Daniel and Adrienne #21: Intrusion

“Sam, I can’t believe that you’re doing this to me,” Daniel complained, trying not to raise his voice but wanting her to understand the position that she was putting him in, wanting her to understand how bad her timing really was.

“It’s not my doing Daniel; this is above me.  There have been too many incidents on base and I can’t make you an exception to the rule,” Sam was trying to sympathize, but she really could offer no alternative. Except....

“I told you that you can come stay with Jack and I, we don’t mind” Sam added, trying to make up for the entire situation.  

“No, I don’t want to intrude on your lives. I just don’t understand why I can’t just stay here.  Should I sign some sort of affidavit saying that I swear that I won’t work?” Daniel tried another approach, knowing her answer and it wasn’t going to change.  And he was still going to work, affidavit or not.

“I’m sorry, I am, but you really wouldn’t be an intrusion.  And,” Sam said opening the file folder in front of her, “I really should have ordered you to go weeks ago, but with the tower find and the explosion, I just got distracted, and to be honest,” Sam flipped through the file some more, “I think I need to go give Adrienne the good news as well.”  Sam closed the folder but Daniel sighed.  So, effectively the lab was shut down for a week; he couldn’t even leave it in Adrienne’s capable hands meaning all database research was at a literal standstill. He didn’t care to hide his frustration from his friend anymore, glaring up at her, feeling that there was something she could do. 

“You know Sam, I’ve been here since the beginning and not only do I seem to no longer have a say in anything anymore, but I get treated like some first year cadet. It gets old,” he said, his harsh words meant for powers above Sam and not his dear friend but Sam just shrugged.  

“Welcome to the new world order.  I’m going to be dealing with the same thing myself.  At least you get to shut down your lab for a week; when my rotation comes up I get to hand the keys over to Woolsey,” she explained.  Daniel nodded his head. It could be worse.  He could have to relinquish control to Satterfield, or, god forbid, Rodney McKay. 

“Well, there’s no choice on the leave, so if you want to stay with us, you’re more than welcome. I’m in meetings for the rest of the day but you can just call Jack.  He’d love an excuse to escape his office too, if you just want to complain,” she smiled. Daniel returned the favor and stood, heading over to his locker trying not to pout like a child as his friend reminded him he sometimes did. She was right, there really wasn’t anything that Sam could do, the “new world order” policy on leave stated that basically, if a team were to come back from a mission after a close call, like, for example, having a ZPM explode only feet away from you, leave was required after a physical as well as a psych evaluation.  The length of the leave depended on a variety of factors, but in this case, Rodney’s incessant whining over his arm had bought him a week, had bought all of them a week. Daniel was rightfully annoyed. 

Fifteen minutes later, Adrienne came bouncing in the room, ecstatic.  

“A WEEK OFF!!! WITH NO PAPERS TO GRADE!! NO CONFERENCES TO ATTEND!!! NO GOVERNMENT BS!!”  she was exclaiming and dancing, the exact reaction that he had expected from his assistant. He was glad someone was excited.  Slowing her bop, she danced herself over to her desk and started to pack up, looking over at Daniel who was still sitting quietly at his own desk tapping his pen while staring at his planner.  

“Hey, why are you still here? Sam said you were getting kicked out too. I love my job, I do, but a week to lay around, read, watch TV, write, I can’t wait!”  she said, waiting for his reply but he only gave her a half a smile.  He figured she would be excited, their last leave, a team trip, had turned out to be more stressful for Adrienne than relaxing.  For as extroverted as she seemed, Adrienne liked nothing better than to curl up in a quiet place with a glass of wine and good book and he knew what her plans would be and they would involve bubbles, bad music and viking vampires. 

“Come on, you honestly cannot be that dedicated to work that a week to relax is the end of the world? I know there is something that you like to do for fun, right?” Adrienne asked, goading him for an answer, one that she already knew. He did lots of fun things, with her now lately, so he knew she was teasing. Finally looking up from the calendar, he shook his head, letting out a huge sigh.  

“It’s not the end of the world, the timing is just pretty bad,” he answered her and then decided to continue since he knew she was going to pry anyway, “My apartment is being fumigated this week.  I had planned on staying here while all of that was going on, but apparently even that’s not allowed thanks to our dear friends at the IOA. So, I am momentarily homeless.”  Adrienne just stood there and didn’t say a word, giving him a strange look. 

“What?” he asked, wondering why she hadn’t spoken yet, offering her normal two cents.  

“And....” she led, rolling her hands in front of her.   He let out a groan; she knew him too well.  

“And, I’m trying to figure out where to stay this week,” he said, hoping that satisfied her.  Clasping her hands in front of her, Adrienne beamed, and began to give her two cents.  

“So, let me guess. Jack and Sam are out because being a third wheel is not how you want to spend a week, regardless of how much they will be working, it will still bother you because it’s you: Cameron will make you watch sports all week and you’ll have to act like you care; Teal’c and Vala live on base exclusively and you don’t know the Atlantis crew well enough to ask except for Rodney and that may result in the death of one of the two of you.  Does that about sum it up?”  Adrienne listed proudly.  

“More or less,” he answered, shrugging.

“Well, go pack up whatever you are going to need because I’m leaving as soon as possible,” she ordered, resuming the loading of her own items into the pack.  

“Why? I just told you that I have no where to go; I’m trying to figure that out,” he said and as if she were waiting for those exact words to come out of his mouth, she turned and smiled.  

