Daniel and Adrienne #19: Realizations

“Where are they?” Vala whined to Cam as she tossed the last bag into the van’s back compartment, peering around the corner to see that Colonel Mitchell was under the hood, checking the oil, still nervous about taking a government vehicle.  He knew how cheap they could be around here and despite Sam’s assurances, he still wanted to see for himself if the vehicle they were taking was secure.  He wished she’d just let him rent a van, like they had the last time Sam had planned a group vacation, but regardless, the last thing he cared about right now was Daniel and Adrienne’s inability to be anywhere on time, a trait his good buddy had learned from his perky southern assistant, much to everyone’s great annoyance. Especially Vala.  She liked Adrienne, but she wasn’t too happy with how close the two archaeologists had become, even going as far to suggest to Cam at lunch just the other day that there was something going on between the two of them, something that Cam definitely didn’t see, but Vala didn’t care.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her walking over to him, following by the slamming of the door behind her, that look of annoyance on her face and hands on her hips, seeking an answer Cam didn’t have.  

“Call them if you want to know,” Cameron said from under the hood, satisfied the oil was at an acceptable level and moving on to checking the various belts.  Rolling her eyes, Vala leaned back against the sideboard of the van, digging her phone from her jeans pocket, dialing the their extension. 

“Lab 1,” Adrienne answered the phone professionally, looking over at Daniel as he dug through his locker.  

“Are you guys coming? Once Cam gets down with this nonsense under the hood we’re leaving.” Vala asked, stressing the last word.  They really wouldn’t leave the two of them behind, but she wanted to scare Adrienne into thinking so, that seemed to get her slow southern rump in gear. 

“We’re coming Vala,” Adrienne replied, saying her name loud enough so Daniel would hear, winking at him in assurance, “but we’re kinda stuck on something down here, and you know how he doesn’t like to leave things.  We’re gonna take the Jeep and catch up to you guys.” 

“What?! Addy, we’ve been waiting for this trip for weeks.  Niagara was all Sam and Jack love fest, this is party time! ” Vala sounded so excited, especially since Sam and Jack had declared they were getting their own house and the “single” people Cameron, Vala, Teal’c, Ronan, John, Teyla, Daniel and Adrienne, were to share a house not too far away.  It was going to be the beach week for the high school experience that Vala never had, and she wanted that experience to be complete with everything she had even seen in a high school themed movie, including getting the cute boy.  Adrienne sighed; she didn’t feel like going over this with her yet again.  

“Vala, we’re still coming, I promise, we just really need to get this finished.  I swear.  I’ll even stop and get something fun,” Adrienne reasoned with her friend, fingers crossed there wasn’t a fight coming on.  Things had been better lately, Adrienne had no idea that shoving a focus grenade in her bra would have such a positive effect of their friendship, but it had and she really wanted to keep the peace for as long as possible. It felt like she and Daniel all over again, except this time Adrienne wasn’t sure there was a total solution to the tension other than Daniel sweeping Vala off into the sunset, an idea which disgusted her to no end. There was a pause on the other end of the line and she heard Vala muttering, but not in a vicious way, but just general complaining, preparing to  give up. 

“Fine, but tell him I’m pissed that he’s making you work late,” Vala relented.  

“I will,” Adrienne promised, glad the conversation was over. Vala ended the call without so much as a goodbye and looked at Cam, her face drawn into a scowl.  

“Working late, of course!” Vala said, standing from her lean and slapping the van with her hand, walking in disgust to the other side. 

“So, they’re not coming?” Cam asked as he wiped off his hands and shut the hood, glancing up at her as he stuff the rag into his jeans pocket.  

“No, they’re coming after they finish, driving separate,” Vala replied, disgusted and opened the door where Teal’c was sitting in the navigator’s seat, smiling at him. 

“Move over muscles. If Addy’s not riding with us, I got shotgun,” she declared. Not really caring one way or the other, the Jaffa simply shrugged and relinquished his seat, climbing his large body carefully to the back where the joining members of the Atlantis crew were getting settled. 

Adrienne made sure the call was completely disconnected before turning around, hands on her hips in satisfaction.

“Done,” she declared happily, lifting her eyebrows.  

“Thank you. See, you’re a much better liar,” he answered grinning, Adrienne shaking her head as his ridiculousness at times. She wasn’t sure if Daniel knew about Vala’s plans or not, but either way he seemed very relieved that he and Adrienne were not going with the rest of the group.  Sam and Jack had left hours ago, on Jack’s insistence, and that left  John, Ronan and Teyla included to ride in the very packed van with SG-1 and Daniel seemed to be very uncomfortable with that proposition, much more than usual.  

“Ok, we give them an hour head start and then go.  Easy as pie.  I’m gonna go make sure I have everything,”  she said, starting to leave to head for her quarters, hoping she had not left anything of importance at her apartment.   

“Ad!” Daniel shouted behind her just as she reached the doorway. 

“Yesssss....” she answered, smiling, turning around slowly. Here it comes shug, let’s just keep adding them up. 

“I owe you. I was kinda freaking out over riding in that van all cramped together like that,” he admitted sheepishly, his shoulder shrugging as he tapped his pen nervously.  

“Or you were just afraid that your lap was not going to be your own,” she teased, trying to feel out how much he knew and if there was anything else she needed to know about. True, they were good friends now, very good, but there were still things that he seemed to hide from her, things that tended to cause more harm than good. 

“Something like that; I’ll be down in about 30 minutes....” he replied, closing the locker and zipping up the bag in his hand.  He thought he was just about packed and to be honest he really didn’t care, he was just releived to not be in that cramped with Vala trying to throw herself at him.  She had taken his determination to rescue her from the slavers as some sort of declartion of love, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.  As much as he could avoid her this week, the better, even if it meant latching on to Adrienne for the duration.  She would just have to flirt with Dex later. 

“Give me 45,” she winked and left, almost skipping down the hall.  He didn’t like that wink; that usually meant she was up to no good, but there was no stopping her now, she he grabbed the few items he wanted to take with him to work on and headed down to his quarters to secure his own belongings. 

Forty-five minutes later, like clockwork, he was headed to the parking lot, certain that he would be waiting at least another twenty minutes before his energetic assistant arrived like she up late was just how life functioned. However, when he got to the door to the outside, he reached in is pocket for his keys, only to discover they weren’t there, that his pockets were empty save for a few quarters and a cough drop. He made a face and patted himself down, but the keys were no where to be found so he grunted opening the door to the outside to inform Adrienne that they would need to look for his keys before they left, thinking she might just have been on time, that for once she would be standing right by his car waiting for him. Glancing over to where he had parked his car when he drove in from his apartment a few days ago, he panicked, seeing the space empty, his jeep no where in sight.

