Daniel & Adrienne #57 - The Other Side

Ok, this one had a SPECIFIC purpose...

If you have any questions or comments on this one, please message me

“Adrienne, you’d better get up and get going; I left the shower running for you,” she heard a voice calling out to her as she floated lightly between the world of dreams and reality. Damn Daniel, she thought to herself, always making me get up so damn early.  She could use the baby as an excuse, that was a sure fire way to get out of anything, so she lay there, debating it, finally rolling over to cover her head with the blanket when she hit her hand on a table, the pain jolting her awake.

“Wha in da ‘ell?” she said aloud, opening her eyes, trying to figure out how in her tossing and turning she managed to roll herself onto his side.  

“Come on Adrienne!!” the voice shouted again, louder. There was no turning back now, she was up, and giving up, she looked over to see how bad she had destroyed the sheets and saw the sunlight was beaming into the room, so brightly that she couldn’t even open her eyes fully.  

“Daniel, dammit, I get da point,” she screamed, “shut the gah damn curtains.”  No sooner than she uttered the words, however, did she hear laughing from behind her.  

“Damn girl, you must have had one hell of a nightmare if you’re waking up yelling at Daniel,” the voice said between bouts of laughter.  A voice that was not her fiancee.  

Swallowing, hoping that she was still asleep, Adrienne sat up and turned to see Cameron, standing in front of her, toweling off his hair, wearing nothing but a huge grin on his face.  Panicked, not knowing what else to do, Adrienne turned back around quickly, covering her eyes with her hand, shocked, embarrassed and completely confused. 

“Christ Addy, are you alright, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said, approaching, dear god he is walking over here, sitting down beside her on the bed.  Her stomach in her throat, she scooted away from him, forcing her eyes in the opposite direction.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” he said, moving even closer, wrapping his damp arm around her shoulder.  Adrienne pulled away, her heart racing, pounding, threatening to escape her chest.  

“Cam, why are you calling me that and where’s Daniel?” she asked, pulling her knees up to her chest, realizing that she was wearing a very thin silk nightgown, virtually transparent, something she would never normally wear.  She ducked underneath the blankets still averting her eyes. 

“Daniel? I don’t know, in his hole, acting miserable like always.  What happened yesterday when you guys were on that planet? I thought Vala said everything went alright, but it looks like it scared you good,” Cameron was now inching towards her again. He reached over, pulling her into his arms to hold her, but she pushed him away shaking her head.   

“Why are you hugging me? Why are you naked? Why am I in your BED!?!” Adrienne shouted, leaping from the bed, looking for clothes, while Cam stood staring at her, dear god he is still naked, completely lost. 

“Sweetie, I don’t know what’s gotten into you but I’m calling Doc Beckett and have him send someone over here,” Cam said, making his way over to the cordless phone on the nightstand as Adrienne was searching the floor, looking for something, anything, a pair of sweats even, when she heard Cameron talking, freezing at his words. 

“Carson, hey it’s Cam.  Listen, Addy woke up this morning flipping out over something.  Yeah. No, I know Jenn gave them the look over but she’s not herself. Can you send someone over here? Alright, thanks,” he said and hung up the receiver.  Trying to act like she hadn’t been listening, Adrienne continued frantically crawling around the floor, searching for clothes as Cameron walked over to her, finally wrapping a towel around his waist, extending his hand to help her up. 

“Adrienne, are you looking for clothes?  Your clothes are in the closet, like always. I’m gonna shut off the water and then I want you to sit down and calm down until Kar’yn gets here,” Cameron said gently, pulling her into his arms and holding onto her.  Adrienne was shaking, her dark cajun eyes darting around the room, examining her surroundings. There was no canopy bed, no greek art, no tacky dresser, nothing, this was not her bedroom. Where was she? Cam’s place? She couldn’t be at his place; she and Daniel had been there tons of times, she even crashed there once when Daniel was off world and this wasn’t his apartment either. 

“Where’s Daniel? Can you call Daniel? Please,” she begged, her eyes flooding with tears, the trembling worsening.   Shaking his head, Cam walked over to the phone, grabbing it and dialing again.  

*****

Daniel was in the lab when the phone rang.  He wished Woolsey would leave him the hell alone, there were no damn bombs in the database to make the IOA happy and he didn’t give a shit about what Adrienne thought she might have found.  She was just a younger and better educated Vala and he wanted to keep her quiet and as far away from himself as possible, regardless of what Robert Woolsey wanted. If he thought she was so perfect and wonderful, then he needed to just give her Daniel’s lab and stop toying with the entire operation like it was his own personal chess game. 

Ignoring the phone at first, Daniel continued working his way through the Asgard royal lineage, but as soon as the ringing stopped it would start up again thirty seconds later; apparently whoever wanted to get a hold of him wasn’t going to give up.  He slammed his pen down onto his desk in frustration, standing and making his way over to the phone.  

“Jackson,” he growled into the receiver. He’d gotten here early this morning for a reason and if this was how the morning was going to go there was just no point. 

“Hey man, it’s me, I’ve got something funky going on over here,” the voice on the other end was Cameron.  Daniel had nothing to say to him; since Cam and Adrienne had become an item, it was clear where his loyalties lay.  Every time Daniel had to fix something Adrienne had screwed up, Cam would come storming in here like her great defender to tell him off and not to talk to his girlfriend like that.  It disgusted him, but more than that it disgusted him how SG-1 had been reduced to that tramp Vala, Teal’c irresponsible’s son Ry’ac, Adrienne and Cameron.  He had asked to leave the team over six months ago and Woolsey agreed thinking it would give Daniel more time to research. It did, it just didn’t yield the results they wanted, resulting in weekly required progress reports where Daniel would have to demonstrate to an IOA committee what exacted he had discovered each week and each week it was never enough. Daniel was so over this place he would be tempted to leave in a heart beat, this is, if he had a place to go.  

“What kind of funky Cameron; I am in the middle of something,” Daniel replied, looking over at the clock noting that it was almost 9.  Never mind, he knew the funky; Cam was going to make an excuse for Adrienne’s lateness. One more late and Daniel was going to write her up and make her answer to Woolsey, pet or not, that was behavior that he was hoping Woolsey wouldn’t excuse. 

“Adrienne funky,” he replied, as expected, Daniel sighing into the phone.  

“Cam, look, I don’t care what god damn excuse she has this time, I don’t. I said the next time I was going to write her up and I meant it.  I don’t give a shit that you two are sleeping together or not,” Daniel answered and started to hang up the receiver when he heard the two of them shouting at each other and Adrienne’s voice on the other line.  

“Daniel, sha, please come over here. I have no idea what’s happening and Cam’s acting like we are together,” she begged.  Sha? Wasn’t that some cajun pet name, meant ‘love’ , ‘dear’ or something? Why was she calling him that? 

“Nice try Dr. Rowan, but it isn’t going to work, if you’re not here in 15 minutes you can explain to Robert why you can’t get to work on time,” he replied, hoping that would spur her on, she hated to disappoint Woolsey, starting to hang up again when he heard what sounded like crying.  Crying? Adrienne? Why in the hell was she crying?

“Indy, please, what’s happening to me? Where are you? I’m so scared,” Adrienne was crying, really crying it sounded like.  He was now throughly annoyed, how dare she try something like this to make him crack because either way he was going to look like a complete asshole, yet again, because of her. He hated her more than words could express. 

“Dr. Rowan, what do you expect me to do?” he asked but got no reply, hearing instead her wailing in the background ‘Why is he calling me that?’ . Daniel was about to hang up when Cameron came to the phone again, his own voice begging her to calm down and go sit on the bed. 

“She’s a mess and keeps crying and asking for you.  Carson is sending Kar’yn over but she’s completely hysterical, begging for you. Look, I know you and her don’t see eye to eye but can you just come down here. For old times sake?” Cameron asked, hoping that would strike a cord. They’d been friends for a long time, Adrienne or not, and at the very least he hoped that it would be enough to get him down here. Truth of the matter was, Cam still couldn’t get the thought out of his head that something had gone wrong on the mission, something that perhaps Adrienne could only discuss with Daniel, whom she’d dragged along at Jack’s request since Cam himself was sent with Ry’ac to meet with the Jaffa council. He hated when they were split up on missions. 

“Fine; I will be there shortly,” Daniel gave in, rolling his eyes and slamming the phone into its cradle, turning to see Vala entering the lab.  

“Here are the reports you asked for from the mission yesterday,” she said professionally handing some folders over and he took them, rudely, throwing them onto his desk as he began to pack things up, a sinking feeling in his stomach that he would be dealing with this all day.

“Did your little buddy mess with anything I told her not to?” Daniel demanded, angrily shoving his computer and legal pad into his bag. 