“You’re coming home with me shug.  And if we can get out of here in time we can swing by the store and get you an air mattress so you don’t have to spend the week on my couch,” she replied as Daniel was already shaking his head in disagreement. 

“Adrienne, I can’t impose on you either.  Half the base thinks you’re my babysitter and the other half thinks we’re sleeping together.  No, thanks, but I’m just going to try to reason with Sam one more time and if that doesn’t work find a hotel,” he said as he stood, heading for the door.  Adrienne just continued packing her items, a sly grin on her face as she stuffed her computer into her bag. 

“She’s not going to give, she’s got Woolsey up her ass this week.  I’ll meet you at my place in what, an hour? Then we can go to the store, get an air mattress and some food for a week.  Sound like a plan?” she asked, ignoring every part of his protest other than the part about Sam.  He turned to face her, stopping at the doorway.  

“I’m just going to lay it out to her. She’ll see reason, or she’ll feel so bad that I will get four star accommodations, free, for a week,” Daniel replied and paused, walking back over to give Adrienne a quick hug. It was sweet, she didn’t have to offer, and even if he was mad about the entire situation he didn’t need to be a jerk to her about it.  She hugged him back and he quickly pulled away.  

“Thanks anyway Ad; enjoy your week off. Call me if you do anything that actually requires intelligence,” he said, marching out of the lab determination on his face.  Adrienne, on the other hand, laughed. 

“I’ll see you in an hour Indy,” she muttered under her breath, giggle as she zipped up her backpack and followed him out, herself heading in the direction of the elevators and her mid 1960’s chariot. 

It took him 55 minutes.  Adrienne was standing at her kitchen counter, cabinet and refrigerator doors open, making a list of what she thought the two of them would need from the grocery store when she heard the knock, glancing over at her phone on the counter.  

“So predictable,” she said and set down her list, heading for the door.  She opened it and stood back, her hands on her hips to greet her visitor. 

“Well hello roomie!” she greeted smiling, wearing tight jeans and a very neon tanktop.  She looked like she was on vacation, not just off of work for a week. Daniel stood in her doorway, still in his uniform from earlier today, jacket tossed over his shoulder and military issue duffle bag in hand and he didn’t appear very happy.  

“Please tell me we can get that air mattress,” he answered, his way of admitting defeat.  

“Yea, there’s plenty time; I was just trying to get you moving,” she replied, ushering him into her apartment, “I just need to finish this list and then we can get going.” He entered her apartment, making his way over to the sofa to toss his things there as his assistant rushed back into the kitchen.  Moments later she came out, armed with list in hand and purse on shoulder.  

“Got keys?” she asked. He reached into his pocket and jingled the set. 

“Fantastic, you have more space,” she said and headed for the door. Confused, Daniel peered at her over his glasses.  

“Space for what exactly?” he asked, fearing the answer.

“Supplies,” she winking and opened the door, heading for his Jeep.  Worried as to what she deemed supplies, he followed behind quickly, locking the apartment door behind him. 

******* 

“Alright Indy, list almost conquered,” Adrienne stated, looking back at the very full cart while Daniel just stood beside her in complete amazement.  They had arrived at the warehouse club about 15 minutes ago, only 15 minutes ago, and he followed behind, dumbfounded, as Adrienne zipped down the aisles at lightening speed filling the cart with an obscene amount of food, drink and an air mattress.  She’d offered to let him crash in the bed with her, but despite the fact he had done that a few times before it still made him feel a little uncomfortable and a week in the bed with her would just seem too, intimate.  He knew she didn’t mean it in any inappropriate way at all, she was just being considerate and honestly, he knew if he complained too much that she would just give up the bed entirely and sleep on the air mattress herself, just for him.  It was just the way she was and he didn’t want her to do that.  

“There’s more?” he asked in disbelief, not understanding how one person, one person that really wasn’t that big, could consume so much.  

“Of course there’s more.  This is just my food,” she swept her hand across the cart and he had to agree, this was defiantly her food. Fruit, veggies, crackers, lowfat cheeses, protein bars, he wasn’t going to eat this stuff.  Every two hours. On the dot. Carefully rationed like a hospital meal. Or was he? He suddenly got the sinking feeling that a week alone with Adrienne was going to quickly turn into a health cleanse. She smiled noting he was catching on.  

“I’m going to start your digestive overhaul with baby steps shug, baby steps, but we still need to get Daniel food,” she clarified, pointing to the center aisles, the aisles that she had been lecturing him for the past fifteen minutes that healthy people should avoid. 

“What exactly is Daniel food?” he asked, knowing her answer would be something smart, something educating him on what exactly was in every cookie he tried to ingest, but she just started laughing, leaning over onto the cart. 

“Daniel food is shit that people shouldn’t eat because it can cause you to die a terrible early diabetic death but you nevertheless insist on eating anyway,” she teased. Daniel shrugged, fine, so she did have a point, and headed for the snack aisle searching for junk food along the way. She allowed him exactly three junk food items: Cheetos, Toaster Waffles and M&M’s but informed him the rest of the week he would be eating like her, just as he feared. He vowed internally to find the nearest 24 hour restaurant, Adrienne being a heavy sleeper, making it easy for him to slip out, get real food and return back unnoticed and unstarved.  

