Daniel & Adrienne #32 - Fantasies

“Am I being punished for something?” Adrienne asked as she packed her bag with all of her essentials: iPad, compositions books, vitamin water.  She was going as slow as possible and Daniel knew why; she’d been complaining about it for over an hour.  

“No Ad, I’m not punishing you for anything.  Sam’s got me bogged down with this stuff from Area 51 and to be honest this stupid thing is just a pet project of Rodney’s. I can’t spare the time,” Daniel tried to explain to Adrienne sincerely, hoping she really didn’t think that he was pawning this off on her voluntarily. He hated sending her off world to deal with Rodney, but the truth of the matter was that they had to work through items in order of importance, and right now even the translations from Area 51 were taking precedence over everything else, with the threat of Anubis lingering in everyone’s minds.  Add to that that Daniel was fairly certain Rodney would most likely unleash some undeserved verbal abuse at Adrienne; abuse that she would counter with wit but would probably hurt her just the same. She wasn’t as tough as she tried to play off, Daniel knew that very well now, knew that better than anyone else which just made this that much harder, however, sometimes the job came before their friendship and before his feelings for her.  

Rodney had found the machine on P4S- 3012 a few months ago.  He did some rough translations himself and brought back photos for Daniel to confirm, both of which agreed that roughly translated, it was called  “The Dream Machine.” At the time of discovery, Sam decided that it was something that shouldn't be messed since dreams were not really what the IOA was looking for nor was it an area that Sam felt was necessarily safe to explore, so she didn’t dispatch a team to go solve the mystery of its function or purpose, yet Rodney couldn’t get it out of his mind and embarked on a campaign to convince her otherwise.  He finally got Sam to agree to let him pursue it in his spare time, which had him gating off world almost every other day claiming he had “spare time” but now he was stuck and had called Daniel for back-up. Being too busy, and wondering where exactly Rodney had gotten all of this mysterious free time, he decided to send Adrienne in his place, knowing she could do just as good a job as he, and that she needed the distraction. She’d still been keeping her distance lately, not mentioning their conversation from that night, but she seemed to be almost normal as long as she was working, so until she felt like talking again, he had done his best to keep her as busy as possible.  

“Indy, shug, he has called every last member of the Atlantis crew over there and now he wants us.  You know as well as I do that he’s got something up his sleeve and I don’t want to be the one to find out what it is,” Adrienne tried one last time to plea with him, walking over to his desk and throwing her arms on his shoulders and resting her face by his. It was her best whiney Vala impression and it was things like this that made him feel like everything was going to be alright with her, that given time she would be ok again. 

“I’ll be your best friend,” she teased, mimicking a child, but Daniel just frowned at her. 

“You already are, I thought.  Go, read the damn thing and get back.  After this week I am thinking a bottle of Godiva and an insane British film,”  he smiled, cocking his head toward the door. Come on Ad, he thought, agree, please don’t let this come between us. Smiling, she stood, shoving his arm, heading over to her desk, shaking her head along the way. It’s innocent Ad, she thought, completely innocent. He loves you, yes, but he also cares about you in a non-romantic way. 

“Fine, but for this, we get my wine choice and a Spanish thriller.  Comprende?” she smiled back, gazing over at his eyes to gauge his reaction. 

“Claro,” he smiled back, returning to the mess Sam had dumped on him but took a quick moment to glance over at the clock.  He had hoped to get finished in time to go over to her place tonight, because now, more than ever, he looked forward to their Fridays, which had begun so many years ago as group movie nights and fizzled as everyone’s outside lives became busier.  It had become just he and Adrienne, but that had fallen apart lately as well, so her acceptance of his suggestion had his heart racing, thinking of how she would lay there on the sofa beside him, throwing her legs across him.  Every now and then he would slide his hand carefully across them, slightly holding her while they watched TV or a movie and she didn’t seem to mind.  Despite the fact that he had finally admitted to himself that he was madly in love with her, he knew in his heart that it just could never be, but somehow just that tiny gesture, that small time spent together was enough, or at least that was what he was telling himself. 

*****

“Dr. Rowan, I’ve read that already!! Can’t you focus here!?!” Rodney shouted from the far end of the large stone structure, which looked more like some mailbox in a gated community than anything else, while Adrienne, leaning over on the other side, toward a curved end made of reddish stone and rolled her eyes. She had translated exactly what he asked her to translate, which was not that complicated, as Daniel had suspected, but apparently he had already completed that part himself and forgotten, or not.  Either way she didn’t care; she’d had it with him and was ready to go back home.  Peeking back over at Cam, who shot her a sympathetic glance as he took another playing card from Teal’c, Adrienne groaned, knowing there was no way that she could win.   At this point, between trying to read the machine and test it out Rodney had managed to request John Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon Dex, and now Cameron, Teal’c and Adrienne.  Adrienne knew the only reason he was getting away with this was because Sam and Jack had been running back and forth between Area 51 and the SGC, frantically working with Radek Zalenka and his team on a way to defend the Earth from Anubis. Somehow Daniel had gotten his lucky little paws into that and gotten to stay home. Bastard. Composing herself, and putting on her most professional face, Adrienne took and breath and looked up at Rodney.  

“Dr. McKay, I think that’s part of the problem.  The machine says the same thing over and over, just worded a bit differently: ‘Touch here and make your dreams come true; live the perfect dream to completion; Place your hands on the guides and finish in your mind what your heart has started.  It says that it here,” Adrienne pointed, “another variation here,” she pointed to a different place, “and over here- “ Rodney cut her off.  

“Dr. Rowan, I can obviously see that you’re unable to handle this.  I have no idea why Jackson keeps you around,” Rodney spat viciously, storming over to dial the gate.  Adrienne sighed, quietly so Rodney didn’t hear, and made her way over to Cameron and Teal’c, still playing cards and ignoring the insanity all around them. For four hours Adrienne had been here, reading the same lines over and over and over but Rodney obviously wasn’t going to listen to her, so she resigned herself to joining Cam, Teal’c, and now Sheppard, who had brought alternate amusement.   

“Deal me in,” she requested as Cameron shuffled the deck.  

Rodney got his wish when about 45 minutes later the gate opened and through it came Daniel, Vala in tow. Ignoring both Rodney and the machine, Vala waltzed over to Adrienne, plopping down beside her.  

“I brought snacks,” Vala declared, removing her backpack and handing out some fruit, “I figured you were dying and I got tired of watching Jersey Shore reruns,” she explained, answering the question on Adrienne’s mind, because normally Vala would never volunteer to go on something she deemed as boring and translating, well anything related to Adrienne’s job at all was boring.  

“You’re my hero sha,” Adrienne thanked her, taking a banana and starting to open it as she gazed over at Daniel, who was standing where she had been standing herself only an hour earlier, his hands bracing himself against the lower flat edge of the slant, reading word for word what she had been reading before. 

“Is everyone here incompetent?” Rodney was shouting at Daniel, who Adrienne could tell by the look on his face was not happy to be here. Glaring at him fiercely before beginning to yell himself, Daniel reminded Rodney that languages were not his area of expertise and maybe people should stop trying to tell other people how to do their jobs. Pulling down the last bit of peel from the fruit, Adrienne just glanced back at Vala, shaking her head. 

“Welcome to my past five hours,” she said as Vala stared ahead, rolling an apple around in her hand watching Rodney as he raged right back, something along the lines of why would a machine this complex be used for something as stupid as sleeping.  

“It’s not for sleeping McKay, will you just come look right here, it clearly states,” Daniel threw up his hands, walking around the back side of the small structure, to approach Rodney. 

“I’m telling you Dr. Jackson, this here, this part clearly states that it helps to achieve your dreams, achieve, and there is clearly a power source connected to this lower panel!! It’s not any of that mushy shit your little lackey over there was trying to sell me earlier and you are trying to sell me now!!” he raged back, Daniel’s reaction not one that Adrienne would want to be on the receiving end of. 

“What is that thing?” Vala asked, finally taking a bite of the apple. 

“It’s a dream machine,” Adrienne explained, “Or so we think,” she added quickly, but Vala shrugged as she swallowed with a so what expression on her face. Swallowing a bite of his own apple, Cam wiped his face, leaning into the conversation. 