“What in the - “ he started but heard a honking behind him, turning on his heels to see his jeep, minus the rag top with Adrienne in the driver’s seat, smiling her devilish smile, her brown eyes sparkling in the light of the setting sun. 

“Debt paid!” she exclaimed, “And.....” reaching over to the console, Daniel was almost blasted a few feet backwards by the sudden loud rap music was emanating from the radio.

“Now we can go!!” she shouted over the loud bass, nodding her head emphatically. He should have expected as much, a part of him wondering when exactly she had gotten a hold of his keys, but he didn’t fuss, just laughed, pointing to the passenger side.  He knew she wouldn’t argue; she was as paranoid about things like driving his jeep, she was under the mistaken impression that he thought his car was a child like she did. Let her think that, it kept her from driving, what she had declared was a car too fun for him to own. Assuming that she just wanted to take the top down like she had been annoying him about for months, he watched her stand and climb over to the seat, his debt paid.  While work was as important to Adrienne as it was to him, he could tell that she was ready for the beach and a week of relaxation, wearing bright pink shorts with TULANE stamped on the leg and a white t-shirt that looked like it was tossed over her racing suit, because Adrienne would be the one woman on this trip to not lay on the beach in a bikini.  She would be in the water.  If anything, he had learned that Adrienne did not like to sit still. Plopping into the seat, Adrienne glanced over at him, beaming, as he went to open the door to the car.

“NO!” she yelled, holding her hands out in front of her to indicate he should stop, slamming the off button on the stereo.  He did, confused, wondering exactly what he had done, or more importantly, what she had done to warrant such a reaction.  

“What?” he asked, hoping there wasn’t some other prank or gift from Vala he needed to worry about, scanning around his seat, door and where he stood while Adrienne sat back in the passenger seat, glowing.

“One does not open the door on a jeep with no top,” she corrected, her finger pointed playfully at the door. Daniel gave her that look, raising his eyebrows behind his glasses. 

“Then how does one get in the car?” he retorted.  

“Climb over or remove the doors, but I figured you’d flip out if I took off the doors,” Adrienne answered.  Laughing, of course she would expect this, he walked to the rear of the jeep, tossing his duffel into the backseat, looking at the door as he approached it.  

“Come baby, just like the Duke boys...” Adrienne coached.  

“I’m not a moonshiner,” Daniel answered slyly, but threw his leg over and hopped into the jeep the best he could, which apparently was good enough, as Adrienne made a wooting sound and began to laugh.  

“That’s what I am talking about Indy! Now let’s rock!” she pointed in the direction of the exit, cranking the radio up again.  Daniel decided to refrain from commenting about that inner redneck that had taken over his front seat; times like this, he was reminded that despite what Adrienne wanted you to believe, she was southern through and through.  Rap music blasting, in a green jeep, with a brunette 

The traffic wasn’t that bad since they were leaving on a Monday, but after a while Adrienne did turn the radio down, peering over at him, a sullen expression on her face.  

“What’s the room situation?” she asked quietly, worry in her tone. 

“Not sure, why?”  he answered, glancing over quickly to see what was wrong. 

“Well you were worried about the car ride; I’m worried about when we get there,” she finally explained, hands fidgeting, picking at her nails he could tell out of the corner of his eye, her nervous tell. 

“I’m assuming it is going to be some combination of male only and female only rooms,” Daniel answered, still puzzled by her reaction. What was wrong, she had been so excited just seconds ago. Breathing out, Adrienne stopped picking, her soft gaze meeting his for the brief moment he could look away from the road, sincerity filling her eyes.  He hated to look away, but he had to, checking his place on the road. 

“I don’t want to room with Vala,” she answered simply, that look of concern growing on her face. 

“Why not? Did she do something to upset you?” he asked, thinking he must have missed something this week, maybe they hadn’t really made amends after their estrogen filled escape.  Adrienne just shrugged.  

“No, I just, I just had a bad experience in college that’s all.  I don’t want to walk in on anything,” Adrienne replied, embarrassed and Daniel finally understood, more of Adrienne’s southern shining through; she thought some things were best kept private, like one’s sex life and apparently Vala must have had one thing on her mind this week. 

“Oh, has she targeted someone?” Daniel inquired, now beginning to worry.  Please say Ronan, Cam, John, anyone, he thought to himself, just not me.   

“I think she’s back on you,” she said faintly.  Of course, Daniel rolled his eyes and kept driving, looking back to the road, his gaze scanning for the nearest exit to get them the hell out of here, but Adrienne, feeling much better getting it out, kept talking, distracting him from his escape plan. 

“Not that it is any of my business, it isn’t, but I kinda don’t wanna to see my best friend getting it on when I am trying to come in to crash,” she explained. 

“I will not be sleeping with Val, you have nothing to worry about.  But, regardless, if she’s your best friend then you just need to tell her this.  Friends respect each other’s limits and boundaries, you just need to set that limit,” Daniel took his eyes off the road for just another brief moment to look over at Adrienne, who was silently reaching down into the floorboards, grabbing a composition book from her backpack, intending to write.  

“Ad, are you listening to me?” Daniel clarified, feeling like she had tuned him out, the look on her face telling him that she was elsewhere.   

“I am,” she said and started to open her book.  

“Then why are you writing?” he asked, looking back out at the open road.  

“Just had a thought, no reason,” Adrienne replied quietly.  

“So, you’re going to talk to her right? You can’t let things like that hang over your head, especially with someone you consider your closest friend, in fact I think she’d be honored you think of her that way,”  Daniel said and slowed the jeep, realizing that he needed gas and they should probably stop for lunch anyway.  He glanced quickly over at Adrienne, who was no longer talking, just scratching away at the journal.  He shrugged, knowing he should just drop it, but also annoyed that he would have to spend this supposedly relaxing week off trying to fight off Vala’a advances.  Pulling to the pump, he started to open the door, but looked over at Adrienne, smiling, and leapt over it.  She didn’t seem to notice.  

“Are they still stuck in the forest?” he asked her, noting that she had not said anything about her characters in a long time, but more importantly trying to start up a conversation, get her out of this funk. He reached over and began to pump gas into the car, checking back over his shoulder periodically to see if she would answer. She remained quiet for a while, scratching pen to paper, like he did so much himself, finally looking up and over at him. 