When they returned to her apartment, she unloaded and unpacked everything methodically and kicked him out to the living room, his task to create a living space.  He stood in the living room frowning, trying to decide if this was bad luck or good luck being here for the week.  On one hand, he could be spending leave at Sam and Jack’s place feeling insanely awkward and intrusive. He loved seeing them together, but at the same time he didn’t want to hear Jack sharing personal information with him concerning he and Sam’s relationship, to see him squirm or lecture Daniel on how he should be pursuing Adrienne full tilt. On the other hand, he could just stay here, at Adrienne’s, resigning himself to a week of her health and fitness madness and months of rumors afterwards as to whether or not they were together. It didn’t seem he was going to win either way. Daniel was still standing staring at the living room area, trying to figure out what was alright to move and where when she came back into the space.  

“It’s just furniture; you can move it,” she said and walked over to the coffee table lifting it up easily and carrying it over to the wall, pointing to some side tables having him help her move them as well and then secured the large white box from where she had tossed it on the sofa to open the air mattress when she heard Daniel speak.  

“How much was that?” he asked, feeling bad that she had paid for all of the food and the bed but she waved her hand at him.  

“Don’t worry about it,” she stressed, “I needed one anyway.  Just help me blow it up,”  Adrienne knelt at the box, tearing it open and pulling out the large pile of plastic.  Tossing the carton aside, Adrienne went about spreading the mattress across the now open space in front of the sofa, folding and smoothing carefully and methodically.  Silent, Daniel watched her for a moment, as his assistant made his bed like it was ritual.  She thinks she is so independent and doesn’t need anyone else, he thought, but what she really doesn’t realize is that she does; she doesn’t need someone to take care of her, she needs someone to take care of. And right now that someone was him. Smiling at her consideration, Daniel walked over to the box to grab the air pump, kneeling beside her to offer his assistance. Within minutes he had a place to sleep, he had to admit that the bed was rather nice,  Adrienne smiled at their progress dashing down to hall for sheets.  

“Indy, Satin or T-shirt?” she shouted.  He laughed, because of course Adrienne would have multiple sets of satin sheets that should could offer out in a pinch.

“I’m assuming that you’re talking about sheets and if so t-shirt please; I’m still trying to figure out how you keep from sliding out of bed every night,” Daniel answered, holding his hands over his head in case something came flying at him in retaliation, but it didn’t and Adrienne returned, multicolored sheets in hand.  Kneeling down once more, she began to make the bed, sliding right back into caretaker mode without missing a beat. He watched her carefully, impressed really, this was a side of her he hadn’t seen before and it was mystified. She sat back on her heels, reaching to pull a clean pillowcase over a spare pillow when Daniel really got a good look at his sleeping arrangement for the week.  

“Oh lord Adrienne, really?” he asked, noticing the small starships covering the fabric.  Adrienne looked up at him like she really had no idea what he was talking about, so laughing, Daniel just walked over and sat on the sofa.  

“I get to sleep on Han Solo and Chewbacca all week, fantastic, it’ll be like middle school all over again,” Daniel joked, watching Adrienne carefully craft him a Star Wars bed.  She was smiling from ear to ear as she tucked in the corners.   

“Look shug, ya got two choices here, Greek Satin explosion or Fan Girl, there is no third option,”  she replied, laughing to herself.  Adrienne pulled the top sheet up, fixed the pillow in place, and ran back to her bedroom for the blanket she always let him use when he did sleep on the couch.  Quickly returning, she spread that out as well and stood back, crossing her arms, satisfied, giving Daniel the irresistible urge to pick on her about acting like a mom, but he didn’t want to burst her bubble, for now. 

“Alright, this is my week off too. You have food. You know how to use my TV.  You have a bed.  I’m going to change,” she declared, dropping the mom act in a sheer instant as she bent to whisk the empty mattress box from the floor.  Daniel frowned. Granted, he hadn’t expected her to babysit him all week, stay with him every waking moment, but he also didn’t expect her to set him up and dash off but he tried to play off his surprise.  

“Where are you heading off to?” he asked casually.  

“To run,” she replied and started for her bedroom, “I’ve gotta run 5 miles today,and you’re more than welcome to join me, but did you bring shoes?” she asked from the hall. He hadn’t; he really just threw a fews days worth of clothes in a bag hoping that he would get a call from the building super saying the coast was clear so he shook his head in the negative.  

“Look, it’s 3 already. It will be five by the time I’ve run, showered and put normal clothing on.  Why don’t you figure out something fun to do for dinner?” she suggested.  Dinner he could do.  

“Alright, I think I can handle that,” he said as she headed down the hall, a spring in her step as she moved. This really isn’t going to be so bad, he thought, she’ll do her thing and I’ll do mine. 

Emerging a few moments later, running shorts, running tank and iPod in armband, Adrienne walked over, intent on doing her own thing, and kissed him on the cheek, making her way for the door.  

“Back in a bit,” she said as she dashed out and in a moment of temporary insanity Daniel almost told her to be careful or something else that made him sound like her boyfriend rather than her friend and temporary bunkmate.  Glancing over at the clock to check the time, Daniel found Adrienne’s sticker covered MacBook sitting on the dining area table, remembering his task. He’d choose dinner, something fun, just not something that would make this all feel that much more, bizarre.  

“Dinner, let’s plan dinner,” he said to himself and walked over, opening the lid to the computer.  Slowly the screen illuminated and very chiseled man laying on a white bed, naked popped up on the desktop with a title in blood red “Eric Northman - Mr. January”.

