Daniel & Adrienne #30 - Weakness

“Why are you wearing that?” Daniel inquired curiously as Adrienne entered the lab. From his desk, peering at her over his glasses, he tried to figure out why in the world she was traipsing in here this morning wearing yoga pants instead of BDU’s, a small orange tank top and her black belt, of all things, tied around her waist. 

“Don’t start with me this morning Indy; I’m not in the mood,” Adrienne spat, setting her coffee and backpack onto her desktop before sliding ever so slowly in the chair.  Moving as if she were in pain, Daniel noted that she was holding onto her back as she was lowering herself downward in careful and deliberate slow motion.  

“I’m not starting anything.  I was just wondering why you felt the need to wear proof that you can kick my ass,” Daniel retorted, pointing the her most prized possession and getting a second scowl in return. 

“It’s holding the ice pack in place and don’t even start that with me either, don’t, I’m not going to go and hear it from Dr. Lam.  I’m not in the mood for one of her lectures either,” Adrienne sneered as she opened her laptop. Considering it has been quite some time since Adrienne had snapped at him, Daniel changed his tone from playful to concerned. 

“Am I allowed to ask what happened?” he continued carefully.   

“No,” she answered, cheeks flushing, not with anger but embarrassment. So it was that kind of mood, she had done something stupid. 

“Fine, I’m sorry that I care,” he smiled, sardonically, knowing she couldn't keep anything from him and would spill what happened any second.  In fact, he could almost count it down.... three....two...one....

“Teal’c, ok, he got a good one in on me last night when we were fighting. I should have seen it coming, he’s trained me better than that, hell I know better than that,”  she answered, displeasure all over her face as she focused on the screen in front of her keying in her password.  Daniel laughed before he could stop him and looked up at her just in time to see a pencil flying in his direction, ducking before it made contact.  When he sat back up she was smiling at him, the reaction he had hoped for in the first place. True, he was worried, of course he would be worried, but she had noticed lately, noticed his hovering. He didn’t mean to, but with everything that had happened lately he just felt bad that she seemed to be receiving the brunt of the madness. Everyone had a limit, even the seemingly unstoppable Adrienne, and he was afraid, more than anything else that he would push her to that limit and she would disappear from his life forever. 

“You’re a bad friend.  Aren’t you supposed to be over here, trying to comfort me or something?”  she joked.  

“If I had to comfort you every time you managed to do something stupid to yourself trying to be ‘fit’,” he made the finger quotes on the word fit, “then we would never get anything accomplished around here.”  Her eyes widening and her hand heading for the desk drawer, a drawer Daniel knew well and he threw up his arm instinctively to block  the arrow, but  before she could respond with neon foam retaliation, Ronon Dex came strolling around the corner of the lab, walking right up to Adrienne, a smile plastered across his face. Oddly enough, they seemed to be getting along well enough since Adrienne had decided not to go out on a second date with him, which, of course, Daniel was glad for, yet he still felt a pang of jealously every time the large Sateadan man entered the lab.  

“Hey, did you see Teal’c this morning?” he asked, that grin spreading as he winked at her, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.  

“Not yet...why?” Adrienne responded, her hand still in her desk drawer as if she were waiting for a reason to draw her weapon and fire.  

“Both eyes girl, you blackened them both,” he praised, nodding his head in approval. 

“Score!” she shouted, jumping up, forgetting herself and grabbed her back, wincing.  Daniel shook his head and kept his mouth shut.  He should have grown used to her competitive nature by now, but even after a year, he still learned something new about her everyday.  This month’s revelation, she wasn’t just a black belt in American Karate; she used to fight in tournaments, big tournaments, for prizes, medals and trophies. He knew she was a better fighter during group training and she had talked about her training to him on numerous occasions, but for some reason she had left that little detail out. Why, he wasn’t entirely sure, since she was all about the two of them being best friends and all, but since her, Vala, Teal’c, Ronon, Teyla and Sheppard had taken it to a whole new level.  

“So, wait, does that rule the match a draw?” she sat back down asking Ronon, who was reaching out to help her.   

“I dunno, Mitchell makes the rules.  If it does, you fight Teyla next. If not, you’re out this round,” he replied and Adrienne nodded her head.  Glad she understands, Daniel thought to himself, because I am totally lost right now. While he and Adrienne spent a considerable amount of time together, the one thing they did not do together was work out. She ran more than he did, swam more than he did, fought better than he did and he had no desire to give her any more reasons to harass him, so other than required group training, a gym was a place they would never be in at the same time. 

“Anyway, I thought you were pretty kick ass in there. Just don’t think I am going to go down that easy,” Ronon continued, now punching her on the arm lightly.  Ok, so maybe he hasn’t given up entirely, Daniel thought, remembering Adrienne’s rant about marriage and commitment from a few weeks ago. From what she had told him, she had no interest whatsoever in pursuing a relationship for the Atlantis team member but there she was smiling brightly. Add that to your list Daniel, just add that to the list. 

“You just wait Dex, your time is coming,” Adrienne giggled, flirtatiously, Ronon backed up through the door jam, tapping it with his hand, and jogged back down the hall. Because normal guys just jog away like that, Daniel’s inner monologue added.   

“You all have a sick interpretation of what ‘fun’ is,” Daniel said once Ronon was gone, unable to keep his opinion to himself. 

“It’s just friendly sport. No one really gets hurt,” Adrienne answered as Daniel pointed at his own back, lifting his eyebrows. 

“Shut up Indy,” she said, rolling her eyes and glanced back at her screen, shutting her drawer without drawing her toy weapon.   

“Unauthorized off world activation.” - The sirens went off and Walter’s voice came over the intercom.  Surprised, they both looked up at each other, Daniel rose from his chair, heading for the door, stopping at the desk by the door to help Adrienne.  

“Come on gimpy, let’s see what is going on,” he reached down to offer his assistance,  but she smacked his hand away and stood up quickly, wincing again. Frowning in pain, Adrienne gritted her teeth as she tried to fully straighten her back, to no avail, finally relenting and reaching for his arm. Permission granted, he slid it around her waist, pulling her the rest of the way to her feet. 

“Don’t worry,” he told her as she stood upright, “I won’t tell anyone about this momentary demonstration of weakness.” Continuing her scowl, the best she could, he knew she was trying not to smile, Adrienne shook her head as he led her carefully to the gateroom. 