“No, they’re in a series of tunnels where some sprites are trying to help them,” Adrienne answered, shutting her composition book, this another conversation she was ending abruptly. She stuffed it into her bag and looked up at him, her expression normal again, much to his utter confusion.  

 “I’m hungry, do you want something?” she asked, hopping herself over the door with ease.  

“Always, surprise me,” he shouted to her as she was turning to head inside the connivence store, his stomach reminded him violently that this was the other reason for his stop.  He finished pumping gas and got into the car like a normal person, pulling the jeep up to wait for her and out she came, smiling again thankfully, bag in hand, hopping over door and back into her seat.  Reaching into the bag, please have food Daniel thought, she handed him a chocolate milk and a banana and and got herself the same, finally produced two packs of peanut butter crackers.  

“I should have known,” he said as he grudgingly accepted her snack, not lunch, snack he wanted to say, “next time I request a sandwich, large, meat, cheese, mustard and a candy bar.” Adrienne chuckled, reaching back over to open up his banana, as he backed the vehicle out of the space, heading back for the highway.  

Once they were on the road again, Daniel reached back over for the radio, hoping to put it on some real music before she could take over as DJ. She caught his hand, her eyes cutting over at him, daring him to move another millimeter closer.  

“I thought I would try,” he smiled, relaxing back into the driver’s seat to mentally prepare himself for the audio insanity to come. She didn’t answer, her face resorting to her expression from before, that of worry and concern. What was going on with her?

“Ad, are you ok?” he asked, trying to look back between her and the road, as she turned away, looking out the window, were it there, the wind blowing her brown hair around her face as she pushed it away listlessly. Finally she spoke, looking up at him as she did, seriousness in her stare and worry in her eyes. 

“Daniel, I don’t want to come back to my room to find you in the bed with anyone,” Adrienne said, “It would make me very uncomfortable.”  Back to Vala? That’s what was wrong? There’s got to be more to this, but he tried to keep it light.  

“See,” he laughed, “that’s all you need to say to Vala. But I would add in the best friend thing. I’m serious; it would mean a lot to her.” 

“Vala’s not my best friend you idiot,” Adrienne replied, rolling her eyes, “you are.” 

“Me?” he checked, looking over to judge her face just to make sure he was hearing her correctly.  

“Yes, you.  Who the hell else do I spend all of my free time with?” she asked rhetorically.  He paused, looking back out onto the road.  That’s what this was all about? She thinks of me, me of all people, as her best friend? Daniel thought, those butterflies popping up into his stomach again, although he couldn’t decide for the life of him why in the world being her best friend should or would make him so nervous.  

“What now ass?” she asked, frustrated by his reaction and embarrassed by her word choice.  She felt like a twelve year old, but there really wasn’t a better word to explain it.  Soul mate maybe? Nah, that would imply that she wanted to sleep with him or something and that, as had been clearly explained to her on numerous occasions, was Vala’s territory.  

“Nothing, you’re right.  We are, aren’t we?” he replied, a sly grin on his face that usually meant harassment was about to commence, harassment she didn’t want to hear. Way to go Addy, she thought, way to sound like an idiot. Hiding her flushed cheeks,  Adrienne grabbed the composition book from the floorboard, scowling, or trying her hardest to, hoping he didn’t try to use this against her. 

“I’m gonna write Indy, don’t let it go to your head,” she cut her eyes at him, her token warning. Turning back to glance at the long highway ahead, Daniel just kept smiling, nerves subsiding as he let the drive take his other thoughts away.

They arrived at the beach house by 5 pm and could see that everyone else had already settled in, music coming from a lower level of the domicile, each and every of the window lit. Looking across to Adrienne, who was grabbing her backpack from the floorboard and her duffle from the back seat, Daniel noted that she didn’t look too excited to be here, that worried face from before her current expression.  

“Now we get to see what we are walking in to....” Daniel said, jokingly, hoping for a smart reply in return.  

“No lie,” she answered, hopping out of the jeep, throwing her backpack onto her shoulders.  Adjusting her duffle, she was just heading for the door when she felt him grab her arm gently and his breath at her ear.  It startled her, what was he doing, why was he so close...

“Were you joking about Vala?” he asked quietly, unease in his words. He really didn’t want anything to happen, she noted, thinking it funny since she had always assumed what Vala said was correct, that maybe he was just playing hard to get, especially given the Odyssey... Refocusing, Adrienne shook her head.  

“No, I wasn’t. She made it clear that she has every intention of getting laid this week and you seemed to be the target,” Adrienne responded honestly, turning to face him so he could read her face as she did his. He let go, his azure eyes cutting away, in embarrassment, in frustration, Adrienne wasn’t sure which, but there was something there, something she didn’t want to ask about.   

“Then we’re together, like glue, this entire week, got it?” he ordered, more like a boss than a best friend.  A rush of relief melted over Adrienne; she wouldn’t have to worry abut walking into anything or seeing him with her. She paused, swallowing, why in the world did she care so much, nodding her head to him reassuringly. 

“Ok, Indy, Ok,” Adrienne squeezed his shoulder and together they headed inside the door to an open basement, the source of the music from their arrival, propped open with  a fabric covered cinder block, a pool table visible in the center of the room where John and Cameron had already started a game.  The colonel looked up as John was taking his shot, turning his head to shout up the rickey wooden stairs behind him. 

“T, call Jack and Sam. Bonnie and Clyde have arrived!!” John knocked in a few balls, standing in satisfaction, and looked up to wave.  

“Bonnie and Clyde?” Adrienne questioned. 

“Yeah, Daniel was trouble enough alone.  You’ve just made it that much worse,” Cam joked. Shaking her head, Adrienne walked past their game, heading for the stairs, vaguely aware of a black and tan blob of excitement bobbing in her direction, Vala, tearing down the stairs straight for her.  She felt a squeeze on her bicep, as Daniel grabbed her arm again, pulling her back to him. 

“GLUE,” he hissed but Adrienne just laughed and shook her head, abandoning him to his fate.  She would rescue him later, now that she knew he had no intention of fulfilling her beach week fantasies, she’d let him suffer for a while before coming to save the day.   Daniel cringed as Vala threw herself into his arms, dropping his bag on the floor and trying to shove her away. Sniggering under her breath, she trekked up the stairs and through the open door at the top, right into another living area, one much more adult, with two large leather couches, a fireplace and a big screen television, which wasn’t currently in use.   There Adrienne could see Teyla sitting on one of the sofas with Ronon, having a glass of wine and chatting. Hearing the sound of someone making their way up the creaky stairs, she looked back at Adrienne, bowing her head in greeting. 

