Daniel and Adrienne #24: Surprise Package

“Sure Sam, I think I can handle a dinner, it’s not as if I haven’t had to schmooze before,” Adrienne heard Daniel saying as she entered the lab, knowing he must have been on the phone since Sam had been out of town for days now, doing some schmoozing of her own. It was only about midmorning on Tuesday but for some reason Adrienne was dragging, so she had run to get some coffee from the commissary because for some strange reason her personal coffee maker in the lab had disappeared, yet again, although she was fairly certain the responsible party. The man drank coffee as if his life depended on it so chances were he had either broken the machine or smuggled it to his room, but either way she was too tired to investigate; she would deal with him later.   Figuring that once he smelled hers, well knowing that once he smelled hers, he would come over and steal it anyway, Adrienne made sure to grab Daniel a cup as well, one cream, two sugars, fighting to urge to use skim milk and Splenda.  Turning the corner, she discovered that she was correct, he was sitting at desk, white phone tucked under his neck as he typed into his keyboard, clearly not paying total attention to whatever Sam was saying. She walked over to him set the just out of reach to insure he did not knock it everywhere by accident, his hands alternating between flailing at an absent Sam and typing.  He mouthed a quick thanks and kept talking.  

“Really, that formal? You would think as much as they complain about finances that they would keep things a bit more low key.  No, I won’t say anything smart, come on, you know me better than that,” he said and was smiling.  No Adrienne thought, she knows you ridiculously well, that’s why she is covering her bases.  Walking over to her own desk, she cued up the mess that she had been trying to organize this morning, strolling over to the file cabinet to switch files for their next mission.  One eye on the planet codes and the other on her boss, she grabbed what she needed and returned, sitting down, continuing to eavesdrop.  

“No, no way.  Don’t even kid like that; that’s not even remotely funny,” he paused, “Of course she’ll go, but she’s going to make some comment about sexism and the federal government I’m warning you,” he was laughing now, having stopping typing to peer over at her, shaking his head as she made a rude face at him and his feminism jokes.  Add that to the coffee maker Indy, she thought, you are just rackin’ ‘em up today. 

“Fine. Yes, Friday, I know. Aren’t you missing something important worrying about this?  Sam, trust me, alright.  I’ll give you a call later this week.  Take care.  You too.  Bye,” Daniel hung up the receiver to the old phone he kept at his desk, Adrienne staring at him quizzically.  

“So what am I going to think is sexist?” she inquired.  Chuckling at her, he knew she was listening in, Daniel held a finger up to sip the coffee she had brought him and put the cup down quickly, looking over at her. 

“Do you have plans for Friday?” he asked, hoping her answer was no.  She didn’t usually, usually they did something “nerdy”, as the others liked to call it, together, but he did want to check to see if she had anything on her mind before springing this on her. That and she might also want to go shopping or something else she would rather do with Vala, Daniel noting her recent complains about season change and cooler weather in DC. 

“I’ve got a hot date with Dex,” she answered flatly, trying to deadpan, but she was a terrible actress, erupting into laughter already, though Daniel didn’t seem to find the humor. She could very well have had plans with Ronon, he’d heard the lunch conversation, he knew it was coming, in fact, he was just waiting for it to happen, but in the meantime, he tried not to think about, the very thought making him nauseous and slightly dizzy. Regaining her composure, hopefully not noting his lack of a similar response, Adrienne shook her head, flopping down into her seat. 

“God no, I don't have any plans.  Hmmm... let’s see, last Friday you and I were off world, the one before that I was sick in the infirmary and before that, well, you know how that ended.  My life is so exciting. No, I’m free, why? Are we resuming bad epic night?” she loved torturing him, he believed her so easily and it was quite entertaining to mess with him, but she kinda hoped they were resuming back epic night. Lately, it seemed that, for as much as she loved her job, it was consuming her life and she hadn’t just enjoyed a good book or movie in a long time. Granted, she worked with him everyday, but it wasn’t the same as just hanging out, in fact, she missed it, which just made her that much more confused inside. Giving her his ‘I need you to be serious now’ look, he pushed his glasses up his face and pointed to the phone. 

“Some Pentagon officials are having an event on Friday.  Formal, black tie.  Sam needs me to go to represent the program while she is dealing with the IOA at Area 51,” Daniel explained.  

“Is this going where I think it is going?” she asked, knowing full well what was coming out of his mouth next.  Play this up for fun, she prompted herself internally, you can have so much fun with this, but despite her burning desire to tease the hell out of him, Adrienne was also suddenly plagued by a rush of butterflies in her stomach, worsening as he continued. 

“Yes, I have to go and it is expected that I bring a date.  Instead, I’ll just bring you,” he added the last part teasingly, waiting for her reaction, but was prepared for his smart mouth, giving her the fuel to push her nerves away to formulate a witty reply. 

“Oh what ever will your girlfriend say?” Adrienne countered in her best southern belle impression, knowing that would set him off.  

“Please don’t call her that, you’ll only get her hopes up,” he replied, not giving Adrienne the reaction she wanted, and switching gears completely, “Do you have an evening gown?” 

“No, I prefer to wear potato sacks.  That’s how we do it in the Big Easy.  Is today stupid question day for you?” Adrienne answered, her jitters vanished, quickly forgotten as her desire to torment Daniel over took her. 

 “I want you to ask Indy,” she requested, winking at him, spinning her desk chair so she was facing him, her legs crossed delicately, feminine, but in such as way that she was just kidding around, trying to get a rise out of him. 

“Ask what?” he shook his head at her and went back to drinking his coffee, trying to turn the tables, make her begged to be asked, for once to not be the but of a joke but turn it around onto her instead, but that anxiety was back and he could feel flushing in his cheeks. 

