Daniel and Adrienne #22: Perspectives

“Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,” Adrienne counted off and set the weights down on the floor beside her desk, walking back over to the center table where Daniel was examining some photos carefully, hunched over the desk in a zone she was hesitant to interrupt. She stood back, waiting for him to break his trance, not wanting to interrupt his train of thought.  

“It is the source of all power, used to light the fire of the gods in the temple,” Daniel was reading, aloud now, intending for her to hear, running his fingers over the Mayan Hieroglyphs.  Taking that as her cue to speak, Adrienne peered around his arm, scanning the line as he had. 

“That’s what I got,” she said shrugging, “but I wanted you to check behind me before I called Rodney and had him coming down here and taking over.” Adrienne explained as she looked over at him for approval.  After P34-S210, Rodney needed to be the last person to know about anything that the archaeology lab could find. 

“No, thanks, good call,” Daniel said quietly, reading on.  Adrienne smiled and walked back over to the weights. 

“I try,” she replied, picking them up again and positioning herself in a low stance.  

“One, two, three,” she began to count again, lifting the weights up to her sides, curling her biceps.  

“Ad, did you see this..... what are you doing?” Daniel asked, turning around to face her, his expression changing as soon as he saw her.    She had her back to him just pumping away and counting along, actually working out in the lab. Daniel was at a loss for words.

“Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,” she counted off quickly and placed the weights back onto the floor, redirecting her attention to their set up in the center work area. 

“Sorry, this time crunch that Sam put us on had messed up my workout schedule.  I haven’t lifted in two days and my arms are yelling at me for it,” she explained walking to join him at their spread of photos.  He could have lectured her on the importance of this mission, but he knew she understood, so he just laughed.  Adrienne had a clear set of priorities in life and her health was at the top of them, the list went her health, her car, her friends.  He smiled inside, silently glad he could now be included in that last category, in fact, according to her, at the top of that category, but still after her car.  

“No, it’s alright.  I just never know what to expect with you around,” he said jokingly as she lifted her eyebrows.  

“And I like it like that. Ok, so you mean the part about the temples leaving, yeah, I saw that and thought what you’re probably thinking,” she said.  Daniel was shaking his head.  

“Yeah, motherships; but why would the Go’ould have a ZPM?” he wondered out loud as the sounds of footsteps echoed through the hall.    

“DanielJackson,” Teal’c greeted his old friend as he entered the lab, “I am traveling to Chulac to see Ry’ac  before we depart for the next mission.  Is there anything you desire?” Teal’c had started to come by and ask Daniel before he left for the Jaffa home world, ever since finding that tablet written in Abydonian in an abandoned village, a planet that was a sister to the Jaffa homeworld. Since, Daniel had asked Teal’c to bring various items back from Chulac for Daniel to investigate, in an effort to learn about how that tablet might have arrived there, or how Shar’e and Kasuf’s kin had managed to escape the tyranny they had not.  

“No Teal’c, unless you see something of interest, but thank you,” Daniel replied, looking back to the photos. 

“Can you bring me one of those navy blue wraps Teal’c, like Ishta wore at the naming ceremony?” Adrienne turned and requested politely.  Teal’c smiled at the request; he liked Adrienne, not only was she a fine warrior, but she was good for Daniel, she made him a better person, he had just yet to recognize that.  Teal’c was confident that someday he would.  

“Of course AdrienneRowan.  I shall see you both in two days,” he bowed slightly and left.  Daniel, on the other hand, looked back at Adrienne smirking. 

“You now have Teal’c shopping for you?” he teased. Adrienne bumped her hip against him. 

“Stop picking on me, did you see how beautiful Ishta looked at the ceremony?  I have got to get one of those,” she answered. Shaking his head, Daniel turned to look back at the photos as Adrienne ran back over to the weights for a third time. How many times was she going to do this? he thought, glaring at her in annoyance.

“One more set on this lift, thirty seconds max,” she promised, collecting the weights from the ground, beginning to lift once more.  Daniel leaned against the table, waiting patiently and she pumped her arms, counting off. She was lucky, he thought to himself, lucky he liked her so much, lucky that she was so useful.  From other people, he wouldn’t tolerate that kind of behavior, but Adrienne, he tended to let her get away with anything now, because he knew that he could always count on her to bring it in, be serious, and work hard when it came down to it.  She counted off her set and plopped down the weights, dashing back to the table. 

“Yes,” she said as if she hadn’t dashed off for a mini workout, “I was thinking motherships as well, but that’s so late, especially for the Mayans, historically speaking, unless we are talking about a lesser system lord, but wouldn’t Ra have monitored that a bit better?”                    

“You would think,” Daniel responded, but made the note on the notepad anyway, just in case, changing to the next set and they kept working their way through the photos.  

Vala mumbled to herself as Sam ordered her down to the Archaeology lab.  With the Lucians so quietly lately, Vala had been pretty active working with various teams, including her own and she didn’t mind at all, being sent as the expert to assist other SG teams made her feel valued, and that Sam needed her around and after so many years of being treated like she was the one in everyone’s way, it as nice to feel appreciated.  However, there was one favor for Sam that Vala did not enjoy and that was being sent to assist Daniel and Adrienne.  She liked Adrienne, a lot, considered the young cajun woman one of her dearest friends, but Daniel and Adrienne together, now that they were friendly, now that they seemed to spend every waking moment together, now that she wasn’t quite sure if they were ever apart, was just obnoxious.  They never seemed to speak English and they would stand at that table looking at files and communicating with one another in secret code like they were in their own little world.  It would be annoying if Vala actually thought they might be flirting with one another, but it was more than that. They were completely in sync with once another and it was creepy.  

Daniel was standing at the chalkboard lining up an assortment of pictures with magnets speaking to Adrienne in that one language they talked in the most, French, Vala thought Adrienne had called it while Adrienne was sitting on the center table, cross legged, Sobe water in hand just babbling right on back.  Vala cleared her throat as she entered the lab, more so out of annoyance than anything else, a fact that was completely missed by Adrienne who glanced in her direction smiling. 

“Vala, ca va bien?” Adrienne asked politely, in that damn language she didn’t speak. The only word Vala knew in that sentence was good, so she responded in the like.  

“Yeah, fine.  Sam sent more photos,” Vala responded, handing Adrienne the folders.  She didn’t bother waving at Daniel, who was engrossed in the chalkboard, he had no idea she was here and there was one thing and one thing alone that could get his attention and that one thing looked up and said something in French. And he looked up. 

“Hi, Vala, why didn’t Sam just send them to Adrienne electronically?” he asked.  Because she likes to make me her errand girl, that’s why, Vala thought to herself, but instead she just shrugged.  

“I don’t know, she just told me to run this to you guys and see if you had anything ready,” she replied curtly, crossing her arms and almost tapping her feet as she waited.   Pinching the bridge of his nose as he shoved his glasses up his face, Daniel walked back over to the table and pointed to a spread beside Adrienne’s leg.  

“Not really; these MALP images are pretty grainy.  We’re having a bit of a time constructing a path through the jungle that actually gets us anywhere, much less where we think the temple complex might have been and we can only make out about half of the script.  You can tell her that she’s just going to have to live without both of us this week because if this is all the information we have I’m going to need Adrienne to help,” Daniel replied.  Of course you will, Vala thought, she’s practically attached to you; so much for her being my friend. She shook her head, uncrossing her arms and breathing out loudly. 

“Alright then, so nothing, more nothing and there needs to be two of you on the mission to confirm, nothing,” she clarified as Adrienne glanced over at Daniel and said something in French.  Vala rolled her eyes.  She hated when they did that.  She liked things better when Adrienne thought he was a dork and wanted nothing to do with him outside of his being her boss. Evidently not agreeing with whatever she had said, Daniel shook his head at Adrienne redirecting his attention to Vala.

“Basically,” he answered.  Letting out a huff, Vala turned to leave without so much as a goodbye. 

