Daniel and Adrienne #20: Beliefs

“Adrienne, are you in here?!?!” she heard a familiar voice calling her name as she rinsed shampoo from her hair, startling her so that she was unable to catch a dollop of soap trickling its way into her eye. He couldn’t be in here, she thought, wincing in pain as the chemicals invaded the soft outer covering of her ocular organ, she must be hearing things Maybe a 5 mile run at 3 a.m. was a bad idea, reverse schedule this month or not, maybe the exhaustion of a middle of the night workout had made her begin to imagine things, imagine her boss tracking her down at all hours of the night.  Assuring herself that she was indeed going insane, he turned her head, rinsing the remainder of the shampoo from her scalp to avoid any further burning confrontations.

“Ad, you have got to be in here,” she now heard, louder this time and echoing off the tiles. Oh my lord, finally registering to her that she wasn’t imagining this, he has followed me into the showers.  Part of her still in disbelief that he would have the audacity to storm his way in here, universe hanging in the balance problem or not, she stuck her head out of the curtain and there he was, him looking right at her, a folder in his hand which he was opening as soon as he hear the metal rings against the bar, taking that as some signal he should speak. 

“Hey, listen, I’m not getting the same thing that you are here and I know that Babylonian is neither of our areas of speciality but I think we need to go over this immediately since we are leaving tomorrow....” he began, trailing off as he muttered something to himself, no eye contact, just staring at the folder. Adrienne just stood there, water still pounding down her back, protected only by the curtain, glaring at him like he had lost his mind.  

“Daniel, you do realize where you are right now, don’t you?” she asked, not fully believing the words that were coming out of her mouth.  He stopped, his face not showing one inkling of surprise, looking around himself and then back at Adrienne, shrugging.   

“Yes, Ad, the women’s locker room, but it’s 3 in the morning and you’re the only person on this base insane enough to exercise and shower at this hour, especially when there are other things to be done,” he retorted, not liking the suggestion that he was an idiot.  Adrienne made a face at him.  

“I’m not discussing work while I’m in the shower, a shower after a run that you gave me permission to take, so you can just trot your happy little self back to the lab and I’ll be with you shortly,” she replied, ducking her head back into the curtain to rinse once more before shutting off the water. 

“Adrienne, I’m not going to operate on Cajun time for this one; I’m going to wait right here and move you along at normal speed if I have to,” he answered, shouting over the water so she could hear him, to make himself clear. This mission had him worked up and he needed her backing on this, one way or the other.   

“Whatever,” she hissed back and shut off the water, reaching for her towel just outside the stall, wrapping herself in it.  She was just about to open the curtain to fuss at him again when she heard voices, female voices coming from the direction of the changing area and Daniel swearing in a whisper.  Quickly, she opened the curtain and pulled him into the shower stall with her, closing the cover quickly behind her.  

“This is why one does not barge in the women’s locker room to talk about something stupid!!” Adrienne hissed, trying to be angry but also not trying to laugh at the ridiculousness of their current situation. They always managed to get into awkward situations that Vala would have died for but Adrienne? She just died of embarrassment. Why wouldn’t this man give her a moment’s peace?   

“Ok, ok,” he said, “ stupid idea. But really, who in the hell else works out in the middle of the night?” he whispered back. Adrienne opened her mouth to answer, to inform him that reverse schedule meant that you reverse your schedule, not that you just stay up for 72 hours straight, working, but the voices were now closer, Daniel looking at her in sheer terror. Growling, she clamped her hand over his mouth and brought her lips to his ear. 

“Climb up on the bench,” she instructed, pointing to the bench in the shower stall suddenly very glad she picked the big one in the back today.  Not seeing any other option, he grabbed her shoulders, trying not to slip, stepping his boot carefully on the very wet wooden seat, trying not to pull of her towel in the process because then she would really kill him. Supposed best friends or not, he never seems to be able to do or say the right thing with her, which while before caused significant tension, now just caused continual harassment.  Once he was safely on the bench, Adrienne reached over and turned the water on again, spraying his pants leg in doing so, reaching to open the curtain. 

“Where are you going?” he whispered frantically, a panicked look in his eyes, shaking his leg to avoid the water. Her expression changed to that glare he was so familiar with, the one that would kill small bunnies and other innocent creatures.   

“I’m going to figure out a way to get you out of here without a sexual harassment lawsuit. Don’t go anywhere, don’t speak and don’t breath,” she ordered, ducking out of the stall.  Accepting his temporary prison, Daniel knelt the best he could on the bench, feeling the water penetrate his pants leg and start to soak the skin underneath.

Adrienne was relieved that it was just Anne Mardsen and Lt. Tuiy of SG-14, her first worry that it was Vala, or worse, Sam and they would see through her act and jump to conclusions. Anne, however, was very nice, didn’t know Adrienne that well, and had been particularly friendly with the archaeological assistant since their mission to PSF-2937, in fact, Adrienne was even half-tempted to tell Anne what had happened, just to mortify Daniel further, knowing Mardsen would be happy to help harass him.  However, she wasn’t so sure about Lt. Tuiy and the last thing that either of them needed before a big mission was to be dragged into Woolsey’s office having to explain that she and her boss were not having a romantic liaison in the showers.  It was Sam’s office really, but Woolsey had declared himself the official head of the SGC for the overnight shift, where they had been this past month but not really wanted to explain herself to either,  Adrienne needed a better idea.  

“Hey Anne,” Adrienne said smiling, “just warning you guys but I’ve had that shower running for 20 minutes and it’s still freezing cold.  I’ve suffered as much as I can; I’m gonna grab my conditioner and try one more time, but if I was still dressed you can best believe that I would be heading to my own quarters to shower,” Adrienne explained, trying to make himself look like she was freezing, letting the nerves of she and Daniel getting caught like this act as her cover and it seemed to work as  Anne made an annoyed face glancing back at her companion.  

“Typical government facilities,” she replied, buying Adrienne’s excuse, thankfully “do you want to call maintenance or me?” Adrienne tried to looked annoyed herself, but was relieved Anne asked, having not thought ahead as to how she would explain herself out of this little lie. Maybe Daniel was right about lying...  