“Ask me to this formal dinner Indy,” Adrienne smiled, relishing in his discomfort,  So easy, she thought to herself, he’s just too easy of a target.  He rolled his eyes and stood from his desk, shoving the thoughts away, Jack’s voice in his head telling him he was an  idiot, an image of Vala joking about taking an evening gown off of his assistant, intent on embarrassing her as much as she always embarrassed him.

“Dr. Rowan, would you please grant me the honor of accompanying me to a insanely boring dinner with people much dumber than you and I as my date!” he shouted loud enough where Adrienne was sure someone in the hall heard him, making sure the words “as my date” were the loudest. Roaring,  Adrienne leaned over onto her knees, not embarrassed in the least, instead looking thoroughly pleased with herself. 

“Do I get off a day this week to go shopping?” she countered.  

“Nope,” he answered quickly and sat back down, cutting his eyes in her direction waiting  for a response.

“Worth a try,” was all she gave him opening the file folder she had acquired earlier. He tried not to be too disappointed, after all, he had all week to come up with something new. Maybe he could tell her they needed to match or something and drive her into complete planning hysterics. That is a great idea, he thought and returned back to what he was reading brought in from another team earlier in the week, his mind not really able to focus on the task at hand. He was relieved that she didn’t have any plans; it was so much easier to take her on things like this than it was to take anyone else.  Not only was he assured that she would do nothing inappropriate or embarrassing, but she was so intelligent and articulate and quick to fill in anywhere he needed.  Together, they made the SGC as a whole look pretty good, and, if there was anything too stupid, they could mock it together, in another language no less.  Despite how awful these events tended to be he was somewhat excited about Friday.  It had been a few weeks since the two of them had been able to hang out together, and he needed just to laugh with her, be himself and have a good time. He’d missed her, a lot, a lot more than he would have ever expected. 

The week seemed to drag by, with Sam calling everyday to fill in Daniel on more things to expect on Friday.  Funding was always the big concern; was the program costing more than they were gaining, but on top of that there was talk of reducing the number of teams and a desire to renegotiate some of their trade agreements, even with worlds where the relationship was tenuous at best.  Daniel took notes and had Adrienne pull the files of any planet in question, the pile on the center table growing larger and grander as the days passed. By Thursday he was even debating taking a quick trip to a few places just to touch base, but decided against it, knowing he would get wrapped up in something unexpected and never make it back for this dinner that Sam was really counting on him to attend, so he had Adrienne make radio contact with as many as possible, trying to schedule a few drop-in visits while he try to lay out some sort of plan as to how he would tackle each of the issues he knew awaited him. It was exhausting, mentally and physically,  and around 2 that afternoon, Adrienne was tapping him on his shoulder bringing him out of his trance as he stared blankly at the computer screen.  

“Hey, Indy, you in there?” she asked. Frowning, he took of his glasses and rubbed his eyes, tired and red from lack of sleep and stress, stress that Adrienne had watched build all week, stress that had him sleeping on base all week, last night in her room, actually watching another zombie movie after she had fallen asleep, passing out beside her somewhere around 3:30 in the morning by her best guess. 

“I thought we were gonna have fun on Friday and put a good face on the SGC.  Instead, you’re giving yourself a migraine,” she stated.  Knowing she was exactly right, he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out some Advil, popping a few into his mouth and swallowing them dry, Adrienne shaking her head as she walked over to her desk bringing him her vitamin water which he took and drank without hesitation.  

“Just a lot on my mind, that’s all.  Seems like this affair is going to be more than even Sam anticipated,” he said as he handed her back the water bottle, leaning back in his chair.  Adrienne joined him, leaning against his desk gazing down at him, worried that he was going to stress himself into a total meltdown, which she had seen and it wasn’t pretty. 

“What?” he asked, not liking the feeling of being watched, “Was there something you wanted to tell me?” 

“Yeah, but it’s not important.  What do I need to do to help?” Adrienne brought herself upright again, slapping her palms to her thighs and looking at his computer screen over his shoulder ready to work and help, like she always was. What did I ever do before her,  he thought, so grateful for the offer even if there was nothing else he needed her to do. 

“Make sure I don’t have a mental breakdown,” he answered, half joking and half serious, peeking up to give her a small smile. 

“I meant something I don’t normally do,” she replied, raising her eyebrows and biting her lower lip.  

“No, nothing.  Now seriously, what did you need?” he inquired again, “I’m going to obsess over this one way or the other, so give me something else to focus on.” 

Adrienne smiled but felt guilty; her request seemed so silly considering what he was having to deal with right now and the last thing she wanted to do was let him down, ever.  Then again, this was a need now and not a want and if he wanted everything to go as planned she was just going to have to spit it out. 

“Remember the Potato sack conversation?” she asked and he peered back up at her over his glasses, that smart assed look already on his face. 

“Not totally a joke?” he clarified, wanting to mock and tease further, so bad, but he didn’t his mind wandering elsewhere, realizing that she would need to go shopping and hoping that Vala was around so he didn’t get dragged on this little adventure. 

“Not totally.  I mean, I have a dress, but let’s just say that if you want me to represent the SGC in a more dignified manner, I need to go shopping,”  she explained and leaned back on his desk.  He shrugged his shoulders, relieved at not being asked to join her.

“Go then, there’s nothing else we can do here,” he responded.  

“Ok, you’re sure?” she asked getting a nod in reply so Adrienne stood again, heading over to her locker to grab a few things. Secure with what she needed, she strolled to the door, glancing back over her shoulder at him.  

“Try not to work too hard,” she said, a tone of caring floating sweetly through her voice. 

