Daniel & Adrienne #28 - Secrets

Adrienne heard the key in her front door and glanced up at the clock in the utility room puzzled.  It was 11:35, quite strange that he was coming over so late. She had given Daniel a key a few weeks ago, after the incident with Kasuf and he wasn’t afraid to use it, but usually he would call or at least come over at a reasonable time, in fact, he couldn’t have been more polite about it, but this was out of character. Worried she made a face and stuffed the next batch of laundry into the washer. 

She heard him come in the door, the sound of his movements one she recognized, looked forward everyday to hearing, but he didn’t say anything, so she just finished what she was doing before heading out to investigate.  

“Hey there,” she greeted cheerily, trying not to start right in with the worry. Knowing that he didn’t remember her mistake, her slip, her moment of weakness had made the entire incident more bearable, but she had caught herself hovering a little more than usual. As she walked back into her small kitchen, glancing in his direction she noticed he looked beat, wearing torn jeans, a gray t-shirt and his leather jacket, his hair a bit of a mess, a gorgeous mess. Dear God Daniel, she thought, why do you do this to me?

“Hi, hope I’m not interrupting anything.” he said.  Smiling, she showed him the basket in her arms.

“Just laundry night,” she replied, “because you and I are oh so interesting on mandatory weekends off.” Laughing, he set his computer bag on the kitchen counter, walking over to the fridge, opening the door and rummaging around in its contents.  Grabbing the clean dish towels from the top of the basket, Adrienne shoved them into the drawer by the sink, slipping back out of the kitchen to keep cleaning. She poured out the laundry onto the sofa and looked back over her shoulder to shout into the kitchen.

“Are you looking for anything in particular because I’m fairly certain that I have nothing you would eat.  It was only a weekend, I just bought my food,” she yelled, thinking to herself that she almost bought a few bags of chips and a box of Oreos, just in case he showed up, in the hopes that he would show up. Next time Addy, she thought, make sure to buy them next time.  

“So, I take it I should keep a stash of junk here,” he said from the other side of the door.  

“More or less,” she replied as she began to fold her laundry, “So, to what do I owe this late night visit?” she asked, trying to keep it natural, but she had to admit that things had gotten a lot less awkward lately, less awkward than one would imagine after sleeping with one’s boss in their arms for a few days, having him pretty much die in front of you, kiss him on the lips when you think he is dead and then have him sit right up talking to you like nothing happened. All perfectly normal. 

“Boredom,” he answered standing from the fridge a flavored water in one hand and a bag of carrots in the other, walking them out to the small table.  Adrienne looked up to see what he had taken and smiled.  

“Those aren’t Cheetos,” she joked.  

“I plan on pretending,” he replied smartly.  Setting down his snack, Daniel walked over to grab his computer bag, opening it, and rummaging through as he popped a carrot into his mouth. 

“You do realize that it’s Friday, nearly midnight, and you’re going to sit at my table, eat my carrots and work. Couldn’t you do that in your own apartment?” she teased, but she was happy he was here; she was always happy when he was around, whether or not they were together.  

“I could, but then I’d miss all of our witty banter,” he countered, swallowing the carrot with a silly grin on his face, “Besides, you’re working.” 

“Housework doesn’t count as work,” she said as she rapidly made progress on her pile of laundry.  Daniel looked over her and smiled while she worked. He’d miss her too if he stayed at home, not just the banter. 

“Actually, I wasn’t working, I was going to read something,” he pulled out a book, waving it at her, “despite popular belief I can relax.” She made a face and squinted, trying to read the title of the book and couldn’t make it out completely, but knew it was definitely non-fiction and looked work related.  

“Does it have vampires?” she asked. 

“Nope,” he replied. 

“Zombies?” she continued. 

“No,” he responded.

“Dragons? Spaceships? Lightsabers? Magic?” Adrienne listed every last element that she deemed necessary for enjoyable literature, giggling as she did since she already knew his answer.

“Negative to all of the above,” he said quickly, eating another carrot to hide him smile.  

“Are you learning something?” she changed her tactic.

“Yes,” he smirked, knowing what was to come. 

“Then that’s not relaxing,” she stated. 

“So, based on that logic, it’s not relaxing when you translate those Roman inscriptions you smuggle in from dig sites, or when you sit at the Art Museum translating mirrors,” he argued. 

“That is QUITE relaxing.  It’s ancient world soaps.  Days of our Togas,” she played.  