“Really Ad? Really?” Daniel sighed and looked for the internet logo and clicked quickly, the image of Mr. January thankfully faded away.  Wondering what other vampire surprises lay in store for him, he started to do a google search for some sort of unique dining that they had not already tried when a little box popped up in front of him. 

Safari requests passcode

“Pass codes?” he said out loud, “What’s on this thing?”  He typed carefully 082576, Alexander Skarsguard’s birthday. It was her fail safe password that she thought he didn’t know.  She was obsessed with that man, and his vampire alter ego, much to Daniel’s amusement, and it gave him plenty of fuel for anything she could harass him about.  However, the box reappeared.  

Safari requests passcode

“Well that’s surprising,” he said and thought for a moment.  He tried her birthday, 061880.  No luck.  He didn’t know her father’s birthday, but that seemed a bit depressing to have to enter everyday.  He racked his brain, trying to think like Adrienne.  What in the world could it be? And then it came to him.  He typed in 070865.  The box went away.  

“Oh, aren’t we clever Ad; I have a sinking feeling you did that just to mess with me,” he said out loud, however surprised that his birthday worked.  Was she playing a game with him, which would not be surprising in the least, or was there another reason?  

“Now you sound like Jack,” he scolded himself aloud but decided that he would have to investigate further, purely for future teasing of course. Squinting as he leaned forward toward the screen, he went back to the task at hand.  It only took him a few clicks but he made his decision.; they were going to do something fun.  

Adrienne came jogging back into the apartment, covered in sweat and smiling.  She ripped off her iPod and tossed it onto the sofa, stinky arm band and all.  Daniel was relieved that she missed throwing that disgusting thing onto his bed. 

“Did’ya find something?” she asked. He was smiling. 

“Yes, yes I did,” he replied, still sitting at the table playing on her computer seemingly pleased with himself.  

“And,” she led, pulling out the chair and sitting across from him, as she wiped the sweat from her face with the hem of her shirt.  She must have run hard, he thought, she’s absolutely soaked.  

“It’s a surprise,” he winked. Adrienne smirked at him, but nodded her head, accepting his duplicity and anxious for the result.  

“So, you really know how to vacation? I’m impressed,” she responded, standing again to head for the shower.  She stopped before she reached the hall, turning slightly to glance over her shoulder.  

“How many tries until you figured out the password?” she asked pointing to the computer.  

“Three,” he said.  

‘Impressive,” Adrienne responded in her best Darth Vader impression, “That was just a practice round,” she smiled and walked away.  

“Games nerds play,” he said out loud and went back to reading the article he had been reading before. 

Adrienne was indeed impressed with Daniel’s dinner choice.  They went to lots of oddball eateries together, but the Mongolian Barbecue place took the cake, and he knew he had chosen correctly the moment her deep brown eyes grew as big as saucers. 

“Wow, nice choice.  I knew you had it in you,” Adrienne taunted and Daniel just laughed.  

“You know I can pick fun things, you just try to make me think I’m impossible.  Besides, I finally have someone who will humor me to hang out with,” he answered.  Adrienne was touched; it really was nice to have someone that shared enough of your likes to hang around with. Back home, Adrienne had always felt like the black sheep, of the family and even sometimes at work, but here? Here, she had good friends, for the first time in her life really, and she had Daniel, and he was really the closet friend she had ever had.  

“Touché Indy,” she said and walked to the hostess stand.  

It was fairly easy to get a table for two and they were seated quickly. Once settled, they hungrily headed toward the bar to pick their items.  Daniel just stared in amazement as Adrienne quite literally filled every inch of her bowl with every single fruit and vegetable offered in the spread only to proceed to cover it in curry.  A lot of curry.  He casually leaned over her shoulder, peering at the yellow powder covered explosion of produce.

“Adrienne,” Daniel began, his tone mocking,  “why in the world are you not only forgoing any meat when every animal on the planet is sliced here and ready for your enjoyment but you’re taking that poor selection of food and covering it entirely in spices?” Adrienne shot a glare at him.  

“Because it’s good asshole,” she replied and handed her bowl the to large man at the cooking stone. Daniel just shook his head.  

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand you Ad,”  he responded, handing his bowl over as well.  Smiling, Adrienne peeked over her shoulder.

“I like it that way,” she teased and made her way through the line.  

Many bowls and much wine later, at least for Adrienne, neither of them could eat another bite.  Daniel asked for the check and made a fast grab for it before Adrienne could see the total.  

“I got this,” he declared.  Adrienne threw her hands up.  

“I can pay for my own dinner,” she retorted.  

“Yes, but you paid for groceries. I thought roommates split things like that,” he answered.  He had her, so she let him pay and didn’t even try to see how much her share was, although she was fairly certain that her strange Asian wine choice for the night was rather expensive. It was a kind gesture, she really hadn’t expected him to pay for anything, after all, he was the one put out this week and she was trying to help him and make this all a bit more bearable. It was late enough with after getting to work, having to leave work, shop, run and then this extravagant meal, so once Daniel had paid the check, they decided to head back to her place and just relax. 

“I’m bored,” Adrienne declared once they hit the door of her apartment.  Daniel looked over at her, shutting the door and tossing his keys over to his pile in the corner.  Adrienne made a face but didn’t comment.  

“How, didn’t you say that you liked time off?  You were going to read and write and frolic or something,” he teased.  She pushed his arm, muttering something under her breath about him making her worse of a work-a-holic than she had been before she met him, that she had been able to actually relax and just do nothing before she met him, tossing her purse on the table and heading for the bedroom.  