“I can’t promise you that,” he replied with a grin that she didn’t returning, scowling at him and rolling her eyes.   

“If I find you face planted on a keyboard tomorrow, I’ll be inclined to do something evil shug, you’d best be warned,” she warned, hoping he would take her joke as advice, that she wanted him to go home, relax, go to bed like a normal person. Waving goodbye to her, Daniel looked back at his screen and returned to his obsessing.  

In a direct contrast with the entire rest of the week, Friday flew by.  Adrienne was actually on time for once, well, by her standards, and Daniel hadn’t fallen asleep at the keyboard, instead had dragged himself to his on base quarters, which in Adrienne’s opinion was peace with honor.  He slept fairly well considering everything and when she came in at 9:17, coffee in hand and a grin on her face, he had to laugh.  When she was first hired, getting coffee was below her but now that they were friends, getting him coffee was more like a good will offering for always being late.  

She made up for her lateness though, as always, prepping various forms and things to distribute tonight if need be and brushing up on planets and agreements that she had not been privy to experiencing yet.  She worked quietly for the most part, although at certain points Daniel could hear the loud rap music coming through her headphones, smiling when he heard the lyrics to a  particularly awful song. Awful music had become part of his work life now, and a small part of him had started to worry that he would not be hearing it for much longer as he reread Sam’s latest email. It had come a little over an hour earlier, a short list of names to be cut, positions that would be disappearing, and while her name was not on the list, there was a special note concerning his, well their department. Deciding not to mention it to her, he took the coffee from her hand and sipped just a small amount, before setting it aside, unable to finish it. 

At four, Adrienne stood and looked over at him. She knew that the dinner started at seven so they needed to knock off early and not only did she want to be prepared professionally, but she wanted to get ready.  The night before she had stood in the same store, her favorite store for hours, alone, trying on dress after dress until she had found it; the perfect dress.  The saleslady whisked it to the counter, and it wasn’t until Adrienne went to pay for it that she realized she wasn’t buying it for the dinner; she was buying it for him, she was buying it to impress Daniel.   Now, with it hanging lightly in her closet, all she could think of was getting home to get ready, not really able to pinpoint why in the hell she cared so damn much what he thought of her evening wear. Maybe it was because he was her boss and of all of the things that had attended so far this one seemed to be more important than the others and that look of approval would make her feel that much better going into this. Trying not to overanalyze the situation, Adrienne reached into her desk, grabbing her Nerf gun and cocking the hammer, firing off a shot at his head. 

“So, what time are you picking me up for our hot date tonight?” she smiled, setting the gun back on her desk. 

“I shall have Jeeves bring the car around 6:30 if that is acceptable,” Daniel played right back the best he could, his nerves cringing at the words ‘hot date.’ Why did that bother him so much!?

“Alright, then if you want me to be on time I need to leave to get ready,” Adrienne responded, walking over to her locker to get the keys to her bug and the rest of her things. 

“Fine, go, but you’d better be ready at 6:30 Ad, seriously, we cannot run on your Cajun time,” Daniel stressed, trying to make eye contact so that she understood the importance of every part of tonight being exactly right.  

“Bye Indy,” was her reply as she left, stopping at her desk to shoot him once more for good measure before laughing her way out of the lab. 

At 6:15, Daniel was rolling into a spot a few spaces down from the bug.  She had better be ready, he thought to himself, shutting of the car and walking up to the front door. 

“It’s open!” he heard her yell mere seconds after his knock and thought to himself that he really needed to have a conversation with her about locking her doors in D.C., black belt or not, but put that aside for now, turning knob to enter her apartment.  

“I’m ready, just need to put vital things, like a driver’s license, into my clutch,” she shouted from down the hall.  Assuming that clutch meant purse, he stood and waited, thinking that she actually might be ready to go on time for once. Wonders never ceased.  He adjusted the tie at his neck and straightened his coat even though he knew it would just get messy again once they got into the jeep, but he wanted to look nice when she came out, in fact, that had been the exact reason for picking out this entire outfit: a three piece suit, minus the vest, which he had decided to skip because it was a bit over the top. It was all black, except for the shirt of course, and he wore shiny black dress shoes to match. He had almost opted for putting on his contact lenses as well, but decided against it because after all, he was just taking Adrienne.  Just Adrienne, right? For some reason, tonight, just Adrienne just didn’t seem to be registering. 

And then, ‘just’ Adrienne came around the corner.  

She was wearing a black evening gown that went to the floor but didn’t quite drag with black peep-toe shoes, her toenails freshly painted a dark purple, the color of Roman royalty. The top was gathered a bit at the bodice, but went into thick straps that appeared to criss cross across her back, her beautiful back, and he was certain that her snake tattoo would be visible, but in a way that would just make it that much more special. The middle of the dress was slightly fitted, not so much that it was tight, but tight enough to accent her figure, her small thin waist and large curvy Cajun hips that she always complained about, that she hated, but he never really saw what was wrong with them, and she was wearing make-up, not her usual barely there, but deep purple accents over her eyes, matching her toes and her normally shoddy nails he noticed, her lips were a warm pink.  Stunning was the word that came to mind, she was absolutely stunning, but he couldn’t muster up the courage to tell her; he couldn’t even breathe.  

“Jaw up Indy,” she said as she walked by, opening her coat closet to get a wrap, covering her shoulders and facing Daniel, who still had yet to speak.  He didn’t know what to say; now that he could breathe again he was at a loss for words. What could he say? You look fantastic? You’re gorgeous? Dear God Ad? What do you tell your best friend when she walks out looking like that, Jack could think of a few things, he was certain of that, but all he could think right now was that the most beautiful woman in the entire galaxy was standing right here in front of him, hands on her hips, waiting for an intelligent reply that he wasn’t going to be able to give. 

