Daniel & Adrienne #46 - Stillness

“So, can you explain to me exactly how the boring twins got out of this one?” Vala asked over her shoulder as she checked around the corner of the abandoned building, her black booted foot carefully moving aside various broken pieces of wood as she took yet another cautious step forward. She honestly wasn’t sure why they were there either, Tok’ra intelligence or not it didn’t look like anyone had been here in years. They should just be relying on her spy team, that never ended them up on hot, deserted planets with nothing to do but stare at rocks and broken buildings.  

“Sam’s got the IOA coming, and you know she is all about pawning any of that off that she can on Daniel, especially since no one’s heard a peep from ‘ole Nuby in a few weeks and you know that where Daniel goes.....” Cameron replied,  kicked over a box, or what was left of it, pointing his P-90 downward as if the small container would actually house an Ori/Jaffa clone. 

“Addy goes.  For someone that wanted so bad to be left alone he seems to be completely unable to do anything without her now,” Vala noted, continuing forward, deciding not to mention that they probably wanted to get in a good snuggle or something else while they were at it. She wasn’t jealous, although a part of her really thought she should be, she was happy for them but there were times when they just made her sick to watch, even if they were standing fifty feet away from one another, but she kept her mouth shut and just left it at that, continuing her inspection of the area. 

 “Clear,” she stated as she looked back to her teammates, the light affixed to her gun shining into a drab empty hovel that she wasn’t about to enter to test the strength of the room.  Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Teal’c finishing up his inspection of a further matching building, just as she was, appearing to yield the same result. 

“ColonelMitchell,” Teal’c yelled as he was exiting the building behind where Cameron and Vala were searching, “this structure is clear as well.” 

Nodding, Cam reached for the radio at his shoulder to inform his comrade that they were at another dead end. He was starting to agree with Vala, Tok’ra intelligence sucked.  “General, looks alright here, how ‘bout on your end?” There was a crackling sound for a moment so Cameron switched channels as Vala and Teal’c approached him.  

“Not one damn squirrel,” Jack answered, “if this planet even has squirrels.  I think we missed him. Yay.” Cameron could hear the sarcasm in his voice even over the radio.  This was the third planet in so many weeks that the Tok’ra had reported signs of Anubis’ foot soldiers, third and they were at another dead end. Daniel and Adrienne were still working on that ship, but so far it just seemed like a list of weapons sold and past rendezvous points, each of which had been checked out in addition to the Tok’ra leads. This was going no where, Anubis was out there somewhere, making himself a cute little Play-Doh army, amassing all sorts of weapons of mass destruction and laughing at them as they desperately tried to play catch up. Whatever he was planning, it was big, he was taking too long to be planning anything otherwise, something Jack was pleased to present to the powers that be. General Jack O’Neill had declared his time would be better spent on the lower levels of the Pentagon helping out his old team and making sure his old friend didn’t have any other tricks up his sleeve and, more importantly, making sure that jackal headed bastard stayed the hell away from his wife. Besides, he was getting pretty tired of sitting in an office all of the time, it made him feel fat and old and that annoyed him.  

Clicking the radio off, he looked up at the members of SG-6 that he had been assigned to.  When Sam decided to send a team through he was kinda hoping he would get Teal’c and Daniel with him and let Mitchell deal with Vala and that perky little archaeologist that Daniel was now shacking up with. Adrienne, he told himself, her name is Adrienne, he’d just called her Dr. Perky for so long that it stuck, despite Daniel’s request that now that he was seeing her that Jack refer to her by her name. He didn’t even call her Adrienne for crying out loud, called her Ad, which was WEIRD, ads were something people hated because they interrupted the good stuff, but whatever. Jack was just surprised that Daniel had discovered women had existed. 

“Alright, the jackal headed freak show’s gone, so we need to take a complete survey of the area.  We’re looking for anything, bullet casings, evidence of a staff weapon being fired, body parts, anything the geeks can use to give us an idea of how far behind this asshole we really are,” Jack said as he stood and they scattered, instantly, like good lower level personnel. Rolling his eyes at the collection of children in front of him, why couldn’t he have at least gotten Teal’c even if Daniel had to stay home and kiss ass, Jack turned to dial home, tripping on a large rock.  

“Not one sign of Anubis, but the planet’s got enough goddam rocks,” Jack swore to himself as he hit the red activate switch.    

“Hi honey!” he called into his radio as the wormhole stabilized, “It’s looks like we missed our good buddy once again.” More popping and cracking, Sam’s voice echoing over the radio. 

“I figured as much, I just wish we could get some kind of idea as to where he was heading,” she replied, sounding frustrated.  He smiled to himself; she took the job so seriously, which was a good thing, but she was so intense when it came to problem solving.  It was something he always loved about her, he just hoped that she wasn’t beating herself up internally for the lack of leads. 

“Pretty soon he’ll show his head.  I don’t think we can do much more than we’re doing. I’ve got these guys searching for anything but it looks like he just holed up some soldiers here in an abandoned city, why I couldn’t tell ya.  I’ll let you know if I find anything,” Jack answered, wishing he had something more to report. 

“Alright, but get back soon.  I don’t like to have that small of a force out too long without back up.  Especially one that includes my husband,” he could hear her tone change at the end and was touched. After everything he had to admit he liked the way things had worked out. 

“Awww..... I love you too....” he laughed, “O’Neill, the uglier one, out.”  Breaking the connection, he turned to follow behind his people.  

*****

Connection broken, Sam sat back at the computer, tapping her pen on her desk.  It had been nearly a month since they had begun work decoding Endrae’s ship, longer since three of Anubis’ soldiers had infiltrated the base and she still had no answers.  When Woolsey came this morning, his full contingent of IOA members with him, even having Daniel share some information on Anubis that they had gathered didn’t seem to help.  They wanted answers and they wanted them now but she had none to give.  She was staring out into space when there was a knock at her door, making her gaze up from the empty legal pad at her desk. 

“Am I interrupting?” Daniel asked from the door jam as he walked in, hands in his pockets.  

“No, just thinking, are Woolsey and his lackeys gone?” she asked, feeling bad that she had left Daniel to deal with them. 

“Not yet,” he said as he sat down, “I passed them over to Adrienne.  She has this very optimistic yet authoritative way of making someone feel really good about themselves while subtly telling them that they are a moron all at the same time. Just one of the reasons why I love her; she can be so evil when she needs to be. ”  

“Well, I’m glad she can be optimistic about it.  Guess she doesn’t have the history with them that we do,” Sam sighed, thinking that Adrienne had her own history with Woolsey which was probably fueling the evil. 

“Hear from Jack yet?” Daniel asked, changing the subject quickly, noting his friend needed a subject change fast.