“Basically, Vala, you remember that movie Total Recall? The one where Arnold puts on that fat lady suit that goes nuts?” Cam explained, trying to use a movie night reference, and it worked, Vala nodding quickly in understanding.  

“Ok,” he continued, “if the crap Addy’s been reading for hours is correct, it works like that virtual reality place that people go to to get those fantasy vacations zapped in their head. Am I right girl?” Adrienne nodded her head in agreement, banana in mouth and unable to speak. She sat for a moment, considering Cam’s words, directing her attention again to Daniel and Rodney, still arguing over how the machine worked and what the inscription said. 

“Listen to me. It’s right here, this is nothing but pure entertainment Rodney, so unless you are looking for a new way to amuse yourself...” Daniel stepped back from the machine, crossing his arms across his chest. 

“You’re just upset you didn’t find it! What if this isn’t for amusement? What if this thing can be used to stimulate the human mind, unlocking parts that we have yet figured out how to use. What if the solution to all of our problems is just inside our own minds, waiting for something like this to help it come out!” Rodney argued back, his voice less angry and more desperate. Sighing out, Daniel uncrossed his arms and shook his head, pushing up his glasses as he knelt down to read again. He knew where this was going, and this wasn’t about Anubis or glory, this was about getting home. For as nasty as he acted, Rodney McKay had made a place for himself on Atlantis, both the base and their second planet, and he just didn’t feel like he belonged here. 

“Ok, I’ll read it again,” Daniel agreed, starting over yet again, reading aloud the inscriptions once more. 

“Fantasies become truth and you can finally reach for the stars,” Daniel read, trying, but failing, at least in Adrienne’s point of view, to be optimistic, however, at his words Vala’s eyes widened and she jumped upright, staring back down at Cam and Adrienne. 

“Wait, so I can touch that thing and live any fantasy I would like?” Vala clarified.  

“I think so,” Adrienne answered, her stomach turning at what fantasy Vala may be wishing for. Please, Adrienne thought, please don’t let it be anything about Daniel, as Vala smiled, dashing over to the machine, in search of a way to activate it.  Seeing her black pants leg race past him, Daniel stopped, reading, peering around the edge of the machine to scold in advance. 

“Vala, we don’t know how it works, just don’t touch it ok?” Daniel said, watching her squat and scramble and scan the machine.  

“Daniel you dolt, I’ve seen something like this before, there used to be some Calgarthian traders that had something similar. There’s a button right here, look, it works like this,” she exclaimed, remembering seeing a similar machine at a palace once, a palace she had broken into, pressing the button and placing her hands into two rectangular slots.  Lights began to flash all around the machine like antique camera bulbs, the red rock slab suddenly coming to life in front of them. 

“No, Vala, don’t!!” Adrienne ran screaming toward her friend, tackling her and shoving Vala to the ground.  From her spot on the ground, Adrienne looked backed up at the beams emanating from the machine and blazing around her and in a moment of temporary insanity, slipped her own hands in the rectangles. 

“Vala, dammit, I told you not to touch that.  Do you remember the last time you touched something?” Daniel screamed at her, his eyes still closed, a pounding headache forming in between his temples. Pinching his nose, he opened them to bright sunlight, sitting up slowly and was poked by something cold and hard jabbing into his side. Confused, he looked down to discover that strapped to his side was a large sword.  Sitting up faster, he looked at himself in a panic, searching for his uniform jacket and BDU’s, instead, found that he was wearing brown leather traveling breeches and a blue linen tunic with a matching leather vest.  Glancing over in search of his friends, he saw Vala sprawled out on the grass in front of him in a red leather catsuit. Groggily she turned to face him, running her hands along the clothes confused, squinting her eyes to adjust to the blazing sunshine. Daniel scanned Vala’s strange get up as well, noting that she was unarmed save for a small nightstick type thing at her side but no other weapons. Noticing it herself, Vala held it up, puzzled.  

“Why do you have a sword when you can barely shoot a gun? And what in the hell is this?” Vala reached out the stick to Daniel, curious as he leaned over to examine it closer himself, surprised his glasses were gone but he could see just fine. Fingers only millimeters away from the red leather wrapped object when he heard screaming from the hill above.  

“NOOO!!! Daniel don’t touch that thing!” It was Adrienne, but she too was not dressed in SG BDU’s. Like an angel she came gliding down the hill, clad in a pure white dress with slit sleeves, the satin like fabric flowing out around her.  The bodice was laced up the front, low and opening much more than Adrienne would have normally shown, and there were slits cut into the dress at her legs, allowing her to run.  She was gorgeous; it was like a dream and the sight of her took his breath away. 

“Don’t touch what Ad? And why are we dressed like this?” Daniel asked puzzled, forgetting the agiel, Vala, forgetting everything but the woman rushing toward him.   

“The agiel!” she shouted once more as the hill began to flatten out and she was running at a level toward him. Finally coming back to her reality, his brain trying to discern what she was talking about, he noticed that behind her was Teal’c, wearing brick red wizard’s robes, full length, dragging the ground and running as well.  Daniel looked at the both of them strangely, his mind now focused on the fact that they were all dressed strangely and had no idea where they were. 

“What’s an agiel?” Daniel asked, glancing at Vala who was still holding the little stick, mystified, as Adrienne reached him, out of breath, resting her hand on his shoulder.  

“Where’s Cam? Or the Atlantis team?” she asked, gasping for air. Adrienne wasn’t a sprinter and Daniel couldn’t imagine she was too happy either having to run in that outfit, that amazing, amazing outfit. Focus Daniel, focus. 

“I haven’t seen them, we just woke up, here, like this. Adrienne, do you know where we are? What is that thing, because apparently it’s not just a video projector!?” Daniel stood, with the help of Adrienne’s offered hand, adjusting the very heavy sword at his side.  She was nodding emphatically in the affirmative, the severity of their situation starting to take shape in her head.  

“That thing was what I have been translating for hours that you made me do for him; it’s like a virtual reality machine, not a projector, he’d figured out that much before I arrived, just not one hundred percent correct. But this, well, Vala didn’t do this, well, not totally,” Adrienne tried to explain, furrowing her face, biting her lip, trying to rack her brain to remember if she had translated anything else, anything at all that could help. Sensing her frustration, Teal’c walked up and placed his hand on her back so Adrienne just breathed in and continued.  

“Vala activated the machine, but I was gah damn scared of what in the hell would be in her virtual reality, I mean, no offense, so I shoved her out of da way and put my hands in her place.  Sorry mon ami,”  Adrienne apologized, directing to attention to Vala, now standing, looking down at her very tight red leather outfit. Vala shook her head, shrugging her shoulders, rolling the agiel in her open palm.   

“Quite alright.  I don’t think that any of us would want to live out what goes on in my head.  Except for maybe Daniel,” Vala looked over at him smiling seductively and raising her eyebrows, but Daniel rolled his eyes and turned again to Adrienne.

“Ad, slowly, where are we and what do we do?” he asked, noting the nerves in her voice as she babbled out what had happened, blaming herself first and foremost before looking for a solution. 

“Ok, like I said, Rodney said it was like a brain scanner, it examines your subconscious, pulls from their to make your dreams a reality, but I don’t think he’s right. I think it’s more like a fancy virtual reality video game, just operates based on your own personal dreams, desires, wishes. If I’m right, which everything written on the machine says that I am, you basically just live out a fantasy to fruition, which should be easy....” Adrienne’s eyes widened, her voice trailing off as she realized exactly where she was and who was standing before her.   

“That doesn’t sound very confident Ad,” Daniel countered.  

“Well, it kinda depends on a few things,” Adrienne began, nervously, when she heard yelling behind her.  

“Dammit Vala, Rodney says you did this, where in the hell are we!?!”  Cameron was storming out of the woods followed by the missing contingent of their friends wearing a blood red vest with gold trim and pants to match.  Her fear confirmed by his attire, Adrienne also choked on her own tongue, swallowing and running over to Daniel, shoving her hands into his pockets, reaching, feeling and searching. Shocked, he flinched back, unsure as to what she was doing. 