“Where are you going? It’s only 9:30, there is no way that you of all people are going to sleep now?” he asked as she headed down the hall.  

“I’m getting a movie!!”  she yelled back, “What are you in the mood for?” Daniel had no idea.  This entire week was up in the air for him, he just hoped she wasn’t in the mood for horror, not on a full stomach.   

“Surprise me, but I have no desire to take shots or watch gore after that dinner!” he shouted back and heard her laugh from down the hallway.  Moments later she came back out, tank top and yoga pants, Daniel unable to fathom how she changed that fast, with a DVD case in hand, skipping over to the TV.

“And the winner is...?” he asked, deciding himself he would grab shorts and head to change himself.  Adrienne turned the movie cover to face him.  

“Dogma,” she answered.  Daniel shrugged his shoulders; it was something he had never heard of which with Adrienne wasn’t that much of a surprise.  An evil grin on her face, lord what was this movie about, she popped it into the player and walked back over, crawling onto his air mattress while Daniel quickly changed into some shorts in the hall bathroom.  She was laying on her stomach on his bed facing the TV and scooted over when he returned, eyeing him as he threw his jeans into the now growing pile beside her sofa. She was not amused. 

“You have been in my apartment dozens of times, are there ever piles? Anywhere? Except my desk, but really?   Have you not figured out that I’m doing that just to annoy you,” he joked.  

“I liked you better when you were afraid of me,” she scowled.  He tried not to laugh too hard, crawling onto the air mattress beside her.  

“So, what is this exactly? More British humor?”  he asked, reaching to the floor in front of them and retrieving the case.  Reading the cover carefully, recognizing a few of the actors, namely Alan Rickman, so he knew it couldn’t be all bad.

“You would think that watching Monty Python was the worst thing that ever happened to you or something.  No, it’s about religion; it’s nerd humor,” she responded, “which means you’re the only friend I have that I can watch this with without having to pause every few minutes in order to explain.” she said. He smiled, pleased to be that only friend she could watch this with, pleased to just be there with her at all. In fact, he didn’t even comment as Adrienne got herself comfortable, comfortable being that she laid down beside him, so close that they were touching, covering them both with a blanket  and hit play on the remote to start the film.  

It was very entertaining and Adrienne was right, none of the rest of their friends would have gotten any of the jokes, they were too laden in history and mythology to make sense to someone who was not a total history nerd, basically who were not Daniel and Adrienne. They were at a particularly funny part where one character was explaining to the lead about how Jesus really behaved thousands of year ago when Adrienne leapt up screaming and holding her arm, tightly, panic in her face.

“Ad,” Daniel leapt up behind her, “What’s wrong, are you alright?” She was looking at her arm obviously trying no to cry.  Adrienne was not a crier, so Daniel knew something must be very wrong.  

“Something bit me, god dammit that hurt, it bit hard,” she said sucking back the tears.  It must hurt, badly, or it bit right on the nerve to have caused that reaction.  His medic training kicking in, he grabbed her by the shoulder on the good arm and led her into the bathroom in the hall, turning on the water.    

“Here, give me your arm,” he said, reaching gently for her wrist but Adrienne held fast, as if squeezing her wrist was helping to ease the pain.   

“Ad, I need to see what it is alright? Remember, Janet taught me how to... nevermind,   just let me see,” he pleaded, hoping she would listen. She made a face but stuck her arm over at him slowly, so he pulled it over to the sink and under the bathroom light.  

The bite was large, larger than he had expected and there were two clear puncture wounds on her forearm, the area around them growing redder.  Daniel reached over and grabbed some soap from the side of the sink and started the water placing her arm underneath and washing the area gently.  Adrienne hissed in pain as he washed her arm, but tried to stay tough, biting her own lip forcefully, making such a ridiculous face that he couldn't‘ help but laugh.   

“It’s a spider bite Ad, I mean, as many tattoos as you have and everything I’ve seen you put through, you’re fussing over a spider bite?” he taunted.  Adrienne stuck her tongue out at him, quickly, before wincing again. 

“It stings.  I don’t like the sensation of stinging,” she answered, “It’s a different, awful scratchy feeling.”  Daniel ignored her and continued to wash the bite.  Satisfied it was cleaned, he shut off the water and grabbed the hand towel from the side of the sink, drying her arm before pulling it up into the air.  

“Hold it up like this and don’t touch it.  Do you have Neosporin or something like it?” he asked.  Adrienne nodded yes.  

“Top drawer in my bathroom. That’s for the medicines,” she stated.  Daniel looked at her surprised. 

“Miss Organic has a medicine drawer?” he asked. Adrienne frowned at his assumption.

“Just because I don’t fill my body with chemicals doesn’t mean I lack the basic components of first aid.  There are cases where a chemical can help.  This is one of those cases,” she retorted. 

“Come on,” Daniel said, grabbing her good arm and leading her into the bedroom, “Let’s finish this.”  She followed behind, bitten arm in the air as ordered, scowling at him the entire way. Sure enough, she had a medicine drawer but what Daniel wasn’t surprised about was how little medicine in it there actually was; it appeared Adrienne thought first aid kits consisted of Neosporin, Bandaids, Gauze, Vaseline, and Advil and that was all.  He was glad he wasn’t dealing with something more serious, making a note to pick up a few more things just in case and smuggle them over here. He put Neosporin on the wound and wrapped it lightly with gauze, working as gently as he could as she winced in pain, biting the side of her cheek. He finished, tucking the gauze under and glanced back up as her screwed up face. 