“You look pretty damn good yourself,” she replied for him, patting him on the back and pointing to the door.  Relieved that she seemed to be taking the lead, he stepped ahead, opening the door for her as they made their way out to his car. 

The drive to the hotel downtown was only fifteen minutes long and Daniel didn’t say much for those fifteen minutes; he didn’t know what to say.  He had planned on going over various talking points that might come up over the course of the evening, or at least joke around with her, making fun in advance of Woolsey and the others, but he couldn’t say a word, he couldn’t even look over at her.  She just looked too amazing, even acknowledging her presence by cutting his eyes over at her while he navigated the dark DC roads was enough to make his heart race inside his chest. She didn’t push him either, didn’t say a word, but sat in silent worry that maybe she shouldn’t have bought the dress, that maybe it was too much, maybe it showed too much skin, maybe he didn’t approve. Staring out through the windshield of the Jeep, Adrienne watched the city pass on by, going over in her head the information in the folders sitting at her feet that she hadn’t  even bothered to open, reality sinking in as the car came to a halt in the valet loop. She glanced over at him as they stopped, but he was still looking ahead, and no longer able to contain her nerves, she reached out to him, touching his shoulder gently. 

“Daniel, are you ok?” she asked, sweetly, calling him Daniel and not Indy. He could smell her perfume, it was foreign and musky, not what he’d expect, as she moved closer to him, her fingers digging lightly into his shoulder. Urging himself to keep it together, he gazed ahead, thankful that the young man in the black and white uniform was signaling him to more forward

“Fine, I’m fine, just hoping we don’t get anything thrown at us that I didn’t expect,” he lied.  The only thing he had been worried about before was some government official trying to trick Adrienne into talking about something that she didn’t have any knowledge of and Adrienne, not wanting to disappoint him trying to cover for said lack of knowledge.  Now, his biggest concern was not paying attention to anything other than Adrienne, the way she looked, the way she smelled, the way the street lights were making her dark eyes sparkle in a way that made it seem as if she was casting on spell on you.

“We’ve got this, no worries,” she said, relieved, as the valet approached the door, feeling silly that he would be doing anything other than worrying about Woolsey and company like he had all week.  Opening the car door, she breathed out where he couldn’t see, but he lingered just one second to see her whisk herself out of the seat, rushed around the back of the car to join her at the entrance to the hotel holding out out his arm.  She smiled and took his arm, feeling normal again, and they walked into the building confidently to face their fate.  

“Dr. Jackson!” Robert Woolsey was shouting enthusiastically as they entered the ballroom like he was happy to see them, Adrienne squeezed Daniel arm tightly. He knew what that meant, she hated that man, and was bracing herself for the bureaucratic nightmare they were about to confront. As Daniel had expected, thanks to Sam, it looked like he was the IOA liaison for the night with the various subcommittee members who were standing with him toward the left hand side of the ballroom, sipping champagne and chatting. Trying to give her hand a gentle squeeze with his arm, Daniel led his assistant over to where the gentlemen were standing, eyeing Adrienne carefully as her expression went from disgust to show face, smiling politely as Woolsey took her hand, leading her from Daniel and to the table the He quickly greeted Dr. Rowan and Adrienne put on her best show face as he escorted them to the table where they were greeted by four men in suits that cost way more than someone should pay, a sign of the arrogance behind their wearer. 

“Drs., I would like to introduce to you Senators McCrery of Massachusetts, Witt of Maryland, Castro of Arizona and Senator Bennett of California,”  Woolsey said as he swept his hand at each of the men slowly, pausing at each and on cue, they reached out to shake Daniel and Adrienne’s hands one at time while Woolsey continued.  

“You all are familiar with Dr. Jackson and his work, but this is his assistant Dr. Adrienne Rowan, one of our newer additions to the program,” Woolsey introduced with a tone Daniel felt Adrienne did not deserve, one that he had to admit was one he would have used almost a year ago himself, but no longer. Woolsey hadn’t been keen on hiring him an assistant from day one, thinking that database information was not very important and now that Sam had promoted her to an active member of the team, he seemed even less impressed. 

“Dr. Rowan?” Senator Castro said, looking surprised, “I wasn’t aware we hired women so beautiful for our Stargate program.”  

Daniel got to urge to make sure Adrienne didn’t erupt into a full blown lecture bout the role of women in science or begin some other speech concerning objectification, but she just smiled, her cheeks flushing slightly.  Not Vala, he had to remind himself, I’m not here with Vala.  He glanced over at her again, watching her athletic figure glide gracefully into the chair that was being pulled out for her by the clearly dazzled Senator Castro, her manner and elegance making it clear who he was dealing with, why Sam had hired her, why she had become such and important part of his life. Dear God I am not here with Vala.  He sat down himself, right beside her, glancing over one more time at his assistant in utter awe, the entire evening just a confusion of nerves, worries and emotion that he just couldn’t explain. Did I ever notice how attractive she was before? he thought, and he had, little things, but other than noticing that she was pretty he had never thought of her like this before, but he couldn’t think about that now, he needed to focus, so the best he could he turned away from Adrienne to enjoy the company of Robert Woolsey. 