“About 10 minutes ago.  Nothing and like the past two times, it seems like they covered their tracks pretty well,” Sam replied.  

“I can head over there if you like.  Adrienne’s going to be a few hours at least. I told her to torture them,” Daniel smiled slyly. 

“Yeah, go grab a few supplies and head over there, see if you can find anything,” Sam decided, a small part of her hoping that Daniel’s attention to detail would yield better results.  Nodding, Daniel stood, rushing out her office, his body language indicating that he was just as happy as Jack to be escaping bureaucratic mess for off world adventure any day.  True, Sam felt a little better sending him over to lend a hand but she was fairly certain he was going to come up empty as well but at least she could say that she exhausted every option. 

*****

On the way to the locker room, he passed Adrienne, directing the IOA men into one of the side briefing rooms her professor’s persona in overdrive. 

“Rubrique d'aide à la recherche, les avez-vous?” (Hey, heading to help with the search, you got them?) Daniel shouted over to her, cocking his head in the direction he was heading. 

“Bien sûr, êtes-vous bien?” (Of course, you good?) Adrienne responded, obviously enjoying her torture, torture he couldn’t wait to get details about later. 

“Oui mais si ce changement je vais vous appeler” (Yeah, but if that changes I’ll radio you) Daniel answered. 

“Plus tard, mon amour” (Later my love) Adrienne smiled and followed her guests into the briefing room.  

Daniel grabbed what he needed out of the equipment locker and closed it behind him as a chill rocketed down his spine.  Even though they always seemed to be just days behind Anubis he still had this itching feeling that one time he would cross through that gate and come out on the other side face to face with him again, except this time he was just normal old human Daniel minus the cool superpowers of being ascended.  That freaked him out just a bit, that and the fact that Anubis knew who Adrienne was, knew how special she was to him...

“Stop it. Focus on ring shopping Daniel, ring shopping,” he ordered himself, slamming the locker and heading to the gateroom. 

*****

“Gentlemen, if you would take a seat, I would like to go over some of the greater specifics concerning the various markings that Dr. Jackson and I discovered on the bodies and how they correlate with the findings on the Lucian ship that was recovered three weeks ago,” Adrienne began as she walked over to the projector and turned it on, activating the blue tooth and starting up her iPad.  

“Dr. Rowan,” Mr. Woolsey began, “We’ve been over this before, General O’Neill said you had new information to share.” Adrienne hated that man.  Sam seemed to think he was alright based on her time with him on Atlantis, but he just infuriated Adrienne to no end.  He acted like she was an idiot and treated her as if she was just some little cadet who had no idea how the SGC ran, even more so since she and Daniel’s relationship had become public knowledge. Daniel told her he was like that with everyone, but she felt singled out and she would never admit it, even to her own knight in shining armor, but she felt better doing things like this when Daniel was around.  To be honest, she just liked him around in general. 

“Mr Woolsey, we’ve discovered some patterns in the tattoos that we believe Anubis might be trying to use to indicate generations and groupings among the clones.  If I may,” she started, cuing up the presentation without making eye contact as he sat back into his chair his arms crossed.  Fine, she thought to herself, pout like a child, I’m gonna give the damn presentation anyway, the first slide coming to life behind her. 

*****

Jack was sitting at the gate waiting for Teal’c to arrive when he heard the giant circle moving behind him.  

“What the hell?!” he spat, rising quickly as to not be taken out by the incoming wormhole and as he turned around to face the formed crystal mass saw Daniel come walking through.  

“His majesty graces us with his presence,” Jack stood to greet him, “and he comes alone.  Impressive.”  Jack couldn’t remember the last time Daniel had come through that gate without Dr. Perky, no Adrienne, he’s gonna get all pissy if you don’t call her Adrienne but now Jack was just waiting to call her Dr. Jackson which he knew was coming soon. He’d never thought of Daniel as the marrying type after Shar’e but this ball of fire Sam had plopped in his lab had really changed him and for the better in Jack’s opinion. 

“Hey, I would rather have been here then that farce Sam put me through.  Don’t you outrank her enough to get me out of those things at least once in a while?” Daniel defended himself as he head down the ramp.

“And,” he continued as he walked, “Adrienne’s the reason I even got to escape here in the first place.” 

“How does that work?” Jack asked as they walked toward the other SG personnel who were scouring the ramshackle buildings, yet again, looking for the evidence he had asked for earlier.  

“She actually enjoys talking to those IOA guys but I think it’s because she likes to talk over their heads and watch them try to follow her,” Daniel explained, Jack smirking and shaking his head. 

“You really need to talk to her more; you two have a lot in common,” Daniel added, lifting his eyebrows surprising himself at the suggestion that she and Jack be friends since that might prove to be a bad idea.  

“Really? I find that hard to believe,” Jack answered pointing over to the building that appeared to be the most structurally sound, “And watch the damn rocks, they’re everywhere.” Daniel stepped carefully to the side. 

“Yes, she’s a huge smartass.  If I didn’t know better, I would swear you two were related,” Daniel replied, hoping Jack would listen.  He really would like Adrienne, and if Daniel was ever going to have five minutes of time to himself to buy a ring and come up with a way to propose, he wanted Jack to at least be nice to her. Jack, and his very biased opinions meant a lot to him, though he would never tell him. 

“Sure. Ok,” Jack replied, blowing him off, “here’s the only place we found anything. It was this,” Jack handed Daniel a strip of leather, “ It doesn’t have anything on it though, no DNA that Carson and Rodney can run, but if you look here it’s freshly torn.  Someone ripped it off in a hurry trying to get the hell back, my guess by where we found it is back to the gate.” Taking the fragment from his hands, Daniel looked at it carefully in a way that made Jack want to smack him.  He wondered if he did the same thing to Dr. Perky because girlfriend or not Daniel would still act like a brat. He hoped that if Dr. Perky, Adrienne, Jack call her Adrienne, was as snarky as he claimed she was that she’d just smack him in the face.  That would impress him, watching Adrienne deck him a good one and not in training. Finally, Daniel shrugged, muttering something nerdy to himself and handed it back so Jack tucked the piece of fabric into his tac vest. Looking at Jack one more time, the archaeologist nodded and headed into the building, Jack ducking into the doorway as well to follow.  

He watched Daniel dig around where he had already looked, but was less annoyed this time, after all, he was sure Sam was just covering her tracks with those IOA clowns around.  He hated them and watching his poor wife have to jump through the hoops that she was jumping through made him glad that he still reported to the president. He was just walking over to hand Daniel a flashlight, although it was quite funny watching Daniel fumble around in the dark, when he heard his name being called behind him.  