“I’ll call, say it made me late and Daniel’s mad. That’ll probably do the trick,” she lied, again, deftly, Daniel’s voice scolding her for continuing to lie floating through her head. but just Anne laughed, nodding in agreement. 

“I love how you always toss the blame back on him,” Anne said, still laughing.  

“Hey, certain powers know not to cross him; I use what I got,” she replied.  Anne nodded again, not saying anything else, but her face spoke volumes. Yes, I know, Adrienne thought, you are thinking what everyone else is thinking but he’s not my boyfriend. He’s too old for me, regardless of how good looking he is and he’s like my brother and that’s just, well, weird. 

“Alright, thanks for the warning Addy.  Enjoy your cold shower,” she added, tossing her gym bag over her should and Tuiy, who was never much of a talker anyway, followed her out of the locker room.  Relieved, Adrienne rushed over to lock the door, yelling over her shoulder.  

“Coast is clear!!!” Within seconds she heard the water turn off and a curtain open, wet footsteps slapping against the tile.  Trying not to laugh, but oh how he deserved it, Adrienne just walked over to her locker to get her things and try to put clothes back on quickly, yoga pants and a tank, knowing that she did need to get back to work and this knowledge having nothing to do with his storming into her shower. 

“I’m soaked,” he complained as she heard the footsteps stop behind her, of course before she could get dressed.  Shaking her head, she turned to look at him, and soaked was the best word for it, his left pants leg of his black BDU pants dripping water onto the floor and his right pants leg not that much better, although it did seem he had managed to angle himself as to keep his torso from the stream. 

“Serves you right. What happened to “I don’t need an assistant”? Now you can’t go five minutes without me,” Adrienne said, crossing her hands across her chest, frowning at him.  He grumbled a bit, something about life being easier before she was around, things he didn’t mean but liked to toss back at her but Adrienne rolled her eyes.  

“You’re a pain in my ass; just turn around,” she ordered and he did, pouting like a child, so she stripped the towel off, drying herself quickly and dressing even faster, throwing the damp towel on his head the moment she pulled the tank over her head. 

“Here, this is the best I can do,” she said. Frowning himself, he took the moist and used towel, tossing it onto the bench beside him and started to unbuckle his pants.  

“Thanks,” he muttering, toeing off his boots and stripping the wet fabric from his legs.  She stared at him shaking her head as he pulled the soaked BDU’s from his feet standing in front of her in black boxer shorts, which thankfully didn’t seem to be wet in the least.  God knows what he would have done if they had been.

“Daniel, I have no pants for you,” she clarified, still trying to figure out how to get him out of here, in his underwear, carrying wet britches down the halls of the SGC. She stood for a moment thinking when it came to her and she walked over to him, grabbing the pants from his hand and walking them over to the swimsuit spinner.  Shoved the clothing into the spinner, she slammed down the lid, letting it spin for a few seconds and she reached deciding that they were dry enough, he deserved some discomfort, pulling the garment.  She stormed back to him, maintaing her cool and shoved them into his chest, holding her hand at his chest for a moment. 

“There are limitations to being one’s assistant and friend.  Invading the showers crosses that line,” she said and began to leave, deciding that she no longer cared how he got out of the locker room.

“Well, if I had an assistant that didn’t use our friendship as an excuse to be late, constantly, maybe I wouldn’t need to track her down in the showers to make sure she got back to work on time,” he retorted, fastening his pants and stepping into his boots again.  Glancing at the clock over the mirror, she saw that he was right, she was thirty minutes late, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of being right,  silently ripping the drenched file folder from his hands and started to leave.  He ignored her attitude and followed, cautious as to who would see him leaving the locker room with Adrienne, stopping to look left and right before exiting right behind her.  Base gossip about them was far worse than it was about he and Vala, and in this instance they really were just friends, there was nothing going on but it always seemed to appear that way to outside observers. Coast clear, and no explanation needed later, he followed behind, beginning to talk along the way.  

“As I was saying earlier, I’m not getting the same thing here as you are and I think we need to sit down and compare notes. I want to make sure we know what we are walking into,” he stared, looking down at her as she was reading carefully, her computer-like brain processing the Akkadian cuneiform script and mumbling to herself.  A few lines further and she stopped talking, stopping dead in her tracks, looking up at him.  

“How’d you get that?” she asked pointing to a central line of text, “it clearly says 

‘And the glowing ring of life, a gift from Marduk, brought us the Tablets of Destiny’ I think we both know that that means Indy,” she said, giving him the why do you ever doubt me look as she eyed his translation once more. 

“Stop thinking like a Greek for five minutes, quit the Socratic analysis and look at it again,” he fussed, pointing at it again.  

“You need to stop thinking like an Egyptian and looking for hidden patterns.  Sometimes, Go’ould, Ancients, Ori or not people just wrote down what happened from their limited point of view. End of story,” she said, shaking her head at him and marching forward to the elevators and stopping to hit the down arrow.  She closed the folder and turned to face him, handing it over and shaking away a few droplets of water that were still dripping from the paper.   

“I’m not looking for hidden symbols Ad, I’m saying that for once, can you just see it from my point of view and can we go over it line by line, slowly.  Together,” he asked, trying not to cause an argument, she still didn’t seem all to pleased with her retrieval. The elevator door opened and they stepped in, Adrienne just smiling at him. 

“How long have we been friends now and you still act like everything is going to make me mad?” she teased.  

“Well, it used to,” he replied.  

“Yes, and you used to also act like a selfish asshole, but let’s not go there,” she said, hitting the button for the basement, leaning back against the wall, her body still not used to the schedule as Daniel shook his leg, trying to loosen the not totally wet, but definitely damp pants from his skin.   

“See, and if you look here,” Daniel said plopping a large book in front of Adrienne, “It says right here that the real Tablets of Destiny were said to be sealed in a cylinder....”  he explained peering over at her, but she was still looking at him funny.  

“I can read Indy. I see what it says. What I am telling you is that you are seeing ZPM’s where ZPM’s there are naught,” Adrienne responded, crossing her arms, “And shug, if you start yelling ZPM you are going to get Rodney added to this little jaunt right damn quick and neither of us want that,” she added, reaching for his arm sweetly so he knew that she didn’t mean to be harsh. Daniel stood upright and shrugged, gazing back down at his translation.  