The beginning of the meal was all small talk.  They asked about Adrienne’s upbringing, if she had ever attended Mardi Gras and other things that people found interesting about New Orleans and Adrienne handled it all with a smile on her face but without acting like a silly girl.  She was dignified and well spoken, in a way Daniel had never seen her act before, it was the professor’s performance that he knew she had in her but she had never needed very much just sitting with him in the lab.  Up until this point he had tried to handle most of the meetings of this importance alone or with Sam, leaving his very competent assistant and best friend to take care of things he deemed more important, like real research, but tonight, she was spectacular, in every way possible. Things in fact seemed to be going quite well, much better than he expected, and he had turned to even join the conversation as well,  his fears and worries unjustified. There was nothing  to be nervous about, it was just Adrienne and Adrienne was just doing what he has invited her hear to do, be amazing. As the entrees were brought out, however, the conversation took a turn for the worse, a worse that Daniel should have seen coming, but not until Senator Bennett looked up at him and cleared his throat did he understand that all of the schmoozing in the world wasn’t going to change what Daniel already knew. 

“Doctor, as you may know we are facing some tough economic times,” he began, sipping his glass of wine waiting to judge Daniel’s reaction.  Daniel had heard all of this before, there was always something with money involved that they would have to discuss and prepared for this, he answered casually.  

“Yes sir, and General O’Neill is striving to make our facility more efficient and streamline various projects. In fact, Dr. Rowan has been working on a variety of computer programs to help ease data entry and decrease man hours needed post missions,” the archaeologist answered proudly.  Adrienne had been working diligently to do just that, and her Go’ould translation program had already cut down on the needs for a translator on many of the smaller missions.  

“We understand Dr. Jackson, however, we are most concerned that certain departments are not having the output we need to justify the expenditure.  In fact, we have been most disappointed in your department,”  the senator continued.  

“Why is that exactly?” Daniel questioned.  He and Adrienne had been rolling on the Asgard database as well, so he knew that Sam was sending out a lot of information to her superiors.  In fact, the find just a few weeks back connecting the Asgard to the Ancient Hebrews was not only a huge find historically speaking, but had proved to be a source for valuable information on a virus that was getting very little attention here on Earth.  Dr. Carolyn Lam and Cassie Frasier had been very active with getting those results analyzed and sent up to Jack, and that was just one example; the database proved everyday to be the most valuable gift they had received to date. Yet that didn’t seem to matter, Daniel could tell as the senator glanced over at the others and back to Daniel.  He seemed, for the moment, to be ignoring Adrienne completely.  

“Dr. Jackson, we had hoped to get more out of the Asgard database, that is why we agreed to let General O’Neill hire you an assistant, but we cannot defend ourselves with pages of Asgard royal lineage or real life Bible stories,” he turned his head a bit, trying to emphasis his point.  The senate didn’t care about the history of a people more ancient then could be imaged who were now gone forever and they didn’t care about the amazing history of human civilization that he and Adrienne uncovered on what seemed to be a daily basis. They wanted guns, bombs or cell phone technology; they wanted either ways to blow things up or ways to make money, not something that could never even be displayed in a museum, never be revealed to the general public.That wasn’t the kind of work that he and Adrienne did.  

“Sir, I’m sorry that we’ve not been able to produce something as of yet to your liking, but the database is much larger than you could have imagined.  I’m sure that we both could agree to maybe adding some extra time to our schedule to get through more, but it’s important that we go in order to insure that we don’t miss anything vital,” he hated to volunteer Adrienne for more work, but he would just have to owe it to her.  She would understand, in fact, maybe they could turn it into some fun night together, once a week, like Fridays used to be before they started getting dragged across the galaxy again. He glanced over at her and could see that she was looking at him as well and it appeared as if they were on the same page, thankfully. 

“Well, Doctor, we’ve been discussing this at some length and we think that there are adjustments needing to be made in both your department as well as geology and paleontology.  I will be making a visit to the base on Monday on behalf of the committee in order to begin to note what items and personnel that we recommend being cut,” he said as he glared over at Mr. Woolsey, who was adjusting his tie nervously.  

Daniel was shocked.  He knew that this would be the typical defense of the program and yes they would probably come for a visit, but usually, he or Sam were successful in  dissuading them from actually following through with anything, however, it seemed as if they had already deemed that cuts were going to be made, that this was just a nice way of saying prepare to lose your funding, we’ve already decided.  His face must have given something away because he felt a finger on the top of his thigh and almost jumped before realizing that it was Adrienne, lightly spelling C-A-L-M with her index finger. Clearing his throat and drawing from her clear confidence, Daniel tried to put on his best face. 

“Of course, we welcome your suggestions.  I’m happy to meet with you first thing Monday,” he looked over at Adrienne hoping she would catch on. 

“I’ll need to check your schedule Doctor, but I’m happy to clear anything that is not as essential,” she answered.  Take that, Daniel thought to himself, see how vital she is to me.  In more ways than one, he added a second later, those nerves invading his system once more.   

“Excellent, well, in the meantime, let’s enjoy dinner. We can talk shop more on Monday,” Bennett declared, his tone and manner changing as he lifted his fork and knife cutting into the filet in front of him. Taking his lead, Daniel glanced over at Adrienne, trying to read her face or get any sense of her reaction as all but she didn’t seem worried and that calmed him, slightly.     

They ate their dinner and the senators excused themselves periodically to talk to others in the room, the dinner including other people Daniel had seen around the Pentagon, other departments in HomeWorld security that seemed to be getting cut as well, making Daniel wish he had some way to call Jack and figure out what exactly was going on. His friend’s absence at the event was troubling, but he knew he must have his reasons and decided to check in with him once he was home. Together Daniel and Adrienne just sat, with Woolsey trying to speak to them throughout, assuring them that he was on top of this and that nothing would happen; it would probably just be a few downgrades and maybe a pay freeze.  Daniel didn’t care about a pay freeze, his mind was somewhere else entirely. He ordered another glass of wine.  