“Adrienne, what are you doing?” he asked as she smiled, pulling a small brass object out of the pocket of his pants. His pants, she thought, of course it had to be in his pants pocket. She put her head down, trying not to notice the way he looked in the linen tunic, open at his perfect chest, killing her, living out her fantasy, turning quickly to scan the Atlantis crew.  Teyla was dressed in red robes examining a strange martial arts looking boomerang while Ronon stood beside her, and he, like John and Rodney were dressed like high ranking soldiers wearing the same colors as Cameron.  Letting her eyes run across their collective once more, Adrienne began to nod her head, a plan starting to take shape. 

“Ok, good news is that I know where we are and it seems that it’s letting me take some creative liberties.  Bad news is that we have about two hours until the world ends,” Adrienne started and on cue the ground beneath their feet began to shake, a huge crack forming in front of them, separating the group.  On one side were Daniel and Vala and everyone else on the other, sending Adrienne into a tailspin of panic.  

“Oh no!” Adrienne yelled, “that can’t happen,” and without thinking she took a running leap just making it to the other side, slipping and crashing to her knees. Daniel rushed over to help her up, concerned and pulled her into his arms.  Pausing for a moment, nervous tingles rocketing through her body, at his closeness, at his touch, at the way the sunlight was accenting his mesmerizing eyes, she looked up at him, shaking it off and glanced back over her shoulder at the rest of the group. 

“Jump guys, well, everyone except Teyla. You have to stay over there,” Adrienne ordered, bringing herself back to focus. It’s part of the machine Addy, she told herself, everything, it’s how the machine messes with you; it makes you want the fantasy. 

“Then I stay with her,” John declared, refusing to leave a member of his team behind and alone in this strange place.  Cam would have done the same, so Adrienne nodded her head in agreement.

“Fine,” she answered, “but Teyla can’t be anywhere near me, got it?”  the Athosian woman looked puzzled but agreed, as the earth shook and the crack grew. Sensing that they were short on time, Teal’c and Cam took a running leap themselves, their longer legs allowing them to make it over easier than Adrienne had before him.  The Atlantis crew looked at one another and before he could argue, Ronon grabbed Rodney, throwing him across the ravine before jumping over himself.  

“You guys stay put.” Adrienne shouted back at John and Teyla, “If this works, we should all be back on P4S- 3012 soon enough,” Grabbing Vala, Adrienne dashed off to an open field, leaving the others behind. 

“So, what’s going on Addy?” Vala asked as they ran toward a temple in the horizon.  

“Do you have a stone in your pocket?” Adrienne asked. Confused, but complying with her request, Vala reached into the one pocket of the very tight jumpsuit, producing a light blue rock in the shape of a tear.  Adrienne snatched it away and continued running,  powering ahead as she racked her brain, trying to remember what needed to happen. 

“Addy, what is that?” Vala asked but Adrienne didn’t answer, just kept running until she made it to the base of the temple,  turning back to Vala, hoping her sprint had bought her enough time to talk to her alone.  A look of sheer terror on her face, she grabbed her friend and pulled her aside, taking one final peek over her shoulder before explaining.

“Look, Vala, this is one of my shows alright, one of my stupid geek shows that you love to make fun of.  Just, go with whatever I have to do and don’t open your mouth.  Are you following me?” Adrienne stressed the last words and cut her eyes over her shoulder at Daniel, who was leading the group and fast approaching.  Still confused, Vala nodded, just agreeing with her friend for know, hoping she knew what she was doing. 

“We’re in one of your damn TV shows, aren’t we Ad? Or a book? A movie? Care to share which?” Daniel asked as he arrived at her side, the remainder of their contingent coming to a halt behind him. 

“It’s Legend of the Seeker, ok Indy? You’re Richard, I’m Kahlan, Vala is Cara, Teal’c Zed, Cameron is Darken Rahl, and well Teyla is the bad guy sorta, kinda complicated, but regardless we have to get to the top of that,” Adrienne tried to summarize the best she could, pointing at the temple on the hill.  Daniel shook his head; at this point in his career not questioning anything this insane, even more so when it came from Adrienne. He followed her up the rocks, only to be stopped by Adrienne who was standing in front of him, holding up her hands.  

“Sorry guys, but if this thing works like Rodney says it’s gotta be me, Indy, T and Vala,” Adrienne declared, looking over at Rodney for confirmation, hoping he wouldn’t try to argue with her on this since clearly, based on this development, she was correct in her earlier assumption and translation. 

“If that is what happens in the story, she’s right.  If it is not done just so, then we will be reset into another fantasy,”  Rodney agreed, finally, explaining to the others as if he had been right all along. Holding back the urge to slap him across his arrogant face,  Adrienne didn’t take the time to add anything further, just turned and followed her friends in the climb.    

“So what do we do when we get up top?” Vala asked, lagging behind the others, knowing her friend well enough to know there was something more that she wasn’t telling her and sure enough, her suspicion was confirmed as Adrienne let out a sigh.  

“Well, Daniel has to put the stone into a base, that should be obvious and the position had to be correct. He’s to the right of the base and I’m to the left.  Zed, I mean Teal’c, is behind me making sure nothing happens to me and you are guarding Daniel.  And then.....”  Adrienne stalled a bit, reaching past Vala to grab a rock to steady her increasingly difficult climb. 

“Then what?” Vala pushed, grabbing the white fabric flowing in front of her face to stop the very nervous cajun in front of her. 

“Then I have to kiss him,” Adrienne admitted quickly, climbing away even quicker as Vala erupted into laughter. 

“You have to kiss him?, Oh this is too good....” Vala was laughing loudly and uncontrollably as she climbed.  Trying to ignore the hysterics and teasing behind her, Adrienne continued her ascent, pulling herself over the ledge and rushing over toward Daniel and Teal’c. Looking for her guidance, Daniel was already standing at the pedestal looking over at Adrienne.  

“I have a pretty good feeling that we need to do something with this,” he said as a loud crack echoed all around them, screams rising from the ground below.

“Yes, and fast,” Adrienne replied, handing Daniel the stone and indicating with one finger that he needed to wait, just for a moment while she positioned the rest of the group. Rushing around the large stone platform in the ruins of the temple, she moved each person into place the best she could remember from the show, standing back to make sure before rushing to her side of the pillar. 

“Ok, we have to kneel, you need to put that stone in that little slit there and then look up at me,” she said and he nodded, lowering himself to his knees carefully, pushing the hilt of the sword aside awkwardly before looking up at her. Time slowed, in an almost surreal fashion, as Adrienne watched his careful hands clasp the stone, knowing what was to come next, her mind a million miles away, in his quarters, him unconscious lying before her, the tears streaming from her eyes, the feeling of his lips against hers, so soft and full, when suddenly the stone was in place and he was looking up at her. Taking a deep breath and cursing the machine, cursing her weak heart, she grabbed his vest and pulled him toward her, kissing him slowly on the lips. He kissed her back, as she knew he would, reaching his hand behind her head when there was a flash of light.  

“What in the hell is that Addy?” Cam was screaming behind her and she turned to see her team leader clad in a white jersey type t-shirt, jeans and a red baseball cap, “Did your little plan atop the hill not work?”  A low moan was emitted behind her, Adrienne whipped her head around, noting at least two zombies headed in their direction, staggering slowly across an abandoned pasture littered with the corpses of cattle in every direction.  She looked around her and saw an off white RV, the old late 80’s Winnebago style, the small side door opening quickly, slamming against the side. Out of the small portal came Rodney, in a white fishing hat and cargo pants, Vala, scar on her face and gun in hand, Teya exiting the trailer in a dirty tank top and John equally as filthy and armed with a crossbow.  There was gun fire, the creatures collapsing in front of her, and she saw approaching out of the corner of her eye, Teal’c armed with a gun and Daniel in a sheriff’s uniform, a cowboy hat on his head. Ever her hero, as this machine was determined to rub into her face, he reached down under Adrienne’s arm, pulling her to her feet and standing in front of her protectively. 

“Ok, I know this one, it’s your damn comic book, where do we go now?”  Daniel asked.  