“Hello Adrienne.  You will be joining Vala and I.  We are the last room at the end of the hall,” she pointed down a small hallway that went past the kitchen area.  

“Thanks, sorry we’re late,”  Adrienne answered, walking over to plant a kiss on Ronon’s cheek.  Maybe with the promise of glue she could get through the week without Daniel trying to set her up with Ronon.  Maybe.  One could hope. He offered her his wine but she shooed it away, wanting to get settled first before enjoying a glass of red herself.  

“I think that Samantha and Jack want to go to dinner, Teal’c was calling them to inform them of your arrival,” Teyla added.  

“Do you know where? I only brought beach clothes,” Adrienne asked, concerned, imagining Sam selecting some fancy seafood restaurant. Not that Sam was a particulary fancy person, but the general had very good taste, and Adrienne was certain that this good taste would extend to this vacation as it had to Niagara. 

“I am not sure, but I brought a few dresses if you have the need to borrow one,” Teyla offered.  

“Thanks again; I guess I’ll go get settled,” Adrienne said gratefully, turning to head down the hall when she heard footsteps, correction stomping, coming up the stairs and peeked behind to see Daniel entering the living room, alone and he didn’t look happy.  

“What happened to glue?” he spat. 

“Sorry, Indy, I couldn’t resist,” Adrienne shrugged quickly, dashing down the hall before he could scold.  Trying not to be angry, and plotting his revenge for later, Daniel followed, stopping at the room next door where Adrienne could hear Teal’c on the phone with one of the O’Neill’s, although she could not be sure which.  He gave her a dirty look before pushing the partially open door the rest of the way open.  

“You’re a bad best friend,” he accused, trying not to laugh, exaggerating his use of best friend since the term seemed to embarrass her so.  Cheeks flushing in front of him as she stood at the door to her room, he knew his word choice had done the trick, but she recovered quickly, sticking out her tongue at him.  

“No, I’m a fun one.  Don’t worry, I’ll sit with you at dinner, I promise,” she said, walking backwards into the room, her eyebrows dancing as she gave him the impression that she was doing some plotting of her own.  Of course she was, Daniel thought, quietly entering as Teal’c continued his phone conversation. 

Adrienne was thankful Teyla had packed those dresses because Sam did indeed pick a nicer place, although not exactly fancy.  About an hour later they were waiting to be seated in a candle lit seafood restaurant that also housed a buffet, at Jack’s insistence. As predicted, Vala started to cozy up to Daniel again, running her arm through his and trying to whisper things in his ear and he was fighting her off, to the best of his ability without making a scene, glaring at Adrienne in desperation.  Adrienne tried to invent a way to intervene, but this wasn’t work, none of her stock get Daniel out of a situation he didn’t want to be in excuses would work here and she was at a bit of a loss.  Finally, no other option feasible, she decided to go with what worked, what always worked and worry about enduring the wrath later.  

“Mine tonight,” Adrienne walked over, sliding her arm around his waist seductively, pulling him close to her, slipping her thumb into the pocket of his khakis for effect. He cut his eyes over at her, eyes full of panic at both women clinging to him, one he didn’t want there and another that just made him insane. Or was it the other way around? What in the hell was Adrienne doing? 

“Stop kidding Addy,” Vala made a face at Adrienne confused, but the cajun didn’t miss a beat, leaning across Daniel, laying her hand gently on his chest, her finger sliding into the space between the buttons on his shirt, toying with his chest lightly and bringing her face closer to Vala.  

“We did come late Vala, put two and two together, sorry”  she whispered in that Vala tone of voice, sultry, the voice she had been practicing lately with the new found confidence that she could pull off seductive when needed, lack of acting skills or not. She felt his arm wrap around her, not playing along, but pinched her arm, taking every bit of her will power to not slug him and leave him to his own devices. Relinquishing her grasp, Vala made a disappointed face, and backed away, walking over to where Teal’c and Ronon were talking.  Adrienne stood upright, pulling her hand from his torso and running it through his arm, looking up at Daniel who was making his own face at her.  

“Can it Indy, it was either her or me. Do you want me to tell her I was lying?” Adrienne countered but Daniel shook his head at her. Yet another reason why the base thought they were sleeping together, Adrienne’s constant torture of Vala, which she seemed to get better and better at each day, but it did get her to back off, so he just kept his mouth shut and willed his insides to unknot themselves.  Just in time, before Adrienne had to do anything else embarrassing to keep Vala at bay, the hostess arrived to escort them to their table, and they walked arm and arm behind the rest of the group. 

Dinner was normal, as normal as it could get with this particular group of friends.  Everyone ate well and some, Cam and John in particular, had a few more drinks than they should but no one really cared.  Teal’c drove the very full van back anyways, with Adrienne following orders to stick like glue, shoved in the backseat between Daniel and Teyla, her boss and best friend clinging to her for dear life. Vala was seated in the center part of the van, on Ronon’s lap, illegally, shooting evil glares in Adrienne’s direction, so much so that Adrienne was half tempted to plant a kiss right on Daniel, though the thought liked to give her fits. She didn’t and it seemed that her ploy at the restaurant worked for the most part, so she really didn’t need to take it any further, keeping her hopes up this would work for the rest of the week, otherwise Daniel would be on his own.  

When they got back to the beach house, everyone settled in to watch a movie, something stupid that Cameron insisted that they watch, well stupid in Daniel’s opinion as he spent the entire film right beside Adrienne, spelling furiously onto her leg, while Adrienne just sat there, sipping the red wine she had secured from her bag. Finally it was over and there was a sequel that Cameron had brought as well, but Adrienne excused herself to bed, tired and achy from sitting so long and realizing that Daniel was correct and no amount of wine would dull the absurdity of the colonel’s selections of feature films. She was the recipient of a dirty look once more, but just kissed him on the cheek, slow enough to get Vala’s attention and hopefully ward her off of him for the rest of the night. Within minutes she was good, asleep and comfortable, dreaming of tall blonde viking vampires on a bed of snow, something she would never normally go for but it was Eric after all, when she felt the presence of a face in hers and slowly opened her eyes. It was Vala, smiling, a complete one eighty from dinner.

“Coast is clear, I’ll cover you,” she whispered, a playful tone in her voice.  

“What?” Adrienne answered, rolling over onto her side, rubbing sleep from her eyes, memories of the sheriff of area five drifting away.  Excitedly, Vala hopped into the queen bed with her.  Adrienne knew that she would have to share a bed, so in her sleepy state she just assumed that Vala had endured the entire sequel and was coming to sleep herself so Adrienne pulled the covers up over her shoulder scooting her body closer to the wall to give her friend space. 