“Nerd,” he retorted.  

“Back at cha,” she replied and began to run the laundry to her room.  When she returned, she noted that he had taken over the sofa and was happily reading his boring book so she plopped down beside him, throwing her feet across his lap and clicking on the television, feeling him adjust by laying his arms across her legs and pulling them closer to him.  As she flipped through the channels, trying to find something to watch, she glanced over at him out of the corner of her eyes, reflecting on how strange this all was now.  When she had started this job over a year ago, she was pretty certain that he hated her. Now, here they were, sitting on her sofa together, like they were supposed to be right here, doing just that.  Her heart told her they were; she loved him more than she had ever loved anyone else in her life, the only sad part was that she couldn’t say a word, to anyone, ever, even if he felt the same which she was sure he didn’t. 

“What?” he asked looking up from his book, feeling her eyes on him.  

“Nothing,” she answered and continued to flip through the channels, settling on some program on the history channel about World War Two. Grabbing a sofa pillow, she fluffed it quickly, shoving it underneath her back and leaned back the rest of the way onto the sofa, feeling that she was being watching. Shaking his head, his finger tucked lightly in the book, he watched her little ritual with a smirk on his face. 

“I catch heat for reading non-fiction and the first thing you switch it onto is the History Channel,” he stated.  

“It’s good background for me to fall asleep,” she defended herself, lying through her teeth, trying not to laugh.  Back to normal, she thought, god I missed this...

“Sure...” he answered, unbeknownst to her, feeling exactly the same. I can do this, he thought, I can still love her and be her friend. This IS doable. 

Apparently though, this night, she wasn’t kidding about using the very long program on HItler as white noise, as she was out cold in less than an hour.  Daniel, however, was so enthralled in his book that he only noticed when he heard the remote hit the floor.  

“Ad?” he asked, looking over at her, but she just rolled over to her side, tucking her arms and body to the back of the couch. Laughing, he shook her leg gently, again calling her name.  

“I’m not asleep,” she mumbled.

“Go to bed.  You’re sleeping on my sofa,”  he ordered, pushing her legs from his lap and onto the floor.   

“My sofa. You just squat here,” she replied, setting her feet onto the floor, stumbling slightly as she did. Daniel tried to contain his laughter, although he was sure she’d heard him.

“Do you need help?” he asked, looking up at her.

“I’m a big girl, I think I can handle it,” she scowled, regaining her composure before handing him the remote and leaning over to hug him goodnight.  Groggily she dragged herself to her room, grabbing a blanket and pillow from the bed and walking it back out to him. An evil grin on her face, she threw it over his head, covering, Daniel, book and all.  

“You know you’re ridiculous right?” she said to him as he pulled the blanket off of himself and stood to make his sleeping area.  

“Why do you say that?” he asked right back as he fluffed the pillow.  

“Because we’ve slept in the same close quarters, hell the same bed, more times than I can count, yet you still insist on cramming yourself onto that thing every time you come over,” she explained, wondering. That hadn’t discussed very much since the incident, as she was now calling it; he hadn’t said one word about lying so close to her, in her arms. Figuring that he was still embarrassed by it all, she had let it go, but that small part of her that just wanted to know, wanting to see if there was just a tiny chance, made her ask.   

“I know, but you know how base rumors are, I think we’re pushing our luck as it is, and besides it just doesn’t seem appropriate, you know, with you being engaged to Ronon and all,” he said as he crawled under the blanket, just in time to block a second pillow being launched at his head. Knowing she was out of ammo, he peeked out again, making himself comfortable and reaching again for the book.  It’s not appropriate anymore Ad, he said inside, because I’m in love with you, so just laugh at my bad joke and let it drop. 

“What about the air mattress?” Adrienne offered, pointing to the hallway where it was stashed at the bottom of the linen closet.  She had bought it months ago just for him and he had used it for all of a week.  Daniel put the book down, glancing back up at her.  

“Too lazy to inflate it,” he admitted, grinned, and covered his face back with the book. 

“Your choice,” she said and trudged back to bed, smiling to herself at his endless chivalry.  It made it that much easier to hide her feelings. Secure in the feeling that he was here, again, like old times and that everything was alright, she crawled into her own bed and shut off the light, falling asleep in mere moments. 

When she awoke the next morning, she tossed off the covers and made her way down the hall to the kitchen, shouting over toward the sofa.