When they arrived at the observation room, the sounds of the metal clanging and adjusting as the iris opened echoed through the room for a few seconds before the familiar woosh of a vacuum drowned out all other noise as the wormhole formed in front of them.  Apparently, someone had determined the visitor was friendly.  Adrienne looked out the window, curious as to who would come through like this, unannounced and unscheduled, peering over at Daniel, who was still holding her upright for any clues. Garnering not a one from his face, her question was soon answered as Jonas Quinn walked through the shimmering waters, unarmed, pack strapped to his back. Finally acknowledging their arrival, Sam turned from where she was standing beside Walter and looked back at Daniel, Adrienne and Teal’c, the three members that come running with the siren.  

“I guess we should probably go see what’s going on,” Sam declared, making her way out of the side door after gesturing they follow. 

“Hi there!” he waved from the ramp, seeing his friends approaching him, Sam’s concerned face adding to his own apprehension. This was an unscheduled visit, one he didn’t want to make and when he heard the wormhole collapse behind him, he saw the question in her eyes that he had anticipated. As his feet hit the floor he pulled a backpack from his shoulders, displaying it in front of him with a raise of his eyebrows and slight shrug. 

“Yeah, it’s just me, I thought it best we keep it quiet, can we go to the briefing room?” he offered no other greetings or information, continuing his stride forward.  

“Sure Jonas,” Sam replied, giving him an odd look, turning herself as quickly as she had before in the direction of the staircase to her office.  Not even making eye contact, which Daniel found to be very strange, Jonas fell in right behind her, trekking up the metal stairs without so much as a “How are you doing?” to his former team members. Baffled, Daniel started to follow as well, when he felt his wrist being grabbed and realized he had left an injured Adrienne behind.   

“Your back?” he asked, concerned and moved to help her walk, wrapping his arm protectively around her waist, but she shook her head, shrugging him away slightly. 

“No, but thanks.  I’ve only met him once, but isn’t he usually more.. talkative?” she asked.  

“Generally, but let’s not jump to conclusions,” Daniel answered, Adrienne allowing his arm to remain at her waist to support her painful climb up the staircase, greeted at the top by Cam and Vala, the former more than happy to take over for Daniel. 

“What’s with the belt? Did he really hit you that hard last night?” he asked, looking concern as Daniel had before, but like before, Adrienne didn’t seem to want to accept any assistance, shooing him away as well as she started to slowly walk forward one step at a time. 

“I’ll live, but I’m glad you said something, I need to take this damn thing off. It was as if Daniel had pick on me radar this morning,” she told him, cutting her eyes at her boss who had finally decided she was capable of walking on her own, walking his way to the front of the room where Jonas and Sam were chatting. 

“Uh huh,” Cam replied, smiling at her but backing of as her body language suggested. Annoyed by his hovering now as well, she made a face and went to sit beside him at the table. 

“Like I was saying,” Jonas started the moment Adrienne, the last one standing, painfully took her seat, “I wanted to keep this hush hush unless I knew it was a threat...” he addressed the group as he unzipped his backpack.  Reaching inside, the Langaran pulled out a head, cradling it gently between his palms. 

“What the fuck?!” Vala shouted out as Adrienne turned her head covering her nose and mouth . Cameron was speechless as were Sam and Teal’c, staring in utter confusion at Jonas package. 

“Jonas, that is a HEAD!” Daniel shouted.  

“It’s preserved, I assure you, I ran it through the process myself before I brought it. You guys know me better than that,” Jonas explained, “but THIS is why I even took the trouble.” That joyful Jonas look gone that had crept up for just a moment in his words of explanation, he angled the head, aiming the forehead down to face them.

“Christ Jackson, your damn nightmares were no joke!” Cam shouted out as gold caught the light of the overheads, a sick sparkle in the room.  It was the head of a Jaffa, a head with a tattoo on it; the symbol of Anubis. 

“JonasQuinn, it could just be a Jaffa that was once in the service of Anubis but is no longer.  How did this man die?” Teal’c asked giving Adrienne the first opportunity to take a good look at his face. Ronon was right, two black eyes and she didn’t know whether to laud herself on her personal accomplishment or feel terrible that she did that to a friend. 

“We killed him,” Jonas answered, before her thoughts could wander further, “we caught him trying to break into the Stargate facility.  He attacked us when we were trying to take him prisoner, we wanted to question him as well, but he took out 3 guards before the commander felt he had to order a shoot to kill.  I noticed this when I was called down to investigate the body,” he explained. Sensing the disgust of some of the members, he put the head back into the bag and zipped it up, handing it over to Sam.  She took the bag, setting it aside, her general’s face on,  glancing back at Jonas. 

“So, if you didn’t get to question him, how do you know he wasn’t just working alone? We’ve seen all sorts of rogue Ori soldiers and even Jaffa do strange things out of desperation.  What makes him any different?” she asked, assuring Adrienne with her voice. That is why this woman is in charge, just her manner makes everyone feel better. 

“Nothing really, just seems odd for one guy to be sneaking around without someone else on the other side waiting to hear from him; just didn’t seem like he was trying to save his own skin, he looked like he was looking for something,” Jonas offered, peeking over at Cam for a moment, still talking to Samantha, “What’s Colonel Mitchell talking about, with nightmares?”  

“Daniel’s daddy haunted him for a bit to tell him all hell was going to break loose,” Vala answered. 

Daniel rolled his eyes and spoke, “We, I rather, got a message from my father in law, Kasuf, who is ascended.  It seems that Anubis is no longer detained by Oma and the others.” 

“Well that’s not good,” Jonas responded, “do you know what he’s up to?” 

“I have no idea,” Daniel continued, “we just got the message to more or less be prepared. I guess he meant for this.”  

“Come on, y’all are jumping to conclusions,” Adrienne spoke, trying to convince herself more than the others, “I mean, isn’t this Anubis pretty aggressive in his approach? Wouldn’t we have gotten a message loud and clear by now if he were coming?” 

“Unfortunately,” Sam answered, “that’s not always the case. Especially with Anubis.” 

Adrienne saw Daniel shift uncomfortably in his chair, pinching his nose under his glasses, before swallowing. Add Anubis to the list of things she needed to talk to him about, alone. Trying to stare at him, give him some sort of silent code that everything was going to be alright, Adrienne just about had his attention before Jonas spoke again, Daniel turning his head to listen. 

“Well, he’s the only one, so far.  We don’t need anyone to come and jump to our rescue, but those of us who are allowed to make decisions decided that it would be in our best interest to inform you all as soon as possible,” Jonas stated, a forced grin on his face. He must have been that decision maker, and it was very fortunate for them that he had moved as high up as he had in their government. Understanding, Sam walked over toward him, placing her hand carefully on his shoulder.  