“No, we did just as we were told, like always sir,” she answered curtly.  She was always curt with him since he had turned her down, like some idiotic depression on the Odyssey had any bearing on real life. He didn’t care, she could hate him too; the SGC was not a dating service and he had no interest in her or anyone else here. 

“Well apparently she did, because now she’s flipping out and asking for me and I have to go over to her and Cam’s love nest to deal with her latest episode of bullshit,” Daniel spat, tossing the strap of his bag across his chest before heading to the door.  

“Why in the hell would she ask for you?” Vala wondered, thinking about the time Adrienne had choke slammed Daniel for grabbing her arm.  She tried not to smile thinking about it in front of him but he’d deserved it, if not for anything else but for all of the times he had grabbed her like she was his property. How could I have ever cared for him, she thought, he might have been intriguing before but look what he became. 

“I have no idea, but I’m going to go over there, see what in the hell her problem is and head back here. In the meantime, I need you to sort those files into the cabinets,” he ordered her, pointing to a rather large stack of Adrienne’s shit that had been left on the center table, shit he refused to deal with.  She nodded her head, not making eye contact.

“Yes sir,” she said, heading for her assigned task.  

*****

“Dr. Rowan please hold still,” Kar’yn said as she tried to examine Adrienne’s pupils, but Adrienne kept pushing her away, shaking her head in protest. 

“Kar’yn, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be on Chulac with your daughter, Nia’lyn?” Adrienne asked confused but Kar’yn was shaking her head sadly.  

“Dr. Rowan, Ry’ac and I lost the baby. After the Lucain attack on the Odyssey. Don’t you remember?” she said gently, Adrienne now, shaking her head. She didn’t remember any Lucian attack on the Odyssey, they hadn't dealt with the Lucians in a while, in fact Vala was off world right now trying to negotiate with those very same Lucians to enlist them in the hunt for ZPMs and the fight against Anubis. Taking the opportunity while she was distracted, Kar’yn reached over to continue but Adrienne opened her mouth again to refuse the exam, when her eyes widened, a new panic moving across her face. 

“The baby!!” she screamed out, reaching for her abdomen, pulling the sweatpants to her ankles, “where’s my baby!?!” 

“Baby? What baby Addy? You’re pregnant?” Cam asked, confused, stepping forward now to reach out for her arms, but she was swatting him away, backing up, running her hands across her stomach, tears welling up in her eyes. 

“Where’s my baby?!?! I haven’t felt anything, my stomach, it’s flat, where’s my baby!?!” she was shrieking, falling to her knees, sobbing, screaming, begging for Daniel. Confused, Kar’yn knelt to her side, resting her palm lightly on the clearly disturbed cajun woman’s back. 

“Dr. Rowan, how far along are you?” she asking gently, holding back her own personal pain. 

“Fifteen weeks,” Adrienne choked out, reaching for her stomach again, “we’re fifteen weeks.” Kar’yn nodding, reaching for Adrienne’s hand to pull her upright to lead her back to the bed, cutting her eyes at Cam who was shaking his head no in bewilderment.

“Where’s Cassie?  Or Jennifer? Or Carolyn? Carolyn has my records, she’s been monitoring my entire pregnancy,” Adrienne whimpered, her puffy red eyes gazing at the Jaffa woman in complete despair. Hearing what Adrienne was asking now, what she was claiming now, Cam walked over to her, sitting beside her on the bed, wrapping his arm around her and this time, she didn’t shrug him away, letting him hold her as she wept onto his shoulder.  

“Honey, Carolyn died in the attack too and, Cassie, are you talking about Cassie Frasier? She moved with Sam to Nevada last year when Sam took over area 51,” Cameron explained but Adrienne was shaking her head, her hands still firmly planted on her abdomen, over a child that was not there.  

“No, no, Sam runs the SGC, and Carolyn’s dead. That’s not possible....” she trailed off a bit, “what about Jennifer?” Adrienne continued, trying to understand this strange world around her, find at least one of her friends, one of her friends that was a doctor who could confirm her story. But where was Daniel? Did something happen? Had she lost the baby? Shaking, tears continuously streaking down her face, Adrienne glanced up at Cam, searching for answers. 

“Jenn’s fine, just has the day off. After all she and Rodney are expecting any day now,” Cameron said, regretting his words and she started to breath heavy again, on the verge of a panic attack, reaching for her middle, muttering ‘my baby’ under her breath. Confused, Cam just held her tightly, hoping there wasn’t something going on that she wasn’t telling him.  

“If I find out that this is some elaborate ruse to get out of work Adrienne, I swear I will have you shipped to Area 51 immediately, don’t think I’m above calling Jack to get it done either,” Daniel stormed into the room grumbling, a frown across his face, having let himself in by way of the door left unlocked by Kar’yn.  Paying no attention to his words at all, Adrienne pulled away from the comfort of the colonel’s embrace, racing over to Daniel and throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, burying her face into him. He was so shocked, he just stood there letting her hold on to him, his arms out to the sides not touching her for a second. 

“Daniel, thank god, thank god you’re here.  I woke up this morning and you weren’t there and everything makes no sense and the baby, the baby’s gone, did I lose the baby, I’m so scared, please, please tell me what’s going on,” she started to pull away, running her hand down his cheek, trembling, pulling his forehead to hers when he finally registered what was happening, jerking his back from her embrace. 

“Adrienne, what in the world do you think you’re doing?” Daniel shouted, pushing her back, looking down at her in shock. 

“What are you saying? Daniel, please, what happened? Did I lose the baby? Please tell me, we can work through this together but just don’t lie to me,” she pleaded, all rational thought completely gone. Shoving past her, Daniel marched up to Cameron, pointing behind himself at the sobbing mess of an assistant that was currently sinking to her knees on the floor. 

“THIS is why you called me? Your girlfriend is having an emotional breakdown and this is why you dragged me out here. Cameron, I know you don’t seem to think that I do anything, but I have important things that I’m trying to accomplish, and babysitting Adrienne is not one of them, in fact, I’m pretty sure that’s YOUR job,” Daniel spat at him seeing out of the corner of his eye that Adrienne had just crumpled to the floor, Kar’yn rushing over to her, realizing that she had fainted dead away.  

“Gentlemen,” she said, “could you please help me get her to the bed?” 

Not even acknowledging Daniel’s rant, Cam dashed over to Adrienne’s side, leaning over and taking her into his arms.  Tenderly, he lifted her up and carried her to the bed, Daniel standing cross armed behind him.  

*****

“Come on sweetheart, everything’s gonna be alright,” Cameron whispered to her, adjusting her to a more comfortable position. Satisfied, he whipped his head around to glare at Daniel.  

“Does this look like a breakdown to you!?! Something’s wrong with her and the last thing she did was go on a mission with you!!! How do I know that you didn’t send her into something you were too scared to deal with yourself!” Cameron shouted, standing, stomping over to his colleague. Kar’yn just let the men argue, returning to Adrienne, checking her blood pressure, pulse, and a few other vitals.  She had just started taking blood samples, her first thought to run a pregnancy test, when the men seemed to quiet down and suddenly, Cameron was right there, holding her gently, rubbing her arm.  The prick of the needle must have startled her, because she was stirring, ever so slightly, her eyes fluttering open weakly. 

“Cam?” she asked, the colonel breathing out a sigh of relief.  

“I’m here Addy, I’m here,” he said, leaning in to kiss her tenderly, his lips brushing hers  lightly and she started to kiss him back. Rolling his eyes, Daniel turned to leave, figuring this fiasco was over when he heard her speak, shout more like, peering over his shoulder to see her pulling away. 

“Cam, why are you kissing me?” she asked, glancing over at Kar’yn, the look on her face exactly the same confusion as before. 

“Wha da fuck is goin‘ on?!” she demanded now, the tears from earlier replaced now with anger. Letting out a groan, Daniel walked out to the kitchen to grab a chair, why he wasn’t sure. She’s going insane, a small part of his brain thought, let her; then you can be rid of her for good. He didn’t stop though, just grabbed the wooden backing, dragging his seat back into the bedroom, setting it by the door. If he was going to stay, he might as well get comfortable.  

Calmer, or so Adrienne seemed, Kar’yn leaned in to take the blood, Cam again joining her on the bed, taking her by the hand. 

“Addy, why don’t you tell Kar’yn what you remember after the mission? Maybe you came in contact with something,” Cam requested, his accusing eyes cutting back at Daniel. Oh sure, Daniel thought, blame me, let’s just forget that she can’t seem to keep her hands to herself; that’s why she lives in the infirmary. 

“Ok, so last night Daniel, Jonas and I got back from a mission, late, we had gone to go for what we thought was a ZPM, but it was a dead end,” Adrienne started, taking a deep breath seeing that every last one of her companions in the room was completely confused. 