“Hey, you want hot or iced coffee?” she asked, yawning and willing herself awake.  Adrienne hated mornings, in fact, Daniel needed to start getting up and making the coffee if he was going to be over here so much; he’d done it before. He was a morning person, a happy chipper make coffee and a full course meal for breakfast person and she hated him for it. Surprisingly, there was no answer, and she stopped dead in her tracks, peering into her living room. 

“Daniel, it’s 10 a.m., there is no way you’re still asleep,” she said as she walked over to the sofa, a part of her hoping that he was still asleep so she could do something evil, but he wasn’t there, everything was neatly folded on the sofa with a note on top.  

  Jack texted this morning so I had to dash. NOT work related, so don’t even start.  Very funny, will fill you in later. If you ever wake up. I’m not hopeful. 

      

Daniel 

Adrienne made a face, disappointed he was gone.  She hated when he did that, dashing off only leaving a note; it made her worry like crazy, and even more so now. Sighing, she trudged back over to the coffee maker.  It was only 10 a.m., insanely early for a Saturday and she didn’t need to be at Sam’s till 7, so she sat down at the counter and made a list of errands she had been putting off, since it appeared she was going to be alone today.

******

The best part about mandatory weekends off was that Sam had scheduled them in such a way, when she could, where they could all get together and hang out in peace.  This weekend, Sam declared a girl’s night and had ordered Jack out of the house, in fact, Adrienne arrived just as he was leaving. 

“You just watch Sam, I’ll get us in there!” Jack yelled over his shoulder from the coat closet, the front door sitting wide open.  Adrienne sheepishly walked through unsure of what she was walking into as Jack shut the door glaring down at Adrienne. 

“Hey Dr. Perky, come on in, I was just being kicked out of my own house,” he waved her over, his tone more playful than she had originally interpreted, so she walked into the living room as directed.  

“Oh I’m sure you guys’ll get in, but don’t you think it will look just a bit strange.....”  Sam voice was shouting from the kitchen and Adrienne was completely confused.  Where in hte world were they going or trying to get in to? 

“We’ve got that covered.  We’re taking Torren,” Jack replied smartly. A door shut, the fridge it sounded like, and Sam walked into the living room as Jack was putting his coat on laughing.  

“And you still don’t see how odd the whole thing will look.  Four grown men, four, taking one three year old!?!” Sam put her hands on her hips, shaking her head.

“Six grown men. Sheppard and Ronon are going too,” Jack responded, not even bothering to suppress his laughter as he grabbed his wallet from the table, strutting over to his wife, whose eyes were rolling like mad, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her lightly on the lips. 

“At least you know we’ll behave if the kid is around.  Trust me,” he said, giving her that evil look of his.  Starting for the door, Jack seemed to be dancing, or at least making some poor attempt as Adrienne heard a wine bottle being opened from the other room.  The front door shut behind the departing member of the O’Neill family and Adrienne spun back around to see Vala waltzing out of the kitchen, her red yoga pants and tank top complimented perfectly by the bottle of pinot and a fistful of glasses.  

“I got three,” she said, “who else is coming?”   

“I think Jenn said she would try to swing by.  Teyla’s taking advantage of my husband’s insanity to go get a massage and I can’t say that I blame her,”  Sam replied, grabbing a glass from Vala’s hand, seemingly not as amused as her husband, reaching to pass the second to Adrienne. 

“Do I even want to know what insanity they are all up to?” Adrienne asked. 

“Daniel didn’t tell you?” Sam asked, giving her a funny look.  

“No, why would he?” she answered quickly and defensively. Not you too Sam, she thought, her heart racing in her chest. 

“Oh, no reason,” she continued, “Jack’s taking Teal’c out for his birthday.  It’s 112 or something like that.” Adrienne laughed, not only at the idea of celebrating a 112th birthday, but now understanding Daniel’s note from earlier. 

“Yeah, I have no idea why Jack counts, Teal’c can’t even remember.  Anyway, he’s taking him, and the rest of the boys to Chuck E Cheese.” Adrienne erupted into laughter, glad that Vala had not begun to pour just yet. An image of Teal’c, no, even better, an image of Daniel in a ball pit, Jack and Teal’c having thrown him in amongst the screaming chaos of children. Unable to contain herself she put the glass onto the coffee table and sunk to the floor, tears in her eyes.  