“Thank you Jonas. I’ll take this and have it analyzed for anything that else our scanners can pick up. Was he carrying anything with him?” It was obvious by Sam’s tone that despite the fact that Jonas had brought them a head, she was also disappointed that he had not brought an entire body, leaving that part of the evidence back on Langara. 

“Not a thing,” Jonas answered, “Not a staff weapon, nothing.” 

“That’s strange,” Daniel spoke up. 

“Indeed,” Teal’c replied, looking at Daniel and Sam, his teammates with the most experience with Jaffa. 

“Sounds more like an escape than sabotage,” Adrienne offered, thinking that even thoguh she wasn’t a Jaffa herself, it was a weapon she had come to reply on and would never choose to leave it behind, unless she was forced to. Sam, hand to her chin, nodded. 

“Jonas, if possible, we would like to see the body, even if I have to send Carolyn or Jenn over to you,” she stated, unable to contain herself any longer; she needed the entire body if Jonas really wanted answers, even if it meant sending the doctors into a very uncomfortable situation. 

“Ok, give me a few days and I’ll see what I can do.  Despite the vote to let me bring this to you,  there were almost as many votes for no. Apparently, after the incident with Dr. McKay, there are still some people that have their doubts about our alliance with you,” Jonas explained, that forced smile back on his face.  Poor guy, Adrienne thought, he really is caught between a rock and a hard place. 

“Fair,” Sam replied, “Will you be staying with us long?” 

“Not this time, they wanted me back as soon as I dropped this off,” he answered and began to head for the door, again no goodbye, no joke with old friends, just quiet and reserved. Nodding, Sam followed him out, leaving the team behind with a head, in a bag, on a table, confident that no one, not even a curious Daniel, would dare open the bag in her absence. Pulling the door closed behind her, she walked in silence with her friend down the stairs,  As they approached the gate, Jonas looked back at Sam, his normal smile present, heading cocking back at the stairs. 

“I see you kept her?” he asked.

“Who?” Sam replied, confused, looking around the gate room to see who might have joined them.   

“Adrienne.  Funny, Daniel doesn’t seem the want or need an assistant type,” he added smiling, remembering the time he had been somewhat of an assistant himself, when Daniel had returned, the awkwardness and how he always felt he was stepping on the man’s toes. 

“Actually, it has worked out pretty well,” she replied, too well, she added silently to herself, way too well. 

“She’s a pretty tough lady, honestly that was what made me listen to her at all while the guards hunted around for the transmitter,” he smiled.  

“You have no idea,” Sam laughed, an image of Adrienne punching a Langaran guard right in the nose coming to mind, reaching to hug him goodbye. The suck and then the silence filled the room, the wormhole forming and Jonas stepped through, returning home as quickly as he had come.   

Watching Sam leave with Jonas, the rest of the team sat at the table looking at Daniel, who simply shrugged and shook his head. 

“Don’t look to me for answers.  I didn’t have much luck with Anubis.  Oma stepped in for us, I just got blasted back down to Earth,” he told the group.

“Well, this isn’t good, it’s like a goddam Easter Egg hunt. How long before we stumble on the big golden egg?” Cameron declared. 

“I still think we all just need to calm down until we know something. I think we can be alert without driving ourselves insane,” Adrienne spoke, looking over at Daniel out of the corner of her eye.  Yes, I am talking to YOU Indiana Jackson, Adrienne added with her eyes. 

“All right, no bad guy, just the head of a dead one? I’m going to go work out,” Vala stated and stood, leaving the room, acting like the head didn’t bother her. Liar, Adrienne thought, and made plans to hit the nearest Halloween store as soon as possible. Not having anything else to offer himself, Cam shrugged and followed as did Teal’c, looking back at Daniel and Adrienne.  See Daniel, the big guy’s worried too, I’m not the only one that knows you. 

“Something you need to tell me?” Daniel asked, wondering why Adrienne was still seated.  

“No, I just needed you to help me stand,” she looked up sheepishly, a half truth, since she was also trying to read his face. 

“And yet I’m the one that can’t live without you?” he asked, reaching over to help her up, noticing that she had taken off her black belt and obviously warmer ice pack, holding it in her hands. 

“I really can’t convince you to go see Dr. Lam,” he asked, pleading, visibly worried. 

“Not a chance,” she answered quickly, using his hand to stand and straighten herself slowly. 

“Fine,” he replied, leaning over picking her up into his arms, trying not to hurt her , or himself for that matter. 

“Put me down!” she yelled, pushing away from his careful grasp the minute she was up in his arms. 

“Only if you go to the doctor,” he replied, continuing to walk through the door.  

“Dammit, ok Daniel, ok, ok, just put me down,” she shouted, wriggling. Laughing, he heeded her request, as she straightened her shirt, scowling at him, her body still pointed  in the direction of the lab. 

“Now Ad, or I carry you and you’re heavy,”  he told her, eyes added to the scowl this time. 

“You’re just jealous because I can bench more than you,” she spat, not very effectively, as she grabbed her back again in pain. 

“Go!” he repeated, more sternly this time. 

“I hate you Daniel Anthony,” she replied, turning to do as he asked, her middle finger in the air at him as she walked away. 

“Don’t think that OR my middle name is going to bother me!!!”  he yelled back at her, shaking his head chuckling as he returned to the lab. 

******

“What did she say?” he asked as she entered the lab about an hour later, still limping and certainly not looking very happy to be there.  

“Ice, heat, rest, don’t try to fight giant alien men, the usual,” Adrienne replied, trudging over to his desk and shoving past him to open the bottom drawer. 

“She’s right you know, you could really get hurt,” Daniel offered, backing up so she could get to the large bottle of ibuprofen she for some reason insisted on keep in his desk and not her own.  Bracing herself on the desktop, Adrienne looked over at him shaking her head.

“I hate when you’re sweet,” she said. 

“No you don’t,” he replied, smiling, reaching for the medication to open it as Sam walked into the room and shut the door behind her.  

“Daniel, this isn’t good.  We are not in a position to defend ourselves right now if Anubis comes and on top of that I have this sick feeling that he’s just toying with us,” she walked over to a chair at the center table and sat down, considerably less confident than she was in the meeting an hour earlier. 

Adrienne didn’t want to interrupt, she always felt awkward when Sam came in like this to talk to Daniel.  They were close, close like siblings and her presence just seemed to be an intrusion even though neither had ever asked her to leave. Bracing, herself on Daniel’s shoulder to stand and taking the three tablets from his palm, Adrienne popped the meds into her mouth and limped over to her desk, taking the opportunity to look up Anubis in the database.  