“Just fuck and get it over with,” she spat under her breath as she left the lab, neither of them responding, so they must not have heard.  Still annoyed, she headed back to Sam’s office to report her findings. 

******** 

Adrienne was too tired, not physically, but mentally to drive home.  The beetle meant too much to her to risk running into a street sign or something just because she was driving drowsy.  She ran, showered and trudged down to her quarters hoping that there was something cheesy on TV that did not require much thought as she wearily coded herself into her room and opened the door.  But there was Daniel was sitting on her bed a familiar manila file in his hand, reading away like he was just supposed to be there. Adrienne made a face. 

“Seriously Indy, what could you possibly need?” she asked, shaking her head.  

“I didn’t want to interrupt your run and I was waiting outside but Vala came by and had something smart to say,” he answered without looking up, just stood quickly and rushed over to where she was standing, head down reading, folder still in hand. Tossing her gym bag into the corner, she jerked the file from his palm with one hand, halting his graceless advance with the other and walked back to the right side of the room, flopping herself across the bed.  

“I take it you’re not going home either,” she inferred, thinking it was an obvious fact since he was standing right here yet asking anyway.  

“No, I’m too worked up over this.  I really didn’t need you too look at anything; I just didn’t want to go home nor did I want to go to sleep,” he answered. Rolling her eyes, Adrienne shut the folder, laughing at him and her assumption that he had brought her work to do, tossing it over to the desk and leaning back against her pillow, where he had been sitting just moments before. 

“Then you call Daniel, on the phone.  The conversation goes like this,” she mocked, making her fingers look like she was talking into a phone and spoke.  

“Ad, I’m bored. What are you doing? Do you want to hang out?” she said, mimicking his voice the best she could.  Frowning, he came over and sat on the bed beside her, reaching down to untie his boots. 

“Smartass,” he joked.  Adrienne just shoved his shoulder, moving him out of her way as she headed over to grab her computer from her backpack and what Daniel referred to as her geek box, a small black plastic container full of cord and wires and other crazy things that Adrienne used to hack into more simple electronics.  He couldn’t complain much, in fact, Daniel had cancelled cable months ago learning that with Adrienne as his best friend he could watch whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, all he had to do was ask, although he wasn’t entirely sure if it was legal.  He’d learned that was something he shouldn’t ask. Tossing his boots over by the door, he sat back where he was sitting on the bed when she arrived, on the side, if you could call it that, closest to the door, watching her walk over to the TV and pop open the box digging out a few wires and plugging them into the set.

“Horror, Sci/Fi, Fantasy, Drama, Romance, Comedy?” she asked over her shoulder as she pushed the last cord in.  Not caring, he shrugged; watching movies was their failsafe bored entertainment and unless he had read about something or heard about a film in the commissary, he didn’t pay attention to such things and often deferred to Adrienne since other than horror movies her tastes were more similar to his than any one else’s. Gazing over as she flipped through her video library, he thought for a moment about what he used to do before they were friends.  Work more? Go home and work there? Fight off Vala? It was still strange to him actually having something to do, and with another person.  A woman at that.  

“Romance,” he joked, wanting to see her reaction. Romance was her least favorite type of film; he was actually surprised that she even suggested it quickly realizing that it was a joke, the evil glare he was receiving supporting that very theory. 

“Go watch that with your girlfriend,” she replied flatly and Daniel couldn’t resist, especially considering the mood she seemed to be in. 

“Which one?” he asked, ducking under his hands in case his assistant decided to let loose anything in his direction, but she didn’t, instead, swearing at him in french and cuing up a film.  It was a zombie movie.  Of course.  She turned and smiled smugly. 

“Arrogant remarks get you zombies,” she replied.  Daniel rolled his eyes, trying not to smile.  This was why he liked spending time with her; she was fun to pick with and there were no expectations or awkward moments, it was just them. Dreading another gore fest, he decided to suggest a compromise. 

“Let’s go out on a limb here. How about werewolves?” he suggested, thinking of all of the horror genre they tended to be the least gruesome. Adrienne raised her eyebrows surprised.  

“Excellent choice my friend,” she answered and starting hacking away, pulling up some movie on her computer.  Adjusting the settings on the TV, she made her way back over to the bed, crawling over Daniel to sit by the wall. Even awake, he had noted, she didn’t like to be close to the door if she could place another person between herself and the entrance. He had wondered for a while now why this was, but was afraid to ask, it just seemed something that she would tell him when she was ready. There was a scream, of course there was, and movie started up, red cornstarch blood plastering itself on the camera lens, interrupting his thought. So much for less gruesome.

Adrienne’s neck hurt when she woke up.  She was trying to figure out why she was sleeping sitting up when she realized she was leaned over onto Daniel’s shoulder, who was asleep as well.  

“Leave it to us to fall asleep during a horror movie,” she said, reaching across Daniel to grab her iPod. It was 3:15 a.m.  Not worth it, she thought to herself, let everyone think what they will. Daniel was wrong; half of the base didn’t think they were together, it was more like three quarters.  Clicking the TV off with the remote Adrienne pulled back the covers and gently removed his glasses, setting them on the nightstand. As carefully as she could, trying not to wake him, the dark circles that had formed under his brilliant blue eyes showing more prominently in the light of her side lamp, she pulled Daniel down beside her, reaching over him one last time to shut off the light, before crawling herself under the covers.  

Daniel woke up shivering slightly, reaching down to pull the blanket up to his shoulders, but didn’t feel anything there.  Opening his eyes he looked to the floor to see if he had kicked it off, which is something he did often, but he hadn’t, he was laying on it.  Confused, honestly not remembering even when he went to bed, he started to sit up a bit so he could get under it when he felt something on his waist.  He looked down and saw an arm clinging softly to his abdomen, an arm connected to Adrienne who fast asleep, curled up beside him. They must have fallen asleep watching the movie and it looked as if she had woken up and tried to make him comfortable, separate them in bed with the blanket the best she could and gone back to sleep.  She had even set his glasses over on the nightstand so he wouldn’t bend like them, as he was likely do to.  Touched by her thoughtfulness, but needing to get back to his own room, he stood from the bed lifting her arm gently and reaching back to cover her up.  

“See you at breakfast,” he whispered, grabbing his bag and glasses and heading for his own quarters, all the while thinking how nice it was to have a friend like Adrienne. 

**********

Sam had begun the briefing with the bits and pieces Daniel and Adrienne had meticulously put together over the past few days when Jack entered the room, a look on his face that she had learned over the years meant things were about to take a turn for the worst.  Everyone was reading through the files in front of them and had barely noticed his entrance, but Sam wouldn’t have missed her husband’s arrival, even if he hadn’t waltzed in making a grand entrance.

“Bad news for my favorite people,” he announced, interrupting his wife and gaining the attention of every last member of SG-1, their heads popping up in surprise at the general’s arrival. 

“What kind of bad news Jack? Daniel and Adrienne think they might have found a Z,” Sam began but Daniel shushed her, shaking his hands in front of his face. 

“Cosmic Key,” he started, “we might have found a Cosmic Key,” he corrected. 

“What in the hell is a Cosmic Key?”  Jack asked, interrupting his own announcement over sheer confusion as Daniel was either speaking Daniel or some other strange language he had somehow missed, but that little assistant of his was giggling until Cameron slammed the table looking over at her.  

“Masters of the Universe!” he shouted, earning him an excited high five from the young archeological assistant. Shaking her head Vala leaned over the table confused. 

“Who are these Masters of the Universe? Is this something we need to be worrying about?” she inquired, reading the file in front of her again as Adrienne was laughing.  

“No, no, it’s a movie mon ami, with another hot Swedish man...” Adrienne explained, nodding her head emphatically.  Frown change to a smile, Vala leaned back in her chair nodding. 

“Top of the list. Move that to the top of the list,” she replied, Daniel laughing at the entire conversation, even Teal’c and Sam smiling as Jack continued to look confused. Noting the general’s expression, Adrienne held up a finger and grabbed Daniel’s legal pad scribbling madly.  