“Where’s Ronon?” Adrienne questioned, taking a silent head count of the group. She heard another shot to her left, and Ronon came walking from behind the RV, in a more tattered police uniform, armed with a semi-automatic striding over toward her. 

 “Because of course he’s Shane,” she muttered, bringing her hand to her face and pinched her nose. 

“What?” Daniel asked, confused and for once, Adrienne was thankful that he had never actually read the books. 

“Nothing,” she replied, “We have to leave, now. There’s a farm, wait, with no kids, shit how are we going to pull this off?” but just as Adrienne was saying that she saw two small children exit the RV, the very same children from the show.  More creative liberties, she thought to herself and started giving orders to everyone, trying to summarize the Walking Dead TV series as well as the comics, wondering which mixture of the two her brain would possibly concoct, as the boy ran up to Daniel hugging his legs.  

“Dad, you saved Mom!” he said, gazing up at Adrienne with sweet brown eyes that only a child could have. 

“Carl, get back in that RV, right now and take Sophia with you, do you understand me?” Adrienne commanded, pointing to the large vehicle.  The boy stomped in frustration, but returned to the RV as asked, stopping at the door to glance back at Daniel looking for support he didn’t get. 

“Mom and Dad?” Daniel questioned as the child shut the door behind him, but Adrienne just shook her head.  First the kiss and now this, she thought, he’s gonna know, he’s not stupid...

“Let’s just focus here Indy,” she said, “let’s focus on the fact that in the story the boy gets shot, both comic and show and that’s how they find the farm.  We need to find the farm without getting him shot.” 

“Uh, excuse me?” Rodney stepped in between them before Adrienne could answer, “We have to stick to the script here or else this game just resets.  Apparently something was not done correctly in the last round, now was it?” Adrienne quickly shook her head, swallowing to hide the panic building up in her throat.  

“No, it was, down to the letter, there must be some other factor we didn’t take into account,” she lied, knowing exactly what had gone wrong, pushing the thought away to look to Daniel to lead the group. 

“You heard what she said, load up. We’re looking for a farm!” he shouted, pausing to watch everyone head to the positions that Adrienne had ordered, lagging behind to take her hand, gently, pulling her behind him. 

“I have to ride with Carl, you just stay safe,” she replied, pulling her hand slowing from his tender grasp and breaking eye contact, stepping away to follow a swearing Rodney back to the RV.  

“What went wrong?” Vala asked in her eye as Adrienne watched Daniel jog up the hill to the car.  

“Richard tells Kahlan he loves her and then they kiss; it’s their kiss, their love that heals the world,” Adrienne whispered so that no one else would hear.  

“Addy you idiot, why didn’t you say something?” Vala scolded her, keeping a watchful eye over her shoulder looking for any more dead visitors.  

“Because Vala, I had hoped the kiss would work by itself,” Adrienne lied, holding back the tears that were building up in her eyes. Because he does, she thought, and I do but we can’t, we just can’t. Vala just shook her head, frowning at her friend, her face serious.   

“Like I just said, why didn’t you say something?” she hissed, grabbing Adrienne’s arm and dragging her into the RV. 

They rode until Adrienne heard Rodney swearing again as he stopped the RV, coming to such an abrupt halt that Adrienne had to hold on to keep her place seated at the vehicles small table.  She was thankful, however, for the interruption and a chance to escape. All of the times on the show that the characters complained about the smell were not an exaggeration; it was enough to make even Teyla gage, and she had a strong stomach.  Adrienne and Vala stood to go look through the windshield to see exactly what was halting their progress, gazing out toward a sea of cars In front of them.  At least using the RV, there was no way through. 

“Ok Dr. Rowan, what happens now in your little program?”  Rodney spat, glaring back at her with a disgusted look on his face.  Wow, she thought to herself, he really looks like Dale right now but before she could answer him there was a knock at the RV door.  

“John! Cam! I think we need to have a powwow!” she called for the team leaders over her shoulder, knowing who was at the door and hoping that they could offer any resolution.  Handing Teyla his crossbow, John stood, motioning for Cam to follow from where they were seated in the back of the vehicle, looking back at Adrienne. 

“Addy, we’ve done nothing today but get yelled at,” he said, looking over at Rodney and back at her, “so I’m sort of relying on the geek squad to fix this.”   Adrienne shook her head, shrugging her shoulders as she reached for the knob. 

“I’ve got nothing,” she answering honestly, flinging open the door to the RV and relishing in the fresh air that came sweeping in. The relief was short lived, as the stench of unwashed bodies was hastily replaced with the smell of death creeping from the cars, in greater waves than before when they awoke surrounded by zombies and cattle. This was the smell of people, rotting, something she had never experienced before but her mind recognized immediately. Rushing down the three steps, she leaned over to vomit, and felt a hand on her back as the heaving began.

“Do you see why I don’t understand how you enjoy this stuff as pleasure reading,”  Daniel commented, keeping his hand on her back while she puked. It was comforting, soothing and she wanted to rush into his arms and beg him to take her away in a manner that she had never experienced before, the feeling so intense and driving. Forcing herself to regain focus, more certain now than before that this was the effect of the machine, trying to please her, to fulfill her fantasy in the most distorted way possible, she raised her hand behind her and waved that she was ok.  She wiped her face and stood, making quick eye contact with the three men assembled here, all of whom were looking to her for advice that she didn’t have to give.  

“Alright,” she began, “what happens now is that Rick, their leader, decides that they need supplies so everyone goes rummaging through cars, looking for food, water, weapons, medication...” 

“I’m assuming I’m Rick given the uniform?” Daniel interrupted, remembering the image of a disheveled police officer featured prominently on the cover of many of her comics.  Swallowing again strongly, Adrienne nodded.  

“Exactly, and in the search, we get ambushed and Sophia, the little girl, she runs off.  After we try to find her, Rick, Shane or Dex and Carl go looking and Carl gets shot.  It’s then we’re all lead to the farm,” Adrienne explained, the nausea hitting her in confusing waves like she never felt before. Shocked at her words, Daniel and John looked at one another, Daniel already shaking his head. 

“At the risk of being attacked for saying this, this is just a figment of Addy’s imagination, right? I mean, we’re laying on some planet somewhere with Sam flipping out trying to wake us up.  This isn’t real.  So, let’s just let the kid get shot and move on,” Cam suggested, fearing he was treading on taboo territory when Adrienne leaned over,  vomiting again violently.  

“Or not,” Cameron added.  Adrienne stood again breathing in lightly but nodding in the affirmative, despite her second sick spell. Puzzled, Daniel glanced over at his very ill assistant, reaching his arm around her, having it abruptly shaken away.  

“Yeah, we need to play this out I think,” Adrienne agreed weakly, “Rodney’s right; I must have forgotten something last time.”  Adrienne leaned over a third time, trying not to puke despite the strong overwhelming urge building inside of her and there was Daniel, on cue, his hand at her back, rubbing gently, providing the only comfort he could. Yeah, we gotta get this kid gunned down and fast, Adrienne thought, I can’t survive this. 

“Ad,” John spoke, still looking concerned, ”I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of children getting shot or being around the dead.” He didn’t appear convinced, still looking for Daniel to interject, but the archaeologist was paying more attention to his assistant rather than the conversation.    

“Man, I agree with you, I do.  But this is just one big dream.  We don’t have a lot of choice if we want to get the hell out of it,”  Cam argued, looking as sick as Adrienne felt.  Sensing both he and John’s distress, Adrienne went to speak to defend the decision when she began to heave once more, the bile no longer content to sit in her stomach, burning a path up her throat and blazing through her mouth on it’s way to the ground. She was on the ground, huddled into a ball on her knees, Daniel right there beside her, holding her to him. Save me Indy, take me away from here, her mind screamed out, adding to the throbbing in her head already caused by the vomiting. 

“We don’t have to do this. If we mess up doesn’t it just reset anyway? Take us into another episode of the Wondrous World of Adrienne Rowan,” he asked quietly, trying to be funny and Adrienne laughed a bit, appreciating the attempt.  

“It should, it’s just pretend, well I’m hoping it’s just pretend. I have an alternate to keep Sophia safe anyway. I’m not throwing up over the kids,” Adrienne whispered in explanation, that sensation building once more. 