“Everyone’s in bed.  No one will hear you slip out.  Have fun!” her voice was both giddy and snarky if that was even possible.  Adrienne was confused, she wasn’t going anywhere; she wanted to sleep, between the wine and excitement, she needed to sleep. 

“Slip out where? It is too late to buy more booze Vala, I’ll get some more tomorrow,” Adrienne answered, her back still to Vala, starting to be annoyed. 

“Oh, I thought you two were planning on, well, having fun tonight,” Vala whispered, now sounding confused herself. Adrienne opened her eyes.   

“Dammit,” Adrienne said out loud, by accident.  She had completely forgotten her ploy from the restaurant.  Great, would she have to keep this up all week? 

“Well, go over there, Teal’c doing that sleep mediating he does, so if you two are quiet he won’t hear a thing,”  Vala assured her tapping her arm.  Adrienne let out a sigh and sadly left her comfortable bed trudging herself to the door. He was going to owe her big time, glue my ass, she thought.  She didn’t even knock at their door, she just turned the knob and entered and saw he was sleeping on the bed in the far corner, thankfully.  Closing the door behind her, she dragged herself past Teal’c deathly still seated position on the floor and to the side of his beg, shoving his arm forcefully. 

“Scoot over,” she ordered.  Daniel stirred awake and did as he was told without question, used to, at this point, taking orders from her. 

“Why?” he asked sleepily as he moved over.  

“Glue,” she replied and crawled in, flipping over to point her back to him.  

“Oh,” he said and did the same. 

“You might want to moan though, or something, ya know, for effect,” Adrienne teased.  

“Cute Ad, very cute,” he answered and went back to sleep.  

She shivered as she woke up reaching for covers that weren’t there, while hitting an arm that was, and she opened her eyes to discover that she was in a twin bed, with Daniel, whose arm was draped across her uncovered waist while he was warmly bundled in blankets. 

“You have got to be kidding me,” Adrienne muttered quietly, lifting his arm to slip away before being seen, glancing up to see Teal’c awake and looking right at her.  

“It’s not what it looks like; he wants to avoid Vala,” Adrienne said and skittered to her room.  

“Of course,” Teal’c answered.  Adrienne decided her and Mr. Don’t Leave My Side needed to have a talk; soon.  

At breakfast, Cameron, always the cruise director, declared they would spend most of the day on the beach with no Niagara like activities planned for their first full day. Adrienne was overjoyed, after her very uncomfortable, more internally than ex, night’s sleep crammed into a tiny bed with Daniel, a swim was just what she needed.  Most everyone was still milling around the counter in the kitchen eating when she dashed back into her room and slipped on her black racing suit, grabbing her body board from where she propped it against the wall.  Peeking left and right at the door, feeling suspiciously like some secret agent, she slipped down the hall out of the patio door successfully avoiding both Daniel and Vala.  

When she arrived at the beach she was surprised to see Sam was already there, laying on a towel and reading a magazine.  Adrienne tossed her towel down beside her, preparing to claim her space beside someone sane and normal for the day rather than repeat yesterday. 

  

“Anything interesting on your end?” Sam asked, peering over her sunglasses. She was such as beautiful and dignified woman, Adrienne thought to herself, noting the brown one piece suit with gold accents that just seemed to fit the general so well, just so classic. Rather than respond, Adrienne laughed at her question, unable to come up with a condensed version of the chaos she had so far endured. 

“Uh oh,” Sam replied, pulling her glasses down off of her face and sitting up, awaiting a story.  

“No, it was nothing.  Let’s just say I tried to do a good deed and got in a little over my head,” Adrienne responded, eyes rolling before cutting out to the surf. 

“I can only imagine,” Sam said and she could.  Adrienne and Daniel had grown very close lately, practically inseparable and Adrienne had proven to be as much trouble as Daniel.  Sam didn’t ask for further details; she would rather not hear about their escapades on vacation but she could only imagine what practical joke the two of them might be pulling off, at Vala’s expense most likely. 

“Watch my towel?” Adrienne asked, eager to do something else besides talk about her boss, “I’m gonna hit the waves.”  

Sam reached over for her cooler in the sand beside her, dusted it off and set it on Adrienne’s towel, reading in her younger friend’s face that she didn’t want to discuss whatever adventures has gone on in their house the night before. Stopping to breath in the fresh ocean air, Adrienne strapped her board to her wrist, running full force out into the water.  The ocean was cold, but Adrienne didn’t mind, it just got her blood pumping more, and she held the board firmly to her chest, diving into the water the best she could, swimming out just far enough to still be seen by her friends should they look for her. Content with her place in the rolling waves, she climbed up on her body board to let herself float, watching them all piling out of the house, one by one; Ronon and Cam racing toward the beach, John and Teyla coming out talking with chairs in hand and a cooler between them.  Teal’c and Daniel were next, towels over their shoulders, Daniel with a messenger bag through over his as well.  Leave it to him to bring something boring to the beach.  And then came Vala.  Adrienne couldn’t have missed her even if she tried as Vala was wearing a purple bikini, if you could call it a bikini or clothing at all, gold sunglasses and a gigantic purple hat with a large ridiculous hot pink beach bag over her shoulder and a full margarita glass in hand.  We just had breakfast, Adrienne thought, how in the world can she drink, as she started to paddle her way in, not wanting to appear too antisocial, however, just as she had started to approach the shore  Cam and Ronon were fast approaching, looking as if they wanted to do some serious swimming themselves.  She paddled forward and caught a small wave, riding it into their direction, grabbing the board from the sand and tucking it under her arm, jogging over. 

“If I knew you brought yours out this morning I’d have gotten mine!” Cam said in greeting as he pointed to her board.  

“Go get it lazy,” Adrienne shouted back, slowing her pace as she reached them.  

“Exactly, lazy,” he laughed, cocking his head to the water, “Wanna swim?” 

“Hell yeah, let me set this down and I’ll join you guys. How far?”  Adrienne asked as she left the water, her body excited about the prospect of a good long swim and her feet already heading toward Sam.

“There’s a mile marker over there,” Cam pointed to a pier right in front of the house that Jack and Sam had rented,” I figure we start there and swim to the next mile marker and back.”  

“Sounds good to me; I’ll meet you up there!” Adrienne unstrapped her board from her wrist and tucked it underneath of her arm, running over to Sam and her towel, where now Daniel, Teal’c and Jack were setting up their things.  Waving to them, set her board on her towel and turned to go when she felt someone grab her and she peered over her shoulder, not surprised to see that Daniel was the grabber.  Muttering under his breath, he pulled her over to the side.  