“O’Neill,” Teal’c shouted into the building, O’Neill turning around immediately to face him. He noticed DanielJackson was kneeling on the ground in front of him, on his hands and knees examining a patch of dirt in the corner. Surprised to see him, Teal’c figured that he must have finished his meeting with Mr. Woolsey’s men early or left them with AdrienneRowan, who he was now noticing was not present. Somewhat drained himself, Teal’c knelt down to join them, peering into the corner as well. 

“ColonelMitchell and ValaMalDoran see no point in staying any longer.  I must concur,” Teal’c informed Jack, knowing now with DanielJackson here they would not be leaving any time soon. 

“Well my loving wife sent Danny boy here to check up behind us, so we aren’t off the hook just yet,” Jack answered as Teal’c expected, but he laughed. He loved hearing O’Neill call SamathaCarter his wife and it was also quite humorous to see her tell him what to do, despite rank, this being one of those times.  

“I must warn you O’Neill. ValaMalDoran has begun to complain,” Teal’c added, his mind drifting back to the small fit she had been throwing when he made his escape, in fact, ValaMalDoran had started whining just as soon as CameronMitchell declared the area secure.  She did not enjoy missions in which someone was not shot or something interesting did not happen, he noticed that she bored easily, and without AdrienneRowan to tease her in response their comrade was beginning to grate on his nerves. 

DanielJackson answered him this time, “Tell her to chill out.  If she chooses to work with us she needs to shut up and accept all aspects of the job. I’ll tell her if you like.” 

“That will not be necessary DanielJackson,” Teal’c answered, thinking his reaction harsh, the IOA officials must have been more trying than usual, “ColonelMitchell I am sure is taking care of that already.”  O’Neill tapped him on the arm indicating they should leave DanielJackson to explore and he followed, reading the concern in his old friend’s eyes. 

“Let him do his little geek thing in there; did you guys really find nothing?” O’Neill asked, verifying the cause for said concern.  Teal’c knew that he was hoping that they would find something for SamanthaO’Neill’s sake; he did not wish to let her down.  

“I am sorry; we have found nothing.  Anubis is intelligent.  He will not be so easily cornered,” Teal’c answered and O’Neill shook his head, making as face as he glanced quickly back at the small hut. 

“Well let’s hope Daniel has better luck.  If not, we get to wait until the Tok’ra decide to inform us, too late once again, that Nubey has passed us on by.  I hate that she relies on them so much, as much as I hate to admit, I think we should starting listen to Vala more,” Jack said, confirming what Teal’c was already thinking. Every break that had had concerning Anubis had come from ValaMalDoran’s intelligence missions, not one real lead from their allies. Crossing his arms across his chest, the Jaffa nodded in agreement, a noise behind him making him turn as DanielJackson exited the building, his customary frown on his face. 

“I didn’t find anything either. If the Tok’ra hadn’t been so insistent that the army stayed here, I wouldn’t have even thought to take a second look at these buildings,” DanielJackson stated, brushing the dirt off of his pants.  

“Fine, let’s head down to see what Cam and Vala are looking at, “ Jack said, “T, send SG-6 home.” Nodding in agreement and happy to oblige, Teal’c walked over to collect the members of SG-6.  

*****

Jack led Daniel down to the second set of buildings, a more numerous arrangement of structures, although their state was the same, in shambles.  As they approached he could see Vala laying on the ground, sunglasses on her face and head resting on her pack as Cameron himself was sitting on a large rock, his hand at his brow to block the sun, waving his other in hello.  Jack returned the gesture and the two men picked up their pace, closing in on the area quickly when Vala lifted her head up, removing her sunglasses.  

“Where’s Addy?” she asked, no hello, no acknowledgement of Jack, nothing, just glaring right at Daniel.  

“Hi Vala, nice to see you too,” he responded, rolling his eyes.

“If they’re going to send a nerd I’d prefer they send the one I like,” Vala spat, laying back, putting her sunglasses on again.  She had laid her loyalties with Adrienne shortly after Adrienne had saved her from some slavers and even more so now that Adrienne and Daniel were together. It was sweet, he was glad that Adrienne had found a confidant even though it was Vala, but annoying at times, especially since Vala seemed to no longer listen to anything Daniel said, always deferring to Adrienne. Completely ignoring the exchange between Daniel and Vala, Jack strolled over to Cameron who looked up at him, again shielding his eyes from the sun.  

“Not a damn thing but a lot of rocks; makes me want a dump truck.  Could save me a ton on gravel,” Cam joked and Jack laughed, sitting down beside him as Daniel walked ahead to the building, ducking to enter through the broken doorway. Grimacing, Cameron looked over at Jack once Daniel was out of sight, cocking his head in their teammates direction.   

“Does he think he’s going to find anything?” Cameron asked, his doubt apparent. 

“Probably not.  It sounded like he wanted to escape the oversight committee and that I can understand,” Jack answered and Cameron nodded, understand far too well himself. Nothing else to do but wait, the two men sat in silence, looking out in the direction of the horizon.  

*****

“SamanthaO’Neill, they are not here,” Teal’c spoke into his radio. 

“Teal’c, how can they not be there?!?” Sam’s voice was as clear as was the concern in it.   

“They are not here at the gate nor are they at the next village and there is no sign of struggle,” Teal’c answered calmly unsure at to what else to tell SamanthaO’Neill; his friends were just gone.  

“But Teal’c, there were no ships in the area, nothing. Is there a chance someone left something behind,” her voice was worried and Teal’c knew why, in fact he was sure that AdrienneRowan was having the same reaction right now although he could not hear her over the radio. 

“I am sorry but there is nothing. Perhaps I should return to Earth and we could contact the Tok’ra?” Teal’c suggested.  

“Fine,” he heard her voice, “Head back.  I’ll meet you in the briefing room.” The radio at his shoulder went dead so he shut it off, glancing over his shoulder once more before walking through the worm hole.  

“It’s been 5 hours,” Adrienne argued with Sam the moment radio contact had ended. 

“I know Addy, I know.  I don’t know what else to do. The Tok’ra have been monitoring the planet, no one has entered or exited the atmosphere.  They have to be there,” Sam assured. Knowing that she wasn’t going to be swayed, especially where the Tok’ra were concerned, Adrienne just plopped herself into the closest chair, refusing to leave until she had word on Daniel. 

“Samantha, I’m not sure why you’ve called me down here, you know I’m in the middle of   something important that YOU ordered me to work on, if you will recall,” Dr. Rodney McKay hissed, his footsteps echoing on the tile floors, their rhythm matching his words, short and terse but Adrienne, for once, sat up, interested at the arrival of her short term former boss. If Sam had called Rodney, this must be more serious than she was letting on. Adrienne’s stomach knotted as she had a sudden horrible thought and tried to shove it away, glancing up at Sam in an attempt to absorb some of her confidence.  