“Is something wrong then?” he asked, reaching his arm around her shoulder tighter and pulling her closer into him. He had that worried look on his face he always got when she was in trouble and she wanted to kiss him again, right there at the side of the road and let him whisk her away from all of this but thankfully, the taste of vomit kept her impulses at bay.  She shook her head and answered him.  

“No, it’s just the storyline.  Lori’s pregnant, but with Shane’s baby,” Adrienne replied, her face reddening, and fortunately Daniel started to chuckle, the tinkle in his laughter, while equally as mesmerizing as his voice, was enough to help her break the spell of the fantasy. 

“I guess that date with Dex back when was a bit more fruitful then I was led to believe,” Daniel smiled at her and she shoved him away, laughing herself in spite of it all. 

“Go to hell Daniel,” Adrienne replied, as he helped her stand and went into the RV to collect the boy. 

“Ad, it smells in here something awful and there’s nothing to eat,” Vala complained, the inability to do anything to help bothering her even more than the smell or lack of snacks. “How much longer do we have to wait?” Adrienne looked around at everyone else feeling bad that they had to sit and share in her fantasies which, all of a sudden, weren’t as cool as they were when she imagined them, especially this one. She made a mental not to stop joking about an imminent zombie apocalypse the very second that they were out of this mess. 

“Look, Daniel and Ronon have to take the boy into the woods and....” but she paused, not saying the words ‘let him get shot’ for fear of upsetting the girl, the imaginary girl that was sitting right here, clinging to Teyla though she really were her mother. That was too weird, but Teyla sat there, holding and comforting the child as though she were her own. Suddenly, as if the entire chain of events was cued to Vala’s words they heard a gunshot and there was a flash of light.  

Adrienne sat up quickly to find herself in a tent and felt the presence of a body beside her on the make-shift bed, turning to see Ronon laying on his back with her, his face clenched and in obvious pain.  There was a smell coming from him as well, a smell of rot and death, not unlike before, but different, everything was different. 

“Addy, I feel like shit,” he whispered, holding his chest.  From the waist down Ronon was armed as a leather clad barbarian and a quick examination of herself found that she was wearing matching attire, just designed for a woman. Instantly, she knew where he was and that their last attempt hadn’t worked.  Laying her hand on his head gently, she kissed his cheek softly, promising him that she would return.  Barefoot and in a panic, Adrienne ran out of the tent.  

“DANIEL!!!” she was screaming, knowing that since this was her fantasy she was certain that he would be here and more importantly, she knew who he would be. Stopping, scanning the encampment frantically, she couldn’t find him, so she grabbed a passing man in leather clothes, pulling him toward her.  

“JORAH!! Where is Jorah?” Adrienne demanded shaking him.  The man looked at her strangely and Adrienne remembered she couldn’t speak Dothraki, not even the basic kind Daenerys spoke at the beginning of the series.  

“Khaleesi?”  he asked, puzzled.  Of all of the times for me NOT to memorize something nerdy, she lamented, waving her hands in front of her face. 

“Ser Jorah,”  she repeated as slow as possible, no question that was who Daniel would be.  That must have done the trick, because the man nodded respectfully, pointing toward the back of the encampment where a few men were gathered, appearing to have a meeting. Nodding for a lack of the ability to say thank you, Adrienne let go of the man’s arm and began to walk briskly toward where he had indicated, covering her midsection self-consciously where the leather did not reach as she finally realized how little she was wearing. Vala would love this, she thought, which made her wonder where Vala and the rest of the group was and who exactly in this world they would portray. As she made her way through the wild people, all of whom were looking at her in confusion, she saw Daniel approaching her wearing light gray armor, soft brown stubble coming in on his face. He looked the part of an exiled knight, a insanely handsome exiled knight, but he didn’t look happy. 

“Sorry,” he said, “this time is my fault.  I couldn’t let the boy get shot, figment of your imagination or not.  I pushed him out of the way and then flash, here we are.  Where ever here is,” Daniel rambled, pausing only for her fill in the blank he had left.

“Have you seen the others?” Adrienne asked before answering his question but Daniel shook his head.

“Well, we’re gonna have to rush this one, because I’m not gonna let this play out either.  I just hope the next story is something we can actually solve,” she grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the tent without explanation. 

“Why? What is wrong with this story?” Daniel asked as he followed, fearing the worst.  Adrienne stopped and let go of his arm, looking at him in desperation.  

“To get it to work, work enough where the machine might let us out of this mess, we have to let Ronon die. Daniel, Rodney and I didn’t get very far before we called you, he didn’t even ask me to look at the inside of the damn thing, and then Vala activated this thing and I have no idea if one of us dying in here translates to one of us dying out there,” Adrienne admitted, babbling now herself. Understanding, Daniel nodded his head choosing not to disagree, it was better to be safe than sorry, and began to make his way to the large ornate tent. 

“So, who am I?” he asked, barging ahead, taking note of the barbarians staring at both he and Adrienne in utter confusion.  Before he could ask why, Adrienne ran ahead quickly.  

“Wait, Daniel, I have to walk in front. Technically I’m their queen and you’re my advisor, just stay back,” Adrienne jogged ahead, her leather skirt flowing from around the tight leather pants, if you could them that, that she wore with an open back leather halter. Daniel noticed that in the strange leather outfit, he could see most of her tattoos, each and every sharp black line, filled in with vibrant colors. He just couldn’t stop staring at them, so much so that he only caught bits and pieces of her explanation: Ronon was her husband, he was her advisor to retake the throne, and a few others things that didn’t seem to matter as she rambled on, waving her hands in the air as she let her speech just roll into cajun french. He almost ran into her when she halted so suddenly, turning to face him, pointing to a clearing near a cliff’s edge. 

“Start a fire,” she ordered.  Daniel threw his hands up, requesting a silent explanation. 

“Indy, there’s a chance we can salvage this, maybe, and in that case I’ve got dragons to hatch,”  Adrienne replied curtly, pushing her way into the tent and leaving him behind. This, she thought to herself, is the reality of it all, Daniel as my confused older comrade. Trying to rationalize this particular assignment of roles in her head, she hurried to Ronon’s side, who was now laying on the bed silent, his large hands no longer reached to clench his chest in pain.  

“Ronon,” she whispered, panicked, gently placed her hand on his face to be met by the flush of fever, “Dex shug, hang on ok? Just hang in there with us, please,” fighting back tears,  Adrienne shouted out in frustration, fearing that she was too late, as the tent flap opened and Teyla entered, dressed in a fashion very similar to Adrienne, albeit with less adornments. 

“It seems that you are the queen and that Vala and I are your handmaidens,” Teyla spoke as Adrienne could see Vala ducking in behind her.  

“Thank God,” Adrienne said, breathing a sigh of relief before standing and running over to a small wooden table near the entrance to the tent.  Sitting atop it was an ornate box, brown in color, and as she hoped when she opened the box carefully, inside lay three large crystalline eggs, black, gray and green.  Taking a deep breath, Adrienne knew what she had to do, or at least try if she hoped to get herself and her friends out of this disaster. 

“Teyla, keep Ronon cool.  For the love of God, don’t let him die. Technically I’m not pregnant for some reason, so he should be dead already,” Adrienne pleaded, both Vala and Teyla looking at her completely lost by her explanation, but Teyla did as requested, dashing quickly to the water bucket to attend to Ronon.   Annoyed, Vala walked over to her, dressed a little savagely herself and evidently not happy about still be trapped here. 

“And me? In this fucked up world of yours what in the hell am I supposed to do?” Vala spat, so Adrienne handed her over two of the eggs.  