“Where are you going?” he asked her forcefully as she jerked her hand away, glaring at him.   

“To swim a few miles with Cam and Dex, why?” Adrienne asked, but she knew why and she wasn’t going to play this game.  Keeping Vala out of his bed was one thing, spending her week babysitting him was another.  She needed this vacation, especially how hard he had been working her lately, and it wasn’t fair of him to ask her to sacrifice it for anything.  

“Because she’s already tried to get me to apply lotion to her; I think she saw through your little act last night,” Daniel tried to keep his voice down.  

“My act!?!” Adrienne hissed between her teeth, “I did that for you and got kicked out of my comfortable bed to squeeze into a single with you!! Which is hard to sleep in with someone when you are trying not to be all over them despite the fact they certainly seem to want to cuddle with you!!”  Daniel made a face at her, a combination of desperation and annoyance but Adrienne wasn’t going to let him win.  

“Look, Indy, I adore you, I really really do,  but you’ve got two options here.  One, come swimming with me but it’s about four times what we have to swim on fitness tests and you hate those.  Option two, grow a pair.  Tell her you’re not interested,” Adrienne crossed her arms, refusing to back down.  

“Don’t you think I would do that if it worked!?! I’ve tried.  She thinks I’m playing hard to get,” Daniel pleaded. Adrienne, however, remained unconvinced.  

“Maybe you are,” she replied and turned and heading for the water once more but not without taking a quick peek over her shoulder to see Vala dancing up to her best friend and him glaring at her evilly.  Let him deal with her, didn’t he have to deal with this before she was hired? Why did she have to be his savior? Shaking her head in disgust, Adrienne looked back in the direction of the men, noticing John was joining them as well. 

“What was that all about?” Cam asked once Adrienne reached them, gazing over in the direction of the shoreline.  Vala was standing there, arm around Daniel, whispering something to him, while he was trying to weasel away. 

“Apparently I am supposed to keep her from throwing herself at him.  I don’t believe that was in the friendship manual,” Adrienne stated.  John started to laugh, noticing Vala now running her finger down Daniel’s bare chest.  

“Can we just swim? For once, I’d like to do something with you people that doesn’t involve babysitting Daniel!” Adrienne shouted in frustration and walked out into the water, reaching forward and beginning her stroke.  

The swim was great and Adrienne felt such as rush of adrenaline when it was over, the exact rush she needed.  No one raced, they just kept a good, strong rhythm as they worked their was through the miles and with the endorphins racing through her system she felt so good that she had forgotten all about this morning and was happily swimming back to the area in front of their cottage when she saw her, dropping her feet to the sand. There was Vala, flat on her stomach on her body board, reaching out for Daniel, who was standing over her, guarding her, protecting her, Adrienne didn’t care what, but he was doing exactly what he shouldn’t be. Placating her.  

“For the love of all things sacred and holy,” Adrienne exclaimed as John was coming up on her side.  

“Oh no Addy, did she steal your man?” John picked.  Adrienne shot him a cold piercing glare over her shoulder, her brown eyes almost black in the sunlight. 

“No, she stole my board!!” she spat and swam over to them, redirecting her ocular daggers at her boss.  

“Vala! What are you doing with my board?” Adrienne asked, standing in the water.  It was shallow enough to stand but Vala was paddling about like a child while Daniel just stood there rolling his eyes.  

“Daniel said I could use it, I thought that was alright?” she answered, honestly, and Adrienne could tell she felt bad.  At least she’d asked permission, permission that Daniel shouldn’t have granted but Adrienne would have to deal with that later.  

“No, it’s ok, do you know how to do it?” she asked her, cooing her tone, trying to recite a calming mantra in her head.  

“Yeah, I’ve seen it on TV,” Vala answered. Not the answer Adrienne was looking for, but she would deal, trying to be nice and calm, remembering Daniel request that Adrienne keep in mind that Vala lacked certain Earth experiences.  

“Ok, well, just be careful,” Adrienne conceded, “it’s a real one, not the cheap beach shop knock off and you really aren’t wearing the suit for anything too serious alright.  Just ride the gentle ones in; don’t go for anything too crazy.” 

“Promise,” she said and started to paddle away from them. Out of sight, it was now time for the selected battle.    

“Dammit Daniel,” Adrienne swore as she moved closer to him, “that’s an expensive toy to be letting her play with!” 

“Look, she wanted to wallow all over something and it was either the board or me,” he responded as if Adrienne really cared one way or the other about their stupid issues with each other, issues that had ousted her from her room and almost kept her from a swim.  Right now she just cared about her board.  

“If she messes it up, it’s on you,” Adrienne glared at him. He could tell she was angry, really angry, give him chills with that glare of her angry, and that hadn’t been his intention.   

“Fine, fine,” he answered and starting walking over to collect the board and his groupie preferring to keep the peace with Adrienne over Vala any day; he needed Adrienne and, well, like she said, she was his best friend.   However, before he could reach the delighted and scantly clad Vala, a rather large wave began to form and rather than shy away from it, she starting paddling toward it, laughing excitedly on her approach. Adrienne shouted out, concerned about both her friend and her board, but Vala didn’t listen, instead tried to stand up on it like it was a regular surf board. Unable to watch, knowing that there was just no good end to this very bad choice, Adrienne just covered her face, taking a deep breath and starting in with that calming mantra. Daniel however, stared in shocked silence, his stomach sinking, not only because of what he knew was going to happen but because of how angry Adrienne was going to be with him. How could he be her best friend? He drove her insane. He starting formulating his apology to Adrienne, trying to think of what he could do to make it up to her, to make this all up to her when he saw Vala, fully upright for about an eighth of a second and then she crashing down into the waves.  Registering in his mind what happened, and unsure as to how well she could swim. Daniel started to move forward to help but Adrienne grabbed his arm, her expression daring him to move.

“If you go running over there, glue is off, do I make myself clear?” she hissed, her finger pointed in her face.  Yeah, she’s mad, he thought and stayed put as requested, knowing that Adrienne was at her limit.  Seconds passed and Vala was still under the water, so Adrienne began to swim over to where she had fallen, reaching under the surface.  She knew Vala could swim from the fitness tests, but she was slightly worried about the riptide, yet just as Adrienne reached where she had witnessed her going under, she saw Vala’s head pop out of the water only a few feet a way, much to her relief.  She shook her head, coughing and spitting out ocean water in all directions, before bringing herself out of the water. And then the rest of Vala rose. Adrienne put her head in her hands, because only to her friend would this happen; Vala had lost the top to her overly skimpy suit, the one people should not swim in, should not ride body boards in, and was standing on the beach, completely topless. 