“See,” Sam said, “you probably have the mental picture that I had when he told me and so they don’t look like sickos, they’re taking Torren.  To top it off, I’m fairly certain that Jack is going to have a large plush mouse come out and sing to Teal’c.”  Adrienne roared even louder, not thinking about Jack or Teal’c at all, now the scenario floating through her head one in which Daniel was throwing at tantrum at a target shooting game, screaming and shouting about trigger inaccuracies. 

“I hope they at least win the little booger a good prize,” Vala added, grinning, as she sat down and poured herself a glass, passing the bottle to Adrienne.  Finally getting up from the floor, Adrienne crawled to her knees, wiping her eyes and pulling herself to the sofa, still trying to compose herself before pouring.  Laughing herself, Sam looked like she had something to say, but was interrupted by the ringing of the phone, sipping a touch of wine quickly before standing to answer. 

“To be a fly on the wall,” Adrienne said to Vala, who had herself taken a seat on the love seat. 

“I know and you should have gotten here when I did; Jack was so proud of himself for thinking of this little scheme.  Poor Teal’c,” she said. 

“He loves it, I’m sure.” Adrienne answered and Vala just chuckled.  

“Ok ladies, that was Jennifer. Carolyn needed her to stay and run some tests, so it’s just us three for the evening,” Sam informed them as she exiting the kitchen, making a bee line for her glass.  

“More booze for us,” Vala declared joyously.  

“Well, I was inspired by Jack’s childishness and instead of our usual movie night, I thought we would play a game,” Sam announced, much to her guests surprise, still standing sipping her wine.  

“A game, like what?” Vala inquired. Before anyone could say anything further, Sam winked, racing down the hall and returning with a large selection of games, setting them down on the sofa beside Adrienne and kneeling on the floor in front of them. Mischief in her manner, she started with the top of the stack, flashing each box at her friends.

“Monopoly?” she asked the group.  

“I don’t like to add and drink,” Vala replied, “Next.” 

“Life?” she moved on.  

“Sexist. You have to get married first, have kids, whatever,” Adrienne chimed in.  

Sam rolled her eyes at her two friends, “Battleship?” 

“Two player,” Vala answered, “And too much like work.”  

“You guys are IMPOSSIBLE,” Sam sighed, “Scattergories?” 

“I only play that with Daniel,” Adrienne stated.  

“Why is that?” Sam asked her.  

“Because we don’t play in English, or any single language for that matter.  It gets confusing,” Adrienne responded.  

“Why am I NOT surprised?” Sam said and set that one aside too. The next box on the stack was small and colorful.  

“What’s that?” Vala asked, “I’ve never heard of that.”  

“It’s called Zobmondo.  It’s some dumb game that Jack bought.  It’s just a series of questions of would you rather do stupid choice A or stupid choice B.  The group decides on the best option and that’s how you score points,” Sam explained. 

“Screw points, are the questions funny?” Vala continued. 

“I guess so, I mean there is a food category that’s just gross, but some of them are funny,” Sam replied.  

“Let’s play that,” Vala said. 

“Adrienne?” Sam asked. 

“Oh I don’t care; anything’s better than laundry,” she responded, slightly disappointed they wouldn’t be playing for points. Adrienne liked to win. Setting the other games aside, Sam pulled the lid off the box in order to remove a deck of cards and a multicolored die, sitting crossed legged at the coffee table right on the floor.  Vala did the same on the other end.  

“Ok, even if we’re not doing points, there are 6 questions on each card. One of us needs to roll this die and that will determine which question,” Sam explained. 

“For a dumb game, you sure know the rules pretty well,” Adrienne commented.  

“When you love someone you learn to deal with their little quirks.  Even if some of those quirks are playing dumb childish board games,” she smiled.  Flushing, Adrienne went to answer without thinking, talking about Daniel’s proclivity for breaking coffee machines but paused, realizing her mistake. He’s not your boyfriend Ad, no matter what you may want. Not paying her friend any mind, Vala grabbed the die and rolled as Adrienne began to sip her wine quickly, hoping Sam too had ignored her near slip.  Might as well enjoy, she thought, and try not to think about him tonight. 

“Red,” Vala declared and Sam pulled a card. 

“Would you rather wake up nude and unharmed in a public park and have no idea how you got there OR expecting a costume party, dress as a giant banana for a black tie affair and have to stay the whole night?” 