“Welcome to the Seven Kingdoms Vala, and if I planning on winning the Game of Thrones, I’m gonna need some help. Just carry these and follow me,”  Adrienne answered and looked back at Teyla, hoping that Ronon could just hang on long enough. for this to work. Pushing through the flap of the tent and looking for smoke in the sky, Adrienne saw the blaze, and at it’s base stood Daniel, waiting, fire raging behind him as she requested with Dothraki men hurrying to tend the flames.  It wasn’t exactly the set up she needed, technically she was supposed to be burning Ronon in the center and then joining him, but at this point she either needed to move this fantasy along or cause a switchover, and fast.  She glanced over at Daniel, who had removed the outermost layer of armor and was standing there in the woolen under-suit. He looked hot, sweat pouring down his face and Adrienne couldn’t help but take a moment to appreciate how amazingly handsome he was, how even in conditions such as these, he was still the most perfect man she had even known, and he was still here, weeks after her confession, weeks after discovering that she was tainted and ruined, still here following her lead without question. Wiped the sweat from his brow with his forearm, Daniel pointed at the blaze behind him, awaiting her further instructions. 

“There’s your fire.  I assume we need to get this show rolling so we can move on to the next bit of insanity your brain has in store for us,” Daniel said, his face tired.  She hated putting him, putting all of them really through this and she swallowed hard, mentally preparing herself for what was to come. 

“Right, what’s next....” Adrienne was terrified at the thought.  What other crazy part of her active imagination could possibly come next? Turning to Vala, she grabbed the two eggs she was carrying, awkwardly positioning them in her arms and looked ahead at the fire taking a deep breath before peering back at Daniel and Vala.  

“Wish me luck,” she said and stepped into the flames.  She could hear Daniel screaming her name when there was a flash of light.  

Cam panicked as the ship started flying downward so Vala reached over and steadied his hand, more on instinct than anything else. Scanning his surroundings, the colonel discovered that he was piloting easily the filthiest ship he had ever had the pleasure, or displeasure, to sit in.  

“Where in the hell are we now? The last thing I remember I was sitting in some damn castle with some blond woman yelling at me to shut up and stop trying to be with her,” Cameron asked, hoping Vala would have an answer but she shook her head. 

“I don’t know, but I’ve decided the girl watches too much TV. Just keep this thing straight and I’ll go find Addy,”  Vala turned to leave the cramped and dusty cockpit and found herself caught on the doorway.  Gazing down to see what was caught, she noticed that she was wearing a long leather trench coat with tall black leather boots and armed to the teeth, a full leather belt packed with guns and knives.  

“I like this stopover,” Vala said out loud to herself and kept moving, ducked down to  pass through the entry door. She was barely down the hall when she heard Daniel and Adrienne arguing on a metal walkway just a short distance away, overlooking a cargo hold.  

“Daniel, I’m telling you, we just need to hit reset, because this isn’t gonna work either,” Adrienne was insisting and Vala noticed that she was wearing a beautiful black gown with a deep blood red shawl wrapped around her waist, something Adrienne would never wear.  Daniel had on a trench coat, very similar to hers, only more reddish and velvet looking, his arms crossed across his chest, tapping his feet in his own pair of shin high brown boots.  This entire scene looked vaguely familiar, and Vala stood there, racking her brain through a vast number of girl’s night in, trying to figure out which bit of Adrienne’s fantasy world that they had zapped into now. 

“Ok, Ad, ok, fine, this is your head we’re in, not mine.  But all I am asking is WHY do you think it is not going to work? I don’t see anyone on their deathbed, maybe we can figure this one out and in order to do that you have to tell me what in the hell is going on,” Daniel countered. Adrienne wanted to explain, but there was panic in her face.  Vala concentrated harder, trying to remember which stupid TV show this was, one of the many Adrienne tried to insist to her were better than watching those lovely young people from New Jersey when it came to her and she erupted into laughter.  They both turned to look at her, but she just kept laughing and walked over to Daniel, putting her hand against his arm. 

“What in the world are you laughing at?” he shouted, his voice indicating that he was rapidly reaching his limit of toleration with their current situation. 

“She’s right, SIR, she’s right.  No fixing this one.  I think I can handle the reset,”  Vala said, stressing the word sir, still laughing as she did so. 

“Is there something I need to know?” he asked, glaring at both women utterly confused, but Adrienne just turned to walk back toward the pod from which she came, choosing not to answer and he thought he could see her cheeks flushing as she fled. 

“As long as you choose to deny it and act like there’s nothing there, no, just go fly the ship with Cam and Addy and I will figure out how to reset this mess,” Vala stated as she turned to follow Adrienne, who had now deviated her path and was heading down a flight of stairs to a cargo hold. There, Vala could see Teyla clad in a purple dress and and combat boots talking to Ronon who was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and armed to the hilt and looked back over her shoulder to see Daniel staring at her still confused.  Clueless idiot, she thought to herself, she really needed to have a stern talking with him when this was all over. Ignoring Daniel, as she reached out for her, beginning to protest again, Vala caught up to Adrienne who was smiling now, thankfully, and she knew that she must have a plan.  

“Ok, Ronon shug, I apologize for this in advance, but Teyla’s gotta shoot you. With your gun,” Adrienne explained.  

“No way Addy, not happening,” Ronon protested, shaking his head. Adrienne took a breath to explain again as Vala could see Teal’c approaching, dressed like a priest and considering his mediation habits, and overall demeanor, she had to admit that he made a great Shepard Book.  

“Look, Ronon, this is another series finale, it’s Firefly, not like you have any idea what I’m talking about, but it ends with everyone deciding that River, or Teyla here, is important to the crew. But that’s is after she flips out in the beginning of the episode and steals Jayne’s, rather your gun and almost shoots Malcolm, I mean Daniel.  So, if she shoots you then that erases the positive events that have happened and lets us trigger a reset,” Adrienne explained. 

“Then let her shoot Jackson,” Ronon replied, “or can’t we just let everyone make up or whatever. Won’t that get us back home?”  

“That’s about as likely as Addy letting the rest of this little story play out.  May I?” Vala laughed, stepping forward toward Ronon, pulling a gun from her belt and shooting him in the leg.  A light flashed.....

and Adrienne woke up to Ronon standing over her.  

“She shot me,” he exclaimed, but it was clear that his leg was now fine, not even bullet hole or mark in his black leather jacket nor his black jeans which stood out in stark contrast to the blood red walls behind him. 

“I had to, Addy wasn’t going to do what needed to be done. It still worked didn’t it?” Vala 

retorted from somewhere across the room.  It was then that Adrienne realized that she was laying on a table in a night club, the lights of the disco ball flashing in her face. She sat up quickly, looking over at Vala who was wearing a pink jumpsuit, pink lipstick and pinks nails, a complete pink nightmare.  Vala just pointed at the monitor.  

“Really Addy, Eric?” Vala walked over to the counter at the bar, “In your little world of imaginary romance Daniel is Eric Northman? I shouldn’t be surprised, but yet I am....” Vala teased as Adrienne peered into the monitor and gasped, the reality of the situation clicking. Without acknowledging Vala’s smart remark, Adrienne quickly dashed outside.  

“You’re just damn lucky this is season 3!!!” Vala was screaming behind her. 

Cam and Daniel were outside, chained together and smoldering, both men screaming in pain.  Coming to a halt at their heads, Adrienne looked down at her hand and back at the chain, hoping she could do this, otherwise.... well, she didn’t want to think of the otherwise.  She glared down at Cam and Daniel and pointed her palm.  

“Roll apart boys,” she ordered, both men trying to comply with her instructions as soon as they heard the order to roll. It was only a small distance apart, but it was enough, so gathering up her strength, Adrienne pointed her hand at the metal links, but nothing happened.  

“Shit!” she swore and Cam looked up at her weakly. 

“Girlie please tell me you can get us out of this shit, come on!”  Cameron, his face blackening before her while Daniel seemed to have now fallen unconscious, which made Adrienne panic even more.  Please don’t let him die, she told herself, you can do this, please, it’s Daniel.  Empowering by her desperation to save him, she pointed her hand and felt heat surging through her body. A beam of light burst from her hand, sending her staggering back, but severing the chain, the click on metal on pavement confirmed what she hoped she hadn’t imagined. Adrienne breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed the black leather jacket Daniel was wearing, which she was just now noticing looked like the one he wore to work, dragging him quickly into the bar.  Vala was opening the door waiting for her, her own hand singeing a bit in the light as Adrienne pulled him in, looking to her friends for help. 

“Pull him in the rest of the way. I gotta go get Cameron,” Adrienne ordered and ducked back out into the parking lot.  