He spent the end of the meal in relative silence until Woolsey finally left he and Adrienne alone at the table to schmooze himself but after he ordered a third glass of wine, his dear friend, his ravishingly beautiful dear friend, gently removed it from the place in front of him, sliding it just out of reach. He didn’t argue; he knew she was just looking out for him and he let her lead as she folded the napkin carefully into her lap, and stood, standing himself, wobbling a bit but Adrienne was right there to catch him, her arm gingerly slipping around his waist, discreetly bringing him up right. 

“Indy; I’ve got this,” she whispered in his ear, knowing that he was clearly upset and probably should have eaten more, most of the food was still on his plate, and drank a touch less. Nodding his head, Daniel reached into his pocket and passed the valet ticket over without hesitation and she took them, threading his arm through hers so it looked like he was escorting her out and strode forward proudly as though the two of them didn’t have a care in the world. None of the senators came over to wish them goodbye something that if Adrienne noticed she did care, letting him hold onto her as if he really was her date tonight, standing in the chill of the DC evening as the valet brought the Jeep around. Alert enough to lead her to the driver’s side, he did, before scurrying back to the passenger seat, climbing into the other side as she started the ignition. 

“You can’t spend your weekend obsessing over this,” she declared. 

“What’s there to obsess over? What’s done is done,” he answered quickly making him the recipient of an a confused glance.

“Daniel, look, I’ve only known you for about a year, but I’ve never seen you give up on anything. Ever. Why start now?”  she asked and didn’t bother hiding the concern in her voice, but Daniel didn’t answer, just gazed out into the starlit sky. The truth was, he wasn’t giving up.  Over the years they had this happen more times than they could count and in the end he retained his job and office, he did, but others weren’t as lucky.  He just couldn’t get the thought out of his head; if they tried to get rid of Adrienne, he didn’t know what he would do.....

“Hello? Indy? Back to Earth shug. You only had two glasses of wine,”  she said as she turned onto her street, knowing that with Daniel two glasses was a bit much, but hoping he would catch her jest, yet he continued to stare ahead. He couldn’t look at her.  Other than the fact that she was smart and everyone liked her, come Monday he had no justification as to why he needed an assistant; the only thing that had changed was he was no longer sleeping in the lab and that didn’t matter to the bottom line. He and Adrienne just worked on what he had worked on before alone. With nothing to offer to the conversation, he kept silent. 

When they arrived at her apartment, Adrienne parked the car, retaining the keys as she peered over at him, concerned.  

“Come in,” she said softly as she reached for her purse, her clutch as she had called it, “you look catatonic.”  

“I’m fine.  Just have a lot of my mind,” Daniel answered.  

“You left a duffle here a few weeks ago.  Let’s go inside, watch a movie and I can open some more wine if you want,” she reached her hand over to clasp his, refusing to take no as an answer and he didn’t pull away, just sat there, holding her hand in the silent darkness of his jeep. She could read him better than anyone else ever had, there was no hiding this, at least not how he was feeling, he could probably avoid telling her about her possible dismissal, but above all else, he didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to leave her.   

“Yeah, alright. That sounds good,” he said, pulling his hand away and opening the door.  

When they got inside Adrienne whisked herself down the hall to get his bag.  She is so very beautiful Daniel thought as she left the living room, the shimmer of black accenting her graceful exit. Why can’t I stop looking at her? he continued his thoughts, thinking back on the evening, how he had noticed the little details in her dress, details like the fine liner of glitter painted on her eyelids; how she had actually changed out her jewelry, her nose ring, that collection of metal in her ears, all of which had perfectly matched and should have looked out of place, should have looked unprofessional but was equally as magnificent as the rest of her attire. The thoughts should have stopped, he was convinced that they would, the stress combined with the alcohol making him think like this, think like Jack, but when she came back minutes later, wearing her usual Adrienne attire, yoga pants and a t-shirt, wordlessly throwing the duffel into his lap, she still looked different, still looked simply amazing.

Adrienne poured them some wine and cued up a move while Daniel changed into more appropriate attire, all in relative silence, as if she was waiting for him to open up first.  He still didn’t say too much and she didn’t push him but when he came back and sat down she just handed him a glass, threw her legs over him and hit play.  That should have made him feel better, this was like them, Adrienne stretching out across him like this, there was nothing to it, she was his best friend, but the anxiety returned like a freight train, his heart pounding in his chest.  Willing the feeling away, he chugged down the glass of wine and tried to play like everything was normal, wrapping his arm around her calves. 

Two more glasses of wine later, Daniel didn’t even know what they were watching, nor did he care but Adrienne was laughing hysterically, so she must have endured a comedy for his benefit.  Not that he liked them per se, but he figured that she was trying to cheer him up so he laughed along the best he could but he just kept thinking over and over that he couldn’t lose her.  They couldn’t cut her; not Adrienne, what would he do without her and why in the hell did he care so much.  Remembering her words, not to obsessed, he just kept drinking his wine. 

Daniel hadn’t said much during the movie, sniggering a few times, but that was all, so when the movie was over, Adrienne wasn’t really surprised to see that he had fallen asleep, lulled by the wine, the empty glass dangling lightly from his left hand. Carefully pulling her legs from across his lap, she shut off the TV and raced down the hall for her spare blanket and pillow, returning to the sofa and setting them on the coffee table.  As slowly as she not, not wanted to wake him, she held past to his shoulders and laid him down gently on the coach, reaching to his feet to tuck them on as well. She covered him carefully and removed his glasses, setting them softly on the coffee table. 

“Goodnight Daniel,” she whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek before taking herself to bed.   

Adrienne awoke and plodded her way to the kitchen to make coffee, rubbing her eyes and regretting the wine as even her drops were not taking care of the dryness. She had slept well, heavy even, and Daniel hadn’t made a sound, she she assumed that he was still asleep, the wine doing even better than she could to relax him. Figuring that once she started the grinder he would crawl himself off of the sofa, she didn’t even peek over in his direction, just made straight for the fridge, opening the freezer door to remove her coffee beans, noticing a small piece of legal paper tucked under a magnet on the door as she let it close.   