“Rodney, close the door,”  Sam ordered gently and he paused, doing as she asked but remained standing at the door, arms crossed across his chest.  

“Closed, now can you tell me why I’ve been called down here?” he asked, rudely Adrienne thought, but that shouldn’t shock her anymore. 

“SG-1 is missing,” Sam stated, taking a breath before looking over at Adrienne, evidently not having been ready herself to admit that.  

“Apparently not all of SG-1,” he replied, looking over at Adrienne as well. She started to give him the finger but paused; now was not the time for petty arguments.  Rodney didn’t seem to take her as a full team member very seriously and frankly, especially after Daniel had told her how he’d spilled everything to Anubis, Adrienne thought Rodney could go to hell.

“No, Adrienne stayed behind for the IOA meeting, but Jack is with them as well,” Sam answered and at the mention of Jack O’Neill, Rodney’s expression softened. 

“Sam, I’m, what can I do?”  he asked.  Adrienne knew Rodney had a soft spot for Sam and apparently she knew how to work it and the cajun considered that to be her advantage if she wanted to get Daniel back as well as the rest of her friends. 

“Rodney, I want you, John, Carolyn and Zelenka to head over there, ASAP, to see if you can find anything,” Sam ordered.  

“Dr. Lam and Zelenka? Why?” he made a face at her, “What about Teyla and Ronan?” 

“Rodney, I really don’t think there was an attack, if there was Teal’c, the Tok’ra, someone would have found something.  I think there’s something else going on over there and I need the best I have in science and medicine to figure out what,” Sam answered but Rodney’s expression did not change.  

“Rodney, it’s final.  I’ve called down to Zelenka and Carolyn already.  You go get John and meet in the gate room in an hour,” Sam didn’t falter and for that Adrienne was grateful, very grateful. 

“Fine, I’ll go, I’ll go, let me get my equipment and something to eat,” Rodney was complaining to himself as he opened the door to the briefing room, slamming it ever so slightly behind him  

“And me,” Adrienne spoke up once he was gone, “I’m going.” 

“Adrienne...” Sam started to argue.  

“Sam, please,” Adrienne didn’t want to beg but she would if she had to.  

“Addy, I understand, GOD do I understand. But feelings make people make stupid choices.  Poor choices,” Sam explained, hearing Woolsey inside of her head already talking about the inappropriateness of their relationship and that they tended to throw themselves into danger for one another, time and time again; Sam didn’t need to worry about Adrienne on top of everything else. 

“Sam, for my own sanity, I’ve got to go. I just, I just need to,” Adrienne said, now preparing to beg, hoping her eyes would do the begging instead. 

“If you can be ready in an hour,” Sam gave in knowing that she would be no good here, not that Sam would be better but at least she still had a base to run. 

“I’m ready now,” Adrienne replied, dashing out of the room.  Sam watched her leave and suddenly got the urge to suit up as well, however, with the head of home world command missing the head of the SGC couldn’t just go galavanting into space after him even if they were married.  She had to let Adrienne go for the both of them and she trusted Adrienne enough to know that she wouldn’t make a careless mistake, that she would do whatever she could to bring home the men they loved.  Returning to her office solemnly, Sam lifted the receiver to the red phone to call the president and inform him of Jack’s disappearance. 

*****

Another wild goose chase, Rodney thought to himself as he stormed back down to his lab, and of course it’s SG-1 getting themselves into trouble.  All they did was cause trouble and Sam relied on Rodney and his crew to bail them out of it, time and time again and to be frank it was all rather annoying.  His stride fast, his face drawn into a scowl, Rodney entered his lab and began to pack a few things, trying to determine precisely what equipment would help him find 5 missing people.  

*****

Carolyn was early to arrive at the gate room so she went immediately to see Sam, jogging lightly up the staircase to her blue office door.  She didn't bother with the pleasantries of knocking, she just entered, surprised to see that she wasn’t the first to arrive.  Sitting there with Sam was Adrienne, who was never on time, ever, even for physicals that she easily aced, but Carolyn guessed with her boyfriend missing that she could manage to read a clock for one. What also surprised her, however, was that she thought all of SG-1 had disappeared, Adrienne included, but maybe this was a blessing in disguise, maybe she knew what happened. Looking up, the general greeted Carolyn politely, invited her to sit while Adrienne waved a non-committal hello. She felt bad for the poor archaeologist, it didn’t seem that she and Daniel were going to catch a break and they really were good for one another. Nodding in reply and forcing a smile, Carolyn sat and Sam began to immediately explain the situation and when she finished, Carolyn looked up at Sam confused.  

“What exactly am I supposed to do?” she asked, unsure of her role here in the mission. 

“Be there, whatever has happened to them I need you to be there when they’re found,  in case...” Sam put her hand over her mouth, trying not to choke up. This, Carolyn thought to herself, is why personnel shouldn’t date one another, no matter how cute even she found Daniel and Adrienne, in fact, as much as she found Cameron Mitchell exceedingly charming she had rejected each of his advances for fear of sending him through the Stargate and never getting him back. Carolyn looked over at Adrienne for an answer that might not involve tears but saw the cajun was on the verge as well.  Of course, Carolyn thought to herself, leaving me to be the one rational woman on this mission, that’s my real role here.  Stuck in this room, being sent on an impossible mission, Carolyn needed to lie to two women, one of which was her boss, to comfort them.  

“Alright,” she finally said,” Let me get the mobile med unit and I’ll need a nurse,” she added.  

“No,” Sam replied, “I don’t want to send anyone else until we know  exactly what is going on.  Adrienne had volunteered to help you.” 

Carolyn made a face.  Adrienne hated her and she called her Dr. Grumpypants to anyone that would listen.  She wasn’t even sure if Adrienne knew how to apply a band-aid, she was into all of that homeopathic mess that just made people think they were getting better but never did any real good. Wondering what else could be thrown in her face, Carolyn tried to remain calm as she glanced kindly over at Adrienne.  

“Are you up to this? Do you have any medical training?” she asked, not knowing much about Adrienne’s personal background other than, like Daniel, she was a magnet for injuries.  

“I ran summer camps for kids when I was in high school, so I had to take all of those first aid and CPR classes, but it’s been a while,” she responded.  

“Better than nothing,” Carolyn replied and returned her attention to Sam. “I’ll be ready shortly, I had everything packed but the med kit, wanted to know what I was walking into first.  So who are we missing exactly?” 

“Vala, Cam, Daniel and Jack.” Sam choked on the last name but Carolyn was pleased; that meant Teal’c was alright as well, so they were only looking for four missing persons, not five and she was certain Sam would grant her the assistance of the very reliable Jaffa if asked. Four people to find, and Cameron was one of them. Pushing the thought aside, she stood and excused herself heading back to the infirmary.  