“This some damn vampire show?” Cam asked, now figuring here was a reason he was burning in the sun.  

“Yeah, I’m sorry shug,” Adrienne answered, dragging him across the parking lot and through the open door as well where Ronon was waiting to help.  He reached into the light slightly and pulled Cam through the rest of the way, not even flinching as the sun made contact with his strangely pale skin, while Adrienne quickly ran over to where Vala was trying to help Daniel sit up, propping his unconscious body again the wall. Huffing, Adrienne stormed over to her boss, jerking him completely up right, resting his back to the dancing platform, but he was still out, his head rolling over to the side. 

“I saw this one at your apartment darling, you know what we’ve got to do,”  Vala said and smiled, fangs popping from her mouth.  Adrienne grimaced, again thinking to herself that this was no where near as romantic as she had imagined it but she reached out her arm to let Vala bite into her wrist.  

“OW!” Adrienne shouted, trying to pull back but feeling Vala’s teeth dig into her deeper, “That is not sexy!!”  Vala looked up, appearing equally as disgusted, blood dripping from her extended incisors. 

“It tastes like shit too,” she said as she wiped her mouth and retracted the teeth back in.  Glancing back at Daniel, her wrist bleeding profusely, Adrienne took a breath and started to squeeze the blood into his mouth.  The moment the first drop made contact, his penetrating blue eyes shot open and just like in the show he grabbed her wrist, pulling it into his mouth and sucking hard.  Adrienne tried to pull away but couldn’t; it seemed that in this particular fantasy, reality, whatever, that for once he was stronger than her.  

“Uh, do I get some of that?” Cam asked pitifully, looking rather crispy as he sitting on the floor beside Ronon.  Trying to remain calm, Adrienne peered over at him painfully as Daniel continued to drink, sucking harder, making her arm begin to tingle with numbness. 

“Not if we hope to get home you don’t,” she said, wincing in pain, unable to take it any longer, “Vala can you get him off of me?” Adrienne pleaded, trying to pull away from Daniel’s grasp, tears starting to form in her eyes. Leaning over, Vala hit in the him in the forehead strongly with her palm and he let go, his own fangs exposed, hissing at her attack.  

“Dammit Vala, that hurt,” he swore at her, sounding more like himself rather than the creature Adrienne had just witnessed devouring her arm, holding his head as the wounds on his face began to heal right in front of them.

“Well, next time don’t try to kill Addy,” Vala spat, turning to check on said bite victim who was holding her wrist, blood still streaming around her fingers and onto the floor.  

“You’re so gonna owe me,” she said and grabbed Adrienne’s wrist, licking it causing the wound to close almost instantly.  Vala wiped her face in disgust and ran to the bar, leaning over it and spraying seltzer water in her mouth as Adrienne glanced at Daniel, who was almost back to normal, much to her relief. 

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” he said to Adrienne, wiping his face as well.  

“Please don’t ever say that ever again Indy, ever,” she request, now as disgusted as Vala, standing and reaching to help him to his feet as well. One problem solved, Adrienne walked to join Vala at the bar, who was going through True Blood Season three, the Cliff’s Notes version, with Cam, who was shaking his charred skeletal head.

“So, Vala’s informed me that you two have to bury me alive in cement, are we serious?” Cameron asked, crossing his arms. Adrienne couldn’t help but laugh; he just looked so ridiculous, this entire situation was ridiculous, but it was solvable, doable, and that alone was making her focus and pay less attention to the stream of blood that had been left to drip down Daniel’s chiseled neck. 

“Yeah, but we need some help,” Adrienne said and once again began searching through Daniel’s pockets, starting with the jacket, trying not to notice how perfectly sculpted his body was despite his complete aversion to all things healthy, Vala standing there, laughing and shaking her head.  

“This is Addy’s fantasy, she gets to kiss Daniel, feel all over him, I can’t wait to see what’s next,” Vala joked enjoying the entire display.  Adrienne tried to ignore her, and hoped that Daniel was doing the same, although she was fairly certain that she had   run her fingers across his stomach, more slowly than she should have. Her aversion to the blood drinking earlier quickly turning to slight arousal as she could once again feel the machine’s influence. She found the cell phone in the inside right pocket of his leather jacket, pulling it down and pulling away as she found herself lingering her hands so close to waist, so close to...

“You could’ve asked me where the cell phone was,” he teased, smiling.

“Sorry, I was in a hurry,”  Adrienne apologized, insincerely, praying that this would be the last fantasy because she just couldn’t take it anymore, the feelings inside of her too strong, too magnified, as she caught herself wishing that she had to reach into his jeans pocket. Forcing herself to think of anything other than would his lips would feel like going down her neck, tracing her collarbone, Adrienne scrolled down the numbers, found the name she was looking for and hit talk. 

“I hope that Eric means it’s one of you guys because Teyla, Rodney, Teal’c and I are pretty damn lost right now,” John Sheppard answered the phone, annoyed. Adrienne nodded her head emphatically at Vala, the only other person who knew this storyline, indicating that her thought was correct, the rest of the team was playing out the other part of the story.  The end of this nightmare, as it was most certainly no longer a dream, Adrienne quickly started to explain, placing John on speaker phone so all could be involved in the conversation. 

When John arrived, thanks to GPS and Adrienne’s knowledge of Louisiana highways, the four of them loaded into the white construction van, large script letters reading Herveaux Construction, heading to the construction site that was listed on a piece of paper in a folder found sitting on the front seat.  Adrienne was relieved, everything was in place, down to the meticulousness of Sookie’s werewolf friend’s records, and barring anything unforeseen this was finally a solvable story. Armed with information, Rodney began to rage at Adrienne as he had earlier in the day, screaming at her to sit back and stay out of his way until he needed her. Rather than argue, she crawled her way to the back of the van, leaning against the side wall beside a bucket of nails and gazing up at the starlight through the back windows. 

“You ok?” a voice asked, but she didn’t need to look, knowing it wouldn’t take Daniel long until he was insisting on poking around in her business. She noticed that she was already picking her nails and quickly tucked her hands underneath of her, hoping he wouldn’t read into it too much.

“Yeah, I’m fine. The place if about forty five minutes or so away, so we just need to wait it out,” she answered, wishing now, more than every for a Stargate. Daniel crawled onto his knees, moving the bucket of nails aside, earning a glare from Cam as the thick plastic bottom slammed into his back, reminding Daniel that they were not alone. Grimacing in apology, Daniel squeezed himself between the container and his assistant, slipping his arm around her shoulders. 

“For the record, you now owe me. French, table, southern provence and a documentary,” he joked, squeezing her innocently and playfully under his arm. She laughed, shaking her head and sitting forward to relinquish herself from his grasp, the silent gesture making him pull away. He sat quietly for a moment as Adrienne leaned forward onto her knees, gazing back out into the night sky. 

“I’m sorry,” Daniel whispered in the darkness behind her and she turned, a look of confusion on her face. 

“For what?” she asked, unsure as to what he was talking about. Picking his nails this time, he leaned forward so no one could hear, grabbing her arm to pull her closer. 

“You just haven’t said much to me since, well, since, and if I’ve done anything, if I shouldn’t have, well, laid, like, I mean, if I need to....” Daniel stammered his apology, not sure what he was really apologizing for, but just wanting her, needing her in his life, but he felt fingers at his lips, touching them softly, halting their motion and silencing his words. 

“You haven’t done anything wrong Indy, trust me,” she answered quietly, removing her fingers from his lips. He sighed out the minute his mouth was released, leaning forward to continue. 

“Then why have you been acting so funny?” he asked again, the look on his face tearing her up inside. Because I had to tell the only man that I have ever truly loved that I am ashamed, that I am not sure if I can ever be intimate with a man ever again, that I am not sure if I can ever really be someone’s wife, someone’s mother, everything he deserves. I can’t be who you deserve Daniel, her heart finally admitted the truth, and she began to cry quietly right there, sitting in the back of a construction van, trapped in what she thought was her secret fantasy. Daniel didn’t say another word, just reached out his hand, interlocking their fingers. 