“Naked,” Vala spoke up and Adrienne began to laugh. 

“No,” she argued, “half of the fun would be solving the mystery of how I got there.”  

“X-rated Scooby Doo,” Adrienne joked, choking on her next sip of wine. 

“And what would you do Miss Perfect? The banana one?” Vala fought back.  

“Of course. Could just imagine how much fun you could have in a banana costume?” Adrienne answered,”How about you Sam?”  

“I have to go banana, I’m not a fan of public nudity,” Sam answered and returned the card while Adrienne started laughing again. This is going to be fun, she thought, clearing her throat to explain. 

“I just got the best mental image of Sam addressing the IOA in a banana costume...” she said.  Sam laughed, handed Adrienne the cards and took the die from Vala, rolling it herself. 

“Blue,” Sam called. Taking a quick sip of wine, Adrienne peered at the card and read.

“Would you rather not be able to tell time OR not know left from right?” 

There was a sputter, Vala throwing her hand in front of her face to catch the burgundy spray before she started choking, laughing uncontrollably.

“Addy can’t do either,”  she said, wiping her mouth and putting her head in her hands.  

“Imma pass a slap atcha Vala,” Adrienne answered swiftly, cutting her eyes at her friend, Sam already waving her hand in front of her face, forcing her throat to swallow.  

“She’s right. You’ve never been on time for a meeting, or anything, ever and whenever you have to pass something left or right, you go back and forth until Daniel corrects you,” Sam teased, wiping the corner’s of her eyes as she took another side.  Not amused, Adrienne shot glares are both of her friends, her dark eyes giving their warning. 

“I’m going to read another one,” Adrienne said, she sipped her wine again and pulled a second card.  

“Would you rather marry someone you’ve never met before, then remain married and faithful for five years OR never marry at all?”  

“Never,” Sam spoke up.  

“This coming from the married woman,” Vala tilted her head.  

“No, this coming from the one who could have and didn’t until I could have what I wanted,” Sam answered simply.  It was so sweet and honest it gave Adrienne a little pang in her heart, both of appreciation and jealously.  Maybe she would just have to be patient herself, maybe there was hope for them. Don’t think about Daniel, for one damn night, she fussed, turning to Vala for an answer.  

“It’s only 5 years.  I can do that and then I’d divorce him and collect, what’s it called?” Vala asked, shrugging.  

“Alimony?” Adrienne suggested. 

“Yeah that,” she said, “you Addy?” 

“Never,”  she answered and her response was so quick and so curt that her friends moved on.  Adrienne was glad for it, her thoughts still lingering on certain people she had vowed not to think about tonight. For the next round, Adrienne rolled yellow and Vala pulled the card. 

“Would you rather go for a week without food OR sleep?”  she read. 

“Sleep,” Adrienne shouted immediatly, “I work for Daniel, I’m pre-conditioned,” she joked, sipping some more wine. Ok, so thinking about him to pick on him is acceptable, and Sam was agreeing, laughing and nodding in agreement. 

“Sleep,” Sam answered, “because I have no idea what that is anymore.” 

“With you ladies,” Vala answered, “Sleep, but that’s only because I like food too much. This planet knows how to eat,”  Vala agreed and stood, noticing empty wine glasses, and dashing to the kitchen to grab another bottle and refill.  

The game continued like this for a while, each of them ganging up on one another and Vala refilling the wine glasses as if there was an endless supply of libations. Adrienne had no idea how much she drank, but at one point when they got the question as to whether they would want to look like an idiot or talk like one she got the mental image of Woolsey and starting laughing uncontrollably, nearly tipping her glass onto the floor. 

“Some people are stuck with both,” she tried to explain but was still laughing too hard to make the right words come out to explain her hysteria. About an hour and a half later, still playing and drinking, Adrienne was pretty tipsy with Sam was close behind. Adrienne had no idea how Vala could hold her liquor so well, but she was, happily pouring and drinking as if she were enjoying a diet soda rather than a glass of wine.  Leaning forward, stumbling forward really, Sam grabbed the die from the coffee table, pushing her self up carefully to toss it back, the small plastic cube landing on blue. Finishing her current glass, Adrienne pawed forward for the tie dyed box, pulling the next card to read.  

“Would you rather be really smart and really boring OR really dumb, but funny and entertaining?” 