“Can you at least agree with me that it’s a possibility? That maybe, since the real Tablets of Destiny have not been found here on Earth that they’re on P34-S210 and they are really a ZPM. It makes sense, after all, Marduk comes, other Gods come and take over, Marduk returns, reasserts his rule and leaves tablets.  Sounds like Ancient intervention to me....”  he stepping back from the table looking at her as she bent over again, running her chewed fingers across the text and nodding in agreement.  

“No, you’re right, I see it,”  she said.  Daniel smiled in satisfaction. 

“Now, if I can just get you on tape saying that, it will make my day all the better,” he joked.  Adrienne shook her head but laughed as well.  

“Alright, you win, you got me to agree with you.  But we really need to go to sleep, soon, or else we’re never going to be able to function tomorrow.  You, mon ami, have a briefing to lead,”  Adrienne noted, pointing to the clock which read like a sick twisted joke that it was 5:30 a.m.  and their reverse day would start with a meeting at 2 p.m.. Daniel nodded in agreement, yawning as if Adrienne mention of the time cued his body to the needed sleep. 

“I like to go to bed on a high note, one in which Dr. Adrienne Perfect Rowan is wrong,” he smiled.  Cutting her eyes at him and walked over to the door, shutting out the light and leaving him in the dark.  She heard him shouting something rude in french behind her, laughing lightly into her hand as she head for her quarters. 

******* 

“Ok everyone, P34-S210 is a planet similar to the Fertile Crescent of Ancient Earth as you can see from the information in your files, Ad if you would,” Daniel began the meeting looking over at Adrienne to cue up her slide.  She stood from the table and pulled down the projector, ready to roll and Daniel waited for the first slide to pop open, showing a vast fertile land through the eyes of the MALP before continuing his lecture.

“The inhabitants of the planets refer to themselves as Akkadians, which ties them perfectly to the early Babylonians here on Earth, indicating a possible transplantation by the Go’ould or even the ancients as a counter measure, proche,” Daniel continued, asking Adrienne in French to change to the next slide. She flicked her finger and a picture of a large tower appeared in front of them. 

“Most curious about this planet is not the people,who conduct themselves as typical mid era Babylonians, but this tower, located far from the settlement itself, which is strikingly similar to the Tower of Babel mentioned in the book of Genesis,” Daniel walked over to the projector to point to a huge stone structure project as Vala stuck her hand up, completely confused.  

“Ok Blue Eyes, alien in the room, what in the hell is Genesis or the Tower of Babel?” she asked. Daniel looked over at Adrienne, knowing Vala preferred her simplified and much more humorous explanations so Adrienne addressed the group, in truth directing her slant at Vala. 

“Genesis is the first book of the Jewish religious text the Torah, later adopted by the Christians.  More of less it is a crazy beginnings story that overlap, expose the sins of humanity and make for cool, kinda saucy soap opera like reads.  The Tower of Babel is when we earth folk tried to build a tower to march ourselves to heaven and God gave us the hell no. More of less it’s a biblical archaeologist’s fantasy land,” Adrienne smiled, raising her eyebrows, declaring it her fantasy land being that the Romans were early Christians themselves, something Daniel could understand, himself enjoying nothing more than digging around in the ruins of a pyramid or Egyptian temple. Daniel waited for her to finish before continuing.  

“Which is why Adrienne is leading the group to investigate the tower,” he added for her benefit, smiling as she did a little happy dance in her chair.  John Sheppard, joining them on this mission, looked over at her nodding.  

“On your on kiddo, nice,” he praised and she beamed, pride welling inside of her.  Daniel waited for a moment in case anyone else wanted to stroke her ego, and ego he had to deal with day to day, but the group remained silent.  

“I on the other hand am going after something completely different,” he smiled a bit and looked to Adrienne to cue up the next slide. She just sighed and popped up a picture of two clay tablets that looked eerily like......

“Wait, wait,” John raised his hand this time, “I’ve seen this one.  Charlton Heston?”  Adrienne put her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh and give away her little alteration to his presentation, but Daniel noticed, shooting her a look if disapproval. 

“Yes, this particular rendering that my assistant has chosen does look quite similar to the tablets said to have been the ten commandments but Ancient Babylonian literature and images from the MALP lead me to believe that the actual Tablets of Destiny might actually be code word for a ZPM,” Daniel said. That got John’s attention.  

“Excuse me?” he said, sitting forward in his seat.  

“Yes a ZPM,” Daniel repeated and glanced over at Adrienne who clicked to the next slide, showing a MALP picture with highlighted text rather than another pop culture reference, much to Daniel’s relief. Stepping closer, Daniel pointed to the highlighted area. 

“This line here says that Marduk came back to leave the Tablets of Destiny after the other gods were proven unworthy.  It says that whoever held the tablets ruled the universe,” Daniel continued.  John looked very interested and glanced over at Ronon who was nodding his head. Still somewhat lost, Vala leaned over to Adrienne, trying to make her confusion as not as noticeable. 

“Is that what is says?” she whispered, catching the sarcasm in Adrienne’s part of the presentation, which in and of itself made her feel better for not knowing what in the hell Daniel was blabbering on about.  Adrienne looked over where Daniel was showing John something more specific and leaned back casually.  

“Yes, and it also says that Marduk was a damn dragon, but he’s only literally translating what suits him apparently,” she whispered back and sat forward again just in time to cue the next slide.  Daniel, completely blowing off the original intention of the mission, exploring the tower, started to talk more about the cylindrical container that might possibly house a ZPM.  Adrienne was about to change the slide again at his request when Rodney McKay burst into the briefing room, storming right up to Daniel.  

“Dr. Jackson, when were you planning to inform me that you were leaving to secure a Zed-P-M?” Rodney demanded, glaring at John as though he had withheld some vital information.  Daniel kept his cool, letting Rodney yell a little more about being included and then spoke.  