“Jonas Quinn?” Daniel asked, puzzled, “What are you talking about Jonas, you and I?” 

“Yeah, we’ve been looking for ZPMs, to power Atlantis. You thought you found one on PX, something, I can’t remember, when the Asgard had arrived at that planet the people there had mentioned something like gods and angels; you said it sounded like the ancients,” she replied, noting the complete lack of any expression on Daniel’s face. Where was she? This wasn’t her Daniel and she couldn’t read this man’s face at all; there wasn’t so much as a frown to interpret, so she just continued. 

“We were tired, I didn’t want to sleep on base, so we went home and you stopped by the Indian restaurant for take-out  because I had a craving, then we showered and went to bed,” Adrienne explained, to Daniel, only to Daniel, Cam and Kar’yn sitting back, staring at one another utterly lost. No one spoke in response, no one having any idea what to say, especially Daniel who couldn’t believe that he was sitting here, listening to one of the most conniving people he had ever met concoct some insane story in which they were together, having a baby, apparently not at one another’s throats. Remaining silent as well, the young dark-skinned woman leaned back over carefully, inserting the needle to draw blood. This time Adrienne didn’t fight, extending her arm to allow the doctor to obtain the needed vials, her cajun eyes down at the floor, peering up meekly every so often at, again, Daniel and Daniel alone. 

“I’m going to take these back to Carson and see what he thinks.  Keep her in bed and calm.  Her blood pressure is little touchy right now; I don’t want her too excited,” she ordered gently, Daniel noting that at least Kar’yn was speaking to Cameron, who everyone should be talking to in the first place. The colonel nodded his head and stood, walking to see her out, most likely to ask more questions she couldn’t answer Daniel was sure. Taking it as his cue to leave, Daniel himself stood to follow them out, planning to accompany the doctor to the infirmary for a similar set of tests, just knowing that this was something she stirred up yesterday and the effects were probably going to hit him as well any moment. 

“Please stay,” Adrienne whispered quietly. Stopping right in front Daniel, causing him to slam into his comrade, Cameron turned around, pushed past really, heading back to the bed when Adrienne shook her head, those tears of hers welling up again. How was she just crying on cue, Daniel thought, knowing he should just walk away, but he couldn’t; for some unexplainable reason Daniel was frozen in place just staring at this beautiful mess on Cameron’s bed. 

“No, not you, Daniel, can you please stay,” she asked, leaning around her boyfriend, which to her he clearly wasn’t, her dark mysterious eyes locked on his. Time slowed, eerily, or at least it felt that way to Daniel as he watched Cam pause on his approach to Adrienne, staring back and forth between the two of them before putting his head down and leaving the room. Daniel, however, didn’t move, standing in the door way, his arms crossed and his eyes boring into her.  

“You’re killing him you know,” he said, the image of Cam as he slunk into the kitchen unmistakeable, crushed, trying himself to hold it together. 

“I don’t mean to,” she answered softly, “it’s just too weird otherwise. I feel more comfortable with you around.” 

“I don’t understand why,” he replied curtly, remaining at the door his arms still crossed, waiting for an answer. There was none to be had, though, Adrienne just put her head down, Daniel seeing a few sparkling droplets fall onto her hands.  Sighing, seeing this wasn’t going to end any time soon it seemed, Daniel went back to the corner of the room, taking his seat in the chair once more.  

“So, let me get this straight,” he continued, “yesterday you went to bed, with me and woke up this morning with Cameron, is that about right?”  

“Yea,” she replied, breathing out, ”Like I said, last night, we got take out, ate dinner and went to bed, in OUR bed, in OUR townhouse and I woke up this morning to Cameron shouting at me to get in the shower.” 

“Our bed? Our townhouse?” Daniel repeated, a tone in his voice of annoyance.  

“Is that so hard to believe?” she tossed back at him, unable to imagine a world in which they weren’t together, in which they weren’t soul mates.  This isn’t my home, she thought, I don’t know where I am but this isn’t home.

“I find it hard to believe that WE have a home together,” he responded, “WE can’t stand being in the same room with one another.” 

“But we do,” Adrienne countered, her voice a little stronger, her problem solving mode kicking in, wanting an explanation, answers, solutions, “You bought us a townhouse. It’s about five minutes from the SGC. It has three bedrooms and -” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he interrupted her, “I’m sure it’s really great, really lovely.” 

“You don’t believe me, do you?” she finally admitted out loud.  No one believed her.  She was alone in this strange cold world with only Cameron, her running buddy, her dear friend, who apparently was practically her husband in this place. 

“It’s kinda hard to believe, don’t you think,” Daniel answered, more curious now than annoyed, but not wanting her to see weakness. He had let that happen before with her, shown weakness, and he vowed to never let it happen again. 

“No, not really. In my reality I guess we got over the hating each other phase and we became friend and then....” Adrienne stalled, starting to feel this was pointless.  This man hated her, with a passion she had never seen in Daniel before. What had happened? What was so different here that they didn’t end up together and happy? 

“And then what? We hopped in the sack?” Daniel finished, his stomach fluttering at the thought of being intimate with her, being so open and vulnerable like that wasn’t arousing in the least, in fact it was utterly terrifying. Never again, he said, never again would he let his guard down. 

Sucking in more tears, Adrienne peered back up at the man sitting across the room in the plain kitchen chair. This was a Daniel that Adrienne didn’t know; this man was cold, bitter, hateful, just down right mean. Not even in her memories of when she was first hired was he ever this mean to her so she had no idea what in the world could have possibly happened to create the horror that she was sitting in right now. 

“No, not exactly,” she answered, her heart breaking as she remembered the first time she was able to tell him that she loved him, the first time they made love, their first everything, “I mean, it just, we’re together, that’s all, should anything else matter?” Daniel, however, remained quiet.  

“You’re not gonna believe me,” Adrienne sighed, finally giving up. Talking to him wasn’t going to work; she was going to have to think of something else. 

She shut up, he thought, watching her head sink down again, no tears this time, but acting exhausted. This was getting to be pretty elaborate, his mind raced, even for Adrienne. He decided to push a little further, both his curiosity and something else, something he couldn’t explain, driving him to continue. 

“You have no proof. You wake up here with some cockamamy story that you expect me to believe. For all I know this could just be your final desperate attempt to get out of my service or take my job for good,” he hissed, the memory flooding back to that briefing, Dr. Rowan calling him ‘out of touch with the current problems facing the galaxy’ and ‘old-fashioned when it came to women and their position in the SGC’ , all lies, all falsehoods, but Woolsey had believed her, as Daniel knew he would.  

“Get out of your service? Really?” she asked, lost, annoyed; here she was giving him all sorts of answers and she had no idea why anything here was like it was. He didn’t seem to be offering information, so she decided to take another approach, lead him with curiosity. That worked before they were friends and maybe if they could see eye to eye on this she could try to find a way home, back to his arms, back to the flutter in her belly.  She tried not to cry again at the thought, I will get my family back, she vowed, shaking her head and drawing it up to make eye contact. 

“We love working together in my reality. We talk in about six different languages, all of the time, and we finish each other’s sentences....”  Adrienne looked down at her feet trying to come up with some way, any way he would believe her. How could this be a reality at all? Not that she didn’t care about Cameron, but how in this reality could so many of her friends be dead and gone, seperated from one another and how could the love of her life be standing across from her glaring at her with total hatred.  

“I know things,” she said, looking back up, “things that you told me that you never told anyone else.” Daniel snorted out loud at that comment, thinking of all people, Dr. Adrienne Rowan was the last person he would confide in. 

“Ok, so in this alternate reality of yours I’m suddenly Mr. Sensitive?” he spat, angry, remembering a time when he had tried that approach here and...it...

Yeah, she thought to herself, actually, you are, but she decided not to respond to that comment and continue.  

“I know things, uh, like your favorite color is red,” she tried, starting simple, trying to gauge his reaction, but Daniel just rolled his eyes.  

Anyone could have guessed that; that’s just a lucky guess,” was his response.  

“Well, I know you got embarrassed, because of what red means, I remember when we stayed at the SG-7 dig, when they found that tablet you thought would lead us to..... never mind,” she interrupted herself, not wanting to dredge up that sad memory for him, dropping quiet again, trying to remember. 

“Your middle name is Anthony,” she tried again and this time he looked over at her, frowning slightly, peering at her carefully through his glasses. 

“You’re not supposed to know that, but you could have found that out with a little digging,” he retorted, but his voice didn’t sound so sure, it was a stupid trivial thing to look up for such a well planned act...

“Alright fine, but how would I know you hate it because it makes you sound like a mob boss, those were YOUR words, not mine,”  she added, noticing his head turn as he stared at the wall for a moment. 

