name as many words in English that have come from it.  Once one of us is stumped, the other wins that letter,”  Adrienne explained. 

“Why do I get the itching feeling that I’m the only person who would ever agree to play this with you?” Daniel smiled.  

“Whatever, prepare to feel stupid,” she giggled.  Daniel accepted the challenged and she began with an easy word so they would both get the hang of the game:  abducere

“Easy, abduct.” he said.

“Abdicate,” Adrienne countered.Daniel paused and thought for a second.  

“TIMES UP. Abducent.” she answered, “I’m a writer, never forget.” 

“Who said anything about time?” he fussed.  

“I did, just now,” she joked. 

“This might not have been a good idea,” he admitted. 

“Point for me!” she celebrated and made a mark in her composition book.   They continued in this fashion, Adrienne annihilating Daniel easily, as he tried to justify his lack of talent in Latin being a direct result of his expertise in Egyptian dialects, but she just playfully hit him and continued to whip him, mercilessly. 

At 2 a.m. they were rolling into Buffalo, New York, signs for Niagara surrounding them like vultures to carrion.  Adrienne looked back at her friends, not sure what they should do, it being hours early than sunrise, glancing back at Daniel confused. 

“They’re all asleep,” she told him, “should I wake them up?” 

“No,” he answered, “let them sleep.  We still have almost four hours to sunrise.” 

“You need to sleep,” Adrienne told him, concerned and reached out to set her hand on his arm.  

“I’m fine,” he responded.  

“I know you better than that,” she made a face at him.  He smiled.  

“If I remember correctly, when we get there, there’s a huge parking area for RV’s and such. We can pull in there, nap for a bit and then catch the show,” he explained.  

“Promise me you’ll sleep?”  she insisted.  

“Yes, stop worrying about me,” he replied.  

“I’m paid to worry about you,” she said.  He smiled, knowing now it was more than that,  and had her pull up the final directions on the GPS.  

******

“Wow,” Jack said as he wrapped his arm around Sam.  The falls were lit with multi-colored lights all changing to the beat of perfect orchestral music, a symphony that Adrienne didn’t know but was certain Daniel would, but it was just too moving to ask him right now.  It was both beautiful and spiritually uplifting, filling her soul an exuberance that she didn’t think possible going on only three hours of sleep in the passenger seat of a cramped van. 

“I pick good activities, you guys need to recognize,” Cameron announced.  

“We do, we do,” Vala admitted quietly, threading her arm through his.  

“ColonelMitchell this is spectacular,” Teal’c agreed.  Daniel looked over at Adrienne, who was caught somewhere between her night tendencies and her hatred of mornings, the colored lights sparkling against her captivating brown eyes.  Feeling his glare, she returned the glance, puzzled.   

“Come on,” he said and grabbed her hand, pulling her away from their friend. 

“What?”  she looked confused but followed him, leaving the group behind, each and every one of them spellbound by the performance, so much so that no one seemed to notice that they were gone.  Daniel just looked back over his shoulder, holding tight to her hand and they began to make their way down the long slope to the bottom of the falls. 

“There’s some water down there I think that is waiting for you to wade in it,” he smiled. Touched, Adrienne choked back the tear forming in her eye, unable to believe that he remembered, that he even thought of it. 

“Let’s go,” she said quickly and together they ran down the hill to the water’s edge.