Thanks for putting up with that. See you Monday. 

Daniel

Adrienne sighed.  She knew that something else was wrong, but she didn’t want to push him; she had learned how to read him and this note said just leave me alone, despite how much doing just that would tear her up inside. Forcing herself to forget, she made coffee and proceeded to go about business as usual hoping that the closest friend that she ever had wasn’t worrying himself into trouble. 

******

On Monday, Daniel sat at his desk having worked through weekend, dragging himself to his room for a few hours each night before returning back to his task, his impossible task.  Fueled by caffeiene, he scoured through each and every one of Adrienne’s files, trying to find something he could give her credit for, anything, but everything there, while perfect and done quicker than he would have accomplished alone, was something he would have gotten around to eventually.  The oversight committee didn’t care about speed of return if the return was always the same. His heading throbbing, he peeked at the clock.  8:57.  Please, he said to himself, don’t be late today.  

At 9, she still hadn’t arrived and Daniel felt his heart sink. Of all of the days to be late, she had to be late today, she was late everyday but didn’t she know, she was sitting right there in the same meeting, didn’t she hear what was being said.  9:05, no Adrienne, no coffee, no cajun excuses, nothing. The phone rang on his desk, sickness ravaging his gut and he answered it, knowing what was to come.  

“Jackson.”   

“Good morning Daniel.  Our visitors have arrived,” it was Sam, who had arrived late Saturday eager to learn the details of the dinner, details that he remembered, just the wrong details. By her tone she didn’t seemed pleased; they must have arrived to speak with her first, starting their cost cutting measures with gate operations. 

‘Be right there,” he answered and hung up, grabbing a legal pad and starting for the door, slowly, deliberately, hoping Adrienne would burst in at any moment.  9:07 a.m. She didn’t, not a soul was to be seen as he peered left and right into the hallway, the second hand of the clock clicking behind him, a tapping reminder of each moment that passed when she wasn’t there.

“Dammit Ad,” he swore, instantly angry with her, her irresponsibility, arrogance and her thoughtlessness. Did she just think they were going to keep her around because she was pleasant? Smart? Cute? And what about him? Did she just think he would be fine without her. Raging, he stormed down the hall to face the committee, alone.

The meeting went just as he thought, terrible; they really had their list made in advance.  Beginning with some smaller departments, the senators emotionlessly shut down offices, cut supplies and even some minor personnel.  Minor personnel they may have been, but Daniel felt awful each time a name was read; he really didn’t know any of those people at all and felt like he not only should he know each and every one of them but should be fighting for their jobs, but nothing seemed to matter, nothing but what he knew they were going to say.  He sat in silence, nodding when asked a question, his heart pounding in his chest, the anger at her gone, replaced with a deep sadness. 

“Now,” Senator Bennett continued, “we come to your department Dr. Jackson.”  

Taking a breath, Daniel braced himself, nerves replaced by a sick feeling in his stomach as if someone had hit him there, which is what he felt like they were getting ready to do. This didn’t mean he would never see Adrienne again, he told himself, they were friends, best friends, she just wouldn’t work here. He would help her find another job, he could call his contacts at the Smithsonian, she had wanted to work there in the first place, sure she would lose her apartment provided by the SGC, that would be an issue, but hell, she could even stay with him while she looked and while she got herself situated at her new job, he’d find storage for that crazy greek temple montage that she called decor. He would do anything, anything to help her. 

Because he was in love with her.  

Dear God, he told himself, I’m in love with her. Jack was right, I’m in love with Adrienne. I can’t lose her, I just can’t; I love her....  

“Dr. Jackson, is everything alright?” the senator asked, his expression confused as he glanced at Sam for answered. 

“Daniel?” Sam asked, looking equally as bewildered. He must have had a look on his face, shock, panic, he wasn’t sure, but he needed to get out of here and find her; he needed to save her job and save it now, because he couldn’t live without her.

“Yeah, yeah, everything is just fine.  Could you both excuse me for just a moment?” Daniel stood, not allowing them to answer, leaving Sam and the senators staring at one another in stunned silence.  He had to find her, he had to drag her in here and prove to them that she was the best thing to ever happen to the SGC, the best thing to ever happen to him, the most amazing person he had ever met. Pulling his phone from his pocket and dialed, saying a silent prayer that she would answer.

“Morning Indy!” she answered joyfully.  

“Adrienne,” he hissed into the phone, “where are you?” He didn’t want to scold her, he wanted to say, Addy, please just come down here and defend your job. I can’t live without you.  

“In the lab, I must have just missed you, why?” asking as though she didn’t remember the meeting.  

“I’m in THE meeting.  The one where I’m going to try to save your job,” he answered.  The one where I realized that I’m in love with you, he thought as he raced down to the lab.  

“I told you not to obsess over it shug, in fact it came to me Saturday night. I did find something useful, enough to put them at bay for a while,” she answered and he heard clicking on the other end of the line.  

“What are you talking about? I was here all weekend trying to figure out a way to keep you around! You never came in!” Daniel was confused and not shouting at her in anger but rather in panic. Reaching the door of the lab, Daniel hung up the phone, peering around the corner at Adrienne standing at her desk, tapping away on that iPad of hers. Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced over her shoulder and smiled, looking different this morning, brighter, breathtaking, and that made him panic more.  

“I worked remotely, from home.  I set that up weeks ago; I tried to show you and you looked at me funny,” Adrienne winked at him and kept tapping.  