“That still doesn’t prove anything,” he replied quickly, his heart beginning to race, never remembering telling anyone but Jack that before, and Jack hated Adrienne almost as much as he did. 

Adrienne let out a sigh.  What would it take? She needed to remember something that no one else knew, something not even Teal’c knew and before she came along it seemed that Teal’c was the only person Daniel talked to. She wasn’t about to give intimate details about his body, that would be too awkward, when she had a thought, glancing back over to him. 

“Shar’e gave you a bracelet, a leather bracelet.  Women in the tribe don’t normally give gifts, but she said you two weren’t normal,” Adrienne choked out, the memory of his pain making her emotional again, even more so as Daniel’s eyes widened and he sat forward in his seat.  

“How do you know that!?!” he demanded, his lips trembling slightly. She had him, she could tell by the look in his eyes that she had him, so she nodded and kept talking. 

“It’s in a box, in your apartment, underneath some journals and things from Abydoys that you won’t look at,”  she added, watching his expression change from anger to panic, sheer panic, his nervous ticks setting in as he played with his hands and rubbed his face.  She couldn’t tell if he was surprised or infuriated, but it was a reaction, something she hadn’t gotten from him just yet. 

“How do you know that?” he repeated, calmer, as if he were trying to contain himself, leaning forward onto his knees.  He looked upset now, were this her Daniel she would race over and crawl into his lap, kiss him, apologize for bringing up a painful memory, but he wasn’t, so she didn’t, swallowing before she spoke again.  

“We went through it, the box, together one night. You told me about it; you told me the story,” she paused, looking down at her hands, picking her fingernails, “it was the night I realized I loved you,” she said quietly, swallowing again. 

Daniel looked down at the floor, at a loss for words. Loved him? Sure, that was assumed from the townhouse tale, this crazy idea that she would ever carry his baby, but to actually hear her say it, that she loved him? It was too much to bear, he needed to leave, he needed to get out of here fast, his heart back to racing for a reason that he couldn’t explain. 

“Ok, so you know ONE thing,” he stopped as if he realized he was admitting she was right, she had be right, a story was one thing, but ‘I love you’?  Maybe this wasn’t his Adrienne Rowan. Furrowing his face and pinching the bridge of his nose underneath his glasses, Daniel peered back at her, still inquiring, but changing his tone,”Teal’c could have told you; that doesn’t prove anything,” But Adrienne was shaking her head, reading him, is she reading me, does she know that I am starting to believe her?

“No, you would have stashed it away long before Teal’c was a member of SG1, remember, his men took her,” Adrienne tried to reason with him, “No one could have known about that other than you, Shar’e and ME,” she stressed the last word.  Biting his lip, Daniel glared straight at her, not having a clue as to what he could say. How in the world did she know about that? She’s right, he thought, no one knows about that, not even Teal’c. His mind began to race, filled with a million questions, all starting with why and how?   

“How did we get together?” he inquired, unable to hold back, “What happened?” 

“Um,” it was Adrienne’s turn to be the owner of a racing heart. How could she tell him? It had ended in the most wonderful and magical way possible, but how could she tell him that he almost became both his and her worst nightmare and in a night of confessions and tears they gave up trying to hide what was no longer deniable. 

“We were on a mission, bad one, we were poisoned, you the worst, and you almost hurt me,”  she explained, pausing for his reaction, but he was stoic and silent listening, “you didn’t speak to me for a few days after so I went to see you, you were my best friend, even if I could never tell you that I loved you I couldn’t live in a world where we drifted apart. And you told me, you told me a lot of things that night, but you told me that you loved me too,” she stopped, deciding not to mention Hathor, the pain already in his eyes at the mention of the bracelet being all that she wanted to inflict.  

Never, he said inside, never again. Look what she’s doing Daniel, she using this, she knows, you should have never told her anything, it was a mistake. 

“I’m outta here, but point to Dr. Rowan, that was truly Oscar worthy, you really shouldn’t knock your acting abilities because I tell you, you get better and better each day,” he said as he stood, flying up from the seat, heading over to the door. Adrienne’s jaw dropped, she thought he had believed her, it was working and she sat there racking her brain, trying to figure out what else to do when there was a knock at the door.  Glancing up she saw Cam peering around the door jam, his eyes darting between she and Daniel. 

“Can I come in?” he asked rather sheepishly.  Her mind a complete blank, Adrienne drew her knees up to her chest and nodded and Cameron slipped in, inching his way over to the bed and sitting beside her.  Still confused, he looked over at Daniel and back to Adrienne, Daniel shoving his hands in his pocket and shaking his head. 

“I’m going back to base.  Could someone call me when she comes to her senses?” he requested, not really caring, or did he, why did he care, this could rid him of her for good...

Silent, Adrienne put her head down, fighting back the tears that were forming in her eyes.  She didn’t want Daniel to leave, she wanted him to stay and make it all better, but  this man sitting by the door was not her Daniel.  She didn’t look up as she heard him storming away and not even when Cameron leaned closer once he was gone.  

“Did he say something to upset you?” Cameron asked.  Poor thing, Adrienne thought, he must be feeling exactly what I’m feeling, ripped from someone he loved.  She wasn’t going to placate him, but she did want to make him feel better so she leaned over against his shoulder, like she would have done back at home. Quietly, he reached his arm up and put it around her, hugging her tightly and this time he didn’t try to kiss her.  

“You’re not my Addy, are you?” he asked as she lay there, clearly upset. Surprised, Adrienne sat up and looked at him, driving her eyes into him.

“You believe me?” she asked, confused.  She had spent the past thirty minutes trying to convince Daniel and didn’t even think to try to prove her case to Cam and he just nodded, not a glimmer of doubt in own blue orbs.

“Yeah, I do,”  he said, smiling that Cameron smile, “I mean, you were all over Jackson and you hate that man,” he said and Adrienne laughed, imagining that from his point of view that was probably just as shocking as her screaming about being pregnant. Tearing up again, she reached for her abdomen, incapable of controlling her weeping. 

“You said there was a baby?” he questioned, reaching for her again as she leaned over, gasping for air. 

“Yeah, almost four months along,” she mumbled, feeling him hugging her tightly. 

“I take it that your Daniel isn’t quite as...” he lead, not wanting to say what he was thinking, a jaded cold asshole. 

“No, he’s not. And he’s so excited too; he has a countdown until Carolyn can tell us what gender it is. He wants to start setting up the nursery...” Adrienne started, halting her words, seeing that Daniel, well this Daniel, was exactly right. She was killing Cam. Shaking her head, she gazed over at her dear friend, placing her hand on his face.  

“Cameron, I adore you, I do.  In my reality so many things are different but even there we’re still close,” she sighed out, “Thank you for believing me. It really does mean a lot.” She looked him in the eyes and saw a sadness, the exact same sadness she was feeling inside.  It hurt her profoundly, Cam even in this nightmare was exactly the same person he was back home, and she reached out, pulling him to her and kissing his cheek lightly, hugging him once more and standing. 

“Where ya going girl?” he questioned, noting the look of determination on her face.

“I’m gonna go to work,” she answered as Cam looked at her dumbfounded.  

“Really? Didn’t you hear Kar’yn, you need to stay here, see if there’s anything wrong. Addy, no one has any idea what’s going on with you?” he argued, standing, following her as she headed for the door.   

“Which is why I need to get to work.  There has got to be something, something I did, somebody did, yesterday that caused this,” Adrienne replied, grabbing a black backpack that she was certain was hers. 

“Cam, shug, I need to get my family back.” 

*****  

When she arrived at the lab it was the layout that shocked her first.  Daniel’s desk was still in the far corner, but her area was actually a cubicle, a literal separation of their spaces and of course, as Daniel had mentioned this morning, Jonas was no where to be found. She had gotten used to his desk right across from hers, him helping her tease Daniel on stressful days when she thought her love might be coming unraveled and she needed Jonas to ground her and keep her focused on saving his people.  

There was no central work table, the table they had used to solve so many problems, together, and the room wasn’t hooked up with any of her gadgets:  no white board, no projector, nothing. She shivered as she stepped through the door, it felt so cold here too, the temperature at least ten degree cooler than she was used too. That was something else, even when they were friends, Daniel kept it warmer in here, just for her. 

What was most curious, however, was Vala, standing quietly in the back sorting files into the wall of cabinets, Daniel no where to be found.  Excited to see another friendly face, someone who she had really come to count on over the years, someone who wasn’t dead or shipped off to bureaucratic hell, Adrienne ran up to her friend, hugging her tightly.

“Oh god, am I glad to see you!” she exclaimed, nearly shouting, as Vala turned around, looking at her like she was insane.  

“Wow, Daniel wasn’t kidding,” she said, pushing Adrienne away, turning back to the cabinets to resume her sorting. 