“Thank you, but it’s better already, let’s just go back and watch the movie,” she insisted, pulling away but Daniel held her arm, firmly but gently. 

“Did you see what bit you?” he asked. She shook her head so he continued.  

“Exactly, so in that case we need to act as if it’s something worse than it is, trust me,” he said, pulling her again.  

“I do, I do,” she relented and made her way over to the bed, sitting down in her customary sleeping spot.  Daniel told her to keep her arm up for just a bit longer and went to the kitchen to get ice.  

Adrienne wasn’t used to all of this, attention.  She hated being the center of attention and at least when she got hurt at work Carolyn made her feel bad for getting hurt and then would ignore her but Daniel was actually taking care of her.  This was something she wasn’t used to, being taken care of, by him no less. It felt odd, it felt different, it felt so wrong and so right all at the same time. She was so confused, why was this all so upsettting, but before she could begin her typical over analysis of the situation he came back in, ice wrapped in some dish towels and sat down beside her, grabbing the remote as he sat.  He stacked some pillows on his lap and pulled her arm over on top of them, placing the ice over it and holding it tight.

“Thanks,” she said quietly.  

“I figured you didn’t want to go back to work and sit in the infirmary,” he answered and clicked on the TV.  

Not surprisingly, after today’s events, Adrienne fell asleep, her arm still stretched across Daniel.  Trying not to wake her, he carefully unwrapped her arm to check the bite to discover that there was no swelling, in fact, it looked like two tiny scratches now, a marked difference from it’s earlier appearance. As slowly as he could, he wrapped it back up and laid her arm across her body, gently pulling her down onto the bed and covering her up before shutting off the TV and heading for the living room.  

Her laptop was on the small dining room table where he’d left after he’d found the Mongolian restaurant. Opening the lid, he frowned at the display. There was that naked vampire again, Eric, same name that she gave her staff weapon. Laughing at the absurdity of her pop culture obsession, he clicked on the internet icon and like earlier he got the familiar message.  

Safari requests passcode

Daniel typed in his birthday carefully, 070865.  

Safari requests passcode

He laughed; she’d changed it already.  This was a game for her.  He tried to think, what would Adrienne change it to.....  and tried MontyPython. No good. 

“What is that stupid waitress’ name on that show?” he asked himself and remembered. Sookie, he typed.  Not that either.  He tried every character he remembered from that ridiculous program that she loved so much and even ‘zombies’, ‘werewolves’ and ‘gore’.  None of them worked.  He was at a loss. 

“This is a test; it’s always a test,” he said aloud when a light went off in his head, and he smiled and laughed.  

‘IamsmarterthanIndy’ he typed.  The internet opened.  

“Not really,” he answered and started to amuse himself until he was ready to go to sleep.  

He awoke to a silent apartment, so silent that he would have thought he was at home except for realizing he was sleeping on an air mattress on the floor.  He rose, grabbing his phone from one of the tables that were shoved against the wall and looked at the screen. It was 9:15 in the morning.

“Wow, I can’t remember the last time I’ve slept that late,” he said to himself remembering that he had trudged his way over to the air mattress a little before midnight. More than four hours for him was fantastic, trekking on past nine, a miracle. Heading to the kitchen for a glass of water, he remembered Adrienne’s spider bite and changed directions, dashing down the hall to her room. 

Adrienne was sleeping peacefully, under the blankets, on her side, her back to him. It looked as if she had gotten up at some point, maybe to go to the bathroom, hopefully not to mess with his dressing, and to check he crawled onto the bed beside her and grabbed her arm.  

“It’s just fine, not even that red anymore,” Adrienne said as he pulled her arm behind her.  Not totally believing her, as Adrienne loved to downplay injuries, he unwrapped the bandage to be sure, but she was right, it looked much better.  

“Thanks sweetie, I appreciate it,” she said again, not moving.  He let go of her arm and she brought it back to her side, hunching herself down again on the pillow. 

“I want to clean it again,” he said, not getting up. 

“I will in the shower,” she said and finally sat up, gazing over at him, “Sorry I died on you last night.” Daniel shook his head.  

“No apology necessary,” he replied and stood as Adrienne staggered out of bed and started walking toward the kitchen, looking herself like a zombie. Daniel fought the urge to laugh and say just that but he must not have fought the urge completely, as Adrienne whipped her head around, cutting her eyes at him sharply. 

“Laugh it up Indy, you get to see the real Addy.  The one who’s not trying to impress her boss any longer. The one who knows I do not have to jump up into action.  Real Addy hates mornings and would prefer if coffee came in a syringe,” she spat, flinging her hips around sashaying for the kitchen but he could hear her laughing as she left.  

‘Nice dramatics Vala,” he joked receiving a middle finger over her head as she walked away. He stood and followed her to the kitchen, finding her opening the freezer to make her morning fix, grabbing the coffee beans from her hand.  

“I’ve got this, go take a shower and wash that bite,” he ordered.  Adrienne shook her head.  

“I should text Vala.  You bought me dinner, you spent the night, and now you’re making me coffee.  She might spontaneously combust,” Adrienne laughed. Trying not to laugh himself, and failing miserably, Daniel thrust out his arm, pointing down the hall.  She scowled at him playfully and stormed off to do as he asked. 