Cosmic Key = ZPM

Whenever we say ZPM Rodney appears 

Jack shook his head.  

“I’ve seen the damn movie, let me guess, another Dr. Perky original?” he asked.  Smiling, Adrienne gave him a thumbs up, glancing back over at Cam who was subduing a chuckle. Disregarding today’s episode of random silliness, Sam continued, looking back at her husband.

“I’m not canceling this, I don’t care if Woolsey thinks he’s found Santa Claus.  We need this just to keep the lights on at Atlantis Base,” she argued in advance, the look on her face being one that Adrienne would not want to cross but Jack shook his head.  

“No, no, not IOA bad.  Bra’tac bad.  Teal’c, he called in while you were away.  You’re needed elsewhere my friend,” Jack said, taking the empty seat beside where his wife stood at the head of the table.  His expression suddenly serious, Teal’c grabbed his chin gazing down at the table. 

“The election of a president must not be faring well, just as I feared,” the Jaffa answered, standing slowly from his seat.  Teal’c looked tired, not as in needing sleep, but tired of having to intervene in Jaffa political affairs once again.  The warrior had just gated home this morning from visiting with his family and was planning on a nice easy mission with his friends and not having to walk into a political mess, however, he didn’t complain, knowing it was his duty. Cam, on the other hand, wasn’t taking the news as well, his hands collapsing loudly onto the table as he lifted his shoulder looking over at Jack.  

“General, sir, that leaves me a man down on this and the geek squad can’t guarantee that we aren’t walking into some mess,” Cam started but Jack threw up his hand, shaking both it and his head to silence the argument. 

“No Colonel, I’ve got that covered,” Jack replied, smiling, leaning back into his chair, looking as if he would toss his feet onto the table were it not for the restrictiveness of his uniform.

“Sheppard has got his entire crew right now trying to keep their damn base afloat and I don’t really trust anyone else,” Cam asserted, as politely as he could and all the while Jack just kept on smiling.  It was Daniel that caught on first. 

“You’re coming, aren’t you?” he asked, Adrienne peeking over at her boss, her eyes wide with shock. Jack had never come on a mission since she came aboard, and as far as she knew he hadn’t gone on one in years, but rather than respond to Daniel directly, he just continued to lean back in the chair grinning like a Cheshire cat.  Trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible, Adrienne reached her hand under the table and ran her finger along Daniel’s leg, spelling feverishly.  

I-S-H-E-F-O-R-R-E-A-L

Using his left hand to rub his face feigning deep thought, Daniel slipping his right underneath himself and grabbed her hand beginning to reply with a spelled yes when Jack looked up at both of them, his smile changing to a scowl.  

“You two can stop that spelling shit.  Yes, I’m coming,” Jack said reaching across the table to snatch Teal’c’s folder, flopping himself back in the seat. 

 “So people, where are we going?” 

************

Adrienne grabbed Daniel and pulled him into a supply closet as soon as Sam had excused them.  Teal’c had left himself as soon as he could, the graven expression on his face making Daniel worry about him and a situation he wished he could help with and couldn’t while Cameron and Vala had headed to their quarters to pack.  In hopes to seeing what Jack’s was thinking, Daniel had hung back, but Sam beat him to it, giving her husband a silent order to meet her in her office.  She sure played the wife card just right, Daniel thought, that woman would scare the daylights out of me with that look. Deciding to go pack himself, he was surprised by Adrienne grabbing his arm and throwing him into the small dark room, because, primarily, she hated small dark rooms.  

“Why is he going?” she hissed, closing the door behind them, locking them in the blackness. 

“I don’t know, bored from sitting behind a desk so much, mission too important for Sam? Ad, it’s Jack, you never really know his motives until he is playing them out.  Why do you care so much?” he asked, feeling quite stupid talking to her in a closet.  Why was she so worried, it was just Jack? Trying to comfort her he reached out for her arm, feeling her hand slide quickly over his and pull away from his grasp, but not letting go of his hand.  Holding it tightly in the darkness she answered. 

“He hates me.  He thinks I’m an idiot.  It took me long enough to convince you that I wasn’t an idiot,” Adrienne protested but instead of an argument or support, she heard Daniel laugh.  

“He doesn’t think you’re an idiot, he’s just not used to overly positive people. If the SGC were a color wheel, I’m green, they are all shades of black and gray and you are the sparkling pink bomb that showed up and hurt everyone’s eyes,” he tried as nice as possible to explain to Adrienne why Jack did think of her as he did.  In fact, he knew from conversations with Jack that he had been quite impressed with Adrienne’s performance thus far, he just didn’t understand why someone so smart was so boisterous. Daniel had tried to explain Adrienne’s ‘life is a gift’ philosophy, but Jack had just rolled his eyes and changed the subject.  He felt Adrienne drop his hand, pulling it back and shoving it into his pocket.  

“You suck at analogies Indy,” she replied, but seemed to have less stress in her voice so he took a different approach.  

“Look, Ad, neither of us are experts on Mayan culture.  We’re going to have to work together on this one and that will impress him, to see me working with someone and not just ordering you around. Trust me,” Daniel assured her. Adrienne let out a sigh and reached behind herself for the doorknob, opening the door, walking backwards until she was halted by a hand at her back. Turning slowly to see who had caught her, her heart stopped as Jack was standing right there smirking at them. 

“The closet guys? Really? Don’t you both have beds in your quarters? Unless of course you’re working on some kind of list in which case kudos to you Daniel,” he deadpanned. Adrienne turned red in the face, a look of horror wiping over her but Daniel just stepped forward ignoring his remark.

“What’s your angle Jack?” Daniel asked, not trusting this sudden interest in exploring once again, without Teal’c, his closest friend, and with Vala, who seemed to annoy Jack more than anyone else in history.  And with Adrienne. Especially with Adrienne, who Jack seemed to think only existed as Daniel’s personal concubine. 

“Why does there have to be an angle? I feel like I deserve some time not behind a damn desk listening to that little weasel and the foreign weasels tell me about things they don’t know about. Plus I heard we’re going to a Cancun planet.  I like Cancun,” he answered Daniel, matter of factly. Partly nerves, party appreciation for the comment, Adrienne laughed out, quickly clasping her hand over her mouth moment before receiving a serious glare from the very decorated general. 

“Yeah Dr. Perky, Cancun.  You seem like a party goer with all those holes in your face and those crazy tattoos. Yeah, I know about those too, don’t think you little wardrobe selection’s got anyone fooled. You know, I bet you’ve got lots of stories you’re withholding from your boyfriend here,” Jack said to her thumbing over in Daniel’s direction,  electing even more scarlet in the cajun’s cheek.  Not amused, Daniel stepped forward, tapping his finger to the file and looking up at his friend, trying to stress the importance of the contents with his expression and voice.  

“Read the file. Really read it.  The MALP information was bad, so it took Adrienne and I a long time to go through everything.  Teal’c was very familiar with the material....” Daniel stressed, knowing full well that Jack wasn’t going to read one damn thing, his first clue that Jack was already nodding his head sarcastically. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.  Legends of the Hidden Temple, Romancing the Stone, Cosmic Key.  Which by the way Dr. Perky, that was quite clever, I wouldn’t have thought of that,” Jack complimented and turned away, walking down the hall to the elevators.  

“Pack your trunks Daniel!” he shouted into the air.  Shrugging, knowing there was no way out of this, Daniel glanced down at his very worried assistant.  

“He thought Cosmic Key was clever,” he offered.  Adrienne shoved his arm.  

********

P5R-3E87 was hot, really hot, and Adrienne was glad she had chosen to wear a tank top under her tac vest and jacket.  As soon as they made it safely down the ramp she tossed off her backpack and started to undo her jacket, the warm moist air not offering much relief, but enough to justify the change.   Out of the corner of her eye, Vala saw her and did the same, thankful she wasn’t the only one to plan ahead, as she was dying under all of this gear.  Hearing the sounds of zippers and gear hitting the ground, Jack glanced back at both of them, his expression changing as if they were insane before looked back at Cameron, pointing his thumb in the direction of the disrobing women. 