“Vala, oh no, not you too,” Adrienne said turning to slam her head against the wall.  

“Me too what? Oh wait, not only in your fantasy land are you with glasses but we are friends too. Wow, you must have hit your head hard,” Vala stated, continuing to work.  Puzzled, Adrienne huffed, throwing her hands up at a loss. 

“But, if Daniel and I aren’t together than this just makes no damn sense.  THAT would be the reason we’re not friends, unless you guys are....” Adrienne trailed off, wondering how alternate this world really was when Vala shot her a look, a evil look, a look full of anger and hurt.  

“Don’t even play like that!! You know what happened!! I don’t care what in the hell you are trying to do to him, I am sure that he deserves every second of it, but don’t fuck with me!!” Vala screamed at her, Adrienne backing up, grabbing her waist out of instinct, it’s not there, the baby is not there, starting to panic again when her rational brain took back over. Answers Ad, it coached, we’re looking for answers, keep calm and start trying to paint the picture. 

“No, I don’t Vala. I’m not making this up, this isn’t my reality and I’m trying to figure out why. What happened?” she said. Slamming the folders on the top of the metal case, Vala growled, glaring at her viciously for a second before breathing out. 

“He embarrassed me; in front of everyone. Everyone knows what happened! After Teal’c finally broke down about what happened on the Odyssey, I tried, we tried, but it didn’t work, it wasn’t working and he lost it, raging at me in the mess hall. After I sent Tomin away. After I had no where else to go. He stood there, in front of everyone, said I was a traitor and this might be MY only option, but I wasn’t his. So I get to stay here and be reminded every day of it, that no one wants me, that I’m not worth anything. And you didn’t help.  Telling me he wasn’t worth it, an asshole. Told me we didn’t need men to be happy and then ran off with Cameron to be happily ever after,” Vala hissed at her, using her anger to hide her pain. 

Adrienne wanted to run away.  What was this place? A place where people hurt and hated one another? What was going on? She knew what had happened to Daniel and Vala in her reality, it was somewhat amicable, but more like it just faded away, both of them realizing that what happened on the Odyssey was more a set of friends coming together under the circumstances, hell, even Vala agreed that Daniel and Adrienne were made for each other. But this? Daniel would have never done that to her, would he? 

“Then why do you work here?” Adrienne asked tentatively, Vala whipping around, tears in her eyes, screaming.  

“Because I have no other goddamn place to go.  No one trusts me here except for Daniel, who hates me, so we all just coexist. It’s a roof over my head and I’ve been in worse!!” she shouted, turning yet again to rest her head onto the top of the file cabinet, sobbing. Adrienne was frozen for a moment, staring at her friend, the lab, her lab, her home, this nightmare, this is a nightmare, she decided, this is my worst nightmare. 

She left without comment. 

*****

After searching the base, Adrienne quickly learned that a lot of things had changed.  As Cameron had told her, Sam was in charge of Area 51 and wasn’t even married to Jack.  The Atlantis crew had been remanded to the Atlantis base, despite it being only half functioning and in San Francisco.  Teal’c no longer lived on Earth, but instead at his house on Chulac, serving as a Jaffa governor while Ry’ac and Kar’yn had made themselves a part of the SGC.  She knew the status of the medical staff, but as she made her way around base she saw more unfamiliar faces, more strange people.  No one could tell her anything, Kar’yn was still running blood tests, Daniel was in a meeting like there was nothing wrong, the world was continuing on without her as if getting her back home didn’t matter to a single person here, even Cameron, who had yet to show his face either. She felt lost, a stranger in her own home and like a child, she sank to the floor and started to cry.  

“Dammit Dr. Perky, why are you crying in the hallway,” she heard a voice over her and peeking up, wiping tears from her eyes to see Jack O’Neill standing over her.  She stood quickly, adjusting her uniform, remembering Daniel’s warning from this morning, that if she wanted to keep her job, which she needed to stay here and figure out what was going on, she needed to stay on the general’s good side.

“Sorry, Jack, sorry,” she apologized quickly, sniffing in quickly. 

“Jack?” he questioned, “Daniel was right.  You’re off your rocker!” But he didn’t walk off after he said that, he just kept standing right there, looking at her.  

“I guess I’ll be going, J - I mean sir,” she continued, wiping her face, deciding that she should go back to the lab and see what her, the other Adrienne, had been working on last. She started to turn when Jack grabbed her arm, not harshly, but holding her gently in place, giving her a look of his own. 

“Come with me,” he ordered, pulling her along, a look of determination on his face.  Again, as was beginning to become her permanent state, Adrienne was confused, but followed, a small part of her hoping that he wasn’t going to fire her like Daniel had threatened, that he was actually going to help her.   

“Why?” she asked, Jack stopped with a grunt to glare back at her. 

“Because, if you’re sobbing in the hallway you must at least think your nonsense is true.  And if there is another reality, one where this place doesn’t operate like a shit-hole and I’m married to Carter, I’d like to cue that up as soon as possible,”  he answered bluntly and Adrienne hesitated for a second, considering his words and how his love for Sam seemed to be his biggest concern.

“Jack, sorry, sir,” she started but he interrupted her.  

“Stop with the sir crap.  If alter-Dr. Perky calls me Jack, you can call me Jack.  What do I call you anyway?”  he turned it on her.  

“Dr. Perky,” Adrienne said with a smile.  

“See, you can’t mess with perfection.  Let’s go try to play geek,” Jack replied confidently,  directing with his hand that she follow behind. 

*****

He took her to his office, using a large but sorely outdated projection screen to call Sam, the equally as dated system nothing like the newer items that Adrienne herself has instigated being installed. Apparently, alter me is a bitch and lazy, she was thinking as the general's, was she even a general here,  face popped up on the screen. She had blond hair instead of the brown Adrienne had grown used to, dressed in SG BDU’s and she looked at them both strangely from what looked to be like a small concrete walled lab.

“Hey Carter! How’s it going?” Jack greeted her happily and she smiled, still having that strange look on her face.  

“Fine sir, how can I help you and Dr. Rowan?” Sam asked, very professional, not at all the warm caring tone that Adrienne had grown used to.  Grinning from ear to ear, Jack leaned back in his chair, cocking his head at Adrienne. 

“Well apparently, our little friend here isn’t from here. Or we’re not supposed to be here or something, the typical fucked up scenario. Dr. Perky here is claiming that you’re my wife, that she’s pretty much Daniel’s and the SGC operates like it supposed to, so I was thinking this might be worth a call....” he explained, Sam staring at him like he was insane. Sitting up again, resting his arms on his desk, he began to recount what he understood from Daniel, looking to Adrienne to fill in the gaps.  When they were finished Sam just stared at the screen shocked, her eyes wide and her brow furrowed.

“I run the SGC?” she finally said.  

“Yeah,” Adrienne answered, “and it’s a lot nicer than this.” Sam smiled, her face lit up, as if part of her knew that she had more to offer, that running Stargate Command was where she belonged. It was a face that she was familiar with, Sam with a purpose, and she stood, racing back to a cabinet behind her to get down to business.  

“Alright, Dr. Rowan,” she started, Adrienne waving her to stop with her hands. 

“Adrienne, or Addy, not Dr. Rowan,” Adrienne corrected with a smile. 

“Alright, Adrienne, since yesterday was the last day you remember your reality, let’s begin there.  Go step by step,” Sam instructed.  

“Yesterday was pretty routine,” she began, “You sent Daniel, me and Jonas to check out some ruins, no inhabitants, but Daniel had a lead on some ZPMs, we’re collecting them to re-power Atlantis.  We went through about ten in the morning and were back by eleven at night. Nothing unusual happened there, just looked at some things, took some pictures and came home, lots of interesting cultural data but nothing at all like we were looking for, no ZPM. Daniel and I were exhausted so we went and got take out, went home, ate, watched one of my shows he makes fun of and we went to bed, just like any other normal night. Then I woke up here,”  Adrienne recounted.  

“Are you sure you didn’t walk through anything?” Sam inquired, running similar past scenarios through her head, but Adrienne frowned, shrugging her shoulders..  

“No, no mirror, nothing.  There was nothing in the temple but some fancy decor with writing on it, Daniel took some pictures and Jonas even did a rubbing of the glyphs, but no nothing like that,” Adrienne said.   

“Adrienne do you remember the planet call sign by chance, maybe you and Daniel here have visited it before?” she asked, Adrienne letting out a frustrated sigh. 

“Not totally, it was PX something, it was the first thing that I tried to remember, but with the baby, my hormones are so out of whack that I can’t remember anything without writing it down,” the archaeologist apologized, rambling, Sam’s eyes widening as she cut her eyes over at Jack. 