“Sam, we can’t obsess over this until we find some evidence.  Send the head down to Carson and see what he can come up with. To be perfectly honest, I can’t sit down here and dwell on this.  Jonas will get us access to the body, I’m sure, but until then we just need to go about our business like usual,” Daniel answered, sounding a lot like Adrienne had earlier.   

“Nice words, bad liar.  I hate to do this to you, but you need to start racking your brain for anything you remember. Whether you want to or not,” she ordered, but more as a concerned former teammate than a boss.  Daniel simply nodded, knowing it was coming, he really had no choice in the matter; if anyone knew Anubis, it was him. Taking in a deep exaggerated breath, Sam stood again and left, shutting the door behind her.  Adrienne waited until she was sure she was gone and stood, wincing as she did so and locked the door.  

“What did you do that for?” Daniel asked from his desk, wondering what was wrong. Silent, Adrienne walked over toward him, tottering slowly and carefully, pulling out the chair Sam was sitting in earlier, dragging it over to him. Forcing a smile, she reached out and put her hand on his knee.  

“I think you need to bring me up to speed; totally up to speed,” Adrienne requested as gently as she could. The SGC database had very little information on Anubis, very little, but with a request like that Sam must know that Daniel knew more. Much more, and Adrienne had learned over the course of their friendship that there was much more to Dr. Daniel Jackson than was listed on those files. Letting out a sigh, Daniel took her hand into his, squeezing it gently.    

“Ok, but not here.  Let’s go to my place, being here and reliving it all just gives me the creeps. And bring one of those composition books of yours. Sam wants info, so we’re going to need it,” he stood and reached out to help her.  Reading his face, a seriousness that she wasn’t quite familiar or comfortable with, Adrienne quietly did as he requested and they left base, headed for his apartment. 

*****

Adrienne sat quietly beside him on the sofa as he recounted everything, starting with Osiris taking over Sarah’s body all the way to Oma subduing Anubis and sacrificing herself to battle him for eternity.  Adrienne didn’t speak through any of it, just took notes feverishly and occasionally leaned over to comfort him as he spoke of some of the harder parts of the story.  When he was finished, Adrienne simply closed the book and set it on the floor, moving over to him on the sofa and taking him into her arms.  

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, “I had no idea.”  Normally he would have pulled back quickly, he tended to do that when his feelings were involved rather than someone else’s, in fact, Adrienne was half expecting that very reaction, but he didn’t, instead wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder.  

“No one does, well no one now but you.  It actually sounds so foreign coming out, but that’s everything.  I don’t remember much from being ascended, but what little I do tells me that even they couldn’t stop him,” he said quietly.

“But why you Daniel, why you? I mean, it seems to me that everything he wanted and possibly wants now is information, how to get to the next place to take over. Why does he want you so bad?” she asked, hoping it wasn’t too much, but trying to understand. She couldn't help herself anymore, the urge to protect him, to keep him from harm had become so powerful inside of her, more instinct now than desire. No one else may seem to worry about what happened to Daniel, but she did, and she wasn’t going to let some washed up system lord do anything to him if she could help it. Pulling away from her embrace, he sat up, his ocean blue eyes locking on her with a look of desperation on his face.

“Honestly? I think it’s because I lived. I challenged him, and while I didn’t win per se, I did live, and descended and went on to continue to fight against him. I have all of the information he needs with the added bonus of revenge,” Daniel replied, not fearful but resigned, as if he had a predestined fate that he could not control. 

What can I say back to that, Adrienne thought, torn, the idea of losing him in anyway, even if he really could never be hers was too much to bear. Putting on a brave face, she leaned forward, squeezing him tight one last time and then let go, looking at the clock to discover that they had talked clear through lunch and almost dinner.  Daniel didn’t necessarily look upset right now as he backed away slowly, but he didn’t look that terrific either so she stood and walked over to her computer bag at the counter, opening it up and taking out her laptop.  Flipping up the lid and smiling at the beautiful vampire there to greeted her, dark and brooding sitting on his throne in Fangtasia. She still loved Eric, she would always love her vampire fantasy, but for some reason she just wasn’t that excited by him half-naked on her screen. Satisfied with Chinese delivery, the place nearest Daniel’s bookmarked in her web browser, she glanced up to tell him it would be about 30 minutes but he was gone.  Worried, she wandered through the apartment looking for him, hearing the shower start as soon as she arrived at the bedroom door. Adrienne sighed, hoping that he was alright; he tried to put on a tough front at the base, but the longer she knew him the more she realized that everything he went through had chipped away at him one little piece at a time.  He was not broken, far from, but there was a pain inside that she wished she could wash away, if she ever worked up the courage to tell him.  

Dinner arrived shortly after he had finished showering and neither of them mentioned their hours long conversation; it was as if he had his say and that was the end of it.  They ate dinner with very little additional conversation, afterwards, Adrienne excused herself to drive home to her apartment. She said goodbye, a light hug and peck on the cheek and headed for her car. The elevators doors opened and she paused, letting them close without entering. She wasn’t going to leave him like this; he wouldn’t have left her. Sighing, she spun around, trudging back to his apartment, using the key he had given her to let herself back in. The lights were off, he must have decided to go to bed for the night, so she tossed her bag onto the couch, kicking off her tennis shoes and heading for the bedroom. Better to let her heart suffer than his. 

*****

The next morning, Sam was waiting for them when they arrived.  

“Word from Jonas, the body’ll be here momentarily.  They still aren’t too keen on us coming with a large investigative force to the facility itself, but he’s still hopeful.  Daniel, I would like for you to head down there and look the body over for any tattoos or other identifying marks, anything that could help us out,” she said.  Daniel simply nodded and proceeded to gather up his camera and a legal pad from his desk.  Waiting until Sam left, Adrienne walked up behind him resting her hand on his shoulder. 

“You up to this?” she asked.  

“Ad, I’ve been doing this for years. Why do you look so concerned?” he responded, a hint of annoyance in his voice.  Time for the show, she thought.  

“It’s just that yesterday, well, you were,” she hoped he would fill in the blank, the blank that should read upset, withdrawn and held my hand all night while you slept. 

“Yesterday I had to recall how I died, went to heaven and came crashing back down. You try do that and see what your reaction is?” he sniped at her. She wasn’t going to fight with him; she knew this was his code for ‘let me deal with this in my own way’ so she just nodded, threw her bag on her desk and headed for the gym.  Let him look at dead bodies; she was going to run.  