She was at the gate room ready to depart moments later as promised.  

*****

At 1300 hours the rescue team was ready to depart, a group including Dr. Rodney McKay, Colonel John Sheppard, Dr. Carolyn Lam, Dr. Radek Zelenka, Dr. Adrienne Rowan and Teal’c, who had requested to return to the planet, Sam having no problem fulfilling that request. She wished them luck, reviewing the information one final time, more for her own sanity than to brief the team, Sam allowed them to pass into the wormhole, shouting behind them that they report back in in two hours. 

*****

An hour later, after unsuccessfully searching the far settlement area twice, Adrienne sat down on a large rock inside one of the buildings.  Normally she loved the sunshine, but there was something about this planet that made her feel, heavy.  It was an uncomfortable feeling, so she was thankful for all of the large stones lying about, they were cool to the touch and even though she wasn’t terribly warm there was something soothing about them in general, this one in particular.   Someone must have been using it for a chair since it was right in the corner of the room and she was thankful for it, in particular its perfect position allowing her to lean back against the wall.  Kicking the dusty floor beneath her, Adrienne noticed the smaller sparkling rocks under her feet, something she hadn’t noticed before, leaning over to pick one up, turning it gently in her hands. 

“Find anything doctor?” a voice asked and Adrienne looked up seeing Zelenka as he entered the building, walking over to where she was sitting, the same expression of failure in his face.  

“Just some pretty rocks, you?” she answered while she held the rock to the light, watching it glisten in the rays of sunshine slipping through the small window above her head. The was moment, a shadow, out of the corner of her eye as Zelenka shook his head.  

“Neyt,” he answered, disgusted, his Czech accent thick,” and of course Rodney thinks I’ve missed something so I told him to keep searching himself.  I only have limited patience for him.”  Adrienne smiled, having worked both for and with Rodney, she understood completely.  Her teeth making quick work of her bottom lip, Adrienne held the rock closer to her face, yawning to moisten her eyes. The liquid dissipated, and it was them that Adrienne noticed some faint lines, lines that looked like they were forming a shape. Puzzled, Adrienne tapped Zelenka on the shoulder, who was staring back out of the hut, seemingly lost in thought. 

“Look at this,” she showed the stone to Radek, “it looks like a fossil. See the lines?” Adjusting his glasses, he reached out for the stone, taking it in his hand and holding it up to the light as she had before, examining it carefully. 

“It does; that’s odd, they’re just littered about here. You would think they would be a bit deeper.  Do you suppose Dr. Jackson might have dug them up?” he asked. 

“Nah, he didn’t take any of that gear.  When I got back to the lab it was still in the lockers.  And besides, there are no holes here, nothing, and he would never excavate without perfect layout. He’s particular, trust me,” Adrienne answered, still examining the stone.  

“Take some back,” Zelenka suggested, “I’m sure geology department would appreciate being remembered, all two of them.” Adrienne nodded, remembering the two quiet doctors that had been left after the last congressional house cleaning, hoping this might be an exciting find for them. Crawling down onto the ground, Adrienne tried to find a suitable assortment of specimens, pieces that looked out of place here in the drab sandy surroundings. There was a small collection of shiny black stones in a pile, so Adrienne grabbed a few of them and a little further away there was a large brown stone that looked like there were feathers etched into it. She grabbed that as well.  There were a few others scattered about and she collected a fair representation of each, placing them carefully into the backpack, regretting that she did not have any sample bags with her, but happy for the distraction, something to take her mind off of the love of her life being lost, somewhere, somewhere where she couldn’t find him. Brushing the thought aside, Adrienne took the original stone, a reddish purple one, and shoved into her pocket, motion in her line of sight alerting her to another visitor.  

“There you guys are.  It’s time to check back in with Sam.  Did you all find anything?”  he asked, knowing the answer; he would have heard from them sooner otherwise. Knowing what this meant to Adrienne, the loss more painful to her than anyone else here, Zelenka glanced at Adrienne to make sure that she was alright before looking back at John.  

“Just rocks and more rocks, you?” the scientist answered as Adrienne shrugged putting more of those very rocks into her pack.  

“Same, I say we head back. I’m feeling sick and Carolyn thinks there’s some kind of pressure change that’s causing it.  Do either of you feel sick?” John continued and Adrienne raised her hand, glad that someone else was feeling bad and it wasn’t just her worrying about Daniel.  Zelenka nodded as well, a surprise to Adrienne since he hadn’t mentioned it to her before.

“Alright, then let’s get going,” he ordered, ducking back down to leave.  The reality of their failure setting in, Adrienne stood slowly and looked over at her search companion, offering her hand.  Trying to hold it together, she zipped up her backpack and trudged onto the gate, trailing Sheppard and Zelenka. She could see Teal’c dialing as they approached, evidently he hadn’t found anything of use either, a waiting pair of doctors standing over to the side. As soon as the wormhole formed, Carolyn and Rodney stepped through, John and Radek close behind but Adrienne paused and looked back to the ruins one last time, a tear forming in her eye.  She was on the edge of losing it completely, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, a gentle squeeze of reassurance. 

“We will find DanielJackson; we just need to determine where to look,” Teal’c whispered, before walking past, stepping into the shimmer. Wiping her face, Adrienne sucked in some tears, glancing back over her shoulder one final time.  

“Don’t you leave me Daniel Anthony,” she said into the light breeze, stepping through after her friend. 

Adrienne crossed over to the other side and saw Rodney talking to Sam, Sam looking exactly like she felt right now.  Taking a breath, Adrienne decided that she needed to do everything in her power to keep it together for the both of them.  She had hoped to bring better news, but she could say without a glimmer of doubt that there were no signs that anything was afoot, they had simply vanished. Holding onto to that hope, that there was just something that they weren’t seeing, Adrienne took a few steps down the platform, a yoga mantra in her head as she stepped, ordering her emotions in check.  With her final step onto the gate room floor, she felt her pack shaking wildly on her back, so much so that it felt like she was going to be pulled down onto the ground. She tried to reach behind herself to see what was going on but couldn’t reach, so she grabbed the straps to remove it from her shoulders when she was scratched, violently down the center of her back. 

“What the - !” she screamed out, throwing her pack to the floor, peering down at it as it was bouncing around violently, appearing full, even fuller than it had with the rocks in it she was bringing back to geology.  Every armed member of personnel in the gate room pointed the guns at the black ball of fabric, thrashing and leaping about onto the floor. 

“Dr. Rowan!” Rodney screamed at her, “What is in that thing?!?!” 