“Baby?” she questioned. 

“Yep, Daniel knocked her up. You should have seen him in here explaining that one too,” Jack laughed, comforting Adrienne much to her surprise. Something about this Jack also harassing a Daniel about their little out of wedlock indiscretion made her feel a little better even though Sam still seemed to be making a face.

“Sir, the first thing that I would do is have her go through the files in Daniel’s lab, one by one looking for something familiar.  But, and Dr. Rowan I’m truly sorry, General how do we even know that what she’s saying is true; that her reality is the correct reality?” Sam asked, slowly, like she knew what Jack’s reaction would be, but felt the need to ask anyway. 

“Carter, I’m gonna be honest with you, at this point I don’t care if it’s real.  It is a hell of a lot better than what we have going on right now,” Jack replied, Sam smiling lightly.  At least they still love each other, Adrienne thought, something else that is the same.  

“Alright, let me call Daniel and tell him what we’re doing, let him throw his tantrum and get this started,” Jack declared. Lightly waving goodbye, Adrienne thought she could see Sam mouthing a ‘good luck’ to Jack, giving her even more reason to make this work, it wasn’t only she and Daniel that had been ripped apart, two of their closest friends were living the life they had never meant to lead either. There was a pop and the screen went blank, Jack glancing back over at Adrienne.  

“Thanks,” she said.  

“Don’t thank me until we fix this,” he replied, reaching for his phone to call Daniel.  

*****

“I don’t care what the blood tests say!!” Daniel was screaming into the phone, “Why in the hell is she on base?!? Why are you listening to her? Don’t you see what she’s trying to do and she’s now sucked you in too!!” Sitting back in his desk, the phone away from his ear and his hand over the receiver, Jack let him rant just like he knew he would. Ever since PSF-2937, since the accident, Jack knew that it was taking everything in Daniel’s power to not just walk out of here and never come back, all because of this woman that was currently sitting beside him, picking at her fingernails nervously.

“There’s nothing medically wrong with her Daniel, nothing.  Look, stranger things have happened and you’ve got to admit the picture she paints is a lot prettier than the one we are living in. Can you just humor me?” he requested, getting only silence on the other end of the line.  

“Fine,” Daniel relented after the long pause, “send her down. I guess MY work can just be pushed aside for later, because of one of Dr. Rowan’s brilliant ideas,” he said, slamming the phone into the cradle.  Shaking his head, Jack peered at Adrienne, a smirk planted across his face.

“He’s waiting for you,” he announced and Adrienne stood, biting her lip and shoving her hands into the pockets of her BDUs, eerily Daniel-like. 

“Really, you and him?” he clarified, noting her actions, as if she had really been dating his old friend, so long that she had picked up a few of his nervous ticks. Shrugging, again like Daniel, Adrienne nodded, sheepishly.

“Damn, I bet that’s interesting,” he said.  

“My Daniel’s a lot happier; he’s fun,” Adrienne explained, feeling bad. She didn’t even know the man downstairs but evidently Jack did, as he looked at her in disbelief. Focus Ad, focus on getting the hell out of here, she ordered herself, scurrying quickly out the door to face Daniel. 

*****

When she got there Daniel was already digging through the cabinet, throwing folders onto the table.  He looked up when she entered, pointing in the direction of the mess.

“There,” he said, ‘there are your precious files,” he stated as he kept throwing.  Sighing, she walked over to the small temporary table it looked like he had set up; right where their center table normally went, peering back over at him.

“Thank you,” she muttered, quietly, starting to stack them again.    

“What about where you and your Adrienne were yesterday? Where’s that file?” she asked, wondering why Jack hadn’t suggested that in the first place. 

“Weren’t you sitting there in his office? Eavesdropping? He said you were in a cave. Yesterday we went to an aquatic based planet. No caves,” he replied curtly. Choosing not to answer, she went back to her task, trying to make some sense of the mess. Finally, she’d gotten the first pile arranged when he threw some more in her direction, her careful organization destroyed in seconds. Frustrated, unable to understand how either of them worked in these condition, she glared up at him, frowning.

“What did I ever do to you? To make you hate me so bad?” she asked, crossing her arms across her chest, but he didn’t look up at her, just threw more files in her direction.

“You exist,” he answered, so harshly so cold, so heartbreaking. Adrienne started to well up again, how could anything have happened that could have reduced them to this? This time he turned around, hearing her sniff in, trying to hide her tears.

“Wow, what is it with you and all of the waterworks? I guess you’re not as tough and bitchy as our version is,” Daniel spat, but Adrienne just continued to cry, he called her a bitch, he’d only called her that once before, in the elevator, after their huge blow up and he had apologized immediately after.

 There she goes again, he thought, groaning out, walking over to her, feeling bad, actually feeling bad for what he said. Dammit Daniel, now you’re falling for it all over again, didn’t you learn. As he approached, she leaned onto the table, placing her head in her hands, still sobbing. 

“Stop crying,” he ordered, but she didn’t, she didn’t even look up. 

“Stop crying.  I can’t think with all of this crying,”  he repeated but that just made her cry harder.  

“Dammit, alright, we don’t get along because you seemed to think I was some arrogant prick and made it your life’s mission every day after that to embarrass me publicly, make me look like a failure professionally. You’ve tried to ruin me,” he hissed, glaring at her as she looked up at him, droplets streaking down her red face, she was crying, really crying, this wasn’t an act and he wanted to reach out and take her into his arms, he wasn’t sure why, why was he even considering this...

“Ruin you? I don’t understand,” she questioned, puzzled, watching his blue eyes, so full of anger and hurt. 

Do I tell her, he thought, do I try again. Maybe she’s right, maybe this isn’t how things are supposed to be...

“There was a mission, to an nomadic world,” he starting, seeing her nod in confirmation, “I screwed up, translated something that I should have had you double check, sent an all female team into a male dominated society. When we went to rescue you insisted that you come along, but I told you I was scared, that I was unsure, that I didn’t want to see you hurt, but you told me you trusted me, you’d never told me that before, so you went but I was wrong, I couldn’t protect you and someone died...”

“Who?” she asked, reached out her hand carefully for his, laying it lightly on top and he didn’t shrug away, just breathed in and continued. 

“Ann. Ann Mardsen. You didn’t think I could get you out of it so you tried yourself to escape, you and Ann. They beat her to death and when we got back, you made sure that it was pinned on me. You told Woolsey that I lacked confidence in my abilities as a team member, that I had confided in you and you were fearful of working with someone under those conditions,” he choked out, the memory hitting him like a freight train. He’d tried so hard with her, after the feuding and he thought that opening up to her, sharing that with her would make her open up as well, make them a better team, looking out for one another. 

“I did that?” she asked, pulling away, remembering what had really happened, remembered telling Ann that she trusted Daniel more than anyone. 

“Among other things,” he responded, every little thing she had done since creeping into his memory.  

“I’m not like that,” she said, sniffing in and stepped forward, her hand lightly working it’s way up his arm, but he didn’t flinch away like his mind was telling him to, he stood there, gazing right into her dark eyes and he raised his eyebrows a bit, staring right back down at her.

“Well, you might not be like that, but SHE is,” he replied, suddenly realizing he was agreeing with her, that she didn’t belong here.  She was looking at him and he could tell that she had made the same connection.  

“I’m sorry,” she said, “For whatever she, whatever I did, I’m sorry. You are a really wonderful person and I’m sorry that she, I, apparently never took the time to discover that,” she concluded, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, hugging him, holding him, close, like a lover and not a friend, her lips lightly caressing his cheek. 

Who was this woman? This was not Dr. Adrienne Rowan, arrogant, know it all, feminazi Adrienne Rowan.  This woman was kind, sweet, caring and this woman loved him, deeply.  Pushing her away, gently, as to not offend her, he turned to face the table, a new goal before him. He still wanted to get rid of her, get her out of here and back to her reality. She deserved that, and to be honest, so did he. 

“Ok, so you don’t remember the planet name, but do you remember the terrain? That way we can start to eliminate some places fast,” he said, and she smiled, realizing that he wanted to help. 

“It was a forest planet, with hills and caves,” she started.  Nodding, Daniel began to flip through the files setting various ones aside, trying to sort when she walked over to help him, something his Adrienne would never do.

“This might take a while,” he said peering up at her, the nicest thing he had said to her since this nightmare began.  

“Anything to get back home,” she replied and side by side they continued to dig. 

***** 

A few hours later they found their folder.  Adrienne dove into it, searching through the photos for anything, any tiny little clue as to what had happened when she noticed the date, scratched haphazardly at the top of the page in Daniel’s script. 

“We were there three months ago?” she asked, puzzled.  

“Yeah, nothing there but an abandoned temple with some early Egyptian writing and it seemed to be looted except for - “ he started to explained when she interrupted him.  