When she got back to the lab, he was gone and she decided not to track him down, getting to work on what she was doing before Jonas had arrived with a head in a backpack. She was typing away at the 10th Asgard Dynasty when a message popped up on her screen. 

Adrienne? 

It was her instant messenger, so she clicked off the screen she was working on and onto the message to see who it was and much to her surprise, at the top of the box it read: Daniel.  Adrienne was impressed he even knew how to use the message box, not that the technology was hard for him, it was quite simply that he didn’t care to learn, especially not with her around to use it for him.  Even though she was still a little miffed he had lashed out at her she decided not to say anything and let the whole incident go, quickly typing her reply.    

Hi there! How’s it going? 

Ok I guess.  Not a fan of touching dead people. 

:-)

How’d you do that? Nevermind, if I email you a picture, 

can you take a look at it and let me know what you think? 

You type colon, hyphen and closed parenthesis and yes, I’d be happy to, 

but would you rather me come down? 

It’s not very pleasant.  It’s preserved, but nonetheless 

it’s still a dead body.

Adrienne giggled. Only Daniel would use ‘nonetheless’ in a text chat.  She had the urge to type LOL or something of the sort as soon as she could, just to mess with him since he would have no idea what that meant at all, but decided again it. Later, maybe, but now was not the time.  Instead, she just replied. 

If you need me I’m happy to come. All you have to do is ask. 

If you are up to it, it would be helpful if you head down here. 

No problem :-) Give me a few minutes to get to a stopping point and I’ll be right down. 

Glancing away from her screen, she reached for her backpack and iPod, starting to pack up a few supplies to take down when she heard the bing again at her side. 

Ad? You still there? 

Yeah Indy, what’s up? Did ya need me to bring something?

I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. 

Adrienne smiled, she could actually hear him saying it in her head. She really didn’t hate it when he was sweet; she loved him too much for that, she just needed to remember that he had a certain way of dealing with things and she’d have to be patient with him.  She typed back.  

Already forgotten. 

Ok, see you soon.  

Working as fast as she could, she wrapped up her work and headed for the morgue.  

When she arrived a flurry of people surrounded the table, talking, debating, examining, Daniel, Rodney, Dr.’s Lam, Keller and Beckett and Sam all engaged in some rather tense conversation. At a loss as to exactly what she should do, Adrienne walked up behind Daniel and put her hand on his back.  

“Hey, thanks again for coming down,” he said as he stepped back to let her approach the body, allowing her her first glimpse of the headless man in Jaffa armor.  Despite the lack of a smell at all she began to retch, a dead body again being something she had only seen on TV, stumbling as she turned away quickly from the body. Daniel caught her, reading her face as she now read his, holding her upright but not too hard as to exacerbate her back injury. 

“See why I offered to send a picture?” he said, holding his arm protectively around her.  

“Just give me a sec and let me breathe,”  she responded, taking a deep breath away from the body. Willing herself the courage to carry on, she pulled away from Daniel’s grasp, peering back at the corpse.

“Ok, show me,” she requested, breathing deeply a second time. 

Nodding, Daniel moved the chest plate of the armor away from the skin and stepped back to reveal to her

It was faded and faint, like someone tried to remove it, and Adrienne assumed that simple laser treatments had been used since the shape was still there.  A casual observer might have even thought that it was simply dirt, but to Daniel and now Adrienne who had been taught to look for such things, it was not an accident. 

“Is that what I think it is?” she asked. 

“If that’s your reaction, yep, I just wanted a second voice in here before I set the group into chaos,” he looked at her over his glasses.  

“Thanks shug, good to know when I am being used,” she joked, trying to lighten the obviously  dark mood.  He squeezed her arm, raising his eyebrows and making a face before addressing their still arguing colleagues. 

“Guys, I’ve got something,” he announced, each of them pausing and turning their gazes in his direction. 

“Take a look at this,” he said as he pulled the armor back for the group revealing the symbol, stepping back as the gathered around the table like they were before, peering at the image. 

“We saw that,” Dr. Keller spoke up, “it looks faded, like someone tried to remove a tattoo.” 

“I think that’s exactly what they did, however, if you look closely, you can still make out what it is,” he pointed and Sam moved closer, ahead of the others. 

“No...” she breathed out. 

“What?” Carson and Jennifer both asked, but Dr. Carolyn Lam was already backing away, crossing her arms and shaking her head.   

“It’s the symbol for the Ori...I think we know where the other homeless soldiers are going....” Sam explained.  

“Then,” Daniel continued, “Not to jump to conclusions,” he looked at Adrienne, “but if you send one man to go to an allied planet, and dial from there, we open the gate thinking it is someone like Jonas and there you have your infiltrator, one that we just let walk right on in.”  

“Then, I guess it’s time to share something else with you all,” Dr. Lam stepped forward opening a folder she had retrieved from a table behind her, “The Langarans did NOT kill this man, or at least not with gunfire,” she showed Sam a chart, pointing to some information in the file while she explained, “Cause of death is poisoning.” 

“Self-induced or forced?” Sam asked. Nodding her head, as if she knew the question was coming, Dr. Lam walked over to the back table where Adrienne noticed Jonas’ black backpack lying in wait.  Acting like a head in a rucksack was just a normal occurrence, bringing the initial piece of evidence to join the rest of the body. Without flinching, which Adrienne found to be quite impressive, she reached inside, producing the head, holding it carefully in her gloved hands.  

“I wanted to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, but,” Carolyn continued, holding the head under the bright light, reaching to open the mouth, with one head. Seeing her struggle,  Dr. Beckett stepped, pinching the cheeks of the soldier to loosen the jaw, angling the opening better to the light.  Adrienne wanted to heave, was starting to actually, when she felt fingers at hers, a hand intertwining with her own. Relaxing at his comfort, at his touch, she stepped back closer to where Daniel was standing, watching the doctor reaching into the mouth of the deceased, pulling out a tiny piece of plastic which she held up for all to see. 

“Based on what Dr. Jackson just said and the poisoning, I think that this is most likely part of a capsule, I still need to run some tests to be sure.  If so, I think we can conclude suicide,” she stated. 

“Why is that?” Sam asked. 

“Because, I found this fragment between the 1st and 2nd Mandibular Molars, meaning he most likely bit down to release the poison.  If they had done this to him, the force needed to make it look like suicide would have probably broken his jaw, but it is completely in tact. It is an unnatural motion to be made outside of the body, and there would be much more damage had there been,” Carolyn explained.  