“Vala, cover yourself!” Adrienne ordered and Vala quickly grabbed at her chest, realizing what had happened.

“Your stupid board pulled me under!” she fussed at Adrienne, now noticing the entire beach looking at her and relaxing her hands, taking in the attention.  Frustrated, Adrienne smacked her arm, scowling at her as she continued scolding. 

“No, it’s stupid rider doesn’t know what she’s doing nor was she dressed for riding it,” she spat as she reached over to undo the strap on Vala’s wrist, the entire beach watching her reaching for her friend’s chest.  Adrienne was fuming, no words in Spanish, English, Cajun French or even Ancient to describe how she was feeling as she ripped the board from Vala’s grasp and turned to go back to her towel.  

“Addy, you can’t leave me out here like this!” Vala shouted out to Adrienne, searching the tides at her ankles for the missing top,  but Adrienne just kept walking back to the direction of Sam, Jack and Daniel. She reached Daniel, who was watching the scene ahead of him unfold, glared at him and kept walking.  

“Stare harder Indy, because that gets your point across,” Adrienne hissed as she passed, Daniel quickly whirling around to follow.  

“Are you going to leave her like that?” he asked, but he knew Adrienne well enough to know her answer.  

“Yep,” Adrienne said as she stepped out of the water.  Oh yeah, we are at code five mad, he thought, not daring to assist Vala or even look in her direction watching a still fuming Adrienne walk her board over to Sam and set it beside her towel. 

“Generals, I’m leaving you in charge of my things because my best friend here apparently cannot say no to a half-naked woman.  Genius level IQ, with proper attire and a minimal annoyance level is the new criterion for using my board,” Adrienne stated and glared back at Daniel, facing Sam and Jack once more.  

“And he is not to touch it,” she said, emphasizing the he and cocking her head at Daniel. Adrienne, tired, hungry and annoyed at everything in general decided to go get something to eat, wrapping herself in her second towel and heading back to the beach house.  When she got there she rummaged through the fridge, looking for the yogurts or any other healthy snack she could get her hands on, grabbed some things and was setting herself up at the counter when she heard a shout and John came bursting in the door, followed by Teyla.  

“What’s wrong?” Adrienne asked.  

“He got stung by one of those jelly things.  He was swimming out to Ronon and it caught him by surprise,” Teyla explained.  

“I hate those damn things, but without fail I’m gonna get stung,”  John said and Teyla made him sit on the counter. Adrienne offered to help, but Teyla assured her that she had everything under control and John just sat there complaining while she tended to him.  Reminded her of she and Daniel. Must just be the way things worked around here. 

By the time Adrienne had returned to the beach, she saw that Vala had recovered her top and thankfully was turning her flirtations to Ronon, who, absent his swimming buddy, was sunning himself on the sand, sipping a soda. Pleased things seemed calmed down, or at least SG group normal, Adrienne strolled over to her towel and picked up her book, planning on resuming reading noting that Sam and Jack had swam out themselves while only Teal’c and Daniel remained behind, on two towels situated right before her. Without a work, she sat down on her towel and got comfortable, fluffing her backpack to act as a pillow.   

“You still angry with me?” she heard Daniel ask. 

“I wasn’t angry with you; you just test my patience.  However, that’s nothing new,” Adrienne answered curtly. She heard Daniel force a laugh, trying to be friendly, but she simply turned the page in her book and tried to let the fantasy world take her away. Sookie would be a welcome distraction right about now.   

Daniel wanted to get in the water, but kept looking over at Vala, hoping that she wouldn’t follow.  He could tell Adrienne, try to get her out there again. but it was annoying even him now to depend on her so much; he was just going to have to heed her advice, suck it up and stand up to her. Mentally preparing himself for a possible argument, he set out for the water, taking his chances with fate. He waded in cautiously and once it was waist deep, he gazed out into the horizon seeing a pier in the slight distance.  He decided just to swim there and back, knowing much more might be a stretch for him, especially alone.  Cracking his neck before he began, he started to lean his arms forward when he felt a hand on his back.  Dammit, he thought to himself, almost made it and turned around slowly mentally preparing to give Vala a speech, again, about boundaries, but was happily surprised to see Adrienne.  

“I thought you were reading,” Daniel inquired, wanting to really ask if she was still angry with him.   

“Sookie pissed me off again and besides, I saw you looking like you were going to do some distance so I had to come,” she smiled at him and nodded in the in the direction of the pier once more.  She wasn’t mad, much to his relief and he didn’t want to push his luck, extending his arms once more in the direction of the structure, his assistant, correction, his best friend close behind him.  When they arrived, Daniel grabbed onto a wooden support to rest for a bit and hoped Adrienne would not harass him for doing so, but she didn’t, just swam up to where he was and grabbed onto the bar herself gazing at him sorrowfully as she pushed her wet hair out of her face.  

“Let’s keep going,” she declared and looked out into the distance, breathing out strongly. 

“It’s going to be lunch soon,” Daniel answered, “and I am sure that Cameron will have some other plans.” Adrienne didn’t answer, just refocused her attention on him, withdrawn and quiet.   

“You don’t look very happy,” Daniel stated, concerned to see her like this, “is something wrong. Besides Vala?”  

“I just wanted a vacation.  A real vacation.  I wanted to swim until my arms hurt and then lay on the beach reading my stupid horror novels and spend my evenings sipping margaritas, not.. ” Adrienne trailed off, not wanting to hurt his feelings.  He tried, he really did, but for some reason Vala just targeted him like no other and he couldn’t help that anymore than he could help that she seemed to have now roped Adrienne into the non-existent equation. Adrienne was fairly certain it was a personal challenge, Daniel being the one man she couldn’t conquer, but she wasn’t about to analyze, all she did know was that this man that only months ago she would have happily tossed under the bus to get at his job, but now? Now Daniel Jackson meant the world to her, meant everything to her. He was the friend she had never had. 

“Ok, well, let’s skip lunch,” Daniel suggested, “and dinner.  Let’s swim to that marker you guys swam to before and then go do something you want to do.” 

“Really?” she asked, puzzled by his sudden kindness.  Sometimes their friendship felt a little one sided, but here he was, offering to do something for her, and more importantly, he was offering to skip eating.  

“Yeah, I mean, we have to keep up the act for Vala anyway, right? Let her think we are having a secret romantic rendevouz, ” he smiled playfully this time and Adrienne could see the twinkle of his brilliant blue eyes in the sunlight.  She tried not to notice, shaking her head to knock the image away, cursing herself for having such silly thoughts about her friend.  