“Except for the gold circles stuck in the wall!” she shouted, “I remember.”  Daniel nodded.  

“Couldn’t get them to budge, so we photographed them and left.  Nothing else of value on the planet, so we marked the gate useless and to keep the planet on the list as an evacuation site,” he explained.  Adrienne remembered her and her Daniel having this same conversation last night, before bed, how it would make a perfectly good evacuation site if needed, should Anubis decide to move on from Langara before they were ready.  

Her computer like eyes scanned the file, photo after photos, a visual recreation of her memories, oddly identical to her last night minus Jonas’ name on the mission report. That wasn’t getting them anywhere but she had to get home, get back to her life, continuing to stare at the photos when she felt a presence over her shoulder and peered behind to see he was standing at her shoulder. 

“They say “May Tutu keep us from hostile foreigners, ”” he read, Adrienne screwing up her face at him in bewilderment at his translation. 

“Does your Adrienne not read Abydonian?” she asked and he shook his head, slowly, sadly. 

“No, my Adrienne said it’s a dead language of a dead people. She thinks its useless; a waste of time for more than one person to learn it,” he answered. More proof alter me is a moron, Adrienne thought, any archaeologist knows that you should learn as many languages as you can, spoke or not, but it was more than that, much more than that to Daniel. Setting down the file to turned to face him, reaching her hand out to softly caress his cheek. 

“I don’t think it’s useless.  And even if it was, it was the language of Shar'e's people, so that makes it important,” she told him and he gazed at her, into her eyes, getting lost in them for a moment. Why was he feeling this way? Standing there, lost in her stare, he wanted to kiss her for a moment, to whisk her away to his quarters, but he couldn’t understand why. Yes, this Adrienne was nicer, kinder, but these feelings were so intense that he was having a hard time focusing. Just kiss her, his heart whispered and he started to lean forward to do just that when her eyes widened and she whipped back around, grabbing the folder in one hand, the other flailing in excitement. 

“Indy, help me, Tutu, god of what!?!” she asked, a thought popping into her head Daniel snapping back into reality. 

“Tutu, uh, right, um, Middle Egyptian, related by our best estimates to Sekhmet and Mut, technically a protector against demons, dreams, yeah, you said that before, on the planet, it seems the ancients and the the Go’ould by association both went through a period when they were obsessed with dreaming. But there was no machine, nothing, and even you yourself have to admit that you woke up to this, not the other way around,” he answered, puzzled, but trusting her completely, for the first time since he’d known her, watching her flail around and mutter in cajun. It was so strange, his Adrienne never acted like that before, and he couldn’t help it, starting to laugh. 

“Wha?” she asked, stopping, looking at him strangely. 

“My Adrienne doesn’t act like that either,” he admitted, throwing his arms in the air and muttering mock cajun. Putting down her head and shaking it, she laughed herself.

“Sorry, I tend ta do dat when I get excited, and this, I think that this is like a waking dream, a living nightmare, a scenario of what if’s, maybe to turn back time and correct mistakes, and, I...” she replied, blushing, watching a smile spread across his handsome face, his eyes sparkle. I want him back so badly, she thought, I want to go back home...

And then it hit her.

“Oh shit,” she said, her eyes widen and her heart racing.

“Oh shit what?” he asked, puzzled.  She looked at him, her eyes bright, like she’d figured it out, her hands flailing again. 

“Ok, in my reality, the picture wasn’t as clear, the rings, we kept joking and calling them ‘five golden rings’,” she sang for a moment and saw he wasn’t laughing, just shaking his head in confusion “never mind, Jonas thought it was funny. Anyway, they were filthy, covered in something. We couldn’t read them so you got out your brush and a rag and started to clean one off so I could read it. It slipped a bit, shifted, like it was going to come out of the wall, but it didn’t move anymore....” she trailed off but he was nodding.  

“Alright, that sounds like me, and my luck. So you think your Daniel activated something by mistake?” he asked and now it was Adrienne who was nodding, emphatically.  

“But why only you,” he continued, “Why not me and you? Or Jonas for that matter? It was the team of us there in that cave.” 

“I think this is me and you, and even Jonas. We don’t know what hell he is living through, stuck on Langara, no contact with us at all, Jack told me that much. And us, not only are we not together, but we hate each other and maybe the result of us not working out led to the rest of this mess, but that doesn’t explain some stuff, I don’t know.  Look Indy, I dig and translate and leave the science up to Sam and Rodney, I’m just guessing here,” she said, Daniel laughing at her ramblings. 

“Indy?”  he asked. 

“Yeah, Indy,” she replied, remembering.

“Definetly different,” he answered, turning to head for the phone when he stopped dead in his tracks, peering over his shoulder at her. 

“What’s it like?” he asked quietly.  

“What?” Adrienne responded, confused.  

“Us,” he said, his heart racing in his chest. He had to know, he just had to know what stupid mistake led to him living in this hell, with not so much as a friend to share it with. Her eyes at the floor again, Adrienne breathed in slowly, her hand resting on her abdomen.  

“It’s absolutely wonderful. We’re very happy, very very happy. I just can’t imagine a better situation, I’m in love with my best friend, and we’re starting a family,” she answered him, feeling the tears start to form again, her words failing. 

“It’s strange, not just you, a baby, but imagining being happy again. I had forgotten what that was,” he said, so quiet it was almost a whisper.  Adrienne didn’t have a response.  Smiling, biting his lip slightly, he walked over to his desk and picked up the phone without another word.  

*****

Jack didn’t hesitate to approve the mission, overriding Woolsey’s full team order, even coming down himself just to make sure that everything was in order and ready to go.  

“Alright, so you two are just going to go turn these golden circles and poof! I get rid of Woolsey, I get the girl, the SGC isn’t a depressing mess and you two go back to whatever little mess you had created between the two of you, correct?” Jack checked, his eyes on Adrienne, ignoring Daniel completely.

“Well, you don’t get rid of Woolsey totally,” she admitted with a shrug. 

“Does he run the SGC?” Jack asked.  

“No, Sam does. Woolsey just fills in when he’s told,” Adrienne answered.  

“Close enough!” Jack declared and ordered the dialing of the gate.  The man, not Walter, some other stranger, stood in the observation room, cueing the sequence of some scarily old computer system as Daniel walked up behind Adrienne, bringing his lips to her ear.

“This is for real, right? This isn’t just some ploy to completly destroy me?” he asked, a small part of him still fearing inside that it was.  Shaking her head, Adrienne turned back to face him, her expression honest. 

“I would never lie to you Daniel, ever,” she assured him, “I love you too much.” He almost choked up hearing the words, hoping she was telling the truth, wanting this reality more than anything  He held out his hand for her, to his amazement, and she took, without hesitation, holding onto him tightly as they walked through the gate.  

*****

“A townhouse huh?” Daniel asked once they were on the other side and heading in the direction the both of them thought to be familiar. 

“Yeah, we were cramming ourselves into your quarters on base and with both of us living so far away from the SGC it was just getting ridiculous,” Adrienne explained as Daniel laughed. 

“I can’t imagine myself asking someone to move in with me,” he said. 

“You didn’t, you just called a realtor and informed me of what was happening,” she teased, giggling.  

“Yeah, that sounds more like me,” he responded as Adrienne hoisted her backpack, nervous by his questions. This man seemed so much like her Daniel in so many ways but was so different at the same time, so jaded. 

“And we’re having a baby...” he continued his questioning, eyes darting over to her periodically, “you said fifteen weeks?” 

“Yea, fifteen weeks yesterday. You have a countdown. You have informed Carolyn that she will be telling us the gender the day I turn twenty weeks,” Adrienne laughed, her memory flashing to her check-up, check-ups that were more frequent considering the medication and Daniel’s descended contribution to the equation, and Daniel’s reaction. He had asked about gender then, Carolyn giving him the look, informing him that he would need to wait until twenty weeks. That had been the very next calendar he created in his office. 

“A countdown?” he asked, his stomach fluttering. This other him seemed to be very excited about becoming a father but to him the idea just caused a flurry of worry and panic. 

“Yep, and the great name debate, as I have begun to refer to it, is not to begin until we have said gender knowledge,” she added, chuckling at yet another declaration of her Daniel. 

“It’s just so funny, so strange, all of this,” he choked out, getting quiet, Adrienne nodding, looking ahead for the caves.

“Why was I that awful to you; as awful as you said I was?” she asked, curious about her alternative self. There had to be a reason, something that had happened to make her that way.