“Is this normal? Since when do team members strip as soon as we’re off world?” he asked, cocking his head at Adrienne and Vala, who were already stuffing their jackets into their packed when he turned to see Daniel was doing the same. Cam looked like he wanted to but stopped, his gaze cool and professional before his superior, military training teaching him that whenever a general gave you that look you froze and waited to be told to continue. Before the colonel could answer him, with a response that was purely fictional, there was a clearing of a throat behind him and Jack turned to see Dr. Rowan, completely reassembled except that she was wearing her tac vest over a tank top, smiling at him. 

“Sir, I grew up in the Bayou and if you don’t allow the heat to escape your body in humidity like this it can cause heat exhaustion or even hallucinations,” she stated.  Jack started to argue but stopped, making a face.  They did used to go to some really hot places and he remembered feeling sick to his stomach on many a mission, so maybe Daniel’s little lackey was right, maybe this the best course of action.  

“Alright, I’m the intruder here, we’ll try it your way,” he conceded, much to Adrienne’s delight and began to remove his vest as well, Cam breathing out a sigh of relief before he did the same. Looking over at  Daniel, who was also in a sleeveless shirt, backpack reattached, Adrienne said something in some strange language, one that Jack definitely did not recognize, forcing him to glare at the pair of them.  

“Oh no, you two aren’t gonna do any hidden nerd language you speak on this little adventure.  No French, no SandWorm, no Ancient, no writing in each other’s hands, no nothing.  It’s rude,” he said unbuttoning his jacket.  Adrienne made a face and looked at Daniel who shrugged while Vala leaned over to Cam smiling.  

“Glad someone else is annoyed by them,” she whispered.Trying not to laugh, Cam started to examine the paper map Adrienne had printed out for him, his finger trailing the small red line that snaked through a computer graphic of a jungle.  It was a mess, Daniel had been right, but it was something and it was all they had. 

“This way people,” he ordered and lead the group forward into the wet, green forest that lie ahead. 

Four hours into the jungle they were still walking down overgrown paths and ducking underneath low branches.  There was no sign of ruins, no sign of people or anything and neither Daniel nor Adrienne seemed to have anything else to offer. His feet aching, and sweat pouring down the back of his legs, Cam looked at his watch.  

“7:00 earth time,” he said, stopping his stride, grabbing a moss covered branch to hold on to. The group came to a halt behind him as Daniel peeked at his watch before gazing up into the jungle canopy, trying to judge the daylight through the thick foliage. 

“Stop for the night?” he suggested.  Cam nodded his head in agreement, dropping his backpack to the ground and without further direction Adrienne grabbed her staff weapon from her back beginning to carefully carve a circle onto the ground around to create a ring for a fire, while Vala walked over to where there was the least amount of brush and started clearing an area.  Jack looked at them dumbfounded as they all took to their tasks, not a one complaining, not a one assigned, just starting setting up camp like this was something that just occurred on a regular basis.  

“Wait, we make camp now? Since when?” he asked.  Daniel glanced up at him like that was an idiotic question. 

“Since we go to planets that are either uninhabited or sparsely inhabited Jack. Since the Go’ould aren’t around to try to kill us and Vala keeps us up to tabs on the Lucians.  That’s why missions now are longer and Woolsey does that mandatory leave nonsense,” Daniel answered the confused general, who scooted out of the way as Vala stomped by him, a large branch in hand, almost smacking him in the face.   

“You’d think being married to that woman I’d have a better understanding of what is going on right under me,” Jack commented to himself as Daniel laughed and went to help Adrienne with the fire.  

Fire made, camp set and everything good for the night, Cam passed some Powerbars around the group to accompany the MRI’s that Vala was heating. Jack took one as did everyone else, everyone except for Adrienne who didn’t seem to have anything to eat at all, sitting their quietly sipping a bottle of water.  Puzzled, he leaned over to Daniel who was sitting between him and the young archaeologist.  

“Why isn’t your girlfriend eating?” he asked.  Daniel made a face.  

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Daniel replied.  

“Fine, whatever.  Why isn’t she eating?” he asked again.  This time, Daniel leaned over.  

“She’ll eat in about an hour.  She follows a very strict diet,” he whispered and Jack rolled his eyes.  

“Do I want to know why?” he asked.  Cutting his eyes at his assistant, Daniel shook his head.  

“Just accept that she’s weird like I do and things go much smoother,” Daniel answered, apparently not quiet enough, as he felt an elbow slam into his side. 

“I’m not weird,” Adrienne stated and stood, walking out to the open space behind their camp. Surprised, Daniel glanced behind him as did Jack, as the young woman made her way into the one open space in the jungle.  

“Go on, you might want to make sure I didn’t piss her off too bad,” he said.  Daniel shook his head, following where Adrienne had gone, not to see if she was angry, he knew she wasn’t, but because he would rather be sitting with her than listening to Jack lecture him on his personal life.  She stopped only a short distance from the camp and was staring off into the sky when he noticed she had grabbed her bed roll as she passed the outskirts of the campsite. 

“Look at all those stars, it’s just breathtaking,” Adrienne stated, tossing her sleeping bag onto the open ground. Daniel smiled. Adrienne never ceased to amaze him.  It had always fascinated him how Shar’ei was mystified by the simplest of objects, a pen, a watch, and her childlike wonder and appreciation always made her that much more endearing.  What was so amazing about Adrienne was that despite the fact that she either took the time to learn or knew the origin and purpose of each and every thing she touched, it still amazed her in the same way, just for the simple appreciation of the object itself and the human or alien innovation behind it or the inspiration it gave her.   Stopping to breath in the thick moist air, she laid on the bag, resting her head onto her laced hands looking up into the sky.

“Ya know, it would be interesting to have an aerial map of the planet, fix our point relative to the equator and get a better idea of the gulf stream. I would love to know if the starlight is adversely or positively affected by cloud patterns,” she said getting another laugh out of Daniel. 

“The things you think about Ad,” he replied, walking over to sit beside her.  She turned her head to look at him, her dark eyes having that excited look, the look he had come to relish in working with her.

“So you never just want to stay on a planet? Explore every inch of it, flora, fauna, geography?” she inquired and Daniel shrugged, wrapping his arms around his knees.  

“Sometimes, but that would take a lifetime,” he responded.  Slowly, Adrienne turned her head to gaze back up at the sky. 

“The database will take a lifetime,” she replied quietly.  He spoke without thinking.  

“Not with you,” he said, dropping to silence, realizing as soon as the words crossed his lips how that might have sounded even though he believed it with ever fiber of his being, but Adrienne didn’t tease, just giggled lightly beside him.   

“I’m glad you have so much faith in me,” she answered, Daniel immediately relived she hadn’t read anything into that.  

“You’ve proven to be a very valuable asset to our department,” he stated professionally.  Adrienne began to laugh again, a bit louder, peering over at him.

“Which cue card to save my job from Woolsey did that come from Indy?” she asked.  Daniel looked down at her.  

“You’re so awful to me Ad,” he joked, and she was, but he loved it.  He wasn’t sure why, but when she teased him it was different somehow, not embarrassing, not demeaning, and maybe even true. Well, usually true, she was pretty good at pegging him.  

“Only because you make it so easy,” she responded and sat up, standing.  Daniel watched her get up, wondering if he had offended her.  

“Where are you going now?” he asked, noticing her heading back in the direction of the fire.  

“I forgot to bring a drink over, ya want something?” she asked kindly.  Daniel shook his head no and looked back up at the sky as Adrienne headed back toward the encampment. 

“They do look pretty amazing here,” he said to himself, laying back on her sleeping bag and gazing up to the stars.   