“Rocks, Zelenka and I brought rocks for geology,” Adrienne replied, confused, beginning to step slowly away from the pack, just mere seconds before it erupted open, the sound of ripping cloth an explosion just feet from her, however, there wasn’t a bomb, instead  out of it a bird, some hawk-looking thing, flew to the ceiling of the gate room. Shaking her head, shocked as she gazed back down at what had been her backpack, Adrienne saw three squirrel-like animals scurrying in three different directions. There was a snap and a hiss as an assortment of snakes and a rather large snapping turtle came crawling out right after and Adrienne stood in amazement looking at the small zoo exiting her backpack when she felt a sharp pain in her side.  She started to look to see what was wrong when she felt Teal’c grab her forcefully and reach into her pocket, pulling out a scorpion and throwing it to the ground.  Recognizing the animal, Adrienne ran over to Dr. Lam, undoing her pants as she ran but Dr. Lam had read her mind already reaching for her med kit and the anti-venom.  Adrienne showed her hip and thankfully she hadn’t been stung, instead there was just a scratch from the animal trying to escape so Dr. Lam applied iodine to the relieved archaeologist, both women watching chaos unfold all around them.   

Various SG personnel were trying to round up the creatures at Rodney’s direction, his annoyed and annoying voice echoing around the gateroom.  Two men were walking over to a box that Walter was wheeling in, snakes carefully balanced on the end of P-90‘s while another young lieutenant was trying to goad the squirrels to her with an apple she must have had in her pocket.  John was trying to corner the hawk with a net Adrienne had missed anyone bringing in as Sam came storming over, her hands thrown up into the air, a look of bewilderment across her face. 

“Adrienne what were you thinking? Why did you bring back...animals!?!” Sam demanded looking at Adrienne as if she were insane.  

“I didn’t,” Adrienne insisted, “I just grabbed some fossils to take down to geology and paleontology.” Dr. Lam made a funny face at her as she talked, placing a bandage on her side, Teal’c walking over with what was left of her backpack, a handful of shredded black canvas. 

“AdrienneRowan, you should not put animals in your pack. They have defecated on your notebooks,”  he scolded as he handed her the bag, if you could call it that, Adrienne shaking her head in disgust at the offer. 

‘“I didn’t put any animals in my pack, why in the world would I do that!?!” she defended, Zelenka hurrying over now as well, his expression as puzzled as everyone else’s. 

“Dr. Rowan, what else did you bring?!” he asked.  

“NOTHING!! You SAW me put those rocks in my bag.  And Teal’c, YOU walked with me to the gate, why would I bring back the damn wild kingdom!?!” Adrienne shouted, red in the face with fury.  The others were still looking at her like she was insane, but Radek simply dug through the shreds of filthy and torn backpack, tossing her composition books onto the floor and then turning the bag over shaking it out.  Nothing fell out but a few pieces of rodent poop and the scientist tossed the pack onto the ground and shook his hand, his palm now covered in small black ants.  Looking over his shoulder as the remaining personnel were rounding up what looked like a rabbit and a weasel, Teal’c carrying the snapping turtle, it’s mouth firmly clasped on his staff weapon, Zalenka looked back at Adrienne and Sam, nodding his head.  

“I think those are your rocks,” he stated, pointing at the creatures.

  

“What?”  Adrienne exclaimed as she buttoned her pants again, her side throbbing in pain and the more neurotic side of her personality starting to contemplate the worst case scenario, that the scratch was really a sting, when the accented voice continued. 

“I think somehow, on that planet, they were turned to stone.  Not stone exactly, but a solid mass of matter, almost as if they were being preserved.  For some reason escaping the planet’s atmosphere must allow the object to reawaken, reform or something similar,”  Zelenka answered glancing at Sam who paused only for a moment to consider his words before reaching out to his arm, trying to entice an ant onto her own. Bringing the ant to her face Sam closed one eye and then the other, her deep brown eyes cutting back at short Czech man. 

“There doesn’t seem to be anything special about this ant Radek. It’s just an ant,” Sam declared.  

“Are we still subscribing ta da idea dat I brought back a bag ah critters?” Adrienne demanded.  Sam laughed at bit at her Louisiana pronunciation of critters; Adrienne normally hid her accent so well, unless she was really angry, which given this situation she guessed her friend was heading there right now. 

“May I just add that even for Adrienne, a scorpion in her pocket is a little extreme,” Carolyn pointed out, zipping up the medical bag.  

“Thank you, a voice of reason,” Adrienne sighed, slightly touched that Carolyn of all people had jumped to her defense. Her expression changing, considering Radek’s suggestion, the circumstances, the disappearance of her team, Sam looked over her shoulder, finding who she was looking for swearing at a few members of SG-4. 

“Rodney, take those things to your lab. Now! I want Carolyn AND Carson examining those things immediately!”  Sam shouted and walked over to John and Teal’c, who were both trying to load the snapper into the plastic box with the snakes as Rodney continued giving orders, Sam hated giving him power but she didn’t have much choice this time.  

“You two, and Addy, I want you three in the briefing room, smart board on and I need a diagram of the area, now! “ Sam was still shouting a bit, not out of urgency but excitement, this was a lead, this could bring Jack home to her.  She saw Adrienne trying to salvage her things from the ground as John and Teal’c made their way to the briefing room and hoped that between the three of them they would have some idea as to what the area looked like. There was a figure dashing down the stairs, Walter. thankfully, taking over the clean-up of the gate room and control of the situation, so Sam left, following them to the briefing room, her steps swift up the metal staircase. 

As she expected, Adrienne had already turned on the smart board and was sketching a grid of the area, thank god for archeological methods and an anal staff. John was filling in with rough sketches of the buildings, the ruins and the sparse vegetation but paused, glancing over his shoulder as Sam entered and closed the door.  

“So General, what do you think is going on here?”  John asked, placing the black marker into the tray, Adrienne turning around to hear her answer.  

“I think our people are still over there.  I think they’re frozen, like Adrienne’s rocks, for the lack of a better word,” Sam replied.  

“Dear god,” Adrienne shrank into the nearest chair, every possible nightmare scenario playing through her head.

“SamanthaO’Neill, how is that possible? I was on the planet almost as long and yet I am not a stone?” Teal’c asked and John nodded in agreement.  It was a good question.  

“I don’t know Teal’c, maybe because you’re Jaffa, maybe the tretonin.  But, if I’m correct, we need to figure out which rocks are our people and which rocks aren’t,” Sam walked over to the diagram.  

“Wait, how are we supposed to figure that out? What if we bring back, I dunno, a freakin’ pissed off mountain lion?!” John asked, looking at Sam in disbelief.  