“Dr. Rowan, as she, you, nightmare you, like to be called, is ambitious.  Ambitious enough to try to push me aside when I messed up. You, her, set her sights at what she wanted and went for it. Regardless of anyone else’s feelings,” Daniel answered. Adrienne stopped in her tracks and stared at him, seeing her Daniel there, his heart broken. She knew now, years later, that he had tried when she was hired, tried in his own way and she had just been to stubborn to listen for such a long time, but this Daniel had tried even harder only to have his world destroyed. It made her tear up, she wanted to cry, that even in a nightmare scenario, even if the demons of Tutu or whatever scientific insanity explained why so much of their timeline had been changed, that one thing remained constant: Daniel’s loving heart.  

“What’s wrong?” he asked, stopping to look back at her, “It’s not you right? My Adrienne experience, it’s your worst nightmare, so it’s a ghost, it’s everything you never wanted to be.” 

“No, you’re right,” she said quietly, walking on.  

*****

The cave was just as she remembered it the night before, even the rock she had sat on when the baby had gotten a little rambunctious was positioned carefully at the entrance. Glancing over at Daniel, she could tell by the look on his face that he recognized it as well, although probably not for the same reasons. 

“This is it,” she said, flicking on her flashlight to head inside. 

“Yeah,” he agreed, his own memories of the mission coming back, her attitude, her arrogance. Not her, thank god that is really not her. 

Soldering on, Adrienne flashed the light ahead, Daniel pointed, racing ahead. The rings in the temple were right where they were before, Adrienne rushing to them, reaching for the third one, the one her Daniel had cleaned off to try to read when she paused, looking back at him over her shoulder.

“I wish Sam were here. Or Rodney even. Someone who knows how this thing works,” she sighed, adding that to the list of horror, that apparently in this mess she and Daniel just made guesses and hoped for the best. Not exactly the best practice, she thought.

“Well, if this works, you can go and tell the correct Sam about it and have her send a team to investigate,” Daniel offered, emphasizing his words, the correct Sam, the way things were supposed to be.  Drawing up her courage, Adrienne nodded, reaching up to mimic the opposite motion she had seen done only a day earlier.  The ring shifted just a bit and stopped, refusing to move any further, just as before, that ever so slight movement that had completely destroyed her world.  Her heart racing, she peeked back behind her at Daniel who was just staring at her, waiting it seemed. 

“What’s my favorite TV show?” she asked.  

“How in the hell am I supposed to know?” he answered.  

“Ok, I guess it’s not instant, but it wasn’t instant yesterday, so, I just need to remain calm,” she said quietly, sadly, clearly having expected for this to all reset in an instant. Reading her face, so odd, he’d never done that before, Daniel grabbed her arm, pulling her over to the wall behind them.  

“What are you doing?” she asked, pulling away.  

“Let’s sit and wait and see for while,” he said, see if something happens.  Without further explanation, he sat down himself, trying to show her that he meant no ill will, indicating for her to join him.  Nodding, slowly, she went over and sat beside him, her dark gorgeous eyes just staring at the rings. 

*****

For a while they just sat in silence, but it was more than she could bear. Finally, Adrienne asked the one question that had been bothering her the entire time.  

“What happened to the SGC?” she said, looking over at Daniel. There were so very many things that were different, and she knew this was more than just she and Daniel the fates, the gods, whatever had chosen to mess with her and her life. Sighing, Daniel looked down, grabbing a rock from the floor of the cave, beginning to roll it in his hands.  

“There was no one defining event, more like a series of bad luck. Various attacks we weren’t prepared for, bad decisions like the IOA deciding that it needed civilian leadership and put Woolsey in charge. He contracted things out to various private groups that didn’t communicate with one another. Jack became more of a figurehead and intelligence no longer prevailed,”  he said thinking back to how the entire experience jaded him, that the SGC that was after all hope for the Destiny was lost was a world that he really had no desire to live in any more.

Adrienne, on the other hand, was quiet.  How had one little turn screwed all of that up? There was no way she could figure out what had happened before she was hired, to get Sam shipped away, to destroy Vala emotionally, to make Teal’c leave completely, but she had to know about Daniel, she had to know at what point they had fallen apart, what would have caused her to be so awful to the one person she loved more than anyone else in the world. 

“Did we ever have a footrace?” she asked after a bit, getting a smile at the question. Sitting forward, he reached for her face, pulling it down to the light of their flashlights, and making a face.  

“Yea, but she had a scar, on her lip. You don’t,” he stated, Adrienne’s face flushing. She’d forgotten about that and this probably wasn’t the best time to explain it. 

“I did, but, uh, it got better,” she joked, throwing in a little Monty Python humor with her last statement moving on to another question, “Did we broker a deal with that Incan civilization?” she asked and Daniel nodded.  

“Yeah, and I actually thought that we were going to get along; you covered for me with Woolsey,” he answered, Adrienne remembering that as well, how much of a turning point that had been in their professional relationship. Alright, then what was she missing...

“Wait, San Fran! Did I come with you to San Francisco?” she asked and this time Daniel frowned, cocking his head to the side.  

“No, Teal’c came with me,” he replied and there she had it.  The point where their personal timeline was changed, the trigger to at least their part of the saga.  

“That’s when we became friends. In my reality, you took me on that trip, and we’ve been friends ever since,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes yet again. He didn’t respond, however, just reached his arm around her, holding her closer, resting his cheek on her head.

“If this doesn’t work, I want you to know that I think we should maybe start over.  I like the idea of working with someone that doesn’t hate me,” he said, feeling her convulse underneath of him. Would that be so bad? She’s made everyone aware of what could be, what was supposed to be and maybe she was here to fix it. Leaning over, he turned her body to see what was wrong, why she was crying so hard when he saw her holding her stomach. The baby, he thought, I forgot about the baby, our baby. The regret coursed through him and he actually felt himself begin to tear up, reaching for her again, holding her, bringing his face to hers. 

“It’ll work, I promise. If it doesn’t, I’ll find a way to go to area 51 myself, get Sam, fix this, send you back to him, to me, to your child. I’m so sorry, I just don’t know what else to do,”  he apologized, begging, moisture filling his eyes as he looked down at her, feeling it, that connection, that spark that he’d never felt before, but he felt it now, so strong, controlling him and before his rational brain could tell him otherwise, he reached down for her face, bringing his lips to hers, kissing so slowly, so gently, wanting to take all of the pain away...

*****

“Ja-wer, you’d better get up and get going; I left the shower running for you,” Adrienne heard a voice calling out to her.  Damn Daniel, she thought to herself, always making me get up so damn early.  Groaning, she rolled over to cover her head with the blanket when the blanket was suddenly pulled off of her head and sunlight flooding into the room.  

She gasped out, remembering, panicking, sitting up in the bed, rubbing her eyes, clearly the haze of her contacts. 

“That has to be a world record; I’ve never seen you get up so fast.  Didn’t have to throw a wet towel on you or anything,” the voice said jokingly, and Adrienne opened her eyes too Daniel, standing there half dressed, toweling off his hair.  She didn’t say a word, just reached down for her stomach, her eyes widening at the small tight bulge there. 

She was pregnant. 

There was Daniel. 

And at that moment, nothing else mattered. 

Too excited to cry, Adrienne stood on the bed, grabbing him, tackling him down beside her, crawling on top of him. He was surprised, but smiled, leaning up to kiss her passionately, misinterpreting her actions. She let his mouth move against hers, enjoying the feel of his skin against her own, letting herself get carried away in his kiss and his embrace, when she had a thought that she might want to check to see if everything else was ok. Giggling, she pushed him back, not letting him go for a minute. 

“Who’s our boss?” she asked, running her fingers down his face, a face which was screwing up in bewilderment.

“Uh Sam,” he answered, confused, kissing her fingers.

“Who’s Cameron dating?” she inquired, knowing that everything was alright but just wanting to hear him confirm.

“Dr. Lam in his dreams,” Daniel joked, cuddling his head onto her shoulder. 

“Can Jonas and I order Mexican for lunch?” 

“I think you and Jonas eat way too much Mexican ja-wer.”

“How far along am I?”

“Fifteen weeks yesterday...”

“Why aren’t you and Vala together?” she tried.  

“Because she’s annoying and I love you?” he sat back looking at her strangely, “Are you feeling alright?”  Smiling, nodding, everything was alright, maybe it was just a nightmare, but regardless her first task was to go see Sam as soon as she arrived at work, Adrienne leapt from the bed, dashing to the bathroom. 

“I’m fantastic, sha, just fantastic,” she said, “can you make me breakfast while I’m in the shower?” Frowning, he stood from the bed, staring at her like she had lost her mind.  

“I always do....” he said as he headed for the kitchen, still peering over his shoulder at her, still in his towel, still confused. She watched him leave, relief washing over her as she held onto the door jam.  

“I love you Indy,” she whispered quickly, running her fingers across her stomach one more time before shutting the bathroom door.