Adrienne emerged 45 minutes later, fully arranged, hair, make-up, in a fashion that was acceptable for her three rules, three rules that she didn’t seem to hold him accountable to anymore. Walking over to her laptop, Adrienne sat at the dining room table and fired it up, smiling at the picture of a naked Eric Northman and clicking the internet icon to check her email.  

Safari requests passcode

Adrienne entered the passcode she had changed it to yesterday when she went to retrieve the movie from her room.  

Safari requests passcode

Adrienne glared over at Daniel, who she was now finally noticing actually making a real breakfast.  That bastard, she thought to herself, not only has he made himself at home but he is playing right back.  She started to think, racking her brain for whatever insanity he could have come up with.  What would he make the password? Adrienne started with obvious things, things that would make her scream.  She tried Vala.  No luck. She tried Cameronwantsyou.  Still nothing.  She tried a few planet codes, codes of places they had been together to, places where he had rubbed it in her face when he was right. And then she got an idea.  

‘Nicetrydrperky’ she typed and the internet opened.  Feeling eyes on her and she glanced up to see Daniel a grin from ear to ear, handing her a cup of coffee.  

“How many tries?” he asked.  

“Two,” she answered.  

“Liar,” he said.  She laughed and reached for the coffee.  

“Thanks,” she said to him as he walked back into the kitchen and looked over his shoulder.  

“What do you want?” he asked, “I made eggs and toast.”  Adrienne was amazed, this was all too weird.  

“That’s fine, thanks again,” she said.  He grabbed a few plates and began to serve up breakfast and brought it right over, setting the plate in front of her.  Adrienne was still laughing lightly.  

“What’s so funny; you didn’t even try them yet?” he said, pointing to the eggs with his fork.  Adrienne shook her head.  

“Just weird, that’s all. We’re sitting here eating breakfast that you made like this is just something we normally do,” she explained, hoping he wouldn’t read into it or be scared off; she didn’t want him to think that she was thinking anything other than the sheer irony of the situation, but he didn’t, she guessed, as he drank his coffee, nodding his head in agreement. 

“Ok, I’ll give you that. It’s a little weird,” he answered.  Adrienne smiled again, feeling better instantly and ate her breakfast while she checked some things on her email.  A few clicks later and she was coughing violently as she choked on her eggs.  

“Oh come on Ad; they’re not that bad,” Daniel said, defending his cooking but Adrienne waved her hand in front of her face and swallowed, standing from her chair and running back to the bedroom. 

“This is life when your best friend is a woman, indefinite confusion,” Daniel sighed and continued to eat his breakfast. 

“Oh come on Vala, really? When in the hell are you EVER responsible?” Adrienne was talking feverishly into her phone, walking down the hall, one hand flailing around as if Vala could see the gestures she was making from the other end of the phone. 

“Yes, yes he’s here. No. Dammit Vala, no, what’s your deal? That’s not even funny. So really, you’re not coming? Fine. Yes I’ll take him and we’ll have a great time.  Oh I will make sure he does,” Adrienne spat, tapping the phone’s screen with her finger before slamming it onto the dining room table. Confused, but knowing she would spill any second, Daniel pointed at her plate. 

“You finished?” he asked.  Adrienne shook her head no and sat back down at the computer, grabbing the fork while Daniel took his own plate to the dishwasher and came and sat himself, waiting.  And we have total confession in three, two, one...

“Do you have plans today mon ami?” she asked, sweetly, right on cue and he shook his head no, regretting that course of action immediately.  If she had just called Vala inviting her first, she had something up her sleeve. 

“Excellent, question two, are we feeling mouthy today?” she continued.  He didn’t like where this was going even more so since wherever she had decided was their destination was not somewhere Vala wanted to or could go to.  

“Spit it out because I’m not promising to not be a smart mouth,” he said.  

“The outlets are having a sale.  A big sale,” she said, turning the computer showing Daniel a cheesy emailed sale ad plastered all over the screen. At least it wasn’t a naked Swedish man. 

“You know they jack up the prices for things like that and then lower them so foolish women will be compelled to shop,” he replied turning the computer back, suddenly on the receiving end of the famous Dr. Adrienne Rowan glare. Her poor students, he thought, god forbid any of them ever texted in class or missed a homework assignment. 

“Indy, I have a eidetic memory; I know the relative prices of all of the goods and brands that I prefer.  I don’t fall into that trap,” Adrienne answered, stressing the word I in every occurrence in her speech.  Daniel looked at her over his glasses, not buying it for a second, but he knew where this was going and he was going to be dragged to a giant mall.  

“So I get to be your pack mule and watch you spend too much money on clothing that makes no sense?” he joked, those eyes of hers growling at him as eyes shouldn’t be able to do. 

“Fine, I’ll go alone,” she said, returning to her screen and grabbing her phone to upload coupons.  Breathing out, Daniel leaned over the table, reaching for her hand lightly.

“Ad, I’m just playing.  Forced leave, remember? What else do I have to do?” he said, realizing that he didn’t want her to think he was only here as a last resort, even though that was how it started.  He liked being with her, he liked being here and he really didn’t want to stay here alone and miss out on a chance to have fun, even if it was shopping. 

“I’ll finish eating and clean up, you go shower and get dressed,” she said, happiness in her voice, a joy that made him smile. Standing, Daniel made his way over to the bag to collect what he needed to get ready.  She was finishing her breakfast when he headed down the hall and watched him leave, making sure he was gone before clicking on the small settings wheel on the toolbar of her computer.  

Change password? 

Adrienne smiled evilly and typed.  