Vala began to laugh, “You mean, be Daniel or really dumb and funny?”  Adrienne was shocked by Vala’s interpretation of the question, dropping the card as she shot an evil glare in the direction of her friend. 

“Take dat back,” Adrienne spat angrily.  

“Addy, it was a joke, I’m kidding.”  Vala insisted but was laughing harder at Adrienne’s protest, as her friend’s face got redder and the vein in her forehead actually began to raise slightly.

“He’sa nah borin, ya take dat back!”  Adrienne shouted, her accent no longer covered as began to sit forward more on the sofa, staring Vala down. 

“Wow Adrienne calm down, how much have you had to drink?” Sam asked, placing her hand onto Adrienne’s shoulder, looking over at her but laughing a little herself.  

“Arrete toi,” Adrienne ordered as she spun her head to glare at Sam, “dat’s an awful thing ta say. Why wud ya even kid like dat. Ee’s nah borin, y’all don know ‘em like aye do. Ee’s.... wonderful,” Adrienne spat out drunkenly, quick drunk Sam noted, reaching out her hand as a sign on good will. 

“Adrienne, it’s a game, we’re just playing; why are you getting so upset?” she asked, unable to understand why Adrienne was reacting so viciously to something that was clearly a joke, unless. Watching her friend’s face carefully, Sam saw Adrienne sniff in slightly, allergies maybe, maybe not and reach to refill her glass, spilling a little onto her hand. Vala reached over to help her wipe off the excess, but Adrienne shooed her away, jerking back, those dark eyes of her still fixed on Vala. Her interest peak, Sam didn’t say another word to her or answer the question, just rolled blue on the die, deciding to read the next question herself. 

“Would you rather have a one night stand with a stranger OR your best friend?”  Of course this HAD to be the question, Sam thought, regretting that she read out loud before scanning it in advance.

Vala answered first, of course Sam thought, answering as she expected, “Stranger, that is WAY more fun!” 

“I married mine,” Sam stated carefully, “that’s easy,” reaching for the die as Vala glanced over Adrienne at an answer, but the cajun didn’t move.  She didn’t blink. She didn’t say a word.

“Just say it,” Vala goaded, “we know what your answer is.” 

“Then let’s pick another card,” Adrienne replied, scooting forward to reach for the box, giving Sam the silent signal to roll the die. Picking up the small cube, Sam started to roll, to take the pressure off of Adrienne, but squeezed the plastic around her palm, her curious nature starting to take over.  

“Adrienne, it’s just us, would you?”  she asked, sugaring her voice so slightly, just wanting to hear what she was starting to suspect was true.

“Fine, best friend, nex cahd,” Adrienne answered quickly, looking down at her hands. Ok, she knew that was going to be the answer, but there was something else...

“Wait,” Vala pulled the box from her hands, setting it down lightly, one eye peeking over at Sam, “What about best friend versus, hmmm...., Ronan? You know him well enough and he’s the best looking man on base. Hell, you went to dinner with him and never told me one damn detail.”   

“Dat’s nah on dah cahds,” Adrienne replied, her heart beginning to race.

“I know, answer,”  Vala countered. 

“Best friend,” Adrienne said quickly, trying to reach again.  

“Best friend versus Brad Pitt?” Vala asked a third variation. 

“Vala, enough,” Sam started to defend Adrienne a bit, sensing her apprehension, sensing her answer. It would be Daniel, no matter how Vala phrased it, the answer would be Daniel. All these months she thought Jack had been kidding, thought that Vala was just jealous, but....

“I want to hear her answer,” Vala said and looked at Sam, but she just grabbed the box, pulling out another card.  

“Ok, let’s get another blue question, that’s what we were at right?” Sam asked rhetorically, not allowing anyone time to process the question, much less answer. 

“Would you rather find out on your wedding night that your spouse is 10 years older than you OR an ex-con?” Safe question, the general thought, in fact she was fairly certain Vala had to have a story about some former flame and their criminal history.

“15,” Vala responded, her answer taking Sam off guard. 

“What?” Sam asked, a look of confusion on her face. 

“It’s 15 years,” Vala clarified. 

“The card says 10,” Sam reread the card, confused but Adrienne looked panicked and Sam felt like a fool, wondering what in the world Vala could be referring to that was making Adrienne so nervous. The normally feisty archaeological assistant began to bite her lip, her hand started to shake, so much so that she had to set the wine glass down on the table.   