“Dr. McKay, we’re not even sure if this is a ZPM; this is a mission to see if my hunch is correct,” Daniel calmly replied.  Smirking, Adrienne leaned back to Vala, turning her head to whisper. 

“Hunch my ass, last night he was chasing me around the SGC claiming it was fact,” she hissed, neglecting to mention exactly where he had chased her too, but the thought of him chasing her at all was funny enough evidently as Vala hid a chuckle. 

“Well, you can give any lame excuse you want here, but I have already spoken with Sam and I’m going with you,” he informed Daniel and turned to face the group, smugness plastered all over his face but Daniel shook his head in disagreement.  

“Rodney, I’m already at five people, and as it is we’re having to split the time and work in shifts to get both objectives accomplished due to that issue in manpower alone. How did you get Sam to agree?” Daniel asked, confused, yet Rodney was prepared for this argument, happily slamming a sheet of Sam’s letterhead onto the table.  

“Two missions now Daniel, none of this shared mess! One for the Zed-P-M and one for the tower of rocks. Let Dr. Rowan assemble her own team to go play in the dirt!” Rodney hissed, glaring over at Adrienne, “Sam says that I am to accompany you, John and Ronon to the ZPM site,” Rodney added as he returned his gaze to Daniel.  \

“Wait, that’ll only leave me with Vala, and she is helping me dig, everyone else on the day shift! I can’t work with just one person!?!” Adrienne protested her anger rising, knowing that Daniel should have kept his mouth shut and let the two of them investigate the possible power source rather than turn it into part of the mission, but as always, Daniel had insisted that was lying and he didn’t believe in lying. 

“And what happened to the original mission? We’re completely abandoning that because Daniel is seeing ZPM’s written in the sand!” Adrienne raged, feeling bad that Daniel seemed to be the focus, which he was the cause, but it Rodney her deserved the brunt of her wrath, but the scientist simply shrugged at her, not seeming to care.  Daniel shook his head, looking back at Rodney, the memo and Adrienne, reading the piece of paper again before returning his gaze to Adrienne, who was scowling at him. 

“Ad, you’re going to have to find two more people. See who you can convince,” he admitted, upset that she would not be joining him on his part of the mission, setting the paper down onto the table. Fuming, Adrienne stood from her seat, grabbed her cell phone and walked the iPad over to John.  

“Please don’t let my boss break this,” she requested and looked over at Daniel, her glare less severe but still pretty angry. Between this and last night, he wasn’t going to owe her a mexican dinner, he was going to owe her a mexican feast.  

“I guess I’ll be back in a few then,” she said, relenting, and heading out to beg some friends for a favor.

Teyla was in her quarters with Torrin and had no problem getting ready to leave since she was just spending her time off cleaning her quarters. She called down Carson, who was doing more or less the same organizing the medical lab and welcomed the interruption of babysitting. Adrienne thanked her profusely, agreeing to meet her at the gate, dashing off as she texted her next choice frantically.

“Dammit Cam, if I have to take some obnoxious grunt because you are nowhere to be found, I’m gonna kick your ass!!”  She spat, as she power walked to the gym, frustrated by his lack of response. Scanning all around her as she barreled her way through the dobule door, she saw him on the track, running without her.  Damn him, she thought, damn him and his normal work schedule this week.

“COLONEL MITCHELL!!!”  Adrienne screamed at the top of her lungs and froze and looked around startled. Laughing at his reaction, Adrienne dashed up the stairs to the track to meet him and inform him that she was the yeller.

“Hey, I need you,” she requested as her head popped happily up the spiral stairs at her running partner, who was stopped, leaning over onto his knees.  

‘Honey, I’ve been waiting to hear those words come out of your mouth for over a year now,” he answered. Adrienne blushed and laughed, knowing he was kidding, despite what Daniel said, but flattered nonetheless. 

“Rodney’s shang-highed our mission and I need some extra hands to do the real work while Daniel plays Indiana Jones.  Thinks he’s found a ZPM,” Adrienne explained.  

“I take it you don’t,” Cameron responded.  

“Not totally. I mean, I can see his point, but the point can also be made it’s just a big stone box with big stone books in it, but whatever. Let him believe whatever makes him happy,” she shrugged, Cam nodding in understanding. He could appreciate that even though the two of them seemed to be inseparable that Adrienne didn’t just go along with anything he suggested, she still spoke her mind not caring about his reaction.  

“Alright, fine, when do we leave?” he asked.  Adrienne looked at her phone, remembering how last minute this favor truly was. 

“Two hours,” she said quietly, feeling bad for rushing him.  Shock on his face, he dashed off again, yelling over his shoulder.  

“Gotta shower then! Meet you there!” he shouted as he tore around the corner heading for the stairs and the locker room.   

John was standing with Ronon while Rodney fussed at Daniel, all of which Adrienne had expected, when her own crew arrived, no arguments, no eye rolling, a perfect group she wanted so bad to rub into Daniel’s face. 

“Well we got the shaft,” John said quietly to Ronon, “we get the two arguing dorks while Cameron gets the beautiful women.” Ronon chuckled a bit and nodded his head in agreement as Teyla and Vala strode behind Adrienne, who was in a much better mood than just hours earlier, reaching to tap Daniel on the shoulder.  

“Alright, we’re good now,” Adrienne said, glaring in Rodney’s direction, hoping he understood that he hadn’t ruined her mission at all. His face furrowed in disapproval, his eyes daring Adrienne to make a snide remark to Rodney, Daniel looked back to the observation room to order the dial and pulled her aside, an evil grin across his face. 

“I see you have chosen Cameron to accompany you,” he teased.  

“Kiss my ass Daniel,” she replied, “only because you took my boyfriend.” She cocked her head over at Ronon.  

“You’re never allowed to give me hell about any women, ever again Ad, ever,” he answered, rolling his eyes, looking ahead toward the gate as that familiar blast of energy radiated the room, the magnetism sucking them slightly forward and setting into blue crystalline water. Shouting a few orders, Colonel Sheppard led the two teams through the portal and to the edge of the galaxy. 