At the construction site John led the way, just as Alcide would, worried that this would not go right and they would be tossed into yet another fantasy of Adrienne’s. Cam reluctantly climbed into the pit and they began to pour the concrete, carefully around a straw he was using to breath which Adrienne and Vala had insisted wasn’t necessary.  Once that task was complete, everyone looked back at Adrienne, even Rodney, surprisingly after his near thirty minute performance in the van.   

“Alright, so Ronon, you need to shove Daniel in,” Adrienne said, Daniel shooting her a glare, but she reached out and squeezed his hand tightly.

“Sorry Indy, but this is almost over I swear,” Adrienne assured him and backed away as Ronon approached, shoving him into the wet pile of rocks and mud, turning the spillway to cover him entirely.  She knew he’d be alright, but it still pained her inside to watch the concrete pour over him and her stomach sank at the insane notion that she might never see him again. Taking a satisfied breath, Adrienne glanced over at Vala, checking the time on her phone as she did. 

“Give him a few minutes, get him out and bring him to Sookie’s.  Here is the address,” Adrienne said and handed over a piece of paper upon which she had scrawled an address and some rough directions, signaling to Ronon that they needed to be on their way.  

Three hours later, Ronon and Adrienne were sitting on the porch of an old Louisiana farmhouse.  They had been talking for a few hours, thankfully not about their futures, when Adrienne saw Daniel coming up the walkway, running rather, fast like a vampire.  

“So I have to admit, it’s kinda cool that I can run in this little world like I did before just without the Atanik armbands,” he joked and Adrienne just smiled, taking a moment to let the power of a machine wash over her, taking in the sight of him standing there, his handsome face covered in wet concrete, his hair a mess. Standing, she almost ran into his arms, but refrained, placing her hands on her hips as she addressed the two vampires. 

“Alright boys, I think this is going to work,” Adrienne declared, turning and opening the front door, standing in the doorway, directing her attention at Ronon first.  

“Bill Compton, I can’t believe you used me blah blah blah.  You are not welcome in my home!” Adrienne shouted, doing her best, well considering her acting skills, worst Sookie Stackhouse, and with the power of her words, Ronon flew off of the porch and landed in the yard on his hip.   

“Ow,” she heard him groan.  

“Sorry Dex, but you’re a vampire, that’ll be short lived. Now you run off to the house across the woods there,” Adrienne explained.  Grumbling as he stood, about dying, being shot and now this, Ronon brushed himself off and dashed away, leaving Adrienne feeling a little guilty about the pain he had endured over the course of the day. And then it hit her, as she stood here, in the middle of nowhere, with Daniel, quite literally fulfilling her fantasy. 

“Last dose of misery,” she smiled, her heart aching again. 

“I take it I should brace myself,” he stated, looking back where Ronon had been flung moments before.  Adrienne nodded and Daniel let out a sigh but opened his mouth to speak.  

“Well, since I know this is your Sookie mess and this is not the books, can I at least know why I’m being throw out into your yard?” Daniel asked, hoping to satisfy his curiosity.  It seemed an innocent enough request. 

“In the show, not the books, Eric finds out Bill let horrible things happen to Sookie so she would fall in love with him and he could get close to her to spy on her, find out if she was a fairy or not.  Eric decides to destroy Bill’s life by telling Sookie, which it does since Bill really did fall in love with her,” Adrienne explained, thinking this explanation would be easiest, deciding not to mention that Eric really did it, all of it, because he himself was in love with Sookie.  Like Daniel was in love with her. 

“Oh,” Daniel replied, disappointed, “I guess that makes sense.”  Adrienne shook a bit with nerves, hearing the sadness in his voice and wanting to tell him, but she just couldn’t. It would never work. 

“You ok Ad? Did we forget something?” Daniel asked again, watching her face for an indication of something going wrong.  

“No, I think we’re good, I’m fine. Just want this over with,” she answered, “You ready?” 

He nodded his head.  “Let’s just go with yes regardless of the truth value of that statement.” Adrienne took a breath this time, gazing at him one last time as if acting out this ridiculous scene was somehow going to bring closure to all of her feelings, to all of this uncertainty.   

“Eric Northman, I never want to see you, ever again. You are no longer welcome in my home either!” Adrienne shouted and watched Daniel flung into her yard.  As Ronon had moment earlier, he got up quickly and ran back from where he came.  

“Almost over Addy, we’re almost there,” she coached herself, dashing for the woods, hoping to see the lights in the graveyard.  There, just as expected was a faint yellow glow and a beautiful woman offering her hand. Powering ahead, Adrienne reached out, taking her hand and stepping into the shimmer. 

It was dark when Adrienne opened her eyes.  

“Hey, Sam! Got movement over here with Dr. Perky!” Adrienne heard a voice call, a familiar voice and suddenly there was a bright light shining in her face. 

“Adrienne, can you hear me?” This voice she knew right away as well; it yelled at her, a lot.  

“Dr. Lam?” Adrienne asked and felt arms pulling her upright.  

“Can you see? Hear alright? Are there any parts of your body you can’t feel?” she was asking as Adrienne felt herself being examined. She felt a shirt being lifted, a cold head of a stethoscope, and heard shuffling around her hoping it was everyone else waking up from the dream.

“I fell asleep in your damn banana!” Vala complained from beside her.  Her vision coming back into focus, Adrienne looked ahead at the doctor and saw that Sam too was now leaning over her, geared up in SG gear rather than her standard uniform; she must have demanded to go through herself. 

“Adrienne how did you guys manage to get out? I tried to turn off the machine but it wouldn’t stop,” Sam inquired. 

“We just did what it said. We finished the story.  Is everyone alright?”  Adrienne answered, her voice cracked and her throat dry. 

“Seems like everyone else is waking up alright, but we are going to have the doctor’s do a full workup on each of you, just in case,” Sam replied.  Of course, Adrienne thought, because we can’t seem to do anything with having to end up in the infirmary.  Adrienne went to stand as Dr. Lam seemed to be moving on to other members of the team, shouting over her shoulder that she expected Adrienne to report to the infirmary as well for a real exam. Before she could move she felt a hand on her shoulder and a presence behind her. 

“Nice job,” Daniel whispered in her ear and she turned to see him squatting behind her, offering her his hand, which she took, letting him help her up.  

“Are you being sarcastic?” she asked as she tried to stretch her legs once upright with his help, as she was wobbling slightly.  Daniel himself seemed alright, but it must have taken more out of her since she was the user, and she noted that, in case Rodney decided to not give up this quest. 

“Not at all. Vala activated the machine and while we all did have to endure your insanity, you got us all out, alive and unharmed,” Daniel explained honestly.  Appreciating the sentiment, she reached back down and grabbed her bag throwing it over her shoulder, noting that he was in tow. They walked to the gate, stepping over their friends who all were looking at Adrienne like she was some kind of freak show.  Embarrassed, she hurried faster to the gate, which someone thankfully had already dialed to go home and looked back at Daniel once they got to the ramp. 

“Off to the doctor,” she smiled.  

“Tomorrow, we’ll go tomorrow,” Daniel replied, stepping up behind her on the platform.  

“We can do that?” Adrienne asked confused.  

“We’re going to do that.  Because after that, I need a glass of wine.  Two glasses of wine, from your cabinet,” Daniel responded and Adrienne laughed.  A year ago he would have never said that.  A year ago it wouldn’t have made this entire disaster worth it. A year ago she wasn’t in love with him. Pausing for a moment, lingering feelings from the machine filling her soul, Adrienne gazed into his eyes through the lenses of his glasses, which he was now wearing once again, wondering what she should say when it hit her. The decision was made and in that instant Adrienne knew the purpose of that machine. 

“Sounds good, just can you do me one favor?”  she inquired and Daniel nodded looking at her curiously. 

“Anything,” he said after a second of consideration.   

“No TV, no movies.  No anything with a screen,” she requested, “ just a nice game of Scrabble.” Laughing, Daniel put his arm around her and she didn’t shrug him away, because this was her reality. Fantasy was all good and true, but in the real world nothing was perfect, not even her, and not even him. 

“I think that’s a very fair request,” he replied and led them both through the gate, Adrienne promising herself that she would try. After all, if there was one thing this job had taught her, anything was possible.