“He was dead before he hit the ground? ” Daniel asked, still holding on to Adrienne’s hand. 

“Essentially.  These bullet holes in his body are antemortem, but they’re not fatal,” she replied, handing Sam the folder and reaching behind herself to the small medical table, slipping the piece of plastic into a baggie.  

“Ok, and no one found anything else on the body?” Sam addressed the group and got nods to the negative all around.  

“Alright, I’m going to contact Jonas.  We need to get over there, soon,” Sam declared and left the room, walking briskly toward her office.The doctors moved to clean up the mess, so, assuming they were finished, Adrienne pulled from Daniel’s grasp, rushing to the sink, quickly scrubbing herself up to the elbows.  She was just turning on the water to rinse when she glanced up to see Daniel had joined her to do the same. 

“I’ve a new found respect for both Dana Scully and Dr. Grumpypants,” she whispered to him and he chuckled lightly as he turned on the water.  

“Should we be worried?” she asked. 

“Yeah, sure you don’t want to go back to teaching?” he answered. 

“Not a chance,” she replied, smiling.

“Well, I’m fairly certain that they’re going to send one or both of us over there to investigate.  It could get a bit... hairy...” he admitted as he ran soap up his arms, scrubbing strongly.  

“Indy, at this point I’ve been shot at multiple times, threatened by Ori soldiers, beaten for speaking and having boobs, had my mind invaded by your father in law and brainwashed to think I was Russell Crowe.  I think I’m good with hairy,” she responded, drying off her arms and hands with a paper towel. He smiled back and shut off the water.  Leaving the doctors to the corpse, the two set back out for their own workspace, each silently relieved to be escaping the company of the dead.

The emergency sirens were blaring the moment they stepped out of the elevator along with the sound of bullets firing. Tapping his legs to look for something, anything with which to defend themselves, Daniel quickly realized that the two of them had nothing, not even so much as a pocket knife or artifact brush. Turning in a frantic circle, Daniel scanned their surroundings, seeing a doorway, and escape, and pulled Adrienne into a supply closet.  

“What are you doing?” she hissed at him, “We have to help!” 

“With what weapons?” he asked her, tapping his legs a second time for effect, loudly enough so she could hear, “ We were working today, remember?” She made a face he couldn’t see, knowing he was right, that they were effectively helpless.

“I can run, get my staff weapon, and hand to hand I’ll be fine,” she continued to argue, but shaking his head, and then remembering that she couldn’t see, Daniel reached out for her arm, squeezing it gently. 

“Ad, karate moves don’t stop bullets. Let’s just hang tight here for a moment. It’ll at least give us some time to think of something,” he countered, letting go to rub his hand up and down her arm, hoping she wouldn't fight him further.

“Alright,” she agreed, pulling away and beginning to feel her way around the closet.  There were metal shelves lining the sides and as she worked her hands around the wall she found the switch, gingerly reaching for it to turn the light on, instinctively, not thinking, when she felt his hand over hers.  

“No, they’ll see us,” he whispered, running his hand down her back so she could feel that he was going to walk and investigate in the other direction. 

“Right, sorry, just a little claustrophobic,” she apologized, feeling her stomach knot.  

“You have claustrophobia?” he asked, thinking to himself yet another tidbit of info on his best friend that might have been useful to know before shoving her into a closet. But wait? She’s shoved him into a closet before, what made this so different?

“Something like that,” she answered, barely a whisper.

“All I have on my side is boxes of paper, you?” he changed the subject, annoyed that his search of the other side of the closet had yielded nothing.   

“Computer mess on mine.  We can grab some cords to choke someone with, but other than that I’ve got nothing,” she whispered back, hoping he couldn’t hear the tension in her voice.  

“Ok, I vote we get those at least,” he crossed the short expanse, putting his hand on her shoulder so she could lead the way.  They collected the cords, Daniel wrapping his tightly around his right fist when Adrienne began to tremble.  

“Alright grab a few of those for now and let’s find a place to wait,” Daniel whispered, shoving a second cord into his pocket, reaching out to grab Adrienne.  If he felt her tremble, he said nothing, just guided her with him to the far corner, in between two shelves, pushing her into the small space. Intent on defending her, Daniel turned, reaching to wrap the cord around his other hand in case their presence was detected. 

“Where are you going?” she asked into the dark.  

“Over here.  If we can lure someone, you can distract them and I’ll choke them.  We’ll take their gun and go help,” he whispered back.  

“You mean, invite someone with a gun in here? This close to us? ” she asked, terrified.

“Adrienne, we have to help, this is all I can think of, do you have a better idea?” Daniel countered.

“No,” she answered, but she heard her voice crack as she said it.  

“Ad, are you ok?” he asked, his tune changing, “Are you scared?” 

“No, I’m fine, let’s just d-d-d-o this,” she stuttered, her entire body shaking, the prospect of a gun so close, so very close to her more than she could bear. Closing her eye tightly,  she prepared herself to scream, to shout, to do whatever Daniel asked her to do to draw them into this room when she heard footsteps toward her, the shift of fabric, and sensed him kneeling in front of her. 

“Adrienne, you fight Teal’c, Ronon, Vala with NO armor. You told off an entire battalion of armed soldiers.  This is just one brainwashed man, not that many could have gotten through. We can do this,” he reached out to touch her but she trembling all over, uncontrollably, like he had never witnesses before. Tossing the computer cord onto the ground, Daniel took her into his arms, holding her tightly.

“Tell me,” he whispered into her ear, knowing this had something to do with her fears, the one secret about herself she had never shared, but she shook her head no. More shots fired in the hall and he felt a teardrop hit his bare arm so he pulled her closer to him, smoothing her hair, in an attempt to stop her shaking.  What is wrong with her? he thought to himself, but he wasn’t about to let go.  

“Ad, we’re not going to lure anyone in here, ok? We’re going to stay right here and wait for help,” Daniel assured her, running his hand down her hair once more. Please no one come, he thought, wondering if someone did indeed burst into the supply closet would he be able to fight them off while Adrienne was falling to pieces.  Footsteps raced across the door through the crack at the bottom, Adrienne heading still buried into his neck, her tears trickling down his collarbone, Daniel holding her tighter hoping passersby would not hear her sobs, but she began to shake violently, gasping for air, try to crawl backwards, pulling Daniel with her into the corner of the room. Before he could stop her and try to calm her again, the door was kicked open, a man with a gun entering, pointing it right at them.  Forcing herself into the corner, Adrienne began to whimper and babble, “No, no, no.” 