“Which is why we’re going to wait on the doctors before going back through. We need to see what kind of hibernation these animals are in when they take this form.  And I need the three of you to remember every rock that you encountered, anything large around the size of a person and we’ll have to bring them back, one by one and hope for the best,” Sam laid out her plan to her friends with pure honestly, this was a long shot, but it was all she had. Sighing, her eidetic memory already making a mental map of the entire area, selfishly trying to figure out where Daniel might have been, Adrienne put her head into her hands, rubbing her aching temples, while John peered back over at their chart, shaking his head, finally returning his gaze to Sam.  

“There’s no way we can remember every damn rock. The planet is covered in them,” John responded.  

“It is the best chance we have, so rack your brains,”  Sam ordered and headed down to the science wing.  

******

“Alright General,” Carson spoke, walking over to a box of squirrels, at least Sam thought they were squirrels, the small creatures were running around the clear container so fast she could barely make them out. 

“I thought there were three of them?” she asked, concern mounting in her voice,  as Carson nodded in the affirmative.  

“There were, but the third one died.  Not related to the hibernation; the snake bit it,” Carson added the last part quickly, sensing Sam’s apprehension.  The snap of latex on skin echoed throughout the infirmary as Carolyn Lam came into the room, removing bloodied gloves from her hands and tossing them into the contaminated materials bin.  

“Thankfully it did die; it let me examine the brain.  Nothing.  Every physiological test that we ran indicates a type of hibernation very similar to that of certain animals here on Earth. Deep relaxation, sleep and hibernation.  The key difference is” she walked over to a print-out of a DNA sequence and some blood work, “something on the surface of the planet acts in a manner similar to the stargate, however instead of taking the bodies apart to atomic units to transport it through space, it takes the body apart and transforms it into, well, stone.” 

“Then how do these plants, animals or people awaken?” Sam asked. 

“I don’t think that they do,” Carolyn continued, “I think it was just pure coincidence that Adrienne decided to bring some rocks through the gate and since the gate works on basically the same principle coming through the wormhole reactivated the cells and told the body to reform and wake up.” 

“So,” Sam clarified as she studied the blood work carefully and it seemed in order, nothing in any of these DNA strands was very different from standard Earth mammals and reptiles, “bringing each one, one at a time to be safe, through the gate should wake them up?” 

“In theory,” Carson replied and while Carolyn seemed to be refraining from comment, so Sam nodded, feeling the lead doctor would have objected if necessary.

“Understood, well, unless anyone has a better idea, I need you two to get a team together to check each and every one of them as they awaken. Full work -up.  I don’t want to miss anything, ” she ordered, not awaiting their reply, rushing out of the infirmary headed for the elevators when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Trying to keep calm, she slipped it out, gazing down at the message. 

I think I found Jack  

*****

Adrienne and Teal’c stepped through the gate and stood aside, allowing John and a few of the orderlies to file in behind them, pulling the stretcher.  John waited for everyone to come through and the wormhole to collapse before activating the timer on his watch, peering up to address the crowd.

“Ok people, we start with that one,” he pointed over to the rock that Adrienne had been claiming for at least an hour was Jack,  “load it up.  General says that NOTHING goes through the gate with it; we just push it through and the team on the other side pulls him over.  Then we cross after it, make sure everything went as planned, and repeat. I’m watching our time. Are there any questions?” 

Everyone was silent, Sam had gone over this at least five times before releasing them through, so Adrienne broke the silence, directing the orderiles over to the large stone but stood back, unable to touch it. She had the ability to help, she was strong and capable, however the thought of it being Jack O’Neill freaked her out just a bit so she let the others load the rock onto the stretcher.  There was minimal talking as the operation was carried out and they all hurried back to the Stargate, carefully rolling the the stretcher forward and pushing it through alone.  Breathing in and glanced down at his watch yet again, John picked his head up to look back at everyone just as the end of the bed slipped into oblivion.  

“We wait 5 full minutes and then go.  Teal’c?”  Teal’c nodded and began to keep time on the stopwatch John had given him, the double checking most likely unnecessary but gave them all at least the idea that they were doing something other than waiting, which is really all they were doing, waiting.  It was the longest five minutes of Adrienne’s life.  

When they crossed into the gate room they did so to shouting and guns pulled on them.  At the base of the ramp SG-3 was pointing their guns at someone who was kneeling onto the floor, the stretcher knocked over onto it’s side and Sam shouting orders from the observation room.  

“What happened?” John asked, approaching where the marines were holding someone captive, someone in familiar garb, garb quite familiar to Adrienne. 

“How in the hell did he get in here?” John looked up at Sam in the observation room as some gate room personnel wrestled with a clone who was thrashing in the floor. Well, Adrienne thought, Rodney got his clone. 

“Not Jack,” Sam spoke into the microphone, everyone looking back at Adrienne for answers. No I know how Daniel feels, she thought, everyone always looking at him for a solution.  

“Sorry, I’m trying to work with last known locations here,” she replied. 

“GeneralO’Neill took DanielJackson to the far settlement.  I believe he is there,” Teal’c spoke up and Adrienne shot him a glare.  

“And ya couldn’t ‘ave mentioned dis befo’ T?” she made a face, her accent a clear indicator of her annoyance level.

“I did not wish to precipitate on your procession,” Teal’c responded, in incorrect slang but Adrienne was not annoyed to correct him, her scowl now directed at the observation glass. 

“I think we go back and see if Mr. SmartyPants has got anything else he neglected to mention,” she shouted, hoping Sam did not take her frustration as insubordination, but she must not have, as Adrienne head the click of the Chevrons behind her, the ancient metal and rock slipping into place.  Come on Teal’c, Adrienne thought, please help me find Daniel. 

*****

“I believe this is ValaMalDoran,” Teal’c stated as he pointing at a long stone on the ground, smooth and flat with flayed top edges. 

“Why?” John asked, kneeling into the ground, looking for the fossil like indicators that Adrienne had calmed to see on some of the animals but finding nothing. 

“Because as I left to inform O’Neill we had found nothing she was lying upon the ground complaining of boredom,” Teal’c answered.  

“That one,” John ordered their companions without hesitation,  who carefully wheeled it back to the gate.  

*****

After five minutes, Adrienne, alone this time, went through the wormhole. 

“What do you mean I was a rock? I was lying in the sun waiting for stupid Daniel to tell us what we already knew and now I’m here on a stretcher.  Leave me the hell alone, stop touching me! Sam! Sam, what in the hell is going on?!” 

Adrienne knew that voice and couldn’t have been happier to hear it, looking up to the observation room to see Sam giving her the thumbs up.  Without hesitation, without a word to Vala, Adrienne raced back down to go through again.  