“Adrienne and Daniel are 15 years apart, not 10,” Vala smirked and Adrienne lost all of the color in her face.  

“Dammit Vala, leave her alone,” Sam fussed as she looked over at Adrienne, the confirmation of her thoughts coming to life in front of her. Remaining silent, Adrienne sipped her wine, her glass still trembling. Oh my lord, Sam thought to herself, Vala and Jack have been right, this entire time...

“It’s 15. I want to know if that bothers Addy at all, because I am fairly certain that it does not bother Daniel in the least,” Vala explained, looked over at Adrienne and then the bottle of wine, reaching to pour herself another glass.  

Adrienne paused, looking back and forth between her friends, trying to formulate her answer, but the wine had dulled her senses to the point of no return.  Instead, she just began to cry,  gathering her knees up to her chest, and sobbing loudly. 

“Adrienne!” Sam leapt up from where she was sitting, having never seen her friend break down like this before, “Vala didn’t mean it...” she shot a glance at Vala, hoping she had some semblance of sympathy or at least regret for making Adrienne cry.

“Addy, come on, I’m just toying with you....” Vala added and came over as well, wrapping her arms around her friend’s shoulders, “I know you’re hot after him; I’m just waiting for you two to hook-up.” But that wasn’t what was going through Addy’s head, she knew, and this was just proof, Vala’s word only making Adrienne sob harder.  

“Vala, just shut up, you’re not helping” Sam scolded and scooting closer to Adrienne rubbing her back and trying to lean over to her face so she could hear her. 

“Adrienne, it’s ok.  He’s a very attractive man; we would all understand,” Sam tried to calm Adrienne down, not wanting to force her to admit anything. Finally, Adrienne got control of herself, deep, hurt brown eyes gazing up at her. 

“It’s not that, I don’t just,” Adrienne sniffed in deeply, wiping her eyes, “it’s, I, I love him.”  

“What?” Vala backed up, “you’ve got to be kidding me.” Shaking her head in warning at Vala, Sam took a deep breath and leaned in closer. 

“Adrienne, you’ve had a lot of wine tonight and we’re all just babbling, we know what you really mean,” Sam assured her and continued to rub her back lightly to get her to calm down. Don’t Addy, possibly sleeping together here and there is one thing, but being in love, falling in love with him, you can’t you just can’t. 

“Nah, stop patronizin may.  I don just wanna to hop into bed wit ‘em.  I love ‘em. I’m IN LOVE wit ‘em.  I love ‘em more dan I ‘ave eva loved anyone in my entire life. He’s everything I’ve eva dreamed of and I -” Adrienne interrupted her own speech, leaning into her knees again sobbing.  Sam couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  This wasn’t an act, this wasn’t the wine, Adrienne meant this; she was in love with Daniel, madly by the looks of it.  It made Sam wonder about some of what Jack had said about Daniel being so overprotective of Adrienne on missions, about how much time the two of them spent together, many times overnight, the way Daniel had acted in that meeting where they had tried to dissolve Adrienne’s job.  And then it hit her, it was him too, they were in love, both of them. Oh no, she thought, this was not what she had intended. Friends, yes, best friends even, but this. Quickly sobering at the disaster that was unfolding in from of her, she pulled Adrienne into her arms, directing Vala with her head and some careful mouthing to go get a glass of water. 

“But what Adrienne?” Sam asked, trying to get the entire story, “What happened? Are you two together? Has something happened?” she asked, not wanting Adrienne in her drunken state to describe any kind of sexual encounter with Daniel, but feeling that she needed to know exactly what was going on between the two archaeologists. 

“No, we’re nah, ‘ee doesn’t -” Adrienne sobbed now even harder. That explained it, Sam thought, she doesn’t know that he loves her. Maybe Sam was wrong; Daniel was so hard to read and had mourned Shar’e for so long Sam really had no idea as to whether or not he could actually love someone like that again and if anyone would know, it would have to be Adrienne. 

“Are you serious Addy, you think he doesn’t love you? Let me prove it to you,” Vala said, standing with the requested glass of water in hand, placing it gently on the table. 

“Vala don’t,” Sam warned still hugging Adrienne and fearing what Vala had in mind. 

“I’m not going to do or say anything; I’m just going to prove a point,” Vala stated simply, walking over to the wall by the bar window, picking up the phone and dialing.  