“Who’s in here!?!” he shouted, “Show yourselves!” 

Daniel didn’t take the time to figure out friend or foe, he pushed Adrienne as far as he could into the corner and ran full force into the man, shoving his elbow into his stomach.  The man was knocked backwards, the gun skidding across the floor, slamming into the far side wall with a loud crunching. Elbow to throat, Daniel pinned the man to the ground, intending on breaking his windpipe if he had to, something he would have never considered before, but considered now, anything to protect Adrienne. 

“Daniel, hey, it’s me, it’s Sheppard,” John tried to squeak out in an attempt to not lose consciousness.  Recognizing the voice, Daniel backed up a bit and saw that he was indeed pinning Colonel John Sheppard to the ground.  He eased up and sat back on his knees. 

“Sorry, I thought you were one of the intruders,” he apologized as John sat up, reaching for his neck and rubbing it.  Sheepishly, Daniel reached to his left, grabbing his gun and passing it over.  

“Three this time, we think, since you two don’t make four and five.  They came in from another friendly planet, one not as well guarded as Langara, dressed like our guys. One had a call signal that had been lost, that’s how they made it onto the base, but we got them, this was my last sweep. You guys alright?” he asked after his brief explanation. Before answering, Daniel looked over at Adrienne, who was still shoved into the corner, shaking and trying to hide her tear streaked face.   

“Yeah, we were caught off guard and unarmed and were trying to figure a way to help,” he said as showed the computer cords and grasped them indicating their intention to choke.  

“Not bad,” Sheppard complimented, standing and reaching down to help his attacker. Upright, Daniel looked back at Adrienne and then to Sheppard who seemed very concerned to see his assistant acting like a frightened animal. The colonel went to open his mouth, to ask the question that Daniel knew he had, but he shook his head slightly. 

“I’ve got this,” he mumbled, quietly, Sheppard understanding and slipping back out the door, pulling it slightly closed behind him.  Sighing, and still completely confused, Daniel walked over to where Adrienne was still cowering in the corner, trembling violently. 

“It’s over. No one’s going to hurt you, come on,” he pulled her up by the hand, slowly and carefully, not pulling away as she clung to him, leading her from the closet and to his quarters. 

*****

“Alright, I think we need to focus on the positive of the situation.  Knowing some of what Anubis is up to and how he is forming his new army is valuable information,” Sam said to a full briefing room.  

“And they are not Jaffa,” Teal’c made clear to the group.  

“No, these are Ori soldiers, dressed as Jaffa.  However, since we can’t seem to get our hands on a live one just yet we still have no idea if they have been altered in a way that our medical tests cannot reveal,” Sam continued. 

“You mean that out of FOUR attempted infiltrations, we have not been able to get ONE living intruder,” Robert Woolsey spoke up from the table.  

“No sir,” Sam answered, “Both the one from Langara and who we believe was the leader of this mission ingested some type of poison upon discovery.  The other two we shot to defend our people,” she emphasized the last three words.  

“Then, I think we need to send those bodies to Area 51 for a more thorough examination,” Woolsey continued as Dr. Lam made a face showing her disgust.  

“If that’s what the IOA is recommending...” Sam agreed without agreeing.  

“It is,” Woolsey stood his ground.  

“Then, I must inform each of you that we are changing the codes for our allies and making sure that they are only given to those in charge, no underlings,”  Sam continued, retaking control of the meeting. 

“What about the Tok’ra?” Daniel asked and by the hurt look on Sam’s face he could tell that he shouldn’t have. They hadn’t been in contact with the Tok’ra in years, and the only code they would have would be one of the now out dated ones, ones that were going to be considered compromised. 

“We will not be opening the iris for anyone without the proper code. Even the Tok’ra,” she answered stoically. Daniel nodded his head; it would be hardest for her, between Martuff, her father...

“I’ll be meeting with Dr. Beckett as soon as he looks over the bodies and I go through some more information and I will notify each of you then of our next steps. Dismissed,” Sam said, shutting off the SmartBoard, crossing her arms, more self comforting than authoritatively but Daniel would have to check on her later. Shooting her a friendly glance, hoping she saw it and knew she could come down if she needed him, he left the room, heading back to his quarters, in search of the first person he needed to check on, the first person to come to mind. When he had left Adrienne, she still was refusing to talk and had been sitting on his bed picking at her fingernails, her tell, but it was the not talking that upset him the most. Not knowing what else to do, he handed her the remote to his seldom used TV and reluctantly went to the meeting.  

When he arrived in his room he coded himself in quickly, stepping through the door and going into a panic as she was no longer sitting on his bunk.  He ran over to the bed, seeing the television was off, and there was no note, nothing, not one indication as to where she had gone. This wasn’t like her, she hated when he left with only a note, and he rushed to the phone calling her on-base room, but there was no answer.  Knowing she wouldn’t have gone home, she’d have never driven that blasted car of hers upset, it was like her child, he grabbed his communicator and tried to reach her that way.  Nothing again.  Running out of options, he picked up the phone, dialing the main office. 

“Walter?” he asked, hoping, praying that the most trusted member of the support staff was on duty. 

“Yes Dr. Jackson,” he responded, much to Daniel’s relief. 

“Can you please check to see if Dr. Rowan is in the gym?” he requested, hoping Walter wouldn’t sense the panic in his voice.  There was a pause on the other end and silence, Daniel assuming that Walter was doing just that. 

“Sir?” Walter asked. 

“Yes,” Daniel answered, panicked. 

“The locator in her communicator shows she’s in your quarters.  Who ever answered the phone in the gym says she’s not there....” Walter answered, carefully, his voice expressing concern himself. 

“Ok, thanks Walter,” he hung up, not caring to air his assistant’s dirty laundry and began to search.  If she ditched her communicator and not for her headphones, something must be wrong.  He called it again, yelling her name into it. 

“ADRIENNE ANSWER!! WHERE ARE YOU!!!”   And heard an echo, from the bathroom.  Fearing the worst, he rushed in there, hoping she hadn’t done anything rash.  Instead, Daniel opened the door to screaming. 

“What in the hell are you doing Indy?” she was yelling as bubbles flew, the shower curtain closing quickly, so much so it was almost torn from it’s rings.  

“What are you doing?” he asked, turning around quickly once he realized that she was laying naked in his bathtub.

“I am trying to relax,” she stated, “what you told me to do!”

“In MY bathtub!?!” he retorted as she pulled the curtain away just enough to show her face, scowling at him.