********

Jack awoke the next morning, the fire having burned down low to the ground and saw Cam, on morning watch, starting a cook fire to make breakfast.  Peering across the fire to the other side, he saw where Vala Mal Doran was starting to stir as well, looking like she had slept curled up on the blanket closest to the blaze, evidently not realizing how cold it got in a rainforest.  Cracking his neck, Jack looked to his right and saw Daniel and Adrienne, both still asleep, side by side, Daniel sleeping on his back and Adrienne rolled onto her left side, but lying very very close to him. Really? he asked himself, they even sleep beside one another? He shook his head, blowing it off and starting to stand to get some breakfast when he noticed Adrienne’s foot.  Her right foot was stretched behind her, not holding her side up, but rather resting on Daniel’s leg. Jack was shaking his head about to shout something obscene to Dr. Perky about playing footsie with her boss when he noticed Daniel’s hands, one of them tucked behind his head and the other one resting against the small of Adrienne’s back. He stared at them, dumbfounded, trying to figure out what to say when he felt someone plop down beside him.  

“We’re considering taking a pool to see when they clue in.  Cam says it might be a nice payout,” Vala explained as she sat, handing Jack a packet of crackers and a bottled water, “Powered eggs and coffee should be ready soon,” she added but Jack was still staring at his good friend and this woman he was laying beside.  At a loss for words, he just shook his head and looked over at Vala.   

“Are they like this on every mission?” Jack asked.  Vala nodded.  

“Every damn mission,” she responded and he could hear the disgust in her voice. Redirecting his attention once more to the sleeping teammates, Jack opened the pack of crackers and balled up the wrapper, throwing it in Daniel’s direction.  The brown military paper hit him on the cheek and bounced to the ground and Daniel grunted, wiping his face with the hand that had been resting against Adrienne. Curious, Jack glanced over at Vala, holding out his open hand. 

“Give me your wrapper,” he ordered and Vala handed it over mystified.  Closing one eye for better aim. Jack balled it up and threw again, hitting Daniel square in the center of his face. This time Daniel rubbed his nose and rolled over, throwing his arm over Adrienne, who in her state of sleep just moved her body closer to him.   He lay like that just for a moment, asleep and holding Adrienne when suddenly he sat with a start, looking down at his assistant and then glaring over at Jack.  

“Cute,” he commented and sat up, grabbing his glasses off of his pack.  Jack smiled.  

“Power of suggestion my friend,” he responded, watching a frowning Daniel lean over, shaking Adrienne.  

“Ad, wake up,” he shook her gently.  

“Is there coffee?” she asked, rolling over to face him. 

“I’ll get you some,” he replied standing quickly. Mouth open, Jack just shook his head again looking at Vala who nodded.  

“Every damn mission,” she answered the question he didn’t need to ask again, as he caught out of the corner on his eye Daniel going to the cook fire to secure the promised coffee.

“If they share a cup I just might vomit,” Jack said.  Feeling validated that someone agreed, Vala stood and laughed, going to get some coffee herself.  

Everyone was ready to go only 30 minutes later, again to Jack’s surprise.  He guessed this camping thing was something that everyone was just now used to and decided to not say another word to Daniel about this new mission practice or his little groupie as he and Adrienne ate breakfast and got ready like a damn married couple. It was a level of restraint that Jack wasn’t used to, but he really wanted to see how this all played out.  

It took another four hours to arrive at the remains the poor MALP pictures had sent back, the same ones that Daniel and Adrienne found while reading something about fire that powered temples.  Daniel must have seen something familiar because as he and Jack walked ahead and the ruins came into sight he suddenly stopped and looked back, shouting something to Adrienne in French and Jack promptly smacked his arm.

“I specifically said no foreign languages,” Jack scolded as Daniel completely disregarded his statement and continued talking to Adrienne who was now interrupting him and finishing his sentence, in French.  Excited, she ran up, pushing past Jack and babbling on incoherently and Jack just stood and watched as the two of them walked ahead ripping off their backpacks, Daniel waiting as Adrienne dug out that iPad of hers taking pictures and typing as they continued to babble. Cam and Vala came and stood beside him watching the scene unfold. 

“Mitchell, what in the hell is going on right now?” Jack asked as he heard Adrienne shout out “That’s what I’m talking about,” and watched Daniel and Adrienne fist pump each other and then kept speaking French.  Jack’s mouth dropped open.  

“That’s how they operate.  We just stand and wait until they start speaking English again,” Cameron replied and Vala nodded in agreement. 

“I tell her all the time they’re different, but she thinks I am seeing things,” Vala added.  Jack shook his head. 

“Oh no, you’re not,” Jack confirmed and started to approach his old friend, placing his hand on his shoulder.  

“Daniel, amigo, care to clue the rest of us in?” he inquired trying to pull him away from the enthusiastic young woman. Shaking his head, Daniel brought himself out of his nerd trance and glanced back at Jack. 

“Oh, yeah, sorry, this is what we’ve been spending the past couple of days on; it says just what we thought it did and Adrienne’s just looking at the rest of the inscription to make sure we don’t have a bomb like last time,” Daniel answered and then, like Jack was not even there starting speaking French to Adrienne again.  

“Dammit Daniel, I said no damn French!!” Jack shouted. Daniel turned back around to face him quickly, looking annoyed.  

“Look, Jack, you haven’t been on one of these in a while alright. This is just how Adrienne and I do things. We’re not trying to be rude, it’s just faster and it’s how our brains work.  As soon as we figure out where this damn thing is, we’ll tell you.  Why don’t you help set up camp?” Daniel offered.  Jack looked at him like he was insane.  

“Set up camp? Who died and left you in charge? Doesn’t Cam run this team?” Jack was really getting a lesson in the new reality of the SGC; a reality where the geeks called the shots, worked in creepy little multilingual pairs and SG teams operated like boy scout troops.  He turned around to see what Cameron’s reaction was and noted that he and Vala were already making camp so Jack threw up his hands, giving up completely. 

“When in Rome.....” he said to himself and began to help.  He had just gotten the campfire area started as Vala and Cam cleared more brush when he heard a shout, a woman’s voice shouting, in English and looked up to see Daniel drop the file in his hands, frantically racing off in the direction of the scream.  

“Are you kidding me, now he runs toward the danger?” Jack dropped the stick and started to dash himself, Cameron and Vala running to join him.  He jumped over a few fallen walls and some creepy concrete skulls, ducking under some rather large jungle like trees until he saw Daniel standing beside a large hole looking pissed off.  

“Where’s Dr. Perky?” Jack asked looking in the same direction Daniel was, downward.  He could see a flashlight in the hole and had his answer glancing back up at Daniel who seemed like he was caught between a panic attack and full on rage.  Scowling, Daniel knelt down at the hole, holding on the edges to yell.  

“I said not to go down there Adrienne!” he shouted.  

“Since when do I listen to you!” she countered back.  

“Trouble in paradise?” Jack joked.  Daniel shot him a glare and looked back down the hole.  

“You have no idea what in the hell is down there!” he scolded again 

“Yes I do.  We read the same damn wall Indy.  The ZPM is down here.  If you’re too scared to come down send Vala.  She has more balls than you and Cam combined!” Adrienne shouted back.  Nodding as if she was agreeing, Vala laughed and stood, opening her pack to get her climbing gear, Daniel’s eyes daggers as he glared back at her.  

“Where in the hell do you think you’re going?” he hissed.  Not pausing for a moment, Vala stepped into her harness, pulling it up to her hips.  

“I’m climbing down like Addy asked,” she responded, clipping the belay rope to herself.  

“Since when do you take orders from Adrienne?” Daniel demanded, looking at Vala now like she was nuts. 

“Since she was hired.  I listen to you; I get in trouble.  I listen to Addy; I get out of trouble.  Fairly simple, don’t you think,” she answered and went to wrap her rope around the tree beside the one Adrienne was using, tightening it  around her waist and started for the hole, climbing over the edge.  Daniel let out a huff and walked over to his backpack and began to get his own gear, realizing he was just going to have to climb down himself. Storming over to confirm his thoughts, Jack stared in disbelief as the brilliant archaeologist, the brilliant clueless archaeologist, sat on the floor of the jungle, pulling a climbing harness from his back and slipping it over booted feet. 