****

“Alright, radio contact open at all times and check in every three hours,” Daniel ordered once they got to the other side, determined that Rodney’s interference or not, this mission was going to run as originally planned.  Everyone instinctively checked their radios and A\all items in working order Daniel’s group set off, with him lagging behind looking at something in his prepared folder. Vala couldn’t resist.

“Don’t get eaten by the dragon,” she teased.  Pausing, sapphire eyes peering over his glasses, Daniel frowned, shooting a glare at his assistant. 

“You told her about the dragon? I thought you said you believed me,” he said, a hint of hurt in his face.  

“I figured I’d let you have one small victory,” she joked, regretting her spill to Vala instantly, not intending to hurt his feelings.  Daniel shrugged and shut the folder, tucking it under his arm following his group.  Vowing to make it up to him later, Adrienne turned to face her own little circle.  

“Colonel, lead the way please.  Let’s go play in the dirt!” she declared and as requested, Cameron ordered the group forward, P-90 out, taking the lead. 

*******

“This is fantastic!! Vala, can you bring me that camera please,” Adrienne requested from about 10 feet in the air, where she had strapped herself to part of the tower and was reading frantically, her excited eyes scanning each and every line of text, carefully carved in cuneiform with even some of the original blue paint intact. She wished Daniel was here to see this. 

“What’d ya find Addy?” Came shouted up as Vala threw the camera around her neck and began to scale the side of the tower, the lower protruding rocks making a belay like Adrienne was wearing unnecessary.  Vala wasn’t afraid of heights, but she had no desire to just hold on the side of a building like Adrienne did, so she didn’t bother with a harness. 

“Cam, it is just what I thought, what I’d hoped. This is the actual tower of Babel, however while the book of Genesis claims God blasted the people down from the sky and they scattered speaking a variety of languages, not that the tower was completely destroyed as it is portrayed in pop culture. This find, this affirms the biblical text, and God blasted them alright, right through the Stargate!!!” she shouted down excited, turning back to the carving, her fingers running over the rock lovingly. 

“You’re speaking Daniel; did you find something good?” he restated and saw that Vala had made it to her.  

“Yeah, really good!” she assured him and took the camera from Vala who had just reached her, handing it over cautiously with one hand and holding on with the other. Without a pause, Adrienne leaned back into the harness taking pictures, snapping away like Daniel did, talking to herself the entire. Curious herself about all of this religious lore that Adrienne knew so much about, that seemed to be so prevalent on Earth, Vala peered at what she was photographing, trying to make out a few symbols she thought she knew. 

“More evidence that you’re right?” Vala asked, adjusting her hold to read and wishing she had brought a harness since this seemed to be interesting, interesting enough to hold her friend’s attention, who, unlike her boss was not boring. 

“Oh, no I ‘d need to see what Daniel is working on before I can rub this in his face, but I guess so,” Adrienne answered, snapping away but Vala shook her head, need to reword her question.   

“No, I mean about God,”  she clarified.  Adrienne paused her picture taking for a moment, looking over at her friend strangely.  

“Well, I mean, maybe a little, but until I figure out who blasted the humanoids off of this tower, it’s still a little inconclusive,” Adrienne replied, her eyes this time trying to read Vala’s own dark orb however, she didn’t need to search, the expression on Vala’s face alone leading Adrienne to believe that there was something else wrong, and the cajun had an inkling as to what that might be.  

“Vala, does it bother you that I don’t believe in God?” Adrienne asked, fairly certain that was what her friend was hinting at but she was puzzled.  Of all people, after having been host to a “God” herself, Vala was the last person she could imagine wanting to believe in God, but of all of the things Adrienne had told her friend in confidence, that was the one that really seemed to upset her. 

“No, it’s just, strange. You would think that considering your culture you would want to see your father again and that would motivate you to believe that someday you just might,” Vala tried to push it back onto Adrienne, not fully admitting there was anything wrong. She knew she was walking on ice here, but Adrienne shook her head, hoping she could explain this in the least offensive manner possible.   

“That’s precisely the reason why I don’t believe in anything until I see it.  I can’t spend my entire life believing in something that might not exist, trying to dedicate my entire existence to a small chance that a 2000 year old story might be right, then when would I live my life?” Adrienne answered.  Vala sighed, adjusting her grip on the rocky side, glancing back at her harnessed companion. 

“You just seem so sure; I wish I could be that sure,” Vala answered her honestly, having spent her entire life believing that there had to be someone, something that would come along and atone for her suffering.  She had her friends, true, but she had always hoped that in the end it really wouldn’t be over, that this was just a rough stopover to something better, but Adrienne, the person she deemed to be an expert on such matters didn’t even seem to think that anything existed. 

“I’m not sure, by any stretch, I think you just need to be sure of who you are as a person, right here and right now and what makes you happy and not worry so much about some higher power playing chess with our lives,” Adrienne explained, smiling softly. 

“But what about all of the things that have happened to us, to me? I mean, people aren’t  supposed to survive being a host, but here I am. After everything I have been through, I finally have a family and a life.  I just like to think that someone cared enough to intervene on my behalf,” Vala argued as Adrienne let out a sigh.  She guessed she could see her friend’s point of view, and after everything that had happened to her, she could also understand the need to feel like someone was watching over you.  Hanging the camera from her neck, Adrienne reached out and put her hand on Vala’s shoulder squeezing it gently.   

“Vala, please don’t think that just because it’s what I believe that it’s fact.  We’re all entitled to our own opinion,” Adrienne said, trying to comfort her.  

“And you just think it’s all fate, everything that has happened to you? You don’t think someone came along and helped you take care of your father, get this job?” Vala inquired. Adrienne shook her head.  

“No, life just happens, and besides, where was God when Dad and I were homeless, when Dad was screaming in pain, when I was...... where was God?” Adrienne asked, more of an overall declaration to herself than to her friend.  If there was a God he certainly had either pretty crappy timing in her opinion or at least kept neglecting the chess board when it was Adrienne’s move, but either way, she wasn’t going to start saying nightly prayers just yet. 

“It’s because he was waiting,” Vala said. 

“For what?” Adrienne asked, her tone changing, more defensive and irritated, “For me to prove myself? To have a total meltdown? To be at the brink of I dunno, death?” 