“Ad, we don’t have time for this. I need to get back up there. That senator from California is getting ready to ax you!” Daniel pleaded, unable to understand why Adrienne wasn’t more upset.  Maybe she didn’t care as much as he did; maybe he was just a friend to her. Dear God, why didn’t he see this? Why was Jack always right about things like this? How do you not notice completely and totally falling in love with someone?

“I’m ready when you are,” she replied, grabbing his arm to lead him into the hall, shutting off the light and leaving the lab, heading down to the briefing room.  Daniel pulled away, not wanting her to feel him trembling in fear at the prospect of losing her and followed briskly, his heart hopeful that she did have a solution. The door still open as he had left it, she entered the room in that Adrienne fashion of hers, bright and flamboyant but dignified and to be respected. 

“Senator,” Adrienne addressed him and walked over to shake his hand, “I apologize for my lateness, but Dr. Jackson requested that not only do I finish this before I joined you, but he wanted me to keep it quiet until we knew for sure.” Daniel gave her the ‘I did what’ face but she just kept talking.  

“In going through the Asgard lineage I noticed a pattern of assassinations in one particular branch of the ruling family.  These assassinations continued, and control fluctuated until one family in particular, Thor’s, took control,” Adrienne winked at Daniel.  

“And..” the senator asked.  

“And...” she took her iPad over to the screen and did her little wireless thing she liked to do to make Daniel feel like a technological dinosaur.  Trusting her, her enthusiasm contagious, he leaned back against the wall letting her work her magic. 

“It seems that suddenly, once Thor’s people took control assassination attempts continued, they recorded every one, but not a one was successful.  Originally, I had just assumed it was holograms, body doubles, etc. that they were using, but I was wrong.  It was this,” Adrienne hit a button and an image popped up on the screen of a small amulet, Daniel stepped forward to get a better look, trying not to look like this was the first time he had seen it. 

“What is that?” the senator asked as Sam looked equally mesmerized.  

“That,” Adrienne smiled, “ is a personal shield.”  

“Wait,” Sam turned her head and looked at Adrienne.  

“Yes.  Now that I know what it’s called Rodney and his staff can go through their part of the database and find it. It seems to function a tad easier than the Ancient version, gives the wearer more control. I thought that it might be, useful.” Adrienne crossed her arms proud of herself while Daniel was at a loss for words; how did she find that?

“Well, Dr. Rowan,” the senator spoke, “we were just going over your department and you say you have been working on this for a while. Alone?” 

“That is correct,” she replied.  

“So, this is not something that Dr. Jackson discovered, this is your work?” he clarified.  

“Yes sir,” she answered, “I shared it with Dr. Jackson as soon as I was certain that I could be onto something, but he insisted that I continue to work on this project myself so he could keep moving.  We have made remarkable strides in the database, and working together like we have, this is just the beginning.” For a moment no one spoke, Daniel eying the room as Sam repressed a smirk, clearing seeing through her friend’s deception, while the senators looked at each other a mixture of shrugs and nods, silently coming to a consenus.

“Well,” the senator began, “in light of this information I think I have no further recommendations to make.  Dr. Rowan, I look forward to seeing this shield in action,” he added, closing his briefcase and standing to leave, the other senators following suit.   Daniel bid him farewell as Sam left to see them out, Daniel watching carefully to make sure that they were gone before glaring over at Adrienne. 

“How did you know?”  he asked, no longer needing to hide the worry, she would be able to read it, to see it all over his face.  

“That I was gonna get canned? Indy, I worked in public education; I know all of the government malarky and I know how to shut them up,” she tapped him on the shoulder and started to leave but he grabbed her arm, his own eyes locking on her mesmerizing brown gaze in its complete perfection. 

“What shug? Oh no, are you mad? I should have told you, but you had that leave me alone attitude going on Friday night, so I just took care of the problem myself,”  Adrienne apologized, hoping he wasn’t angry with her as he continued to hold her arm looking into her eyes.  He had a sudden and overwhelming urge to kiss her then and there, just to tell her that he loved her and wasn’t angry with her, that he just didn’t want to lose her, that he was so afraid of losing her and never wanted to live another moment of life without her, but he just stood frozen in time, unable to speak. 

“Daniel, what’s going on with you?” Adrienne asked him, truly confused, pulling her arm away. Not wanting to upset her, not wanting to hurt her, he did the only thing he could think to do, the only thing his over-analytical head would allow him to door, stepping forward and pulling her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She didn’t react at first, making his heart stop, until he felt limbs wrapped around his waist, holding him as close. 

“Awww. Mr. Can Do Everything Alone was gonna miss me!” she teased from his embrace, not pulling away. Tell her, his heart screamed, do you feel that. She loves you too, but he couldn’t, the reasons why he couldn’t starting to rush his head. She’s your subordinate. She’s a team member. She’s younger than you, much, much younger. She deserves better....

“I’ve just gotten used to having you around, that’s all. Don’t let it go to your head,”  Daniel replied quickly before he could say anything else and started to walk to the lab away from her for fear he might say something to embarrass himself or scare her away.  Or ruin this. All of this. Because she deserved better. Better than him. She deserved a Ronon Dex, someone who could take care of her, fight for her, fight with her, be a man for her. 

“Fine,” she was still picking with him, her expression playful as if none of this ever happened, “walk away.  I need coffee anyway.  LOVE YOU INDY!!!” she said in a mocking tone, walking backwards making kissy kissy faces at him before she turned and walked in the direction of the elevators headed for the commissary.  

“I love you too,” he whispered to himself, quietly, his throat tightening and headed for the lab before she could look back and see his face. Because he had fallen in love with his assistant, the one person he had never expected. And no one could know.