“You climb now too?” Jack couldn’t believe all of the new information he was learning on this trip, Daniel was almost in charge of SG-1, or at least actied like it, he had been rght about Dr. Perky because Daniel sure as hell acted like the girlie was his, they acted like god damn scouts (Jack was still stuck on that) and now all they all packed like they were going on some damn mountain adventure. What was going on?  Daniel didn’t dignify Jack’s smart remark with a response, he just grabbed his harness, leaning back to peer over at Cam before allowing himself to stand. 

“You got everything up here?” he asked.  Cameron nodded.  

“Yeah, I’m going to set up to get you guys out of there if we need to and keep watch.  Let me know if you know you are going to get out of radio contact,” the colonel ordered.  Agreeing, Daniel nodded and clicked his harness in place, walking over to the tree Adrienne had used and locked himself on, finally acknowledging Jack. 

“Staying or coming?” he asked.  

“Is there a chance that your girlfriend’s gonna blow us up?” Jack asked right back. Daniel shrugged.  

“Yeah, there is,” he answered honestly and Jack threw up his hands in celebration.  

“Well, that’s a bit more like normal at least,” he replied, reaching in his pack to see if Teal’c’s bag had a harness and it did, of course his old buddy would be in on this insanity, why the hell not?  He started to put it on when he saw Daniel heading down into the hole, a look of determination on his face.  

“Dammit Daniel, can you wait a damn second?”  Jack yelled, pulling the harness to his waist but Daniel shook his head.  

“Catch up. I need to make sure Adrienne’s not trying to save the day,” Daniel responded as he started down the hole.  

“And she’s not my girlfriend!!” Jack heard Daniel shout from about halfway down the chute.   

“Oh sure she’s not, because you chased down me, Sam or Teal’c with such intensity,” Jack mumbled to himself cocking his head back at Cam.  

“You got this Mitchell?” Jack asked, Cam nodding in reply.  

“Do you see what I work with now? I welcome the quiet,” he joked.  Shared a smile, Jack hooked himself up to a tree and followed his old down the hole into the abyss of the ruins..  

It was dark, really dark.  Jack was about to hunt for a flashlight that he was certain would be in his borrowed pack when he saw a blink of light in the distance and chose to follow that rather than risk spilling the entire contents of Teal’c’s mission bag onto the dank cave floor.  He knew that he was on the right track when he heard voices that were not speaking English.  Daniel and Adrienne of course.  When Jack got to the room, cave, or whatever it was the two of them were laying on their stomachs, flashlights in hand reading some gibberish on the ground. Over the years Jack was used to Daniel reading gibberish while he waited, forever, and now it was just odd to see essentially two Daniels laying on their stomachs reading, well, gibberish.  Finally Adrienne stood, saying something to him in a language Jack didn’t recognize, and Daniel nodded although there was concern in his face as Adrienne began to strip.  

“Why in the hell is she taking off her clothes?” Jack demanded, knowing it wasn’t going to be anything inappropriate, hell, he wasn’t even sure if Daniel knew what to do if a woman took off her clothes, but Adrienne rolled her eyes at him, making a face, unbuttoning her pants and sitting on the ground to remove her boots.  

“The ZPM is down there according to that writing over there,” she pointed to a carved wall behind her and continued, “we thought it might be so we planned ahead.”  Adrienne stood and Jack saw where she was pointing this time, to another hole in the ground, although this one was filled with water. Kicking off her pants, Adrienne pulled off her tank top to reveal she was wearing a sleek black one piece bathing suit underneath. She and Daniel must have prepared for this, maybe he should have actually read that file. Adrienne reached back over to her climbing harness, tossing the straps over her feet and pulling that back up her waist once more.  Daniel walked over, carefully reaching for her waist tenderly running the black rope through the harness as they were speaking again, in whispers that sounded like French, standing very close to one another, much closer than even Jack expected. With a raise of her eyebrows, reaching out to rest her palm flatly on his bicep, Adrienne handed Daniel the rope with her free hand that was dangling in front of her, walking over to the pool of water, taking a deep breath and jumping in. Daniel looked at his watch and passed the rope over to Vala who was eyeing the water carefully.  

“I don’t care what she says.  At 90 seconds we pull her up,” he stated, Vala nodding quickly.  

“I agree; I haven’t seen her go much longer, even when she and Dex have put beers on it,” Vala replied as Jack walked over interested in this new development.  

“Wait, you mean to tell me that you guys knew this would take a few days, Dr. Perky would have to go swimming in the great beyond, so much so that you have prepped and trained for it? We never had things go this smoothly with us!” Jack shouted, gazing down at the hole wondering exactly how much time had passed, almost worried about the young woman buried beneath the surface.  Daniel was staring at the hole himself, showing equal concern, answering Jack without looking up.  

“You guys said I needed help and got me an assistant. Sam wanted us to become friends and vióla, friends. We work well together Jack, and without the pressure of everything resting on my head and my head alone, I’m able to prepare better for things. If you had read Teal’c’s file that I gave you before hand you would have known all of this was coming,” Daniel replied without eye contact, eyes scanning his watch again. 

“Alright Ad, no more screwing around,” Daniel said, beginning to brace himself at the edging of the pool, glancing over his shoulder for Vala to come help pull on the end of the rope she was holding when Adrienne popped out of the water, gasping for breath, pulling herself up to the edge of the hole.  

“I found it, but it’s wedged pretty tight.  I need goggles, a K-Bar and a rope, well, and an air tank, but if we take turns I think we can get this out without the last thing,” Adrienne informed the group, but Jack could tell that she was really only talking to Daniel their eyes locked on one another’s. He said something in French to her in reply and she laughed, answering him, in what sounded like Sandworm, Daniel roaring as Jack cleared his throat, confused but feeling like the butt of a joke. 

“Um, what’s so funny?” he asked.   Daniel, who was now kneeling edge of the hole with Adrienne holding onto his leg to stay afloat, looked up at him.  

“Adrienne just suggested that you go down with her, give you something to do,” Daniel translated half way, leaving out the part where Adrienne was joking about Jack floating well being full of hot air.  Jack could tell that he was leaving something out, glaring down at Adrienne in warning. 

“Is it moving at all?’ he asked rudely, ignoring what he was certain that was a smart remark from the feisty cajun. Adrienne nodded.  

“Yeah, that is why I suggested a K-Bar or something. I don’t think it needs to be blasted and I wouldn’t want to risk fracturing the crystal casing. We can take turns, pick at the surrounding rock and slip it out gently,” she answered, very professionally.  Grimacing, Jack started to removed his pack and looked over at Daniel.  

“I was kidding about the trunks,” he said.  Daniel shrugged. 

“One more word about reading the file and I smack that look off of your face,” Jack added.  He pulled the harness over his pants tighter, not having anyone to come and help check his ropes, although he was tempted for a moment to ask Vala, just to see the twins’ reaction, but didn’t and jumped in right beside Adrienne, water droplets spraying around him as he entered.  The water was ice cold and he felt chills rocket through his body at first contact, making the young woman peer over in concern.

“Dunk your head; it’ll get you over the cold faster,” she informed him.  

“I was swimming long before you were born Dr. Perky, give me a damn second,” Jack informed her but  Adrienne just smiled as he did exactly as she suggested, dunking his head under the water.  He came back up and pushed the water out of his eyes and smoothed his hair, taking a deep breath to stretch his lungs before braving the dark waters. 

“Let’s go,” he ordered, pulling his body under.  Adrienne adjusted the goggles to her face smiling at Daniel and followed, swimming to catch up the the surprisingly  fast older gentleman. 