“No, he was waiting for you to be ready,” Vala replied, certainty in her face, but Adrienne just wanted to end this tiresome conversation.

“Look Vala, I would love to talk with you about this, I would, but I’m really trying to get something done here, so if you have something to say then just say it,” Adrienne demanded, as nicely as she could yet unable to control her words. 

“He was waiting for you to be ready for Daniel,” Vala replied. Adrienne groaned.  

“Not you too, Vala we’ve been over this,” she complained.  Smiling, Vala just shook her head.

“Well, I’m going to head back to that square you had me working in, you alright up here?” Vala asked, changing the subject.  Adrienne nodded and thanked her, annoyed by her comment but happy to have her gone, and returned to her task, trying not to think  another thought about their conversation.   

*****

Daniel hoped Adrienne was having much more success.  According to his research and the MALP video, there should have been what looked like the leftover foundation of a temple just a few miles from the impressive tower, but there was nothing.  He was starting to believe that he had done his math wrong and maybe should have called in Rodney in the first place, or, at least, that was what Rodney was having him believe.  

“Daniel, are you certain that the images here were due east of the tower. Judging by what looks like dust particles blowing in front of the camera I think that we should be heading west,” Rodney was fussing already. Of course Daniel had thought of that, and he also knew that a MALP on a desert terrain kicked up dust in all directions so that dust direction could not be trusted, but, he humored Rodney, just so he wouldn’t have to hear about it later if he was wrong.

“Possibly Rodney, but it’s also possible that I miscalculated the MALP’s land speed over this terrain and it’s just further out than I anticipated,” he stated, finding it easier to blame it on math than common sense and harder for Rodney to argue.  Gazing ahead into the sun, Daniel focused his attention to the top of the horizon to see if he could spot John or Ronon, who had walked ahead, most likely avoiding Rodney’s ranting. He squinted into the light and put his hand up to shield his face trying to discern the shapes in the distance when he heard his name being called over the radio.  

“Hey, Daniel, we got it!” John Sheppard’s voice boomed over the radio and Daniel breathed a sign of relief, glad that this wasn’t going to be a wash. 

“Alright, thanks John, you know what we’re looking for. We’ll be there soon,” Daniel signed off the radio, looking up just in time to see Rodney sauntering over to him.  

“Looks like you lucked out this time,” he sneered.  Daniel just walked on, leaving his colleague behind, deciding to radio Adrienne.  

“Ad,” he called to her, “any luck?” There was static as he awaited her reply.  

“Hey Indy.  Oh, I’m quite literally crying with joy,” she answered, giddiness in her voice that Daniel could see on her face even though she was miles away. 

“That good huh?” he asked, happy at least one of them was getting some good information out of this.  He hoped for a moment that she was taking lots of pictures, but reminded himself who he was dealing with, she would have hundreds, organized and ready to go through before she went to bed that night. 

“Oh yeah, I could stay here for days.  How ‘bout you?” she inquired, catching a tone in his voice. She knew him too well.   

“I’m calling you to make myself feel better,” he admitted.  

“No dragons? Moses hasn’t met you out there yet? How ‘bout a burning bush?” she teased, trying to lighten the mood but Daniel wasn’t amused.  

“Clever Ad, you’re such a comedian. I wanted to let you know that we just found the ruins so I’ll radio you when I have something to shove back in your face,” he responded, knowing she was kidding, but still annoyed and slightly embarrassed. 

“Lata shug,” she responded and disconnected, Daniel returned his hands to his sides, jogging lightly to catch up. 

*****

The wind was picking up around them hours later as they tried to grid the area at Daniel’s insistence. Bandana wrapped tightly around his face, Daniel ran his eyes along the area, making sure that they’d hadn’t missed an inch as John and Ronon were using their shirts roping off the areas he had marked, Rodney just tromping around, complaining and coughing on dirt.  This area was lower than the rest of the ruins, long abandoned by the villagers who were comfortable in their town miles away, and looked like it might have been a creek bed from days long past, so while this was exactly what Daniel was used to, sand, wind dirt and all, Rodney was not as amused.  

“How are we supposed to find anything in this mess!” Rodney shouted.  John looked up at him, wishing he has brought an orange as a snack, and orange he could throw at him.

“You could’ve stayed home; I think the three of us are perfectly capable to bringing back whatever we find,” John argued. 

“Nonsense, knowing my luck Daniel’d break the damn thing,” Rodney retorted.  Daniel just rolled his eyes. 

“Exactly, since breaking important artifacts and scientific discoveries is what I do best,” he responded and looked over at Ronon holding out his hand, “Dex toss me that string please.”  Ronon reached over and grabbed a ball of red string, throwing it as requested as Rodney started coughing violently, covering his face again, but not violently enough, unfortunately,  to cease his complaining. 

“And why are you doing all of this? Why are you setting this up like a dig site? We’re looking for a ZPM period; if it’s not here then we leave,” Rodney scowled.  Daniel just ignored him and kept preparing his grid. 

****

Adrienne yelled down the side of the tower. 

“Cam shug, I need you to pull, I gotta go up higher,” she shouted but Cameron shook his head.  

“Adrienne, I don’t like you so high up there,” he yelled back, “we don’t have any medics or anything.”  She groaned from the tower.  

“Cameron, we’re belaying here, not free climbing.  If I fall you do have the other end of the rope,” she insisted.    

“I’m well aware of how belaying works Addy, but I’m also not a fan of watching my friends scale large unknown rocks,” he retorted.  

“Look Cam, just let me confirm something and I’ll come down, I swear,” she tried again hoping he could see her sweet grin from the peak. Relenting, Cameron grumbled to himself, but began to pull the rope slowly, watching Adrienne grab a protruding brick above her head, hoisting her body upward.  

She pulled and pulled and grabbed and got herself upright, hooking her harness strap to another brick, resting back lightly to test the hold.  Satisfied, she began to read again, the top part of some large plaque that hand been hammered into the side, a plaque different from the others, metal hung on the stone, seemingly more important than the others.   

And then Dr. Adrienne Rowan screamed.  

“Daniel!!!” he heard shouting coming from his radio.  It caught him off guard but he finally recognized the voice as Adrienne.  He grabbed quickly for the button, panic racing through his body. 