As Daniel predicted, the sales were not what they were cracked up to be and Adrienne was disappointed, but still managed to buy five large bags of items to Daniel’s sheer amazement. He tried to refrain comment, especially since some the the shorts she bought were so short he had no idea where she would wear them and were so bright in color they hurt to look at them too long.  However, when Adrienne darted into the last store on one section of the outlets and turned to show him a pair of neon yellow shorts he could refrain no longer.  

“Please tell me you are only holding those up to amuse me,” he said.  Adrienne scowled at him.  

“No, they’re cute. I wanted your opinion,” she replied, “Pretend you’re Vala.”  Daniel smiled.  

“Well who you trying to fuck, Cam or Dex?” he asked, doing a horrible accent. He sounded so ridicolous Adrienne almost collapsed into the floor in hysterics and put the shorts back, laughing so hard tears were coming out of her eyes.  Cracking up himself, Daniel walked over, extending his hand to help her up. 

“You’re going to need to try them on, Cam will like them tight to look at your butt and Dex’ll want them loose to get them off,” he continued, Adrienne shoving his hand away as she continued to sit on the floor of the store laughing and wiping tears from her eyes.  

“You are obsessed with Cameron and my butt,” she accused as she finally stood.  

“No, Cameron is obsessed with your butt, and he is quite obvious about it.” Daniel laughed as Adrienne was still wiping tears from her eyes.  

“Ok, I won’t buy them then, fine.  I think we can go.  I’m shopped out,” she stated, heading for the door. Daniel followed in celebration, bags in hand.  

“Thank god!” he shouted from behind her, jogging to catch up.  

They went to a movie, something that was a poorly made rip off of the Blair Witch Project and as they usual sat in the back making fun of it in French.  After the movie, neither of them wanted to go out to dinner, so they decided to go back to her apartment after walking what seemed to be endless miles at the outlets.  

When Adrienne turned the knob to her apartment door there was ringing inside, ringing that sounded like Daniel’s cell phone. He reached for his pockets and realized that he had left the phone at the apartment quickly walking the bags over to the sofa and dropping them there, grabbing the phone from the arm.  The ringing ceased, but the sound was quickly replaced by the small message icon appearing on the screen. Not recognizing the number, Daniel hit speaker phone to allow Adrienne to hear the message. 

“Good evening Dr. Jackson. This is Mr. Cooper. I am calling all of the tenants to let them know that we will not be able to fumigate the building until after the construction on the third floor is complete.  I apologize for the inconvenience and you are free to return to your apartment at any time.  Have a nice evening.” 

Daniel erased the message as Adrienne was walking over to the sofa to get her bags to start putting things away.  She looked up at him, a half smile on her face, shrugging. 

“Well you lucked out. We’ll probably be off world by the time all of that construction mess is complete,” she said. Daniel nodded his head.  Setting her shopping bags in the hallway, Adrienne went into the kitchen where he could hear her rummaging through the cabinets.  He thought she was just getting a snack, but after a few moments she didn’t return.  Curious, he walked into the kitchen to see what she was doing.  

Adrienne was at the counter, packing his snacks into a box carefully, glancing up as he came in.  

“Take this stuff back to your place; it’ll never get eaten here,” she said and Daniel paused realizing what she was doing:  she was packing for him to leave.  Did she want him to go so soon? They had had a blast, like always and he was already trying to come up with something fun to do tomorrow, something that didn’t involve a mall.  Confused, he looked over at her trying to judge her face.  

“Adrienne, I don’t have to dash out of here,” he responded gauging her reaction.  Slowly, she gazed up at him and he saw just what he had hoped to see, disappointment. She didn’t want him to go, she even looked upset at the prospect. Elated, he walked over to where she was packing up the individual M&M packs into a shopping bag, grabbing two of them and her arm. 

“Come on,” he said, pulling her back to the living room.  Adrienne looked at him confused.  

“Where are you dragging me?” she asked.  

“Back to the air mattress.  We have to finish that movie from last night,” he stated, letting go and proceeding to the living room. A smile spreading across her face, she followed, catching on that he intended to stay. 

“You don’t have to stay if you think you’re humoring me or something you know,” she clarified, hoping it wasn’t that, hoping that he wanted to stay. 

“No, I think I ought to stay, at least for tonight. After all, you seem to have a pretty aggressive spider problem that you need help with,” he joked, his assistants cheeks flushing in response. 

Not only had Daniel insisted on starting the movie from the beginning, but after checking on her bite again and after Adrienne put her new clothes away, they didn’t even start the movie until eleven. Peeking at the screen on his phone, Daniel noted that it was well after one in the morning by the time the credits rolled and he was hitting stop on the remote.  

“Much better than that Monty Python mess, much better,” he announced, looking over at Adrienne who he hoped was happy she had finally picked something considered a comedy that he liked, but she was asleep. Like always.  

“Ad, you can fall asleep anywhere,” he said out loud.  He turned her slightly and tried to cover her up the best he could, planning to leave her there, not trying to move her, and walked around the apartment to shut things down before going to sleep himself.  He went to close the lid to the computer, left open from this morning’s hasty coupon downloading when he decided to check his email once more before bed.  

Safari requests passcode

Daniel laughed typing the one thing on his mind.  ‘whodhavethought’  and the machine whirred to life, the internet browser opening.  

“Certainly not me,” he whispered quietly as he opened his inbox, scanning through the messages quickly before joining her on the starship covered bed and letting himself fall asleep beside the best friend he had ever had.