Jack quickly saw what Adrienne was talking about. In the slight distance there was a sparkle, reddish blue, faint but present.  He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked behind, seeing her swimming carefully and pointing right at the glow. Nodding, Jack reached for the knife at his belt as Adrienne signaled to him that she was going up for air. Assuing that she planned dive back in after he had returned and he nodded once more proceeding onward toward the shine in the slight distance.   And there it was: a ZPM is all its glory, the first one they had found in a long time, in tact, and better yet,  it appeared to be fully charged.  Maybe Atlantis could keep the lights on a little longer.  Pleased, He swam to the object pushing and pulling to figure out where it was loose, if it was loose at all as Dr. Perky had claimed when he saw a rock wedged over the top and smashed the knife into it, chipping away somewhat, but he needed air, fast, so he headed back out to the surface.  

Adrienne was waiting for him, this time sitting on the edge of the hole, her feet dangling lightly in the water, with Daniel kneeling protectively right behind her.  Glancing down, she grabbed a knife from beside her and pulled the goggles back onto her face.

“Work from the top,” Jack said. Nodding in understanding, Adrienne slid back into the water, slipping the knife between her teeth.  She was about to dip under when Daniel grabbed her arm.

“90 seconds Ad. Don’t go rogue,” he warned.  Adrienne smiled to the best of her ability with a blade shoved in her mouth and ducked under, her form disappearing quickly in the blackness.  Shaking water from his ears, Jack hoisted himself to the side, sitting on the ledge as the cajun had before, just no where near as close to Daniel.  

“Good catch you two,” he said, giving his head a second shake, “it looks fully charged.” Daniel nodded his head. 

“Yeah, and it was just a stroke of luck too.  Sam sent us those awful images last week and Adrienne and I were going through them the other night just because we couldn’t sleep and there is it was.  As bad as those pics were, we would have probably ordered another MALP sent before we really stopped to look at the pictures were it not for the fact that we were just antsy and bored in the middle of the night,” Daniel explained.  

“We?” Jack asked, “We couldn’t sleep.  You make it sound like you guys go to bed together,” he noted. Daniel rolled his eyes.  

“No, Jack, stop with your insane ideas.  It’s not like that,” Daniel insisted, peering into the water and looking back at his watch.  

“Oh, and I’m sure you watched the time for me like that too, didn’t you,”  Jack teased and Daniel let out a huff.  

“You’ll come back when you need air.  Adrienne’ll kill herself to get that ZPM because she knows we need it,” Daniel replied, not acknowledging Jack’s other insinuation.  

“Sounds like someone else I know. Where’s your ex?” he asked, noting Vala’s absence. 

“She left. Ad and I have this under control,” Daniel answered and quickly added, “Don’t call Vala that.” 

“Why, that’s what it is, isn’t it? How does she feel about you and Dr. Perky?” Jack continued, putting him quickly on the receiving end of an evil stare but before Daniel could answer, Adrienne popped out of the water.  

“Top’s free.  Looks like something almost coral like has formed around the bottom left side.  Not sure if we’re talking about a living organism or not so be careful sir,” Adrienne informed him.  Jack just nodded and jumped back into the water.  

Adrienne was right about the coral, but fortunately nothing slimy and bloody came out when he dug in, so the blade slipped in quickly and easily on the second stroke. He had just about gotten the ZPM loose when he needed air and he cursed his aging lungs swimming quickly back up to surface to discover Adrienne sitting back where she was before, this time leaning against Daniel.  Jack tried not to laugh.   

“Not alive, or at least not bloody.  It’s all yours,” Jack said and nodding, Adrienne leaning forward and dove back in, her feet leaving a light spray in their wake. Coughing, the general crawled back up on the ledge beside his friend, breathing deeply to control the barking emanating form his chest and throat. 

“I’m too old for this shit,” he said as Daniel nodded.  

“See why I’m glad Sam got her.  She could do this all day,” he agreed.  Jack started to pull the wet shirt from his body, squeezing it out at the hem, hoping the young archaeologist would get the thing freed so he didn’t have to go on another deep sea exploration. 

“Yeah, I bet that’s why you’re glad,” he joked, now standing to loosen his pants from his soaked legs, Daniel shaking his head.  

“Jack we’re just really good friends.  I really haven’t met anyone quite like her and we get along well.  We’re a lot alike in many aspects.  You’re imagining things,” Daniel retorted, looking up, but not standing, keeping one eye on the hole. Jack knelt down to join him in his trance. 

“I’ve know you for a long time Daniel.  A long time,” Jack started but Daniel didn’t respond, just kept alternating his gaze between his watch and the pool of water in front of him.  

“You’re in love with that woman,” Jack continued, finally getting Daniel’s undivided attention, as he glared viciously at him. 

“No, I’m not,” he said quickly.  Laughing, Jack sat back down, giving up on comfort, or dryness at this point.  

“Believe whatever Daniel.  When you figure it out I’m going to be standing there waiting to say ‘I told you so,’” Jack informed him as bubbles began to rise in front of them, effectively ending their brief conversation.  Gazing down, the men saw a gleam in the water as Adrienne popped up smiling, ZPM in hand.  

“All hail Arthur, king of the Britans!”  she exclaimed, handing Daniel over the ancient device as he chuckled at her joke. 

“Stop quoting the Pythons,” he replied, smiling.

“It’s made this mission for me that you know that, more so than finding the damn thing,” she said as he took the ZPM and she hoisted herself out of the water, strolling over calmly to her backpack and pulling out a towel and a tightly tied canvas bag.  Jack walked over to Daniel to examine the ZPM and his friend handed it over happily, obviously pleased with their work. 

“McKay’s gonna shit himself,” Jack responded.  Daniel laughed and reached behind himself without looking as Adrienne slapped the canvas bag into his hand. She strode back over to her pack in silence, toweling herself off before climbing back into her uniform. Daniel opened the bag so Jack could slide the device inside, tied it off and tossed it over his shoulder as Adrienne waltzed on over like retrieving a ZPM was just something the two of them did everyday putting her hand on his shoudler. 

“Anything else we needed to do Indy?” she asked.  

“Not a thing,” he responded, “Unless you want to explore a bit more.”  

“Always,” she replied, “but what’s the time clock looking like?”  He smiled. 

“Well, we barely have enough time at my speed, much less yours,” he teased.  Shoving him playfully, she adjusted the pack onto her shoulder and headed back down the dark corridor.  

“Christ make the flirting stop!!” Jack pleaded, again amazed at the ridiculous dialog between the two of them, like they had known each other for years and not a little over nine months.  Not responding, grabbing his own bag, following behind his assistant. 

“He who does not deny,” Jack said, shaking his head at the entire incident, bringing up the rear.  

They walked a little further than they did the night before at Cam’s insistence, but still stopped for camp.  After noticing what he had noticed, Jack paid closer attention to his good buddy, if not for anything else just to prove his point.  Adrienne set up her place first and without hesitation Daniel set up right beside her, rolling his sleeping bag out much closer than any normal friend would have. As she had the night before, Adrienne didn’t eat the normal food like everyone else, instead pulling out of her pack some weird preserved rabbit food that she passed right over to Daniel, who took it and ate it, no questions asked. In addition, when Cameron went to divide up the watch schedule, for an eight hour night 90 minutes each, Daniel spoke right up and said that Adrienne should get a break because she had retrieved the ZPM.  Forget that Jack had too, the man didn’t seem to remember that part of the mission at all. Surprisingly, no one argued and in fact seemed to expect Daniel’s request, submitting to two hours shifts for each to make up for her excusal from the duty. Intending to wake early the next morning, they all went to their respective sleeping areas as Jack had volunteered to take the first shift, watching each of them settle down for the night.  He hadn’t done so to be nice, he wanted to spy a little more to figure out exactly what was going on between Daniel and his assistant, something that had started out as a new way to harass Daniel but was apparently something more, something much more.

Sure enough, everyone hunkered down, wishing each other a good night when he heard a woman’s voice whisper something in French and a bit of laughter and peeked over to where the Bobsy twins were laying.  Daniel, like last night, was lying on his back while Adrienne was on her side, this time facing him and they were talking quietly, but doing so in French as if they knew Jack was spying on them.  Jack just pretended to play cards with himself when he heard Daniel begin a sentence, Adrienne finish it and then they both laughed. They continued like this for a while until Jack no longer heard voices and peered over to see that Daniel still lying on his back but Adrienne was now asleep on her stomach, right beside him with her head on her right arm but still leaning onto his bicep.  He was staring at them in utter disbelief when Cameron leaned over, evidently waking for his shift. 