“You sure Indy?” she clarified, focusing back on the conversation. 

“Absolutely,” he said and he grabbed her arm, pulling her back out to the water.  watching him swim away, watching him sacrificing his whole afternoon for her, she smiled softly before diving in behind him. 

They were not back at the beach until nearly three o’clock and everyone was gone.  Adrienne knew Sam would have taken her things back with her, so she was glad that she had left them in her care.  The general, however, did leave two towels folded nicely where they were all seated before, thoughtful of her, and Adrienne passed one over to Daniel, wrapping the other around herself.  

“Better?” he asked.  

“Much, so what trouble are we going to get into now?” Adrienne inquired of her friend, still in shock hours later that he was agreeing to all of this.  This, she thought, this is why I adore him.   

“Well, before Vala decided to try to show off her non-existent surfing skills I heard Jack talking about a lighthouse that is supposedly haunted.  I know you like that nonsense,” Daniel teased her. 

“I think you’re just scared of ghosts,”  she joked, squeezing his arm before turning to head toward the beach house. 

“Think what you will. Let’s go shower, get something to eat and then we’ll see how brave you really are Miss Perfect,” Daniel challenged as he followed behind.    

They showered quickly, Adrienne both hungry and excited for their little adventure.  When she got back to her room, she saw that Sam had texted her, her phone blinking brightly to report the message. 

Looked like you needed a Vala break. You two have fun. ;-)

Great, Adrienne thought, is there anyone here who does not think that we are together?  She didn’t respond back, lacking an appropriate response, any response that didn’t sound like they were on a date, and threw on some shorts and a t-shirt, scooted her feet into some sandals, walking over to the guy’s room where Daniel was just putting his own shoes on.  

“You ready?” she asked.  

“Yep, and no Mexican, please,” he requested as he stood from the bed.  Adrienne made a sad face.  

“Sigh,” she said, “But I need Mexican to prevent depression,” cracking up at her own childish behavior.  

“Nice try, you do a bad Vala though,” Daniel stuffed his wallet into his shorts and they headed for the jeep.  

Daniel would not give in on the Mexican, so instead they found an Indian place that no amount of reason or pleasing would have never gotten the group to agree too. Adrienne ordered the spiciest thing on the menu and Daniel actually timed her to see how long until her mouth was on fire and sure enough about three minutes into eating her meal, she was fighting back tears as he was fighting back laughter.  

“You’re a bad friend!” she said, “shouldn’t you be trying to help me?” 

“I’m a bad friend?  You left me to Vala! This is just payback,”  he replied.  Scowling, she reached for his water to cool her mouth, refusing the relinquish the glass when their server returned. No one to rush them along, to whine or complain, they took their time eating dinner and since it would not be dark for a few more hours, the ghost tours beginning at dusk, they decided to go for ice cream afterwards.  Much to Daniel’s surprise, neither of them heard a peep out of their friends.  

The pair arrived at the lighthouse at dusk and there was already a line, of suckers, as Daniel pointed out to Adrienne but she just shook her head, shoved his arm and marched up to the ticket booth to purchase two tickets. The tour began at the gift shop, a fact Daniel was quick to point out to Adrienne as well, and the young college aged guide began on the small porch of the shop with stories of pirates and rum running.  Chuckling, Daniel leaned over to whisper to Adrienne.

“Rum runners, sounds like your kind of people,” he picked. Making a face, but not making eye contact, she elbowed him.  

The tour moved on to the grounds of the lighthouse and the guide pointed out some headstones on the premises which of course had a long story as to how the last light house keeper had died.  Daniel started to make fun of that as well, but Adrienne just clamped her hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh herself. 

Finally the tour took them into the lighthouse itself, the young man instructing them in a feigned creepy voice, the flashlight under his chin, to be quiet and stand, looking up the large spiral staircase to the top, the same spiral staircase from which the last living lighthouse keeper had thrown himself.  Daniel stood there in the silence, not looking at the steps as requested, but looking at Adrienne, not believing that she was buying into all of this. He was fairly certain that she didn’t really believe ghosts or haunted houses; there was no way someone so intelligent could, but that rather she just liked to pretend for some reason he could not fathom.  She didn’t seem jumpy at all and while others in the group were pointing at every shadow as if it was a ghost, in fact, Adrienne actually looked somewhat disappointed, which concerned him since the entire point of this evening was to have fun together. When it was time to leave, Daniel looked over at her, worried that this might not have been his most brilliant idea. 

“Sorry, you don’t look like you had any fun,” he said as they got to the jeep, jumping over the door, the rag top still being off, just for Adrienne’s amusement.  She smiled, much to his pleasure, noting the gesture.   

“No, I did. Just hoped I would see something.  But this was much better than, well, it was much better.  Thanks,”  she said, hopping into her side.

“Probably can’t be as antisocial tomorrow,” Daniel added as he started up the jeep, backing slowly from the space. 

“Fine, fine. Then you can’t make me play babysitter all day. Tell her to go away,” Adrienne looked over at him with her serious face, hoping he understood, wanting him to understand the absurdity of it all. 

“That’s fair,” he agreed, and they drove back to the house, laughing together at their fellow ghosts hunters and the ridiculous tour.

It was about two in the morning when Daniel heard the door to his room open, faint light blinding him momentarily.  When they arrived back, no one seemed to mind they had been gone and Sam was over in the kitchen making margaritas, making Adrienne blissfully happy as margaritas always did and before long she was sitting on the kitchen counter beside the blender laughing the night away.  She seemed to be having fun and Daniel was just glad to see her smiling again, even talking to Vala like nothing had transpired this afternoon, no wave board incident, nothing. At midnight, he excused himself to bed, tired from swimming and knowing he needed sleep after Cameron had laid out tomorrow’s itinerary, including a road trip and a hike along some sand dunes.  But it was two now, and door closed, clicking out the light like a switch but not before he saw a figure approaching his bed. Time to keep his promise to Adrienne.  

“Vala,” he stated sternly “Lay off. This just gets old after a while.”  

“It’s not Vala,” Adrienne hissed back at him, “scoot over.” 

“Why?” he asked, but again, like last night, did as he was told, preparing to hear the latest in the Vala wants to get laid saga and how it meant he was going to spend yet another night in bed with his assistant.  

“I thought I saw a ghost,” she said sheepishly as she crawled in beside him.  He just laughed, refraining from comment, and turned his back to her before falling back to sleep.