“Ad, is everything alright, why are you screaming?” he asked holding up his hand to John and Ronon who had heard the shout and came running, looking equally as worried about the other team. 

“Did you find it?” she asked.  Daniel let out a sigh, signaling to Ronon and John that everything was alright that she was just calling to harass him and breathed in to quell the butterflies in his stomach.  

“No, I didn’t find it.  Are you calling to rub it in as you unravel the mysteries of the book of Genesis?” he said into the radio sarcastically.  

“More like the book of Revelation. Indy, you need to stop digging. RIGHT NOW!” she ordered.  Daniel made a face he knew she couldn’t see, confused, even more so given the tone of her voice. 

“Adrienne, what are you talking about? Is there something wrong?” he asked.  Daniel looked up at John and made a time-out sign with his hands. John nodded, turned to Ronon and shouted over for Rodney to stop and everyone froze, looking back at Daniel, sitting in a square of red thread talking into the radio.  

“Daniel, shug, you were right. Very right. I should have believed you.  There is a ZPM. It IS the Tablet of Destiny. But we didn’t research enough,” she started to explain.  

“Ad, I read everything; the entire inscription from the MALP. You did too. What else did you find?” he asked as John walked over, kneeling beside him in order to listen for himself. 

“The rest of the inscription.  About four stories up, and don’t start fussing at me, I’m in a harness,”  she began. Daniel didn’t respond, letting her finish.  

“Alright, I want you to step back shug and look at the layout of the ruins. Slowly,” Daniel stood, motioning for everyone else not to move and walked himself backward.  

“What am I looking for?” he asked, scanning the ground under his feet. 

“Evidence of water,” she said.  Daniel surveyed the surrounding terrain and sure enough, surrounding the ruins was what appeared to be waves into the soil, not just the small creek bed he had noticed before, but evidence of a river. 

“Yes, looks like this might have been a small to medium body of water, why?” Daniel asked and heard Adrienne breath out, pausing like she was thinking before her answer. 

“And he said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the whore is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the whore; they will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and burn her up with fire,” Adrienne read.  Daniel froze.  

“It’s a bomb,” he said.  

“Bingo Indy.  Power to control the world. Touch and you explode,”  she answered, “and for the record, if you get out of this, I take full responsibility for this being that the Bible is supposed to be one of my areas of speciality,” he heard her voice say.  

“Let’s lay blame later; just come running if you hear a blast,” he answered, turning to face his colleagues.   

“Daniel,” he heard her say once more, her voice quiet and worried, “please be ok.  I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.” 

“Hey, we haven’t seen any dragons, so you weren’t totally wrong,”  he replied, trying to ease her anxiety and looked up at his crew ending the communication.  

“We’ve got it get it out of here. VERY slowly,” Daniel stressed.  Rodney looked at him disgusted.  

“We haven’t found the Zed-P-M?!?” Rodney shouted. 

“It’s not a ZPM,” Daniel said and then stopped to clarify, “well, it IS a ZPM, but it’s also a bomb.”  Rodney let his head drop and looked at Daniel like he was an idiot.  

“What’s brought on this revelation Dr. Jackson?” Rodney asked, confused by the change in plans. 

“Adrienne has gotten to the top of the plaque on the tower and it says more or less that if we mess around in here we will be consumed by fire, now let’s go,”  Daniel said, slowly gathering only the most important items and preparing to leave.  Following his lead, John and Ronon started to step carefully toward the outside of the ruins while Rodney whipped his head around at them, shooting daggers with his gaze at each of them. 

“Where are you two going?” he hissed.  

“I don’t care who said it, I don’t play with bombs,” Ronon answered.  

“I second,” John said, continuing to back away. Rodney took a step forward, shouting about foolishness and not listening to one’s assistant and then he paused, stopped shouting and looked down, his mouth open wide.  

*****

“Cam!!!” Adrienne was shouting down the side of the tower, “let me down!” 

“Everything alright?” Cam inquired from the ground, testing his hold on the rope, checking to see if she was slipping without his knowledge, “Why are you screaming? What is going on?” 

“I’m fine, but I need to get down fast,” Adrienne ripped the rope and started trying to belay her self down quickly screaming below her, “Come on, fast, fast, quick!!”  Cameron couldn’t understand why Adrienne was so frantic as he lowered her rope.  She was about halfway down the tower when there was a loud explosion in the distance, the feisty cajun woman screaming louder than he had ever heard her scream before, panicking, grabbing the rope and starting to pull it desperately.  Cameron belayed her down faster as Adrienne was shouting, babbling really, barely understandable for Vala to run in the direction of the boom. Dropped the legal pad she had been writing on, Vala dashed off without question as Cam ran the rope, hand over fist quickly looking up to check her downward progress to see that Adrienne was rapidly undoing her harness.  

“Cam!” she shouted seconds before he saw her falling in his direction from a few feet up and he caught her the best he could, both of them falling onto the thankfully soft ground.  Adrienne stood and ran, no explanation, tears streaming down her face, sprinting faster than he had ever seen her run before. Cam leapt up, racing behind her.  

“Addy, what in the hell is going on?”  he shouted and she stopped only for a moment and looked back, her face an expression of sheer terror, her eyes full of worry.  

“Daniel found a bomb,” she said and turned again, sprinting full force.  Understanding immediately, Cameron picked up the pace.  

“NOBODY MOVE!!” John yelled out scanning the blast area around him. Ronon was laying on his side holding his face, where a piece of shrapnel had obviously cut his cheek and Daniel, who had been the furthest away since he was looking for whatever Adrienne had asked him to look for, who was laying on the ground, half sitting as he shook his head and put his glasses back on.  Seeing that both of them were alright, John started to walk slowly around the ruins, favoring his right leg almost certain that the ankle was either broken or close from the blast.  

“McKay, where in the hell are you!?! RODNEY!!” John was shouting and limping around the blast site, stepping carefully over the rubble, pieces of stone and rock and shards that were obviously ZPM glass.  He studied the mess when he saw Rodney, slumped over about twenty feet away, not moving and shouted back behind him.  