“Hey, no it’s not Sam.  Yes, it’s me.  What?! Why do you always assume, never mind. You need to come get Adrienne.  No, she’s fine, but, well, she shouldn’t drive home.  I swear she’s alright.  I didn’t do anything to her, dammit Daniel!” Vala shouted angrily as she glared at the phone, “He hung up on me!” 

Annoyed and walking the phone back over to the kitchen, Vala glanced over at Sam and Adrienne to tell them what he had said, but Sam was just holding her finger to her mouth.  

“She’s calm now, and I think she might have passed out,” Sam whispered, laying Adrienne down gently onto the loveseat.  

“Well, he’s coming, and I have a feeling it won’t take long,” Vala poured herself another glass of wine.  

“He does, doesn’t he?” Sam asked. 

“Most likely, you should’ve seen him on the last mission. When she disappeared, he completely fell to pieces,” Vala replied. 

“And when he brought her back from rescuing SG-14.  He was holding onto her like his life depended on it,” Sam shook her head and continued, “I wonder if either of them have any idea that the other is just a lost as they are?” 

“She’s more like him than she cares to admit. My bet is they’re both clueless,” Vala answered. Torn between her job and her love for her friend, Sam gazed down at Adrienne once more, thinking to herself that as pleased as she was that Daniel might have a chance at happiness, she wasn’t quite sure how this could ever really work. Standing to clean up their mess, the party effectively over, she wasn’t surprised to hear a knock on the door less than 10 minutes later.  

“Point proven,” Vala said as she went to answer the door, Daniel pushing past her gruffly the moment the panel swung open. 

“Vala, I swear to God -” he started to yell as he scanned, but found what he was looking for and began to walk over to Adrienne briskly when Sam intervened.  

“Daniel, just calm down, she had too much to drink.  Just leave her car here and she can come get it tomorrow.  It’s late anyway.  Are you alright taking her home?” Sam asked, trying to get him to stop panicking.  Vala was right; Daniel was ready to rip of heads if anything had been done to Adrienne, and those heads of target were those of his friends. He does, she thought, dear god what have I done..... 

“Of course,” he looked at Sam as if she just asked him the most ridiculous question ever spoken. 

“How was the party?” Sam asked, changing the subject. Daniel was too riled up and she wanted him calm before he took her friend out of here, in love with her or not. There was a breath, it worked, Daniel composing himself as he sat carefully at Adrienne’s leg, gently placing a hand onto her should. 

“It was hysterical, I’m sure Jack will fill you in.  Teyla came to get Torren about an hour ago but they just kept playing, Jack must have spent hundreds on tokens. When I left, Teal’c was wearing an inflatable crown on his head, complete with a matching staff,” Daniel answered, calmer, but not taking his eyes away from Adrienne. 

“Ad, can you wake up a bit?” he nudged her gently. 

“I’m not asleep,” she answered.  

“Where have I heard that before? Can you get up?” he asked. Adrienne tried to stand and made it almost all the way up when she stumbled forward, Daniel deftly catching her in his arms, holding her close and protectively to his chest.

“Ok, ok, I see why we only drink at your apartment now,” Daniel commented, more to himself than anyone, picking her up into his arms, heading for the door. Grabbing Adrienne’s purse, Sam followed him, opening the front door and then the door to his Jeep.  Struggling, Adrienne wasn’t a small woman, her strong athletic build most likely making her heavier than she looked, Daniel refused her help other than the open door. It was killing Sam, he did love her, it was so obvious, and there was nothing she could do to help, nothing. 

“Thanks for taking her home,” Sam said, “Sorry we called you away from the party.”  

“It’s alright, I think they were considering bar hopping or something next, so this got me out of that,” he smiled at her.  

“Make sure she drinks a lot of water,” Sam said and reached out to hug him. Accepting her offer, she hugged him tightly, trying to hide her concern, squeezing his upper arm as he backed away.  

“I know, and let’s keep our fingers crossed that she doesn’t puke on the way back,” he joked, walking around the other side of the jeep. Biting her lip, Sam returned back to the door where Vala was waiting and they waved goodbye, watching him back carefully out of the driveway. Jeep out of sight, Vala turned, handing Sam back her wine glass, a satisfied smile on her face.  

“Completely in love,” Vala declared, waltzing back into the house. God Daniel, if she’s right, please be careful. I’m not sure how long I can cover for you, Sam thought, sadly, as she closed the door behind her.