“Yeah, I know.  I think she might; she runs straight into danger for him.  I think he might too,” Cam said as he sat down.  Jack was frowning.  

“Then why don’t they do something about it?” he asked, shaking his head, “I mean for crying out loud Sam and I are their bosses, what are we going to say?”  Cameron shrugged.  

“Scared, stubborn; I have no idea, but something needs to happen soon.  The last time Adrienne was in trouble, Daniel just about hospitalized himself trying to save her, he puts himself in situations that he shouldn't for her sake. I’ve considered talking to Sam about it, but frankly sir, I’m not sure what to do,” Cam replied, grabbing a piece of grass from the ground and beginning to rip it nervously to shreds.  Jack was silent for a while, watching his friend sleep.  Daniel had been through so much; he could understand why he was so guarded, but maybe they just needed a push, maybe Daniel just needed someone to sit him down, no jokes, and talk to him.  Jack looked at his watch.  

“I’ll take your shift Mitchell,” he offered, “Let me talk to him.” 

Daniel felt the buzzing of the alarm in his pocket and took out his phone, trying to remember how to shut off the timer he had used as an alarm.  Thankfully he remembered so he didn’t have to disturb Adrienne to fix it and she would have, without question, but it still made him feel bad to wake her up and ask. He sat up, stretched, cracked his neck and stood, walking over to the fire and was surprised to see Jack waiting for him. 

“Where’s Cam?”  Daniel asked, coming over to sit down beside him.  

“I took his shift; Daniel we need to talk,” Jack answered and dove right in.  Daniel looked over at him confused.  

“About....” he asked, trailing a bit.  Jack just pointed over at Adrienne, who now had her arm out as if she was looking for her missing companion.  Shaking his head, Daniel let out a sigh, his eyes quickly gazing to the ground.  

“Jack, look, I told you, she’s not my girlfriend.  She’s, ugh, for lack of a more adult sounding word, my best friend.  That’s all,” Daniel insisted, not wanting to have this conversation again.  Why was Jack so adamant about this? 

“I don’t doubt that, the way the two of you are all giddy over dorky stuff.  It’s creepy to see a little female you over there, I can assure you but Daniel, it’s more than that, a lot more than that,” Jack continued but Daniel just kept shaking his head.  Frustrated, Jack held up his hand, halting Daniel’s protest. 

“Hear me out Daniel, please. I’m being serious here,” he stated as Daniel looked away.  

“I don’t know what you see in that little girl, but apparently you see something.  She seems to make you happy, or at least you don’t act like you used too, all guarded and secretive and I’m not the only one that’s noticed.  Look, I’m not trying to get you to admit anything or convince you of anything, all I’m saying to you is this:  When it happens, when you really find that one person, don’t let idiotic things stand in your way or else you’ll regret it,” Jack concluded his speech.  Unclasping his hands, where he had been picking at his fingernails, Daniel looked back over at him, his eyes full of something, despair, annoyance, for the first time ever Jack couldn’t tell what. 

“Jack, I care about her, I really really do, but it’s just not what you think,” Daniel assured him and Jack sighed, understanding that this conversation was going no where, that his friend wasn’t going to listen to him. 

“Alright, lecture over, but don’t be surprised alright? It may just bite you in the ass when you least expect it,” he said as he stood and went to his sleeping bag.  No response to be had, Daniel leaned back, laying in the grass and just looked up at the stars, trying not to think too much about Jack or his crazy ideas. 

Jack kept promise the next morning and didn’t bother Daniel anymore about Adrienne, or anything for that matter.  The men hiked in silence while Adrienne and Vala hung back talking about their cable TV vampire show which was apparently a new episode this week.  Jack noticed that Daniel didn’t say much to Adrienne at all for most of the walk back for some reason, none of the touchy-feely stuff from yesterday, maybe to prove to Jack that he really wasn’t in love with her at all, maybe not, the general really couldn’t be sure. 

They got back to the gate and Daniel started to dial when finally Adrienne had something to say to him. Jack was standing slightly over to the left of the DHD pretending not to listen as the perky young woman danced up to his, resting her palm again on his shoulder. 

“Hey Indy, wanna come watch Vampires on Sunday? I promise all Swedish men should be keeping their clothes on this week,” she joked.  Daniel just shrugged as he dialed, not even making eye contact with his answer.  

“Maybe, let me see how it goes when we take this to Rodney. I may be trapped at work all weekend,” Daniel replied flatly, continuing to dial.  He turned her down, Jack thought, maybe I was wrong, he’ s not even looking at her, but rather than slink away hurt, as Vala would have done, Adrienne just nodded in understanding. 

“Ha, fair enough.  You have fun with Rodney shug,”  she laughed and walked back over to Vala who looked at Daniel, making a face and sticking out her tongue and the conversation ended, as if it has never started, no drama, no nothing. Thinking he might have been wrong, Jack barely noticed the woosh of air around him as the wormhole opened and the team walked up the ramp and through the gate, leaving the jungle paradise.  

*****

Sam was waiting for the team on the other side, her expression that of extreme delight as Daniel walked up to her, handing over the bag.  

“It would be nice to get at least an hour with it before McKay goes into McKay mode,” he said, a half a smile on his face. Returning the gesture, Sam took the satchel from his hands, holding out the treasure as if she was afraid it would disappear if she held it closer and accepted it’s existence. 

“I’ll do my best, but you’re going to want to hang around just in case.  I’m sure he will have you on speed dial,” she replied and Daniel nodded his head, heading to the infirmary for the mandatory check-up.  Jack walked up to his wife and hugged her tightly, pulling away slightly, his eyes following behind Daniel, who left without so much as a work to his assistant, who was hanging back, chatting with Vala and Cameron on her own way to the infirmary, in deep conversation about something else that was happening in the DC area this weekend. Sam could tell Jack was watching them leave, squeezing his arm gently. 

“Something wrong?” she asked sweetly but Jack shook his head.  

“Nothing. I thought there was but, it’s nothing,” Jack replied and grabbed her hand to walk away.  

Rodney informed Daniel that he would no longer need his assistance at about 7 p.m. on Sunday, after nearly twenty four hours of non-stop complaining, so Daniel was very grateful, having found nothing on this ZPM that mattered to his work at all.  Plus Rodney had given him a splitting headache.  Trying not to demonstrate his extreme excitement over his new found liberty, Daniel made his way down to his own lab to pack his things and head for home.  

When he got to the lab it was quiet, eerily so. He really wasn’t used to quiet anymore, if Adrienne was here there was usually some music blasting or she was waiting to tell him something either work related or just something silly but right now the room was so silent that despite the piles of papers, boxes of files and artifacts it seemed strangely empty. Suddenly very lonely,  he glanced at his watch, noting it was only half past seven, just enough to get to her place before True Blood.  True, he thought that show was so stupid, but it was fun to make fun of her and Vala and he had to admit, he had missed her since they got back, in fact, they hadn’t talked since their arrival. He knew it was his fault, a small part of him hearing Jack’s words every time he went to send her a text or an email, pushing the phone or computer away, determined that Jack wasn’t going to be right, there was nothing going on between he and Adrienne. Sure, the base personnel that didn’t know them well talked, as if a man and a woman couldn’t just be friends, but now Jack even thought something was going on, but now, here he was, in the lab, alone, staring not at the work he should be doing but at the phone in his hand, a blank screen waiting for his words. Daniel paused, unaware that he was holding his breath, debating what he should do.  

“Screw you Jack,” he finally said aloud, his finger flicking around on the screen searching for that name, the only name that could make him feel better, the only name he wanted to see right now. 

Could sure use some idiotic programming if the offer still stands...

He was just at the elevators when he felt his phone buzz.  

Always Indy, always. Bring wine :-)