“Jackson, Ronon, I’ve got him!! Go around, I’m gonna need some help,”  John yelled, stumbling over to the unconscious scientist.  

When Vala looked behind her and saw Daniel’s fearless assistant jump off of the tower and onto Cameron she waited, just in case Adrienne was hurt. However, once she saw them both running and apparently uninjured, she kept moving.  She could see smoke ahead and heard someone shouting “Nobody move!” stopping her dead in her track as Cameron and Adrienne caught up to her quickly.  

“Vala, why are you stopping?” Cameron asked, yet stopped himself, not knowing what caused her to halt.   

“I heard someone yell to stop; do you think there’s another bomb?” she asked looking at Cameron who glanced at Adrienne but Adrienne shrugged.  

“Why do you guys always look at me?” she asked and reached for her radio. 

“Daniel, it’s Adrienne, please answer me,” she called.  No answer, just static.  

“Maybe the bomb’s affected the radio waves,” Vala surmised.  Adrienne looked at her shocked and this time it was Vala that shrugged.  

“What? Hang around this bunch long enough and you learn a thing or two,” she stated.  Adrienne let out a sigh and tried again, her stomach in knots and her face sticky with dried tears.  

“Daniel, come on, please tell me that big boom didn’t blow your face off,”  she said this time, trying to be funny for herself more than anything.  She felt her lip trembling and the thought of finding him dead, finding him hurt was too much to bear, the tears were beginning to well up in her eyes again as she waited. There was more static and then, finally, a beep.  

“No, I’m still intact; but we were almost rid of Rodney for good,” she heard him joke back making her almost faint with happiness; the last thing she needed was to be picking pieces of her best friend.  She breathed out happily, sucking in tears and responded.  

“Can we move?” she asked, remembering why Vala had stopped in the first place.  

“Yes, it’s clear,” he replied and Adrienne didn’t wait for further instructions, leading the three in a race to the ruins.  

Rodney was alright by mission standards, although one would think a broken arm meant he was going to die the way he was moaning and whining and lashing out at his would be helpers.  He wasn’t very happy with the idea of having to walk back, his arm in a sling, without a ZPM, but considering what could have happened, John was quick to shut him up.  He threw a fit, demanding to examine the pieces carefully and take a few back to his lab, so John relented and let him dig around, one armed for a few minutes after Daniel and Adrienne assured him that there was only one bomb.  Still unhappy with the results of this mission, Daniel decided to walk back to the tower at see what Adrienne had found, leaving the annoyed and annoying scientist behind. 

“Wait up!” Adrienne yelled, “Where are you going?” He stopped, not thinking of asking her to come along, just wanting to be alone for a while and think about how he’d just screwed up, again.  Adrienne wasn’t going to care; she jogged up to him and he knew she wouldn’t stop until she knew what was wrong so he figured he might as well tell her, waiting until she made it to his side before he answered. 

“Just wanted to go check out that tower, see that at least one of us didn’t foul up this entire mission,” he said walking again once she reached him.  

“You didn’t foul up this entire mission,” Adrienne defended, grabbing his arm. He stopped and glared right at her, that look on his face of don’t question what I am saying. The look Adrienne had learned to ignore.  Sighing, Daniel looked back behind him, noting that they hadn’t been followed.   

“Listen Adrienne, I don’t know what’s going on with me lately.  First, PSF-2937 and now this.  That’s two close calls back to back.  I’m just not sure if I’m cut out for this anymore,” he responded, looking at her with self-doubt.  This time she looked behind herself to see that no one had followed them, they hadn’t; they were alone. Her enchanted eyes locking with his own for a moment, a brief moment, but long enough for him to be completely absorbed in her gaze, and Adrienne stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist, pulling herself close to him and hugging him tightly.  He lightly wrapped his arms around her shoulders out of instinct, just feeling as if that was something he should do, that he should return her embrace.

“Listen,” she said still holding him, “You’re not losing anything.  Things are just different now, different than they were.  There’s no clear cut baddie, no singular goal.  You’ve been asked to do the job of ten people and keep track of all of it with only me to help. It’s an impossible task.”  He breathed out, knowing she was right, to an extent, and rested his chin to her head.  

“I can’t screw up like this. I mean, when you do I tear you up, but there’s no one there to chew me out,” he responding, turning his head to the side, his cheek coming to rest beside her head, her hair tickling his jawline. He was so caught up in how close they were at this moment, his nerves giving him fits, his thoughts toying with idiotic things Jack had said to him that he was shocked when Adrienne pushed him back roughly, slamming her hands into his chest. 

“Dammit Dr. Jackson, what in the hell is wrong with you? You didn’t think to take the time to fully analyze the tower before moving on to your next project.? Can’t finish one thing before starting another?” she screamed, badly. One thing Adrienne was not was a good actress and her stance there, faking being mean, which considering how hostile she could be when she was actually angry, was just so hysterical that Daniel just started laughing.  

“You’re really bad at that you know,” he said, getting a smile in return.  

“And you’re really good at what you do, despite what you believe.  So what? You’ve hit a few rough patches.  Who doesn’t? I still think you do great,”  Adrienne answered. Daniel just shrugged and turned to walk away. 

“Come on,” he said over his shoulder, “let’s see what you’ve found here,” and pointed to the tower rising in the distance. 

******

“Adrienne!!” she heard shouting echoing over the tiles of the bathroom.  It was a male voice.  It was his voice.  Adrienne stuck her head out of the shower and looked and there he was, once again, standing on the other side of the curtain, staring right at her, file in hand.  

“I thought we went over this!! DO NOT BOTHER ME IN THE SHOWER WITH WORK!!!” she screamed, deciding that after the last episode she had every right to be angry. However, rather than argue back  Daniel erupted into laughter. 

“What do you want?!” Adrienne continued.  

“Nothing, I just wanted to see your reaction,” he said between chuckles and breaths and turning on his heels simply walked out.  Fuming, Adrienne ripped the curtain shut. 

“I hate that man,” she said out loud.  

“Right.....” she heard an accented voice answer and laugh.  Whatever Vala, Adrienne thought to herself, believe what you want.