“Do you see the reaction that you are having? Right now. THAT is why I stayed here, to try to avoid this reaction!” she fussed, jerking the curtain closed again.  

“Where did you find bubbles?” he now inquired, confused, his mind racing, knowing that she was alright, she was just sitting here, taking a bath, in his bathroom. 

“Why were you looking?” she shouted back from the other side. 

“How can I miss them? They’re all over my floor!!!” he shouted in response. Opening the  curtain once more, stuck her head out scanning the tiles and sure enough, the floor was covered in soap suds.

“Oops, my bad.  You had them under the sink.  Spare me the explanation, I don’t want to know,”  she replied, shutting the curtain again.  Suddenly Daniel remembered where they came from, the bottle was unopened, they have never been used, ever. Trying to push away the part of his over analytical brain that felt the need to explain to Adrienne that nothing ever happened between he and Vala in this timeline, he simply shook his head, walking over to sit on the toilet.  

“What are you still doing here?” she asked, this time from the other side of the curtain. 

“I wanted to make sure that you were alright,” he replied, almost slipping and blurting out, because I love you and couldn’t live if you had done something to yourself. 

“I am,” she said quietly. 

“You weren’t a few hours ago,” he ventured.  

“I am, trust me, just, it’s ok,” she answered him, a little more confidence in her voice. He knew her well enough to know that she wanted him to leave despite his urge to sit there all night if he had to, so he stood, breathing out just staring at the navy blue curtain. 

“Alright, well, I’ll be out here if you need to talk, I’m not going anywhere,” assured her, waiting a moment for an answer. She didn’t make a sound from the tub, so he left the bathroom, closing the door softly behind him.  

About 20 minutes later she came out of the bathroom, fully dressed in yoga pants and a t-shirt.  Apparently she had no intention of thinking about work for the rest of the day and he wasn’t about to make her; he had never seen her react like that, so he knew something was very wrong.  The look on her face, one of sadness and despair, replaced her usual happy demeanor. Still silent, she walked over to his bed and sat down, so he closed the journal he had been writing in as he was waiting, looking over at her from his small personal desk.  

“Ok, so when you get a PhD, at 24, as a woman, in the South, no one really takes you seriously.  My first job after grad school was in a high school library, a job I had for about three years,” she began. 

“Really?” Daniel was surprised, that wasn’t on her resume, he had gone back and read the thing, the entire file, at least seven times the very day that arrived back from San Francisco. It seemed that he discovered more and more information about her everyday, but he didn’t ask anything further, waiting for her answer. 

“Yea, I left that out, not intentionally, it just didn’t seem to bolster my credentials for a Smithsonian job. Kinda where I get the obsessive organization from. Anyway, I’m not sure if you have any idea how much a school librarian makes, but it’s not a lot.  Dad couldn’t work anymore, and we ended up losing the house,” she continued, her voice strong and clear, a different Adrienne than before.   

“So, we lived in a motel. The rent was cheap, and we were just making it between food and dad’s medical bills,” she said, that confidence short lived, as she started to tremble.  Standing from his chair, Daniel went to sit beside her, reaching over and putting his arm around her.  

“One night, it was February or something like that, it was late and I must have only been asleep for a few hours.  The room had two beds, one by the bathroom and one by the door.  I gave dad the one by the bathroom so it would be easier for him; he was already pretty weak at that point,” she explained.  Daniel had no idea where she was going with this, but she was shaking all over, so he just pulled her into his arms and she came, burying her face against his chest for a moment before turning her head so she could speak again.

“They busted in, two of them, they literally kicked in the door. The motel wasn’t in the best part of town, but I sat up in bed just shocked no one heard. I mean, they kicked in a door, how could no one hear that? One of them rushed over and started going through our things, asking where we kept dad’s painkillers, while the other grabbed me and shoved the gun into my face. Right into my face and he started to pull my....” Adrienne trailed off, sobbing.  Not knowing what to say, Daniel held her tighter, holding her head in his hand and letting her cry for just a moment.    

“I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t, but I couldn’t fight back either because da udder one ‘ad dad, ahn he was so weak, and dey ‘ad a gun to his head too and said ‘ee was gonna kill dad if I dinna let ‘em, that if we dinna have oxycontin, they won leavin empty ‘anded,” she cried harder, trying to take in some breaths, her voice switching from garbled speech to a sad slow southern drawl that he could barely understand.  Daniel was heartbroken, he wanted to go back in time, to fix this, to defend her, to make this all not happen.  Her tears were soaking through his shirt but he held her impossibly tighter, instinctively kissing her head as he smoothed her hair. 

“Did they?” Daniel was scared to finish the question but for some reason felt he needed to know.  Not that he would love her less, but he just needed to know if they hurt her, but he regretted the question as soon as it crossed his lips as she began convulsing in his arms. She didn’t need to answer him, he knew. He had been there and he knew; in that instant he knew, knew why she was afraid of sleeping near doorways, knew why guns scared her so badly when much deadlier things didn’t, knew why she had cowered in that closet, in her mind her worst nightmare repeating itself. Holding her protectively in his arms, forcing back emotions of his own, he kissed her head, clutching it to his chest as he pressed his cheek against her forehead, unable to be any closer but wanting to her know with their contact that he was there and he wasn’t going anywhere. 

Kissing her head again, he let go for just a moment, reaching down to unlace his boots and kick them off of his feet, turning back to face her. He didn’t ask permission, didn’t explain, just sat back on the bed, pulling her into his arms and laying down, with her, so close, holding her tighter than he ever had before.  

“I hope you know you can tell me anything,” he said, hoping she would, could understand without him saying it, that maybe, just for a moment she could know how much she meant to him.  Adrienne just nodded, not giving him hope one way or the other.   

“I do; I just needed to wait until I could,” she whimpered, crying more, convulsing in his embrace. He reached his hand around, brushing the hair off of her damp face, kissing her cheek as he did. I love you, his heart ached, and I’d take it all away if I could. 

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she whispered. Me neither, he thought, reaching down to squeeze her hand, choosing to keep his words to himself. Lying there in silence, he waited for her to fall asleep, and it didn’t take long; she was spent from the injury, the excitement and the tears. Soon she was lying there, in his arms, breathing lightly and slowly and he couldn’t hold it in any longer, he had to say it, if not for any other reason than to ease the pain deep inside. 

“I love you Adrienne,” he whispered into her ear, “and I’m never going to let anyone ever hurt you again.” 

Not moving, not worrying about anything else, he let himself fall to sleep, hoping he had made her a promise that he could keep.