When she returned, Teal’c informed them that Cameron was most likely the rock near where Vala had been lying, explaining that Cam and he had taken bets as to how long they could torment Vala before she completely flew off the handle.  John ordered that rock to be taken back as well and twenty minutes later Teal’c returned, a smile from ear to ear.  

“Now to find Jack and Indy,” Adrienne said to herself, “If I were Daniel, where would I be,” Adrienne asked herself out loud, pausing for just a second before quickly looking up.    

“I’ve got Daniel!!” she shouted, John rushing to her side, scanning the ground at their feet. 

“Where?” he asked, as she pulled him by his hand to the distressed doorway to a structure on the very edge of the village. 

“He’s inside, over in the corner; I think I was sitting on him earlier,” she admitted. 

“How can you be sure? I am a little leery of something inside a building... it could be a wild animal, anything that was hiding from Anubis’ men,” he inquired in follow-up, not wanted a repeat of their first pass through, or for that matter, a literal wild animal but Adrienne was just nodding emphatically.  

“Trust me, he would have come in here, hunted around a bit and noticed the same rocks I did.  We think alike,” she answered plainly, forgetting how that sounded, as if they didn’t catch enough heat from the powers that be...

“Uh huh,” John replied, a smirk on his face, and leaned back to order the men over to collect the rock that Adrienne had been talking about.

“If that is DanielJackson then the stone outside the doorway will be O’Neill,” Teal’c stated as he approached, pointing to a large lump to Adrienne’s left.  

“How do you figure?” she asked. 

“Because O’Neill does not like tight places however would have remained by the door to encourage DanielJackson to work faster,” Teal’c responded. Adrienne couldn’t help but laugh at his choice of the word encourage since Jack’s encouragement of Daniel was often anything but. 

“Take that one too,” John responded.  The orderlies lifted the second rock to the stretcher, rushing back toward the portal to take them home as Adrienne noticed that she starting to feel heavy again. They had been there too long, Carolyn had warned them of this and if they stayed much longer they would all be literal piles of rubble.  Taking a breath of the air thickening around her lungs, Adrienne powered ahead, following the rock that she hoped was Daniel. 

When they arrived at the gate Adrienne dashed ahead of the scout team to dial home, glancing back at Teal’c. 

“I’m going ahead, so I can, uh, tell Sam to be ready,” she stated not eager to admit to this particular assembly that she wanted to be there to jump her boyfriend the moment he woke up. 

“Of course,” Teal’c responded but he knew that AdrienneRowan wanted to be there when DanielJackson came through but he did not call attention to that fact, just smiled as she dashed through the minute the gate was active.  

Adrienne stood and waited at the base of the gate as Sam came to join her, peering down at the shorter woman. 

“Both of them?” Sam asked. 

“We think so,” Adrienne replied.  

“Good,” Sam answered simply.   

Adrienne looked up as the end of the stretcher came through the gate and saw combat boots over the edge, the figure sitting up and adjusting his glasses.  Adrienne, in complete disregard for anyone else in the gate room took off running up the ramp, pushing an orderly out of the way and throwing her arms around him.  

“Ad, hey, what’s going on, what happened?” Daniel looked at her like she was completely out of her mind.  She backed up, realizing that the every person in the gate room was looking at them, her arms around his neck and her face dangerously close to his. No affection at work Adrienne, no affection at work, at least not in the gateroom. 

“Sha, let’s just say that you were probably stoned for the first time in your life,” she joked and he looked at her totally confused, removing his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Come on Indy,” she ordered, wrapped her arm around him to help him from the stretcher, leading him to the infirmary.  Sam smiled as she watched Adrienne lead Daniel out of the gate room, noting her friend’s inability to resist as she slipped her hand up the back of his shirt, rubbing him gently. Breathing in, hoping that Adrienne had been right, that she would have the same luck, Sam looked back at Walter to redial and send the stretcher through for hopefully the final time.  

As the yellow metal bar peeked through the event horizon Sam held her breath, peeking slowly to see who was on lying on top.  

“Dammit, Daniel, I fell asleep you’re taking so goddam long,” Jack sat up and put his face in his hand. Forgetting herself, Sam hurried up to the stretcher and grabbed his face, kissing him dead on the lips and he kissed her back for just a moment and then opened his eyes, scanning the crowed. 

“Honey, I knew you liked kinky, but I think this is a bit much,” Jack joked, “Wait, how did I get back here and where did Daniel go?” 

“I’ll explain later, but the good news is you guys found something.  We have a live Anubis clone in custody,” she backed up and straightened her jacket, trying to salvage the little bit of decorum that could be left in such a situation but Jack smiled at her, seeming to enjoy that attention.  

“Alright Hot Lips, that sounds good,” he teased and she made a face having already switched back into their work persona, “let’s go have a little chat with our socially confused amigo,” the general declared as he hopped from the stretcher, holding onto the end, apparently a little wobbly still from the effect, making his way carefully toward the exit, right past Dr. Lam as if she wasn’t there.   Frowning, Sam marched over to grab his arm, pulling him back as she pointed to the base doctor, whose own eyes were already glaring  at the second stubborn man to march past her.

“Mission protocol General, full medical work-up,” Sam tilted her head to Dr. Lam, smiling back at her husband.

“Does Daniel have to go through this too?” Jack asked. 

“He’s already down there, as is Cam,” Sam answered.  

“Good, we can complain together. Come ‘on doc,” Jack gestured to the doctor, who rolled her eyes but followed, heading down the hallway.  

Sam breathed a sigh of relief as the gate went dead behind her and dismissed the rest of the staff, thanked John and Teal’c for their efforts before making her way to her office. She planned on ensuring that her husband was alright, although since his sense of humor seemed to be intact she was fairly certain that everything would be ok, but first she had a phone call to make. Entering her office, Sam closed the door behind her, walking to her desk and without taking a seat, picked up the phone, dialing.  

“Mr. Woolsey please. Yes, I’ll hold.”  

*****

“Sha, I don’t understand why you want to come down here, Sam’s not going to let anything happen.” 

“Ad, I said you didn’t need to come, but this isn’t like dealing with some real bad guy. These poor men are created for one purpose, they can’t help it. I just want to make sure they are treating him well.” 

“Dammit why do you go and say things that make me love you more.” 

“Because it’s all about bringing you into my web so that you can so longer escape my clutches.” 

“Stop it, you’re gonna make me drop this and then it’s not going to be any good.”

“I still don’t see why you brought him a soda. I thought you didn’t want to come down here.” 

“I don’t, but just trust me, Diet Coke makes everything better.” 

Resting his head back in his chair, the transmission causing more pain than he had anticipated, Anubis closed his eyes, willing the ache away. It was done. He had his direct line and now it was just a matter of waiting until the time was right.